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The Play Writers of the Peking Opera
Most of the early play writers of the Peking Opera were uneducated men with little knowledge of Chinese history. Some of the cues used in the play are risqué, vulgar and very, very rough. We do have our own Shakespeares in the T'ang or Sung Dynasties and their plays are among the best written literature of the times, but the general public would not go to their shows because they could not understand the literature - and the plays died a natural death. It is exactly the rough language of the later age that the people could understand, that made them flock to the theatre to see them.
Some of the Funny Things You See in the Peking Opera
Why should a man's whiskers be three feet long from his chin almost to his knees? Why should an official, or a warrior, or a country squire wear such clumsy shoes with paper soles about two inches thick? Human nature! Once I heard an American cut an album whose main theme was:
"Anything you can do, I can do better."
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From the very beginning, we didn't have any sharp art critics who would condemn these anomalies. Theatre, like politics, if not held in check at the beginning, can be a dangerous thing.
The Prop and the Gesture
You will notice that all Chinese theatres have a scarcity of theatre props. They make use of certain movements of the body or gestures to indicate any situation or event. This is because it is much cheaper. For instance, you cannot bring a horse to the stage, so the actor holds a horse whip (an ornamental one) to indicate that he is riding a horse. The following are more examples of the same:
(1) when the actor enters a house, he lowers his body, and steps over something. That means "stepping over the threshold."
(2) when he enters the room, he makes some movements with both hands in the air. That means "latch up" or "lock up" his room.
(3) if he holds a candlestick, or if someone else carries a paper lantern, it shows that it is night time.