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In
the Past
Make-up is the important component that
uniquely identifies Chinese opera. Make-up was
transformed from wearing masks in the Ming
Dynasty into two techniques of facial disguises;
make-up and face-painting.
In
the First Technique
First, the performers would mix powder,
color and water or oil together, for the foundation, before the second step.
The
Second Technique
The performers would paint from eyebrows, eyes, a nose, checks and draw the component lines. There were 1,000 patterns of painting. The painting patterns came from the techniques of drawing insects, butterflies, or bats. The performers would paint the body of insect between eyes and nose. In the middle of both eyebrows would be the head of insects, and the checks would be the insect’s wings.
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The make-up colors symbolized the characteristics of the performers. The red face symbolized loyalty, braves and kindness. The yellow face symbolized intelligence. The white face symbolized the cheat and greed. The black face symbolized sincerity.
In
the Present Day
For the simplification, the accomplished foundation is put on first. This was not to mark their character. They used only red to make up. For painting, there did not have many patterns as in the past. There are only simple patterns for the comedians. The make-up technique was simplified to shorten the preparation time and reduce costs.
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