Beijing Opera or Peking Opera is a form of Chinese opera 【小题1】 (combine) music,vocal performances,dance and so on.It 【小题2】 (arise) in the late 18th century and became 【小题3】 (full) developed and recognized by the mid-19th century.The form was extremely popular in 【小题4】 Qing Dynasty court and has come to be regarded as one of the 【小题5】 (culture) treasures of China.Major performance troupes (剧团,戏班子) are based in Beijing and Tianjin in the north,and Shanghai in the south.Also 【小题6】 (preserve) in Taiwan,the art form is still of great importance to people there.

【小题7】 (perform) of Peking Opera use the skills of speech,song,dance,and combat in movements that are symbolic and suggestive.Above all else,the skill of performers 【小题8】 (evaluate) according to the beauty of their movements.The music of Beijing Opera can be divided【小题9】 the Xipi and Erhuang styles.The repertoire (全部曲目) of Beijing Opera includes over 1,400 works, 【小题10】 characters are based on Chinese history,folklore,and,increasingly,contemporary life.

On Jan 23, the day before Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve, La Rinascente Department Store in Milan of Italy displayed something special to welcome the Year of the Rat. It was the work of a young Chinese 【小题1】 (design), Chen Zuer. Chen’s artworks combine elements of both the East and the West, drawing attention from 【小题2】 (passer-by) with a clear sense of oriental elegance, but also daring western expressiveness.

Chen says that it was really stressful when she first 【小题3】 (meet) staff members from the department store to propose her ideas for displaying her work in shop windows. “They seemed very strict, 【小题4】 nobody smiled,” she recalls. “I kept telling myself just to show them the real me.” When 【小题5】 (ask) about her opinion of Chinese culture, she said “it can be 【小题6】 (true) magnificent like the Palace Museum, but it can also be 【小题7】 simple as what I drew as a Chinese girl”.

After her presentation, she won the opportunity 【小题8】 (exhibit) her work. Though the exhibition lasted only 10 days due 【小题9】 the COVID-19 pandemic, it turned out to be 【小题10】 great success. The 27-year-old, now back in China after having studying in France for about a decade, has been content to look back on the exhibition as a breakthrough.

Acting was, is and always will be the first love of National Peking Opera Company’s new vice-president, Chen Nan reports.

Huguosi Street was one of Beijing’s 【小题1】 (busy) commercial avenues in the olden days. 【小题2】 also housed the residence of Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang (1894-1961). Not far from Mei’s address, the first theater for Peking Opera performances came up in 1954, five years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The neighborhood 【小题3】 (change) over the decades, but the theater still stands tall and is currently managed by the National Peking Opera Company. Tian Lei cherishes the hours he spends there, 【小题4】 (train) and rehearsing(排练). Wearing a costume and 【小题5】 (arm) with a prop spear(矛), the 42-year-old strides(大步走) across the stage, practicing a 【小题6】 (various) of martial art movements, before ending the drill 【小题7】 a liangxiang pose.

Tian has been working with the opera company for 10 years. Its premises(处所) are 【小题8】 10-minute drive from the theater and his colleagues train there. He, however, prefers the hallowed stage. “I come to the theater almost every day 【小题9】 I enjoy the quietness this building offers. Rehearsing here helps me feel closer to Peking Opera 【小题10】 (master) who once graced the stage,” he says.