Beijing Opera (Peking Opera) is regarded as the national opera in China, which also has a complete system of stage performance compared with other 360 types of traditional dramatic forms in China. Since it has achieved the highest artistic accomplishments, it is the most influential and representative of all operas in China in the past 200years.

The history of Beijing Opera –it has a history of about 200 years. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a local opera troupe from Anhui Province came to Beijing and brought its 'Hui Tune' (which originated in Anhui Province and was called 'Pihuang' opera) to the capital. It soon became prevalent.

Four main roles of Beijing opera-the roles of Beijing opera are divided into male roles as Sheng, female roles as Dan, male roles with facial make-up as Jing, male or female roles with facial make-up and clowns as Chou.

The major features of Beijing Opera-Beijing opera is noticeable for its highly systemized categories of singing, dancing, mimicry ,acrobatics ,musical dialogues, martial arts, colorful facial make-up and fantastic costumes.. It uses the skills of Chinese martial arts and creates a unique system of stylized, fictitious movement, which is strongly rhythmical. Beijing opera mainly presented historical stories. There used to be 1,300 traditional plays and about 400 of them are now often on show .most of them are base on folk tales, famous novels and fairy tales. They are pleasure to watch, particularly if the audiences know the basic story.

The costumes-they are base on the style of the Ming dynasty court and civil costumes. They are a garish collection of sharply contrasting colors. Much use of deep red, deep green, white, black, yellow and blue is frequently seen because the stages were originally only lit by oil lamps when Beijing opera was performed. Strong contrasting colors are freely used and the costumes are embroidered in gold, silver and colored threads. Strictly bases on the rank, life style and occupation, special costumes have different colors and designs for each role.

Because of all of these aspects mentioned above make the Beijing opera become so special. Today, Beijing opera is looked upon as an art of china and draws a lot of attention from both Chinese and people of other nations. Nowadays, more than 390 traditional Chinese operas are still being performed throughout china. In recent years, some Beijing opera troupes have been abroad to perform. What impress the audiences of different nations most are the sumptuous costumes, make-up, and the acrobatic battle sense. They hold a unique position in Chinese art as well as the world’s artistic heritage. It is well known that only when things are national in style will be appreciated and accepted internationally.