Cross-dressing has a long history in Beijing opera, dating back to Feudal times when women were not allowed to perform on stage. As a result, male opera singers had to perform female roles. It was during what many term “Chinese opera’s golden age” in the 1920s and 30s that women were first allowed to openly make an appearance on stage. Owing to the move toward gender equality among the intelligentsia during that era, some female singers decided to take on male roles – just as male singers had traditionally taken on female roles.

What is important to keep in mind is that cross-reading was never thought of as humorous or ironic as in the West. “People didn’t go to the theatre to see men play women’s roles,” accomplished female impersonator Liu Zheng, of the Tianjin Peking Opera Company, said. “Although some audience members might have known that you were really a man, they would not have paid much attention to your gender, forgetting about that during the performance. It was very important that the male be made up to be really beautiful and that his gestures and mannerisms be really feminine.”

But it was not simply an issue of putting on the opposite sex's garb. “Not many people are really good at it,” Wang Peiyu, of the same company, said. But when asked how difficult it was for her to assume a male persona, she said she had never really given it much thought. “I had 10 years of training, and it was both thorough and systematic,” she said. “I never really thought about my gender when I was performing. I was just playing a part.”

During the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976), traditional Chinese opera was banned, replaced by Madam Mao’s Eight Model Plays, which drew on class struggle and communist exploits during the anti-Japanese war and Chinese civil war as themes. Although traditional Beijing opera was allowed to be performed again in 1978, it has never regained its former popularity. Modern audiences understand neither the historical contexts nor the literary allusions of the scripts. They are also unfamiliar with the highly stylized conventions that can make the genre all but unintelligible to the uninitiated.

Beijing opera is opera on a grand scale. It combines singing with drama, music, dancing, and martial arts. Elaborate costumes and exquisite face-painting are an integral part of the spectacle as the colours and designs give audiences hints as to a character’s personality and the role he plays. Sets are simple and props are kept to an absolute minimum, with simple gestures, gaits and movements conveying much of the action. Thus, if a performer makes a certain movement or gesture, the audience will know intuitively if he is changing clothes, walking through a door, or riding a horse. For the uninitiated, Beijing opera can seem overwhelmingly complex and difficult to enjoy.

Both Wang and Liu suggested that those new to the genre forget about trying to understand the technical aspects of Beijing opera and concentrate on enjoying the performance. “It can help if audiences read the synopsis beforehand,” Liu suggested. “In the end, the music, the singing and the costumes are so beautiful, how could anyone not enjoy it? People should just sit back and enjoy the show.”

Perhaps. But learning a few basics – such as how to distinguish between someone who is loyal (red face) or treacherous (white face) or brave (blue face) – can be fun and certainly won’t detract from anyone’s enjoyment of Beijing Opera.