In Taiwan, Peking Opera has been called "National Opera" and is viewed as the most refined of the traditional operas. But did you know that Peking Opera evolved from Kun Opera?

Many of Kun Opera's aficionados were originally fans of Peking Opera who were exposed to Kun Opera through the introductory activities of a university club. First hearing its melodies, then seeing its gentle movements, their hearts were stolen by the Kun form.

They furtively admit that once they have gotten used to the Kun style, Peking Opera seems static and stiff in comparison. In Peking Opera, a singer "holds a pose, sings for ten minutes, then changes to another pose and continues singing," says one student of the opera.

This isn't to say that Peking Opera is inferior. In fact, Peking Opera is a later form which developed from regional operas. It incorporated much of Kun Opera's style of singing and movement before becoming the predominant national operatic style.

Water-smoothed melodies

Originally, Kun Opera was a local style of melody. Its transformation into the national opera was brought about by a combination of its being in the right place at the right time and by its own undeniable beauty.

There are more than 400 regional styles of Chinese opera. Given that the stories performed are almost the same, as are the movements and costumes, how are they distinguished? Professor Tseng Yung-yi of National Taiwan University's (NTU) Department of Chinese says that the differing melodies of different regions let a listener know which kind of opera is actually being performed.

Kun Opera, which derives its name from the Kunshan area of Jiangsu Province, where it first came into popularity, has one style of tune. As early as the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, it was recognized as one form of southern song. This period was one of intense political, economic and cultural development in the south. It began with the late-Yuan Emperor Shun, who favored the south and moved the empire's political center there. By the Ming dynasty, the scenic southern banks of the Yangtze River were also home to booming trade and a flowering of the arts which saw frequent performances of music and dance.

In opera, the Yuan dynasty saw both the peak and gradual decline of the Yuan Za Ju dramatic form. The period also saw the gradual rise to preeminence of the southern opera. When dramatist Gao Ming wrote his tremendously popular The Lute in the southern musical tradition, he broke with the limitations of the number of acts of the Yuan style and also began a trend among the literati towards adapting legendary tales.

How did the Kun melodies develop into today's Kun Opera? The beginnings of the Kun songs are attributed to a talented Ming dynasty composer named Wei Liangfu. Sometime around 1522, he selected the best points of the southern melodies and, combining them with the Kun melodies, created an exceptionally beautiful type of tune. These tunes were sometimes known as the "water-smoothed melodies" for their smooth, rounded tones, woven together as delicately as silk threads.

From their first performance, the new melodies stunned listeners with their beauty. But it wasn't until sometime later that the dramatist Liang Chenyu made the style famous on stage. He did it with his Wansha Ji which recounts a legend of the kingdoms of Wu and Yue in the Spring and Autumn Period. The piece marked the first effort to employ the new tunes on the stage. Liang's stylistic innovations included changes in the movements used by performers and to the set. Kun Opera was an immediate hit. And it laid the foundations for what are thought of as the particular characteristics of Chinese opera: its symbolism and the stylization of its form. The Peking Opera which followed, as well as many regional operas, trace their sets and their props back to the Kun Opera style.

The Rise of Peking Opera

From 1522 to the Qian Long era of the Qing dynasty, Kun Opera reigned supreme for more than 200 years. Large numbers of the literati wrote for the form and contributed to the refinement of its acting and its music, leading to the creation of many magnificent pieces. In the Ming dynasty, there was Tang Xianzu's The Peony Pavilion, while in the Qing, there were Hong Sheng's The Palace of Eternal Youth and Kong Shangren's The Peach Blossom Fan.

The literati devoted themselves to the development of Kun Opera, but over time they gradually moved it towards an overly literary inaccessibility. First, there was the length of the operas. A legend might be related in an opera of 40 or 50 episodes which could not be performed in its entirety even if performed continuously for three days and nights. Second, there was the emphasis on the beauty of the language, which gradually led the opera away from the use of the vernacular. Nearer to people's hearts were local styles of opera, such as Qin melodies, Yang melodies, and Bangzi melodies, which began to increase in popularity. Also among these local variants, there was one known as Er Huang Opera, which was to develop tremendously.

In the Qing dynasty, the Er Huang tunes which were spreading through Jiangxi and Anhui Provinces and the Xi Pi melodies which were popular in Hubei Province began to gradually come together into the Pi Huang style. The style borrowed the best of Kun Opera and took advantage of the changing times to win the support of local officials and businessmen. During Emperor Qian Long's reign, four large Pi Huang companies from Anhui traveled to the capital for the emperor's birthday celebrations. The emperor was enthralled. From that time forward, performers remained in Beijing to develop their art, in time creating the Peking Opera.

Pi Huang Opera borrowed from all varieties of opera with a liberality which allowed it to be enjoyed by sophisticates and commoners alike. In the two hundred years which have passed since those first imperial performances by the four companies from Anhui, it gradually replaced Kun Opera as the preeminent national form.

Inner vs. outer refinement

Though people say that the Kun and Peking Operas are of the same school, there are, nonetheless, differences between them. Some have compared Kun Opera to T'ai Ch'i, with its softness and inward bent. They compare Peking Opera to Shao Lin kungfu, with its hardness and projection of force outwards.

Professor Hung Wei-chu of the National Central University's Department of Chinese says that Kun Opera's artistic roots run deep. In the past, all Peking Opera performers studied Kun Opera in order to have a firm foundation and were fluent in both it and Peking Opera. Yu Chen-fei, scion of a famous Kun Opera family, says that outstanding performers of Peking Opera such as Mei Lan-fang and Cheng Yan-chiu all have benefited from the study of Kun Opera. Some Peking Operas pieces are still performed in a Kun style, including "Lin Chong's Night Flight" and the "Battle in the Water" portion of the Legend of the White Serpent.

Musically, Peking Opera is rhythmically defined. Its tunes are based principally on those of Xi Pi and Er Huang melodies and then are further categorized based on their tempo. Kun Opera, on the other hand, is categorized on the basis of its melodies. Some of its tunes are those of Song ci and Yuan qu, both kinds of poetry which could be sung, making the form something of a repository of ancient music.

As for differences in the performance of the operas, Kao Hui-lan, a leading performer with the Kuo Kuang Chinese Opera Company, says that the lyrics and movements are better suited to one another in Kun Opera. One's position on the stage is also strongly emphasized. Every performer's movements must be thought out in order to produce the most beautiful whole. And performers must be able to anticipate one another, working together at every instant to express the entirety of the piece.

From the gentle flutes of the Kun Opera to the proud tones of the Peking Opera's two-stringed jinghu, each style has its strengths and each displays a portion of the Golden Age of Chinese Opera.

p.123

Kun Opera requires a very firm grasp of fundamental skills. In the past, Peking Opera stars all studied Kun Opera to establish a solid foundation for their own art. The picture shows Peking Opera star Mei Lan-fang (right) and Yu Chen-fei performing together in the film of "The Dream in the Garden" in 1960. (courtesy of Kung Min)

p.124

Theater was originally an art form close to people's everyday lives. The engraving A Village Performance shows what it was like to see a play in the Qing dynasty. (Originally from the Nanjing Museum)