The Review of Peking Opera

On 17 May, we invited Peking Opera experts to our campus, to show the beauty of the art to our Senior School and Junior School students. Our students and teacher shared their thoughts and opinions about this. Let's see what they think about: 

Ms Hygeia Guo: DUCKS & JS Head of Mandarin

This year's Peking Opera activity provided students with more abundant time and opportunity for every student to experience and practice. Considering the characteristics and knowledge background of the students at each age, we specifically selected some familiar characters and stories, such as Monkey King and Hua Mulan.

Therefore, during the activity, students were able to quickly put what they had learned into practice,  get a deep understanding of the characteristics of Peking Opera characters, feel the artistic charm of Peking Opera, and thus stimulate their enthusiasm for exploring Chinese culture.

We saw that students actively participated, striving to showcase themselves, especially in the presentation on stage, where they confidently shared their learning and achievements. This fully demonstrated the teaching philosophy of Dulwich College Suzhou to encourage students to challenge themselves.

Nicholas S, Year 5

This Peking Opera activity provided me with a great opportunity to deepen my understanding of Chinese history and culture, and encouraged me to explore China's rich history and art. Through this learning experience, I learned that the colours of the costumes and whips of Peking Opera actors represented the different personalities and qualities of the characters. For example, white represents deceitfulness, while red represents loyalty and bravery. I also learned how actors use whips on stage to express the process of mounting, dismounting, and riding a horse. During the performance on stage, I demonstrated how to use a whip, which helped me overcome my fear and become more confident.

Ms Julia Zhu: Senior School Head of Mandarin 

Compared to last year’s Peking Opera activities, this time, it is more "student-centered." The activities demonstrate the cultural characteristics of Peking Opera while incorporating culture, art, movement, and performance in a variety of interactive experiences tailored to the interests and characteristics of students of different ages.

Through these experiential learning experiences, students have gained a deeper understanding of Peking Opera. They also show a stronger desire to explore the art of Peking Opera. The students' focus, enthusiasm, teamwork, communication and collaboration skills between teachers and students, were all unforgettable.

Leo S, Year 10

When foreign tourists come to Peking, they will often complete the following three things: eat Peking roast duck, visit the Great Wall, and watch the Peking Opera. This shows the great influence of Peking Opera. Indeed, Peking Opera plays a crucial role in the art, and also has an important stance in traditional Chinese culture.  If you come to China but do not experience Peking Opera, it is truly a pity because you miss a chance to learn about Chinese culture.

On the afternoon of 17 May, I had the privilege of experiencing the charm of the Peking Opera in Mandarin class at DCSZ. The young Peking Opera actresses invited by our Chinese teacher not only introduced us to some knowledge about Peking Opera, such as the four elements of the performance of Dan roles; but also performed " Farewell My Concubine ". The most interesting part was that she demonstrated stage skills such as the Lan Hua Zhi（a movement of hand pose）, Shui Xiu (Actor’s long sleeves in classical opera), and Kai Jin Shan (a traditional Chinese Fan) , and we even had the chance to try the props to experience more.

Through this experience, I gained an understanding of the profoundness of traditional Chinese opera and the artistic and cultural beauty of Peking Opera. Watching the beautiful and elegant actresses, I began to understand the beauty of Art and also improve my cultivation of traditional Chinese art.

Ben V, Year 7

Last Wednesday, I took part in the Peking Opera Experience. It was hugely interesting and entertaining. I felt that it expanded my knowledge and understanding of operas and I also got to know my host country better through this engaging experience. 

We did a variety of different activities. I enjoyed all of the activities, however, the one that really stood out for me was the fact that I got the opportunity to try on the different opera robes and clothing. I enjoyed this activity as I got the experience of what it would feel like to be in these fancy and impressive clothes and I got to do cool dances with it. Generally, just having fun with it, imagining I was performing to a packed audience! 

Some other activities that we did were putting on accessories from the Peking Opera and also doing tricks with a pole which was quite hard. We also learned about the four main Peking Opera types and how to do certain moves and dances from the four different types. This was fun and engaging. 

Overall it was a really great and eye-opening experience that I would want to do again in the future. Thank you to the wonderful Mandarin teachers for making this possible for us to learn about our amazing host country of China! 

Thanks to our Mandarin teachers and Ms Hygeia Guo,  DUCKS & Junior School Head of Mandarin , and Ms Julia Zhu, Head of Senior School Mandarin for their hard work.