The origin of Chinese is a combination of various art forms ranging from the folk dance, comic drama, arts of talking and singing, therefore, for students to learn Chinese in China the exact date of the origin of traditional Chinese opera is untraceable, due to the long process of the formation period of traditional Chinese opera. The archetype of traditional Chinese opera, as for students to study Chinese in China, was the simple song and dance of the primitive society, after the development in the Qin, Han and Tang dynasties had become a comparatively complete artistic form.
The folk song and dances in the primitive society had transformed to the Wu Yue Dance in the slavery societies, and until the end of the West Jin dynasty, the musicians and dancers specialized for the entertainment of the King who are called ‘Changyou” and ‘paiyou” separately, both of them were good at singing and dancing, and are usually acted by male which may arouse the interest of those to study Mandarin in China.
During the Spring and Autumn period, the ‘Tan” dance came into being, which was a serious witchcraft art form carried out during the ceremony, the core figure “Fangxiangshi” is the person wearing masks and animal furs with weapons in his hand to drive away evil forces. It type of traditional Chinese opera may seem superstitious in the people to learn Chinese in China’s point of view.
To the Warring states period, due to the popularity of the witchcraft, the dancing and singing ceremony became very grand, especially so in the Chu. This type of art form is a well combination of poetry, music and dance in the Chinese cultural history with great popularity, which makes it worth noticing for people to study Mandarin in China.
The “Jiao-di Opera” which was gaining popularity during the Qin Han dynasties was a folk rodeo which was deeply appreciated by the rulers, during which period, the “Jiao-di Opera” of the Han got further development featuring in grander size and a well combination of music, dancing, acrobatics, martial art, magician, etc., for people to study Chinese in China, this must be quite an amazement to imagine that there was even role-play during that period of time.
The imperial opera during the Sui and Tang dynasties started to take in the factors of story-telling, poetry-reading, dancing, Jiangchang, quoting, performance, music, acrobatics, martial arts, magician into the performance which was a such a comprehensive combination of artistry that it got its name as “Song and Dance drama”. Students planning to study Mandarin in China must be interested in it.
To students who are going to learn Chinese in China’s delight, the folk style of drama during the Sui and Tang dynasties had created the popular rap form “Shujiang” and “Bianwen”, making preparations for the well combination of “drama” and “music”, which has laid a solid foundation for the formation of traditional Chinese opera.
The traditional Chinese opera took shape during the Song and Jin dynasties. with the development of further commercial economies in the cities, not only did the amusement place for civilians named “Washe” or“Goulan”came into being, bringing the tendency of the fusion of folk music and dance, rap, and comedy opera, but also the “Song zaju” , which combined together to be called the “Jinyuanben” in the north part of China, at the same time, the “Nanxi “in the south of China was also becoming more mature. It is true for students to study Chinese in China to view the “Songzaju” “Jinyuanben” and “Nanxi “as the archetype of traditional Chinese opera.
Based on “Songzaju” “Jinyuanben” and “Nanxi “, the “Yuanzaju” came into being, which demonstrated that the development of the traditional Chinese opera had reached a mature phase, and “Yuanzaju” was thus considered to be a climax of the traditional Chinese artistic opera, signaling the full-development of it , friends to study Mandarin in China are welcomed to enjoy them in the theatres.
The character portrayal skills of the “Yuanzaju” had reached a pretty high level, for the characteristics of aesthetic artistic opera can be adeptly demonstrated within it, what’s more, the expressive tunes from the minorities of the Yuan dynasty, to the delight of the friends to learn Chinese in China, had been absorbed into the Han melodies. And that can making it more vivid and more capable in the portraying of different characters.