[
    {
        "id": 206900,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 177,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\n171\n\nELIZABETH HALSON: PEKING OPERA, A SHORT GUIDE, Hong Kong University Press, London, New York, 1966, HK$20.\n\nI do not think that Elizabeth Halson has a background of sinological studies, but she has the advantage of having spent some time in Peking and she was obviously an avid theatre-goer. Judging from the contents of the book, she must have been there before 1963, as she describes only the traditional style of opera, which was banned in that year and has not been allowed to be performed since, whilst the book itself was published already in 1966. She must have learned Mandarin and spent a lot of time in and around the theatre, collecting material, talking to actors and anybody available who would give answers to her questions on opera. In her book she describes in a comprehensive way what she could grasp in such a short time, which might have been two years. This is naturally far too short a time for a foreigner to penetrate more than the surface of such a complex and abstract art as Peking Opera.\n\nIt seems, too, that she had not many books to rely on, neither Chinese nor European. It is obvious that she did not have the book on Peking Opera by A. C. Scott, The Classical Theatre of China, with which I shall compare it, because she does not use his material as a background, but starts again where he had to start. The difference is that Scott has been in China and Hong Kong for about 8 years, between 1947-1955 and that he has a profound knowledge of the Chinese language, the former society, the realities and the culture in general. Today he is considered an authority on Peking Opera, with many books on this subject to his credit.\n\nScott's book on Peking Opera is the most authoritative work yet to appear in any European language. When I first saw Miss Halson's book, I was not surprised to find the subject treated in the same way as in his book, because as a foreigner you are first led by your eyes, as western ears are mostly very slow to adapt to Chinese language and music.\n\nWhat distinguishes the Peking Opera from other forms is its complicated system of symbols, which are organized in rules for the appearance, movements and voices of the actors and for the sparse stage properties. Opera was the entertainment of the court, and therefore its society is reflected in it, its thinking and behaviour.\n\n* Published by Allen and Unwin, 1957.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206901,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 178,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "172\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nThere are emperors, princes, ministers, generals, scholars, officials and the corresponding female parts, their sons and their daughters. They are dressed in gorgeous costumes and they sing and speak in a very literary language, and artistic voice, which even for ordinary Chinese is difficult to understand. As a contrast there are the common people, the servants and soldiers, who are dressed mostly in a simple dark gown and often appear as clowns with a white patch painted into the middle of their face. They speak in the common Peking dialect, sometimes even making rude jokes, in order to amuse the public and give it a chance to relax between listening to the very strenuous singing parts. This can also be found in the traditional western theatre. However, Miss Halson does not mention this technique of contrasting the two groups of society in behaviour, appearance and language, and does not give any background to the social groupings and their relationships, and to the examination system of Imperial China, all of which are absolutely essential for any understanding. Scott, at least, touches on the subject in his introduction.\n\nMiss Halson divides the roles into four major forms: male, female, painted-face roles and comic characters, with their subdivisions of young and old, military or scholar, attributing to them appearance, acting and voices. The book is illustrated with ten plates, very artistic brush-drawings by a Japanese artist called Ishizuka; these show ten different characters which give the reader very good impressions of the appearance of the actors. Scott also has about 10 sketches, beautifully done by himself, but not systematically chosen or arranged.\n\nScott tries to describe a subject in a very detailed way, whereas Miss Halson only touches upon subjects, giving only a few examples. For instance: under the section of costumes Mr. Scott gives all the major forms with all their subdivisions and their Chinese names, often as many as ten. Miss Halson only introduces the major costumes, but she has the advantage of having a detailed technical drawing of each. There is, for example, the costume representing an armour, worn by generals and commanders. It has four flags or pennants sticking out at the back of the neck. The costume is very stiff and heavily embroidered, consisting of a front and back-flap, the latter cut into stripes; there is a tigerhead-design on the front, the arms are tight, as this actor has to perform acrobatics. Scott's description is already more interesting; he says that there is",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206902,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 179,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\n173\n\na fish-scale design all over the dress. But neither points out that the shiny most bluish satin simulates the metal of the armour and the scales simulate the plates of the armour. The back-flap is cut into strips and they obviously look and are arranged like tail feathers; feather-strips are hanging down from various parts of the costume. The generals bristle and ruffle their feathers with every movement, and while fighting they look like an enormous flustered phoenix in attack.\n\nMost opera costumes have so-called water-sleeves of white thin silk attached to the actual sleeve. They are like cuffs, open at the seam, and when they hang down, they almost reach the floor. These sleeves play a very important part in the technique of acting. Miss Halson only describes a few sleeve-movements like: using the sleeves to hide in embarrassment, or thrown up in bewilderment, that they are used as a muff in winter and as a fan in summer. Scott explains 100 different sleeve-movements and tells by which character they are used: e.g. in T'ou hsiu the two sleeves are flung out together, to the right, whilst the face looks left, which symbolizes making a decision or anger and is only performed by the Ching I or demure young woman. I would like to add that these sleeves are found in Chinese costumes already as far back as the Han dynasty about 2,000 years ago. The cuff was not added to the sleeve, but the sleeve itself was very long. It can still be seen in the blouses worn by Tibetans. In the art of Chinese dancing, the flowing of the sleeves are such an important part, that movements are often only directed to produce the desired flow. It expresses the Chinese love for flowing lines, very well known from their brush-strokes. Actually in both books I feel the absence of linking the descriptions of the appearance with its cultural background.\n\nAll faces are made up in Peking Opera. Older people and middle-aged ones have a natural make up, young men and women have the middle of their face powdered white, cheeks and eye-lids are deep magenta. But the most striking are the multi-coloured painted faces. They are only for male parts: warriors, generals, ministers and officials. Miss Halson suggests an origin for these: branded criminals tattooed their scars to disguise the marks. This is very far fetched. Her second explanation is that the actors wanted their faces to stand out. Any make up is of course to this end; but she did not hit the simple truth. Masks were used before the great step forward was taken when, recognizing the disadvantages",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
        "rank": 0
    }
]