Chinese Opera is full of color, pageantry, beautiful and raucous music, and astonishing stagecraft. It is unique to China, and considered a cultural treasure. The origins of this song-music performance style date back to the Warring States period (403 BCE), but it became a major form of entertainment during the Manchu Dynasty (1644-1911) where it flourished thanks to the enthusiastic support of Chi’en Lung and his successors (including the Empress Dowager Ts’u Hsi). From this point, Chinese Opera became a dominant art form across China.

But by the middle of the twentieth century, opera audiences began to dwindle. This unique opera style, which is in many ways very different from western opera has taken a back seat to cinema.

The stories we have studied, the music we have heard, and the actors, directors, and stunt performers we have seen are linked to Chinese Opera in some very surprising ways…

A Project by Dawn Kuzma