Beijing Opera is a national treasure of China. It dates back to the late 18th century. At that time, four Huiban Opera Troups (徽班)entered the capital (celebrate) Qianlong's birthday. Although it is called Beijing Opera, (it) origins are not in Beijing but in Anhui and Hubei .
There are four main roles: sheng, dan, jing, chou. Sheng is the male roles, dan is the female roles, chou is clown roles and jing is roles brightly-painted face masks. The different colors of the faces represent different characters and each role has its (fix) singing and acting styles. So Beijing Opera is a (combine) of acting, talking, singing, dancing, and music.
Meilanfang is a famous Chinese name in the world of Beijing Opera. Since he visited Japan in 1919, Peking Opera (become) more and more popular with people around the world. The painted face impresses people most! Many find it (fascinate)!
But the music is very loud and the performers usually sing in extremely loud style. That is because in the early days,Beijing Opera (perform) mostly on open-air stages in streets, tea-houses or courtyard, they played loudly so that the crowds can hear clearer.
