ABSTRACT
The roots of Jingju and music-dramas reach far back into the history of China, for records of ritual dance exist as early as the Western Zhou dynasty. Dancing was used in ceremonies and festive events, and was often embellished with spoken words and musical accompaniment. The emphasis on poetry and scholar-beauty romances in the Kunqu style was challenged with an increase in the Jingju tradition’s employment of martial and popular literature. Jingju reached its peak in the first half of the twentieth century, when it was enhanced by the emergence of some of China’s best actors, notably Mei Lanfang, a superb player of female roles. Every character in a Jingju play is assigned to a role type according to the character’s important personality traits and the circumstances in the play. The four major role types continue to be sheng, dan, jing, and chou, though the descriptions of the latter two have evolved since the Song dynasty.
