Chinese opera in the context of "Hong Kong action cinema"

Shuilu ritual paintings (Chinese: 水陸畫; pinyin: Shuǐlù huà; lit: "Paintings of Water and Land") are a style of traditional Chinese painting based on Buddhist and Taoist divinities that are used during the eponymous Chinese Buddhist Shuilu Fahui ceremony where these figures are invoked. The paintings are mainly intricate portraits of deities, historical figures, and the contrasting lives of common people and tragedies, in an ornate style with rich use of vivid colors and patterns. The paintings can encompass a wide range of mediums, including scroll-painting, murals, and even sculptures.

Despite their often mythological subject matter, the parts of the Shuilu ritual paintings that are dedicated to commoners show a realistic, often downtrodden and tragic view of their everyday lives, as part of the ritual to reflect on the suffering of the deceased. The paintings preserve the intricacies of their respective eras' fashions and give a greater view of their cultural and spiritual landscape. The visual similarities in the portraits between the divine figures and traditional Chinese opera costumes also illuminate the mutual inspiration between the two art forms.

Guangzhou Opera House (simplified Chinese: 广州大剧院; traditional Chinese: 廣州大劇院; pinyin: Guǎngzhōu dajùyuàn; Jyutping: Gwong2 zau1 daai6 kek6 jyun2) is a Chinese opera house in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. Designed by Zaha Hadid, it opened on 9 May in 2010.

Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Located on the south bank of the Qiantang River estuary, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou to the southeast, Jinhua to the southwest, and Hangzhou to the west. As of the 2020 census, its population was 5,270,977 inhabitants among which, 2,958,643 (Keqiao, Yuecheng and Shangyu urban districts) lived in the built-up (or metro) area of Hangzhou–Shaoxing, with a total of 13,035,326 inhabitants.

Notable residents of Shaoxing include Wang Xizhi, the parents of Zhou Enlai, Lu Xun, and Cai Yuanpei. It is also noted for Shaoxing wine, meigan cai, and stinky tofu, and was featured on A Bite of China. Its local variety of Chinese opera sung in the local dialect and known as Yue opera is second in popularity only to Peking opera. In 2010, Shaoxing celebrated the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the city.

Peking opera, or Beijing opera (Chinese: 京劇; pinyin: Jīngjù), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime, martial arts, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. Major performance troupes are based in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. The art form is also preserved in Taiwan, where it is also known as Guójù (Chinese: 國劇; lit. 'National opera'). It has also spread to other regions such as the United States and Japan.

Peking opera features four main role types, sheng (gentlemen), dan (women), jing (rough men), and chou (clowns). Performing troupes often have several of each variety, as well as numerous secondary and tertiary performers. With their elaborate and colorful costumes, performers are the only focal points on Peking opera characteristically sparse stage. They use the skills of speech, song, dance and combat in movements that are symbolic and suggestive, rather than realistic. Above all else, the skill of performers is evaluated according to the beauty of their movements. Performers also adhere to a variety of stylistic conventions that help audiences navigate the plot of the production. The layers of meaning within each movement must be expressed in time with music. The music of Peking opera can be divided into the xīpí (西皮) and èrhuáng (二黄) styles. Melodies include arias, fixed-tune melodies and percussion patterns. The repertoire of Peking opera includes over 1,400 works, which are based on Chinese history, folklore and, increasingly, contemporary life.

Sichuan opera (Chinese: 川劇; Sichuanese Pinyin: Cuanju; pinyin: Chuānjù) is a type of Chinese opera originating in China's Sichuan province around 1700. Today's Sichuan opera is a relatively recent synthesis of five historic melodic styles. Chengdu is the main home of Sichuan opera, while other influential locales include Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hubei and Taiwan. Sichuan opera was listed among the first batch of the Chinese Ministry of Culture's "Intangible Cultural Heritage List", announced on May 20, 2006.

Notable characteristics of Sichuan opera include quick changes of masks or personae (known as the face change) and the importance of the character of the fool.

The Campaign against Dong Zhuo was a punitive expedition initiated by a coalition of regional officials and warlords against the warlord Dong Zhuo in 190 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. The members of the coalition claimed that Dong had the intention of usurping the throne by holding Emperor Xian hostage and by establishing a strong influence in the imperial court. They justified their campaign as to remove Dong from power. The campaign led to the evacuation of the capital Luoyang and the shifting of the imperial court to Chang'an. It was a prelude to the end of the Han dynasty and, subsequently, the Three Kingdoms period.

In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the campaign is memorable for at least two famous incidents: one is Guan Yu's slaying of Hua Xiong; the other is the three-on-one duel between the three sworn brothers (Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei) and Lü Bu. The two scenes are often reenacted in Chinese opera along with other famous scenes from the novel. Both incidents however, are fictional; Hua Xiong was captured and executed by Sun Jian after a brief battle. Liu, Guan and Zhang did participate in the campaign although their actions are not further described, with no mention that they dueled with Lü Bu, who, historically, was defeated by Sun Jian in battle.

The liuqin (Chinese: 柳琴; pinyin: liǔqín) is a three, four or five-stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. The range of its voice is much higher than other Chinese plucked string instrument, and it is used in both orchestral music and solo pieces in Chinese music. This has been the result of a modernization in its usage in recent years, leading to a gradual elevation in status of the liuqin from an accompaniment instrument in folk Chinese opera, to an instrument known for its unique tonal and acoustic qualities. The instrument is held diagonally like the Chinese ruan and yueqin. Its strings are elevated by a bridge and the soundboard has two prominent soundholes. Finally, the instrument is played with a pick with similar technique to both ruan and yueqin. Therefore, the liuqin is most commonly played and doubled by those with ruan and yueqin experience.

Historically, the liuqin was commonly made of willow wood (柳; liǔ literally meaning "willow"), while professional players used versions constructed with a higher-quality red sandalwood or rosewood. In contemporary versions, however, the front board is made of tong wood (桐木) and red sandalwood is used for the back.

The Yujia Yankou rite (Chinese: 瑜伽燄口, pinyin: Yújiā Yànkǒu, lit: "Yoga Flaming-Mouth Food Bestowal"), also known as the Yuqie Yankou rite, is an esoteric Chinese Buddhist ritual typically performed to fulfil several different goals, including to nourish and liberate hungry ghosts, to promote longevity and prolong the lifespans of the living, as well as to avert calamities and prevent disasters. The ritual is commonly performed during or at the end of regular religious temple events such as repentance rites (懺悔, Chànhǔi), Buddha recitation retreats (佛七, Fóqī), the dedication of a new monastic complex or gatherings for the transmission of monastic vows. It is also widely performed as a post-mortem rite within Chinese society during funerals and other related occasions such as the Ghost Festival. While the ritual originated as a rite to feed hungry ghosts, or egui (餓鬼, Èguǐ), certain traditional commentaries have expanded its scope and significance to include the nourishment and ultimate liberation of all sentient beings, including devas, asuras and humans. Due to the eclectic and non-exclusivist nature of Chinese Buddhism, where monks and nuns are usually trained in multiple Buddhist traditions and there is historically little to no sectarianism between the different traditions, the Yujia Yankou is practiced by monastics who are trained across all different traditions in Chinese Buddhism, such as Chan, Esoteric, Pure Land, Tiantai and Huayan Buddhism.

The ritual combines features of Chinese operatic tradition (including a wide range of instrumental music as well as vocal performances such as solo deliveries, antiphonal and choral singing), the recitation of sūtras similar to other Mahāyāna rituals as well as esoteric Vajrayāna practices (including maṇḍala offerings, recitation of esoteric mantras, execution of mudrās and visualization practices involving identifying oneself with a divinity). In particular, the usage of mantras, mudrās and maṇḍalas in the ritual correspond directly to the concept of the "Three Mysteries" (三密, Sānmì) in tantric Buddhism: the "secrets" of body, speech and mind. The ritual is one out of several esoteric Chinese Buddhists rites dedicated to the salvation of sentient beings, such as the Mengshan Shishi (蒙山施食, Méngshān Shīshí, lit: "Mengshan food bestowal") that is carried out in daily liturgical services. It is also usually performed as part of the more extensive Shuilu Fahui ceremony (水陸法會, Shuǐlù Fǎhuì, lit: "Water and Land Dharma Assembly"), where its function is to aid in the salvation of all sentient beings.