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Decorate a Chinese Opera Mask
Associated to Place: articles -- by * Jia Li Shen Chi (109 Articles), Social Article 1 Featured February 7 , 2007
The Lunar Festival is coming: let the fun begin!

Decorate A Chinese Opera Mask

Just for fun, while waiting for the Lunar Festival to begin, decorate the mask shape below to wear to the opera on Sunday, February 18 and Monday, February 19.

MaskShape

The use of face makeup in Chinese opera has a long tradition. Painted faces with simple patterns have been found in tomb murals dating to the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the designs became more intricate and the paint preparations more sophisticated, and the colourful patterns we still see in today's opera emerged.

The overall colour of a mask tells the audience a great deal about the disposition of a character. You can use the following list of traditional colours and their meanings as a guide to decorating your mask according to the character you wish to portray, or go wild and introduce a whole new character to Chinese opera.

Click on the masks below to learn more about the colours:

RedMask

Silver and Gold: sometimes used on the faces of immortals, spirits, demons and monsters


RedMask

Red: devotion, courage, bravery, uprightness and loyalty


BlueMask

Blue: staunchness, fierceness and astuteness


PurpleMask

Purple: uprightness, sophistication and cool-headedness; reddish purple: a just and noble character


BlackMask

Black: either roughness and fierceness, or impartiality and selflessness


YellowMask

Yellow: fierceness, ambition and cool-headedness


GreenMask

Green: impulsiveness, violence, surly stubbornness, impetuosity and a total lack of self-restraint


PettyFaceMask

Petty Face: a mean and secretive character, or wit and humour


Beards

Beards: Chinese opera has many types of beards - long or short, black, white, grey, or even red! - mostly worn by older men; black denotes over 40 years old, grey over 50, white over 60

For more information on decorating Chinese opera masks, see:

  • Chinese Opera Mask Colours
  • Painting Chinese Opera Masks
  • Drawing Chinese Opera Masks

    For examples of traditional opera masks, see:

  • 126 Opera Masks
  • 24 Opera Masks
    		• Bai Long
    Posted Feb 4, 2007 - 16:15 , Last Edited: Feb 12, 2007 - 23:40











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