Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.2, 2020

 

Roles and Professions

(Abstract)

 

Fu Jin

 

Drama is the art of actors performing on stage and narrating stories in a representative form. The essence of drama is that actors play dramatic roles. The Chinese drama classifies all drama characters into Sheng (male role), Dan (female role), Jing (painted face), Mo and Chou (clown) according to their performance characteristics. These roles are classified into different professions based on their different features. The classification principle of roles is aesthetic rather than sociological or biological. The origin of all kinds of roles’ appellations is uncertain. However, the division of professions has gone through a process that is increasingly refined with the improvement of performance art level. The relationship between the roles and the image of the characters is the most typical illustration of the characteristics of Chinese Opera performance art.