Quick Answer: What Is Chinese Opera Face Painting?
Lianpu (脸谱, liǎnpǔ) refers to stylized face designs painted on Chinese opera performers. In Peking opera (京剧, jīngjù), broad areas of color and exaggerated lines around the eyes, brows and nose make particular characters recognizable from across a theater.[1][4][5]
- Material: Performers use pigments, including oil-based colors and white powder mixed with water.[2][4]
- Pattern: One dominant field, three clear areas or a cross can organize the design.[3]
- Role: A full painted face and a small comic patch do different work onstage.[4][5]
Start with the design as a whole, then look for the role and character clues supplied by the rest of the costume and the scene.
Two actors can enter wearing white paint with entirely different effects. On one face, white covers most of the skin. On the other, it marks a small area around the nose. Where the pigment goes can tell a viewer as much as its color.
How Performers Build a Painted Face
In a brushed design (勾脸, gōuliǎn), strokes pick out facial contours and set off colored areas. An actor can outline the eyes and brows with oil-based paint, then fill in areas of color. Extending a painted brow beyond its natural line makes the expression easier to see from a distance.[1][2][4][5]
Other treatments put more emphasis on the field of color. With rubbed color (揉脸, róuliǎn), pigment is spread broadly across the face before details are strengthened. A powdered face (抹脸, mǒliǎn) can use white powder mixed with water over all or part of the face. The white ground can then be set off by dark lines around the brows and eyes.[1][2]
How the Pattern Organizes the Face
The same dominant color can be organized into different patterns. These three terms describe where color and outlines sit on the face.[3]
| Diseño | What stands out | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Full-face design (整脸, zhěngliǎn) | One dominant ground covers most of the face. | Brows, eyes and facial lines are outlined over it.[3] |
| Three-tile face (三块瓦脸, sānkuài wǎliǎn) | The forehead and cheeks form three prominent areas. | Strong outlines around the brows, eyes and nose divide the field.[3] |
| Cross design (十字门脸, shízìmén liǎn) | A strip of color down the forehead and nose meets a horizontal band. | Look across the eyes and down the center of the face.[3] |
What Color Tells You About a Character
In familiar Peking opera portrayals, a red ground helps identify Guan Yu (关羽, Guān Yǔ) as a loyal, courageous figure. A predominantly black face is associated with the judge Bao Zheng (包拯, Bāo Zhěng) and his reputation for impartiality. Black can also lend force to a very different part, such as the forthright Zhang Fei (张飞, Zhāng Fēi).[4][5]
A white face with strong dark features can mark Cao Cao (曹操, Cáo Cāo) as a cunning figure in the play. The ground and brows make that theatrical portrayal legible before the character speaks.[4][5]
How to Read the Makeup in a Performance
An elaborate painted face is closely associated with the jing (净, jìng) category. A chou (丑, chǒu), or comic role, can have a compact patch of white around the nose. That patch has a different shape, location and role function from Cao Cao’s broad white ground. The opera role categories give a better starting point for the comparison than pigment alone.[4][5]
In Cantonese opera, a Hong Kong education collection demonstrates Bao Zheng as a painted-face character and Xu Xian (许仙, Xǔ Xiān) as a male role with a different makeup treatment. Compare the amount of painted area on the two faces before looking at their costume and posture.[6]
FAQs About Chinese Opera Face Painting
Are painted opera faces masks?
The painted designs use pigments applied directly to a performer’s face. The term Peking opera masks can also refer to separate objects.[5][8]
Is face painting the same as Sichuan opera face-changing?
In Sichuan opera face-changing (变脸, biànliǎn), the visible face design changes rapidly during the action, often to show a shift in feeling. A painted role design can establish a character’s appearance as soon as the performer enters.[1][7]
Fuentes
[1] China National Peking Opera Company. Peking Opera Face Painting
[2] Academy of Chinese Studies. How Peking Opera Face Painting Reflects Character
[3] Shanghai Library Open Data. Visualizing Peking Opera Face Designs
[4] People’s Daily Overseas Edition. A Guide to Peking Opera Face Painting
[5] Li Zhiyuan, ICH Courier. Beijing Opera and the Harmony of Its Makeup
[6] Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Cantonese Opera Makeup Zone
[7] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. An Interview on Sichuan Opera and Face-Changing
[8] Visit Beijing. Intriguing Facial Makeup in Peking Opera