When foreigners come to learn Chinese in China, they will find that the traditional Chinese opera is very interesting and attracting. In the Chinese opera, there are four methods to perform the opera, namely, singing, dialoguing, acting and acrobatic combat. In this article, I will introduce the dialoguing and acting to enrich students’ knowledge when they study Chinese in China.

First of all, foreigners who want to study Mandarin in China should know that singing and dialoging are two very important art means in Chinese opera to express thoughts and feelings. They cooperate and complement with each other. For the actors, the dialoguing skill training is the essential course when they start to learn Chinese opera. They should train to be fluent in pronunciation and the proper sound.

After they acquired the ability, they should dialogue it beautifully and expressively by combing specific performance and according to the person characteristics and plot development. Only when they deal with the rhythm can they reach the perfect artistic level. Obviously, students who learn Chinese in China can see that it is difficult to perform perfectly in Chinese opera.

Those who study Chinese in China may be curious about the classifications of the dialoguing in Chinese opera. Generally speaking, there are two types. One is the one with strict rhythm named “yun bai”. Another one is called “san bai” which is created on the basis of the dialects and very close to the realistic life such as the Anqing dialect in Huangmei opera and the Beijing dialect in Pecking opera.

But we should realize that it is not ordinary language in life no matter it is “yun bai” or “san bai”. It is a kind of language that is refined and processed in art and rich in rhythm and musicality. It sounds sonorous and beautiful. When you study Mandarin in China, teachers may tell you that it is because the musical language in dialoguing that singing and dialoguing can be perfectly coordinated in traditional operas.

In the history of Chinese opera development and the theory and practice in the Chinese opera, many people have been either emphasizing the singing or dialoguing. Xu Wei is a famous theorist in opera in Ming Dynasty. He didn’t stress the spoken parts and called as “bin bai”. However, the theorist Li Yu in Qing Dynasty emphasized the spoken parts. So those who learn Chinese in China can see that different periods of theorists attached importance to the different contents.

In the modern times, the actors in Chinese opera also have different emphasis. But as a matter of fact, when the actors express the characteristic of certain roles, they often mobilize and express the comprehensive function in all kinds of arts expressing means. That is to say, there is not only one performance means. Foreigners who study Chinese in China may know that singing and dialoguing are both emphasized in actual performance. Besides, they should be organized coordinately and performed harmoniously.

Another means that students who study Mandarin in China should be the acting, which widely means all kinds of performance skills. The actions look like dancing. It is one of the main symbolizations and contents that are different from the other kinds of performance arts. The actors should practice in the aspects of waist, hands, legs, head and neck when they are very young.

In addition, they should try to figure out the characteristics of the plots, roles, ages and identity. When the actors are performing, there are different actions in hands, eyes and bodies and so on. One important point that foreigners who learn Chinese in China should know is that the actors should try their best to use those actions flexibly to create and express the roles’ characteristics.

When expressing different kinds of actions, the actors should perform differently. For example, actors should express elegantly when performing the lady is walking. Students who study Chinese in China should notice that it is not the simply performance, more importantly, to indicate the atmosphere and express the expressions.

If the students who study Mandarin in China ever seen the Chinese opera performance, they will know that the excellent performers emphasize both internal experience and the external performance to create attracting performance.

After knowing so much about the dialoguing and acting, foreign learners can enjoy themselves better when they go to watch the Chinese opera performance.