Blue and White Peking Opera Flower Girl Appreciation Plate

Peking Opera roles are strictly divided into seven lines: sheng, dan, jing, mou, chou, wushang, and pop (dragon set). Later, they were categorized into four main lines: sheng, dan, jing, and chou, with a detailed further division of labor within each line. “Sheng” is the collective name for male characters other than the flower face and the clown, and is divided into Lao Sheng ( Su Sheng ), Xiao Sheng, Wu Sheng, and Doll Sheng. “Dan” is a collective term for female roles, and is divided into Zheng Dan, Hua Dan, Hu Men Dan, Wu Dan, Lao Dan, Cai Dan ( 揺 旦), and Duo Ma Dan (刀马旦). Pure”, commonly known as ‘flower face’, mostly plays the role of male characters who have some peculiarities in character, quality or appearance, with face makeup, loud tones and a rough style. Pure“ is further divided into ‘ Da Huafang’, which focuses on singing, such as Bao Zheng, and ”Er Huafang", which focuses on doing work, such as Cao Cao. The “Chou”, who plays comedic roles, is commonly known as the “Little Flower Face” because of the small piece of white powder smeared on the bridge of the nose.