Full of Chinese cultural facts, the Beijing or Peking opera presents audience an encyclopedia of Chinese culture as well as unfolding stories, beautiful paintings, exquisite costumes, graceful gestures and acrobatic fighting. It is a harmonious combination of Grand Opera, Ballet and acrobatic display, consisting of dancing, dialogue, monologue, acrobatic combat and mime. However emphasis will lies on the stage.

Peking opera of China is a national treasure with a history of 200 years. Although it is called Beijing Opera, its origins are not in Beijing but in the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Hubei. In the 55th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty(1790) ,the four big Huiban opera Troupes entered the capital and combined with Kunqu opera, Yiyang opera, Hanju opera and Luantan in Beijing's thearetical circle of the time. Through a period of more than half a century of combination and integration of various kinds of opera there evolved the present Peking opera, the biggest kind of opera in China, whose richness of repertoire, great number of artists of performance and of audiences, and profound influence are incomparable in China. Since Mei Lanfang, the grand master of Peking opera, visited Japan in 1919, Peking opera has become more and more popular with people all over the world, and it has made an excellent contribution to cultural exchange between China and the West, to friendly association and to improvement of solidarity.

There is no lacking of social celebrities among Peking opera fans. Emperor Guang Xu of Qing Dynasty, for example, was not only a good amateur Peking opera singer, but was also a good drummer in the Peking opera orchestra (the drummer plays the role of the director of the orchestra). The Empress Dowager was an avid Peking opera fan, too. The huge three-storey theater in the Summer Palace is a proof of her love for Peking opera.

The repertoire of Peking opera is mainly engaged in fairy tales of preceding dynasties, important historical events, emperors, ministers and generals, geniuses and great beauties, from the ancient times to Yao, Shun, Yu, the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period and the dynasties of Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing.

The music of Beijing Opera combines the er huang tune form Anhui Opera, the xi pi tune from Hanju (Hubei Opera), and tunesand musical accompaniment of Kunqu (Kunshan Opera). Typical Chinese musical instruments are used in a Beijing OPera orchestra. The two-stringed fiddles jing hu and er hu are two of the main instruments. Other instruments include sheng (reed pipes), Yue qin (moon-shaped mandolin, pi pa (the Chinese lute), suo na (the Chinese clarinet), drums, bells, gongs, and hardwood castanets. The Peking Opera band mainly consists of orchestra band and percussion band. The former frequently accompanies peaceful scenes while the later often follows scenes of war and fighting. One person usually plays the castanets and the drum simultaneously, which are the conductor of the whole band.The band usually sits at the left side of the exit of the stage.

The costumes in Beijing Opera impress the audience with their bright colors and magnificent embroidery. Some of the costumes used in the present performances have a resemblance to the fashion of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The use of colors indicate different social status -yellow for the imperial family,red for high nobility, red or blue for upright men, white for old officials and black for each role. A student usually wears a blue gown and a general wears padded armour; an emperor wears a dragon robe. Besides gorgeous clothes and headdresses, jewelled girdles for men and hair ornaments for women are also used in Beijing Opera.As the traditional Chinese pattern are adopted, the costumes are of a high aesthetic value.

In Beijing Opera facial make-ups, which is applied to jing roles only, shows the character's age, profession and personality by using different colors. Each co lour symbolizes a certain characteristic; red for loyalty and uprightness, black for a rough, stern or honest nature, yellow for rashness and fieriness, white for a cunning and deceitful character, gold and silver for gods and demons. In Beijing Opera, over one thousand painted facial patterns are used. Each pattern lies in his ability to make subtle and interesting changes within the fixed facial pattern.

Peking opera is a synthesis of stylized action, singing, dialogue and mime, acrobatic fighting and dancing to represent a story or depict different characters and their feelings of gladness, anger, sorrow, happiness, surprise, fear and sadness. In Peking opera there are four main types of roles: sheng (male) dan (young female), jing( painted face,male), and chou (clown, male or female). The characters may be loyal or treacherous, beautiful or ugly, good or bad, their images being vividly manifested.

Sheng is the leading male actors and are divided into Laosheng, who wear beards and represent old men, Xiaosheng, who represent young men, Wusheng, who play military men and fighters and are acrobats, and Wawasheng who play kids. These roles usually wear no facial paintings. Hongsheng, another category of Sheng with face painted red, mainly play Guanyu (Chinese Ares) and Zhao Kuangyin (the founder of the Song dynasty).

Dan is the female roles. Formerly, the term meant female impersonator. It is divided into many categories. Laodan are the old ladies while Caidan the female comedians. Wudan usually play military or non-military women capable of martial arts. The most important category, Qingyi usually play respectable and decent ladies in elegant costumes. Huadan represent lively and clever young girls, usually in short costumes.

Jing, mostly male, are the face-painted roles who represent warriors, heroes, statesmen, adventurers and demons. Jing is generally categorized into Zhengjing, Fujing and Wujing.

Chou refers to clowns who are characterized by a white patch on the nose. Usually white patches of different shape and size mean roles of different character. They are not definitely rascals, while most of the time they play roles of wit, alert and humor. It is them who keep the audience laughing and to improvise quips at the right moments to ease tension in some serious plays.