Chinse Opera

 The Dan (旦) refers to any female role in Beijing opera. Dan roles were originally divided into five subtypes. Old women were played by laodan, martial women were wudan, young female warriors were daomadan, virtuous and elite women were qingyi, and vivacious and unmarried women were huadan.
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Huadan characters are vivacious maidservants serving well-bred ladies, unmarried girls of humble birth or young-married women seductive in appearance and rude in words. They are in short costumes and, in most case, speak in jingbai-the current Beijing dialect.

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Yang Lei is totally dedicated to Peking Opera and does not have a part-time job. The truth is, whenever he is not on the stage, he is practicing for when he will be. He really value keeping his spare time free for opera and although some other people do take parttime jobs to make ends meet, he personally don’t.
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Xun Huisheng, 1900-1968, male, one of the four top performers in female characters, born in Hebei Province.
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Qingyi is the most important of all female roles in Peking Opera performances. Characters of this category are invariably dignified and urbane in disposition and, in many cases, are knowledgeable as well.

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 In Beijing opera, there are four roles: the male and female roles, the painted-face role, and the comedic role. Every role has its own specific brands.
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There are two types of wudan (female warriors) in Peking Opera, those in short, tight jackets and good at acrobatic combating and those female generals who are in armor suits, the former seldom imitating horse riding and the latter, often, A female general.

Cheng Yanqiu, 1904-1958, male, former name Chenglin, courtesy name Yanqiu, literary name Yushuang, one of the four top performers in female characters.
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Mei Lanfang (1894–1961) was one of the most famous Peking opera artists in modern history. Mei, Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu and Xun Huisheng were known as Four Great Dan in the golden era of Peking Opera.
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Shang Xiaoyun，who was born at 1899 and died at 1976, is a well-established Peking Opera artist.
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