List of Hayate the Combat Butler albums

This is a list of albums attributed to the anime adaptation of "Hayate the Combat Butler".
Opening and ending themes.
Hayate no Gotoku!
 is a single by Kotoko released on May 23, 2007 in Japan by Geneon. The song "Hayate no Gotoku!" was the first opening theme to the anime "Hayate the Combat Butler" that aired with episodes one to twenty-six. The single peaked at 7th place on the Oricon singles charts.
Proof/no vain.
Proof/no vain is a single by Mell released on May 30, 2007 in Japan by Geneon. The song "Proof" was the first ending theme to the anime "Hayate the Combat Butler" that aired with episodes one to thirteen.
Get my way!
Get my way! is a single by Mami Kawada released on August 8, 2007 in Japan by Geneon. The song "Get my way" was the second ending theme to the anime "Hayate the Combat Butler" aired from episode fourteen to twenty-six.
Shichiten Hakki Shijōshugi!
 is a single by Kotoko released on October 17, 2007 in Japan by Geneon. The song "Shichiten Hakki ☆ Shijōshugi!" is the second opening theme to the anime "Hayate the Combat Butler" which began airing at episode twenty-seven.
Chasse.
Chasse is a single by Kaori Utatsuki that was released on November 21, 2007 in Japan by Geneon. The song "Chasse" is the third ending theme to the anime "Hayate the Combat Butler" which began airing at episode twenty-seven.
Oto no nai Yozora ni/Ko no me kaze.
 is IKU's debut single released on March 19, 2008 in Japan by Geneon. The song "Ko no me kaze" is the fourth ending theme to the anime "Hayate the Combat Butler" which began airing at episode forty.
Soundtracks.
Original Soundtrack 1.
The Hayate the Combat Butler Original Soundtrack 1 is the first soundtrack to the anime version of "Hayate the Combat Butler" released by Geneon on June 22, 2007. The soundtrack is composed and arranged by Kōtarō Nakagawa.
Original Soundtrack 2.
The Hayate the Combat Butler Original Soundtrack 2 is the second soundtrack to the anime version of "Hayate the Combat Butler" that was released by Geneon on February 22, 2008. The soundtrack is composed and arranged by Kōtarō Nakagawa.
Audio dramas.
Drama CDs.
Hermione Ayasaki and the Private Lessons.
Hayate the Combat Butler Drama CD 1: Hermione Ayasaki and the Private Lessons is the first drama CD based on the anime version of the series "Hayate the Combat Butler". It was first released on August 24, 2007 by Geneon.
Hakuo Gakuin Bus Tour and Maria Talking to Herself.
Hayate the Combat Butler Drama CD 2: Hakuo Gakuin Bus Tour and Maria Talking to Herself is the second drama CD based on the anime version of the series "Hayate the Combat Butler". It was scheduled for release on February 22, 2008 but it was later changed to March 7, 2008 by Geneon.
First Love.
Hayate the Combat Butler Drama CD 3: First Love is the third drama CD based on the anime version of the series "Hayate the Combat Butler". It was released on March 21, 2008 by Geneon.
Gōgō Seitokai Tenkenjā VS Kyōfu no Donperi Kaijin Yukijin.
 is a promotional released drama CD released through the magazine "Shōnen Sunday" based on the anime version of the series "Hayate the Combat Butler!".
Radio CDs.
Radio the Combat Butler Volume 1.
Radio the Combat Butler Volume 1 is the first compilation of the web radio show "Radio the Combat Butler", featuring Rie Kugimiya, the voice actor for Nagi Sanzenin, Ryōko Shiraishi, the voice actor for Hayate Ayasaki, and occasionally replacing Ryoko Shiraishi, Rie Tanaka, the voice actor for Maria. It was released by Geneon on September 21, 2007 on two CDs. The first CD contains new recordings that never aired and the second CD contains thirteen episodes of the web radio show that aired between April 6, 2007 and June 29, 2007.
Radio the Combat Butler Volume 2.
Radio the Combat Butler Volume 2 is the second compilation of the web radio show "Radio the Combat Butler", featuring Rie Kugimiya and Ryōko Shiraishi, the voice actor for Nagi Sanzenin and Hayate Ayasaki respectively. It was released by Geneon on December 21, 2007. Like the first volume, volume two is two disks. The first CD contains new recordings and the second CD contains thirteen web radio episodes that aired between July 6, 2007 and September 28, 2007 in mp3 format.
Character song albums.
Twelve music albums for "Hayate the Combat Butler" have been released featuring songs sung by the voice actors for not only the main cast, but also from the supporting cast of characters. The first two albums, released on May 25, 2007, include songs by Ryōko Shiraishi as Hayate Ayasaki and Rie Tanaka as Maria. The next two, released on July 25, 2007, include songs by Rie Kugimiya as Nagi Sanzenin and Shizuka Itō as Hinagiku Katsura. Volumes five and six, released on September 21, 2007, contained songs by Miyu Matsuki as Isumi Saginomiya and Kana Ueda as Sakuya Aizawa. Volume seven, released on November 21, 2007, contained songs by Marina Inoue as Wataru Tachibana and Saki Nakajima as Saki Kijima, while volume eight released on the same day contained songs by Mikako Takahashi as Ayumu Nishizawa. Album number nine, released on January 25, 2008, includes songs by Hitomi Nabatame as Yukiji Katsura, and volume ten released on the same day is a trio between Eri Nakao, Sayuri Yahagi, and Masumi Asano as Miki Hanabishi, Izumi Segawa, and Risa Asakaze respectively. The eleventh release, on March 21, 2008, is another album by Rie Kugimiya, and the twelfth album, released on the same day, is a duet with Rie Tanaka and Shizuka Itō.


Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka

 is a 1933 anime short film by Kenzō Masaoka and the first Japanese anime of any type to feature voiceovers. The film was released in black and white. There are no known prints of this film available, and it is considered a lost film.
"Chikara" was listed as one of the "Best of Best" by the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival.
Plot.
The protagonist is a father of four children. His wife is tall, and weighs due to her incredibly large physique. Because he is constantly being henpecked at home, he becomes involved in an affair with a typist at his company and accidentally tells his wife about it while talking in his sleep. After obtaining additional evidence of the affair, she goes to confront both her husband and the typist at her husband's office.
Production.
In 1927, "The Jazz Singer" was released in the United States as the first talkie film, and Japanese film companies began working on creating them as well. Shochiku released in 1931, the first Japanese talkie. Due to the success of this film, the president of Shochiku, Shirō Kido, commissioned Masaoka to make the first anime talkie, and he began working on it immediately.
Masaoka worked on the film for a little over a year and finally completed it in October 1932. The film was released in theaters the following year on 13 April 1933. At this time, the job of voice actor did not exist, so Shochiku used regular actors for the voice parts. Casting well-known stars, such as Roppa Furukawa and Ranko Sawa (of the Takarazuka Revue), helped make the film a success.


Carl W. A. Groos House (New Braunfels, Texas)

The Carl W. A. Groos House is located in the city of New Braunfels, county of Comal, in the U.S. state of Texas. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Comal County, Texas in 2000, and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1968. Groos occupied this house for approximately one year. He moved to San Antonio, and in 1880 had architect Alfred Giles design his home which became known as the Carl Wilhelm August Groos House. Originally owned by one of the early German emigrants to New Braunfels, the house has also remained in the hands of descendants of the early German settlers. Diplomat Bob Krueger used the building for his business office and renovated it in 1999.
History.
Carl Wilhelm August Groos (1830–1893) was a Prussian emigrant to Texas in 1848, first in Fayette County and then Gillespie County. In February 1870, Groos purchased a block of land between Seguin and Castell Streets, which consisted of Lot 56 and Lot 72 for $1,900. On May 20, 1870, he married Hulda Amalie Moureau of New Braunfels, and became part of his father-in-law's business. Groos built his New Braunfels home shortly after the wedding. In 1872, Groos moved his family to San Antonio, retaining ownership of the New Braunfels house. In 1879, the house was sold to Gross's sister Emile and her husband New Braunfels’ Mayor Johann Friedrich Adolph Giesecke. A native of Hanover, Germany, Giesecke emigrated to Texas in 1846. The Gieseckes sold the house to local merchant Fritz Scholl, whose family retained ownership until 1946. Scholl was married to the daughter of Julius Rennert, one of the original New Braunfels settlers. Arlon and Faye Krueger, parents of career politician and diplomat Bob Krueger, purchased the house in 1946. Arlon Krueger's grandfather Karl emigrated to Texas in the 19th Century. Upon Arlon's death in 1973, the house remained with his immediate family. Bob Krueger used the building as his business office, and had the building renovated in 1999.


Japanese Village, Knightsbridge

The Japanese Village in Knightsbridge, London, was a late Victorian era exhibition of Japanese culture located in Humphreys' Hall, which took place from January 1885 until June 1887. The exhibition employed around 100 Japanese men and women in a setting built to resemble a traditional Japanese village.
Description.
The exhibition was a commercial venture organised by Tannaker Buhicrosan (1839–1894), who had been organising travelling Japanese exhibitions in Britain for several years beforehand. As a result of the opening up of Japan to trade with Britain in the 1850s, an English craze for all things Japanese had built through the 1860s and 1870s, fed by the British perception of Japan as a mediaeval culture. This resonated particularly with devotees of the Aesthetic movement of the late nineteenth century and made the exhibition very popular, with over 250,000 visitors during its early months.
The exhibition was built to resemble a traditional Japanese village, completely contained within Humphreys' Hall (which was south of Knightsbridge and east of what is now Trevor Street). It employed around 100 Japanese men and women, and included segregated sleeping accommodation. According to advertisements placed in the "Illustrated London News", "Skilled Japanese artisans and workers (male and female) will illustrate the manners, customs, and art-industries of their country, attired in their national and picturesque costumes. Magnificently decorated and illuminated Buddhist temple. Five o’clock tea in the Japanese tea-house. Japanese Musical and other Entertainments. Every-day Life as in Japan".
While Gilbert and Sullivan were writing their opera "The Mikado" (1885), W. S. Gilbert visited the exhibition and engaged Japanese people from the village to teach his cast aspects of Japanese behaviour. In May 1885, the hall burnt down overnight and one of the Japanese employees was killed in the blaze. However Mr Buhicrosan immediately announced that the hall and the exhibit would be rebuilt as quickly as possible. As it happened the exhibit employees were already committed to visit Berlin and appear at the 1885 International Hygiene Exhibition in Berlin. They proceeded to fulfill the engagement. Meanwhile, the hall and the village exhibit were both reconstructed and the exhibition re-opened to the public in December 1885 with "several streets of shops ... two temples and various free-standing idols, and a pool spanned by a rustic bridge".
The exhibition continued for another eighteen months. By February 1887, over a million people had visited it. It closed in June 1887.


Frank Mottershaw

Frank Mottershaw (1850–1932) (often confused with his second son, Frank Storm Mottershaw) was an early English cinema director based in Sheffield, Yorkshire. His films, "A Daring Daylight Burglary" and "The Robbery of the Mail Coach" (featuring a protagonist based on Jack Sheppard, the infamous 18th-century English highwayman), made in April and September 1903, are regarded as highly influential on the development of Edwin Porter’s paradigmatic "chase film" "The Great Train Robbery" of December 1903, and often claimed as the prototype of the action film. The uniqueness of Mottershaw's "A Daring Daylight Burglary" is seen in the way it tracks a single action through changing locations. Henry Jasper Redfern and Mottershaw made the first motion pictures filmed outdoors in Sheffield.
In 1900 Mottershaw formed the Sheffield Photo Company, which by 1905 was one of the leading film companies in the country.
Mottershaw also made documentary films, an early example being "The Coronation of King Peter I of Serbia in Belgrade", made in 1904, with Arnold Muir Wilson.


Wetjes-Hor

Wetjes-Hor was the second nome of Upper Egypt. Its major population center, modern Edfu, was called "Behdet" and "Djeba" in antiquity. Its Middle Kingdom cemetery is provides much information on the burial practices of commoners during this period. The Old Kingdom governor, Izi, whose mastaba is found in Edfu's necropolis, was worshiped as a minor deity in later times.


Archer County Courthouse and Jail

The Archer County Courthouse and Jail is a historic courthouse building on Public Square and Sycamore and Pecan Streets in Archer City, Texas.
Archer County was organized in 1880. The Romanesque style courthouse was built during 1891-92 and replaced a wooden courthouse from 1880. An architectural design competition was held, and the Romanesque Revival-style design of architect Alonzo N. Dawson of Fort Worth was chosen out of 25 submissions.
The contract amount for construction was $32,500. The exterior walls of the courthouse are of brown sandstone obtained from a nearby quarry. Originally, the building was two-story and rising from the center of the courthouse was a massive octagonal tower, with four clock faces, terminated with a cupola. The tower was removed in 1928 and a third floor was added.
The jail, a block north of the courthouse, was built in 1910.
The courthouse and jail were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.


Coyne (surname)

Coyne is a surname of Irish origin anglicised from the Gaelic "Ó Cadhain" meaning "descendant of Cadhan".
Notable people with the surname include:


Waga coat of arms

Waga (Polish for "Scales") is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several "szlachta" (noble) families under the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Notable bearers.
Notable bearers of this coat of arms have included:


Dating the Enemy

Dating The Enemy is a 1996 Australian comedy about a boyfriend and girlfriend who swap bodies and have to live as each other.
Plot.
One Valentine's evening a group of single, dateless friends get together to play Trivial Pursuit. Brett (Guy Pearce), a friend of the host from Melbourne, has just landed a job as presenter of a TV gossip show. He is brash and self-confident. Tash (Claudia Karvan) is a science journalist for a national newspaper, studious, intense and self-conscious. They have nothing in common, so naturally they get it together.
A year later and Brett's career is going well, there is the possibility of a job in New York and popularity has gone to his head. Tash is still trying to write serious scientific articles for a paper more interested in gossip and sex and struggling to prevent her articles being buried on page 12. Their relationship is on the rocks. That night during a Valentine's boat trip on Sydney Harbour, an argument ensues and Brett decides he has had enough. Tash tells him: 'I wish you could be me, so you could see how I feel for once. I wish I could be you, so I could show you what an idiot you've become!'.
That night is a full moon and fate decides to lend a hand. They wake to find that each is in the other's body. A month of each pretending to be the other ensues and they have to learn what it's really like to be in the other person's shoes. Tash has to try to keep Brett's high-profile career on track. Brett is so bored by Tash's job, he ends up trying to make science sexy. Each learns to appreciate the other as only together can they make this enforced predicament work out.
Production.
The film was co-financed by French distributor Pandora Film.
Reception.
One review described "Dating the Enemy" as: "A fast and funny look at relationships in the 90s, the smash-hit romantic comedy 'Dating the Enemy' brings a whole new meaning to the battle of the sexes."
Soundtrack.
The soundtrack includes the OMC song "Right On". The original video for "Right On" features clips from the movie.
Box office.
" Dating The Enemy " grossed $2,620,325 at the box office in Australia, which is equivalent to $3,668,455
in 2009 AS dollars.


Yang Naimei

Yang Naimei (; 1904 – December 27, 1960) was an actress of China's silent film era. She starred in such well-received films as "The Soul of Yuli" (1924), "Orchid in an Empty Valley" (1926), "Spring Dream by the Lakeside" (1927) and "The Young Mistress' Fan" (1928).
In 1926–28 Yang played lead roles in films which put her among the top-ranked Chinese film actresses of the 1920s.
Career.
Yang's breakthrough role was in "The Soul of Yuli" (1924), where she played a dissolute playgirl who wouldn't settle down after marriage. Yang then played lead roles in "The Poor Children" and "Lured into Marriage".
In 1928 Yang opened the Naimei Film Company which produced one film in the same year, "An Extraordinary Woman". Yang retired from acting in the mid-1930s.


Enid Lorimer

May Enid Bosworth Nunn OAM (27 November 188715 July 1982), known professionally as Enid Lorimer and also as a publisher of children's literature under pen name of Ellen Bosworth, was a British-born Australian film, stage actress and director, radio and television actress, writer, teacher and theosophist. She was married to Count Wentworth Zerffi. She attended Herbert Beerbohm Trees theatre in London and trained as a Shakespearean actress, she was a contemporary of Dame Sybil Thorndike and Lilian Braithwaite. Miss Lorimer was also involved in silent film production in Britain during World War 1, working with the likes of Dame Ellen Terry.
Early life.
Lorimer was born on 27 November 1887, in London, United Kingdom. Her father was Harold Marcus Nunn and her mother was Helen Louise Fowler ("née" Bosworth).
Her early education was supervised by a governess. She later attended a boarding school in Folkestone, Kent, and a finishing school in Switzerland.
Career.
Lorimer's career as an actress lasted for some 70 years. She first took stage drama in the United Kingdom, before leaving for Sydney, Australia in November 1923 to serve as Art Director at the Star Amphitheatre, Balmoral. She starred in numerous Australian television programmes, such as "Motel", "Spyforce", "Homicide", "Division 4" and "Cop Shop", as well as many theatrical stage plays, and in 1966 she appeared as a narrator in fourteen episodes of the BBC children's television programme "Jackanory". Up until her 85th birthday in 1973, she was very active within the entertainment circle and would not entertain the prospect of retirement, despite self-admitted signs of "phasing out". Her final film appearance was in "The Odd Angry Shot". In her later years, she gradually declined from acting and instead started writing children's books, such as the series "Shelley" (which was based on her granddaughter), under the pseudonym of Ellen Bosworth. Many of her books were best-sellers in Australia. During her lifetime, Lorimer also worked as a teacher and a theosophist.
Recognition.
Lorimer was awarded the Chips Rafferty Memorial Award in 1981 and the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her service towards the performing arts on 14 June 1982.
Enid Lorimer Circuit, in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm, is named in her honour.
Death.
Lorimer died on 15 July 1982 at a private hospital in Wahroonga, New South Wales. A private funeral was held for her; only six people attended.


Wilson Chambers Building

The Wilson Chambers Building () is a heritage building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at the corner of McGill Street and Notre Dame Street West in Old Montreal.
It was designed by Richard C. Windeyer, and constructed from 1868 to 1869 by Charles Wilson. It was renovated in 1990 by Amis Nazar.
It was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990. It was designated due to its Gothic Revival architecture, which is uncommon on commercial buildings in Canada. The building, which is 5 stories tall, also has both Italianate and Second Empire features.


Dot da Genius production discography

The following list is a discography of production by Dot da Genius, an American hip hop record producer from Brooklyn, New York. It includes a list of songs produced, co-produced and remixed by year, artist, album and title.


First Methodist Church (Georgetown, Texas)

First Methodist Church is a historic church at 410 E. University in Georgetown, Texas.
It was built in 1891 and added to the National Register in Texas.


A Daughter of Eve

A Daughter of Eve is a 1919 British silent crime film directed by Walter West and starring Violet Hopson, Stewart Rome and Cameron Carr. Ronald Colman made an early screen appearance. The film is now considered a lost film.


Noam

Noam () is a Hebrew name which means "pleasantness", and while started as the male version of the female "No'omi" (English: "Naomi" or "Noémie"), today, it is a very common Hebrew name for both males and females alike. The common name day for both genders is often 7 December.


List of Indiana state historical markers in Wabash County

This is a list of the Indiana state historical markers in Wabash County.
This is intended to be a complete list of the official state historical markers placed in Wabash County, Indiana, United States by the Indiana Historical Bureau. The locations of the historical markers and their latitude and longitude coordinates are included below when available, along with their names, years of placement, and topics as recorded by the Historical Bureau. There are 8 historical markers located in Wabash County.


Hassan Butt

Hassan Butt () (born 1980) is a British Pakistani former spokesman of the radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun who now calls on Muslims to "renounce terror".
Butt has claimed that before renouncing terror he sent arms to the Taliban, organised training for 200 British Muslims to fight in Jihad, collected money for terrorism, incited others to terrorism, encouraged attacks on political and military targets in the UK and associated with the 7/7 bombers.
On 9 May 2008, British anti-terror police arrested Butt for questioning just as he was about to board a flight to Lahore, Pakistan; he was released after twelve days. Manchester Police subsequently released extracts from their interviews with Butt in which he stated that "I've never met Osama bin Laden. I've never met anyone from Al-Qaeda, or anyone who claimed to be from Al-Qaeda at all in my entire life", and that he had stabbed himself "as part of the whole scam."
Personal life, education, and career.
Hassan Butt was born in Luton to Kashmiri parents, who later moved to Manchester. There Butt attended Prestwich High School, where he claims to have been forced out for his 'Islamic activities’. He finished at Abraham Moss High School, then attended Bury College and the University of Wolverhampton, which also expelled him.
At the age of 20 he moved to Pakistan and gained notoriety in 2002 when he claimed that he had recruited 200 British volunteers to fight for the Taliban who would return to the UK and launch terror attacks.
On his return from Pakistan he approached the "Mirror" newspaper attempting to sell his story for £100,000. Following this attempt, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Great Britain said: "The very wild claims that Butt has made from Lahore show him for what he is: a clown and someone who wants to make himself important."
Early views.
In an interview with "Prospect" magazine Butt said that he would be honoured to be called a terrorist, "I would agree to being called a radical and one day I may even be called a terrorist, if Allah permits me. That is something it would be an honour to be called."
Advocating the superiority of Islam, Butt has said that "Islam is a way of life, a way of life superior to communism and capitalism. Christianity is a mere religion and can’t cater for people’s way of life, but Islam can. With the fall of the Soviet Union, people started turning to Islam as a way of life, whereas America wanted to spread capitalism across the world. That's why Islam became the enemy."
Arguing for the necessity for Muslims to live under Sharia law, Butt said that, "Every Muslim must work for the Shari’a to be implemented as a political way of life. They can do that physically, by involving themselves in revolutionary coups, or through political means. As long as they don't attack or compromise other Muslims who are doing something different from them, I have no problem with any of these ways of establishing the Shari’a."
Butt has argued that Muslims in Britain should have no allegiance to Britain, saying, "I feel absolutely nothing for this country. I have no problem with the British people...but if someone attacks them, I have no problem with that either."
Later views.
In 2007, Butt argued that, "The fact is that Muslims in Britain are citizens of this country. We are no longer migrants in a Land of Unbelief. For my generation, we were born here, raised here, schooled here, we work here and we'll stay here. But more than that, on a historically unprecedented scale, Muslims in Britain have been allowed to assert their religious identity through clothing, the construction of mosques, the building of cemeteries and equal rights in law."
Butt warned that thousands of young Muslims were preparing to unleash fresh "terror atrocities" on Britain's streets. In May 2007, Butt told the News of the World that, "It's sad but we WILL have more atrocities like 7/7 because there are tens of thousands of Muslims who still support violence." Following the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack, Butt appeared on Newsnight where he alleged that "most Muslims" believed that terrorist activity attracts divine pleasure and admission to paradise and that "anything that is not an Islamic way of life" is a legitimate target for attack.
Butt called on the West to take on radicals and violent extremists, arguing that, "Muslim scholars must go back to the books and come forward with a refashioned set of rules and a revised understanding of the rights and responsibilities of Muslims whose homes and souls are firmly planted in what I'd like to term the Land of co-existence."
Criticisms.
British Muslim activist Anas Altikriti, has strongly criticised Butt, arguing that, "Now that he has changed sides, rather than see the error in the methodology and ideology to which he once subscribed and which he peddled for years, he has adopted the posture of extremist once again - and is hurling abuse once more, albeit from the opposite side." Altikriti concludes that "The call to change the face of Islam, attacking Islamic doctrine through the copy-and-paste methodology that falsely makes the Qur'an seem like a book of evil, is unjust and disingenuous."
There has also been criticism from the Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Inayat Bunglawala, who has argued that Butt is wrong to argue that "we [Britain] do not need to revisit some of our own murderous actions overseas and examine whether they have contributed to the spread of violent extremism."
The Muslim activist Faisal Haque asked why Butt has not been arrested and suggested that Butt "may have been working for the security service". Butt has denied these charges saying he would inform the police if he would be aware of an impending terror attack, but that he was not an informer.
In May 2008, Channel 4 News in the UK reported that Greater Manchester Police had released transcripts from their interviews with Hassan Butt. In the extracts he said he had fabricated many of his previous claims, that he had never met Osama bin Laden and that he had stabbed himself in the arm rather than having been attacked by extremists as he had previously claimed.


Margaret Wertheim

Margaret Wertheim (born 20 August 1958) is an Australian-born science writer, curator, and artist based in the United States. She is the author of books on the cultural history of physics, and has written about science, including for the "New York Times", "Los Angeles Times", "Guardian", "Aeon" and "Cabinet". Wertheim and her twin sister, Christine Wertheim, are co-founders of the Institute For Figuring (IFF), a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization though which they create projects at the intersection of art, science and mathematics. Their IFF projects include their "Crochet Coral Reef", which has been shown at the 2019 Venice Biennale, Hayward Gallery (London), Museum of Arts and Design (NYC), and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. For her work with public science engagement, Wertheim won the 2016 Klopsteg Memorial Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers and Australia's Scientia Medal (2017).
Education and research.
Wertheim's education includes two bachelor's degrees, a Bachelor of Science in pure and applied physics from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor of Arts in pure mathematics and computing from the University of Sydney.
Wertheim has been a research associate at the American Natural Museum of Natural History located in New York, and is a fellow at the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities. She is currently a PhD candidate and researcher at Deakin University. She was the Discovery Fellow (2012-2013) at the University of Southern California, as well as the Vice Chancellor's Fellow (2015) at the University of Melbourne.
Career.
Books.
Wertheim is the author of a trilogy that considers the role of theoretical physics in the cultural landscape of modern Western society. The first, "Pythagoras' Trousers", is a history of the relationship between physics, religion and gender relations. Reviewing the book in "The Independent", Jenny Turner writes that the introduction states the book's argument elegantly and compellingly; but the text disappointed her by losing sight of what Turner thought its most interesting goal, telling how physics has been motivated by "fantasies of universal mastery". The book offered a critique of sexism in science and proposed systemic historical reasons why physics has been so un-open to women since its inception in Pythagorean principles 2500 years ago.
The second, "The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace", charts the history of scientific thinking about space from Dante to the Internet. The thesis of the book is that our conceptions of human selfhood are intimately entwined with our conceptions of space, and when our concepts of space change so do our views about the "self." In the medieval schema, there were two spaces of being: the physical space of the Earth, planets and stars, and the spiritual domain of Heaven and Hell. Here "man" was conceived as a creature of both body and soul, each aspect operating within its parallel realm. With the advent of a Newtonian cosmos and its purely physical depiction of space, "man" came to be envisioned as a solely material being. In the 1990s, the coming into being of cyberspace – to use William Gibson's term – ushered in a claim that this ethereal domain would re-open possibilities for activation of a spiritual side of our selves. Wertheim refutes this claim, and the book offered an early challenge to visions of cyber-utopia. Andrew Leonard, reviewing the book for "The New York Times", calls Wertheim's thesis "ambitious and fascinating." Leonard finds her account of the evolution of physicists' concept of space impressive, but expresses the view that ultimately she loses faith in her thesis of cyberspace as a spiritual realm: even if there is, indeed, something human about a great network of relationships that "cannot be captured by an equation or a telescope". Yet as Britt Elvira Ruitenberg wrote on the website The First Supper, the purpose of the book was not to endorse cyber-spiritualism, but to challenge the very premise, this "dream of a virtual Eden that rapidly vanished away".
The third, "Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything", looks at the idiosyncratic world of "outsider physicists" such as Jim Carter, people with little or no scientific training who develop their own alternative theories of the universe. Freeman Dyson, reviewing the book in "The New York Review of Books", notes that it describes research by amateurs, who "offer an alternative set of visions ... concrete rather than abstract, physical rather than mathematical." The leading character is Jim Carter, a man with an "unshakable belief" in a theory of the whole universe constructed of "endless hierarchies of circlons", circular mechanical objects that reproduce and split like smoke rings. Unknown to Carter, his basic idea that atoms could be explained as subatomic smoke rings had already been proposed in the 1870s by the renowned English physicist William Thomson (later Baron Kelvin), and the Scottish mathematician P.G. Tait. Tait and Thomson's theory of "vortex atoms" has been called by the historian Helge Kragh "a Victorian theory of everything", and is now regarded as a kind of precursor to string theory.
Journalism.
As a journalist, Wertheim has written for newspapers in various countries including "The New York Times", "Los Angeles Times", "The Guardian", "The Daily Telegraph", and "Die Zeit". She has written science articles for magazines including "New Scientist", "The Sciences", "Cabinet", "Aeon", "The Australian Review of Books", and "Australian Geographic".
Her work has been included in "The Best American Science Writing 2003", edited by Oliver Sacks; and "Best Australian Science Writing" (2015, 2016, 2018 by Newsouth Press); and "Best Writing on Mathematics 2018" (Princeton University Press).
Television.
Wertheim has scripted 10 television documentaries, as well as created and co-directed the award-winning series "Catalyst", a six-part science and technology series for a teenage audience. She has produced several short films, and she wrote and directed the interactive Canadian public health program "What About AIDS" (1988), an early use of laser-disc technology. Wertheim lectures around the globe promoting science within a social justice context.
Institute For Figuring.

In 2003, Wertheim and her twin sister Christine, faculty member of the Department of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts, founded the Institute For Figuring, an organisation based in Los Angeles that promotes the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science and mathematics. The Institute proposes that people can interact directly with mathematical and scientific ideas via material construction methods (such a crochet and paper folding), not simply via abstract equations and formulas. IFF is a nonprofit organization through which the sisters produce their "Crochet Coral Reef" project, an endeavor they created as an artistic response to climate change and the decimation of the Great Barrier Reef in their Australian homeland. The project also responds to the problem of oceanic plastic trash. While engaging audiences around the world with these environmental concerns, the "Crochet Coral Reef" also serves as way to teach non-Euclidean geometry. The frilly curling shapes of the "Crochet Reef" are manifestations of hyperbolic surfaces, the same forms made by living reef organisms. The ability to crochet such forms was discovered in 1997 by Daina Taimiņa, a Cornell University mathematician.
Through their work with IFF, the Wertheim sisters have created exhibitions on scientific and mathematical themes at art galleries and science museums around the world, including the 2019 Venice Biennale, Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the Hayward Gallery, London, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California,
Machine Project, the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles,
the Science Gallery at Trinity College in Dublin,
Museum of Arts and Design, the Cooper Hewitt in New York,
and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.. These exhibitions and related public programming make mathematical and scientific concepts accessible to laypeople.
Crochet Coral Reef project.
The Wertheim sister's "Crochet Coral Reef" project is one of the largest participatory art and science endeavor in the world. By creating giant installations that mimic living coral reefs, crocheted out of yarn and types of plastic, and using algorithms inspired by hyperbolic geometry, the project resides at the intersection of mathematics, science, handicraft, environmentalism and community art practice. The project teaches audiences about non-Euclidean geometry, while also engaging them with the subject of climate change and the decimation of reefs due to global warming. As of early 2020, more than 10,000 people from New York and London, to Riga and Abu Dhabi, have actively contributed pieces to "Crochet Coral Reef" exhibitions in more than 40 cities and countries. More than two million people have seen these shows. In the foreword to the "Crochet Coral Reef" book, Donna Haraway calls the project "palpable, polymorphous, powerful and terrifying stitchery". Wertheim was invited to speak about the project in a Ted Talk in February 2009. The talk has been transcribed into 22 different languages and has surpassed 1.3 million views on the Ted website.
Since its beginning in 2005,"Crochet Coral Reef" has expanded into a constellation of individual reefs including a "Bleached Reef", a "Toxic Reef" made of video-tape and plastic, a "Branched Anemone Garden", and a giant "Coral Forest" – consisting of six large-scale sculptures, three crocheted from yarn and three from plastic. The plastic works are inspired by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a gigantic gyre of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean.
Mosley Snowflake Sponge project.
Inspired by and working with Jeannine Mosely, a software engineer and origami artist, Margaret Wertheim curated a project at the University of Southern California to create a giant model of a fractal, constructed from 48,912 business cards. Professors, librarians, local artists, school students, and hundreds of USC students all participated in over 3,000 hours of work to complete this object. Discovered by Dr. Mosely in 2006, the Mosely Snowflake is a cousin of the famous "Menger Sponge", the first three-dimensional fractal known to mathematicians which was first described by Karl Menger in 1926. The "Mosely Snowflake Sponge" at USC was the first-ever instantiation of this new fractal form, and has since been reproduced by other groups around the world, including in Madagascar. On display at the University of Southern California's Doheny Memorial Library, the completed "Mosely Snowflake Sponge" fractal was constructed out of specially designed business cards colored in the Trojans pallet of scarlet and gold, and using several geometric designs taken from the Oliver Byrne version of Euclid's "Elements".


List of Indiana state historical markers in Jennings County

This is a list of the Indiana state historical markers in Jennings County.
This is intended to be a complete list of the official state historical markers placed in Jennings County, Indiana, United States by the Indiana Historical Bureau. The locations of the historical markers and their latitude and longitude coordinates are included below when available, along with their names, years of placement, and topics as recorded by the Historical Bureau. There are 7 historical markers located in Jennings County.


Manning Clark House

The Manning Clark House, designed by Australian architect, Robin Boyd in 1952, is a house located at 11 Tasmania Circle, , a suburb of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. The house was built for Professor Manning Clark (1915 – 1991), described as "Australia's most famous historian", and his wife, Dymphna Clark, (1916 – 2000), a linguist and educator.
The house in now home to Manning Clark House Inc. (MCH), a community based institution that nurtures creative practice and research in Australian history, human rights, literature, music, visual art, and indigenous culture, as well as discussion and debate on issues of public importance and all areas of scholarly interest. The organisation supports the intellectual and creative community through a network of scholars and community garden. The program includes public lectures, open forums, seminars, conferences, art exhibitions, poetry readings, concerts, book launches, human rights education, and social gatherings in the former home of Manning and Dymphna Clark.
Following the 2000 death of Dymphna Clark, the house was transferred to community use.
A full calendar of events is available on the webpage.


Tenugui

A is a thin Japanese hand towel made from cotton. Typically, are about in size, plain woven, and almost always dyed with some pattern. Usually the long sides are finished with a selvage, and the short sides are just cut and so soon show some fraying.
A is often used in ways that towels are used, such as being used as a washcloth or dishcloth, for example. They are often used as headbands, souvenirs, decorations, or for wrapping bottles and similar items. Towels made from terry cloth have largely replaced in household use. However are still popular as souvenirs, decorations, and as a head covering in kendo, where it functions as a sweatband and provides extra padding beneath the headgear ().


Mashiach (disambiguation)

Mashiach () is a Hebrew term for the messiah in Judaism. Mashiach may also refer to:


Barbara Vanderlinden

Barbara Vanderlinden is an art critic, editor, and independent curator. She began her career in the mid-1990s as co-curator of the contemporary art program of Antwerp '93, European Capital of Culture , under its auspices, co-organized the exhibitions "New Sculptures for Middelheim" (1992), MIddelheimmuseum, Middelheim; "On Taking a Normal Situation..." (1993), MuHKA Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp; and "The Sublime Void: On the Memory of the Imagination" (1993), Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerp. She has gone on to be the founding director of Roomade, Brussels (1996–2005) where she initiated and produced projects in collaboration with artists such as Mullican Matt Mullican under Hypnosis (1996), Carsten Höller, Boudewijn Experiment, Deliberate Experiment in Doubt (2000), and Andreas Slominski (1997), and produced a series of artist's films and exhibitions such as Laboratorium (1999) co-curated (with Hans Ulrich Obrist). In 2005, she founded the Brussels Biennial, and was the artistic director of it first edition "Brussels Biennial I, “Re-used Modernity"” (2008–09).
She served as director of the 2008 Brussels Biennial and organised multiple exhibitions as well as various international biennales including the "Taipei Biennial: Do You Believe in Reality?" (2004), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei; "Manifesta," "European biennial of contemporary art" (1998), Luxembourg; "Generation Z" (1998)"," MoMA PS1, New York; "Indiscipline" (2000), Brussels 2000, European Capital of Culture, Brussels; "The Fascinating Faces of Flanders 58/98 Two hours wide or two hours long" (1998) Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon. From 1998 to 2000 she co-curated with Adriano Pedrosa, Ivo Mesquita, and Cuauhtemoc Medina the defunct XXV Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo. She co-curated with Boris Groys "The Art Judgement Show" (2002), Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, and more recently, In "A 37 90 89: Beyond the Museum" (2018–19)"," MuHKA Museum van hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp"."
She served as Professor of Exhibition Studies and Director of the Exhibition Laboratory (2013–15) at the University of the Arts Helsinki (Taideyliopisto) in Finland where she curated the exhibition "Laboratory of Hearing" (2015). Previously, she was Visiting Professor and initiator of the International Curatorial Programme (2001) at the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, Gwangju, South Korea, and Associate Professor of curatorial studies for the CCS Bard Master of Arts Program in Curatorial Studies in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Professor of Exhibition and Museum Studies (2005–08) at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Vanderlinden is the author of a reference book in the field of exhibitions and biennials stories in Europe called "The Manifesta Decade: Debates on Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Biennials in Post-Wall Europe" (MIT Press, 2005) and co-author (with Francesco Bonami and Nancy Spector) of "Maurizio Cattelan" (Phaidon Press, 2003).


Hilf

Hilf is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:


God Is the Bigger Elvis

God Is the Bigger Elvis is a 2011 documentary film about actress Dolores Hart, who abandoned her successful career at the age of 24 to become a Benedictine nun. The film was nominated for the 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).
In 1957, Dolores Hart co-starred with Elvis Presley in the Paramount motion picture "Loving You". It was in this film that she kissed Elvis. This was Elvis' very first on-screen kiss in a movie. Both Dolores and Elvis would reunite the following year in Michael Curtiz's "King Creole".


List of Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks (Trinity-Zavala)

The following is a partial list of Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks (RTHLs) arranged by county as designated by the Texas Historical Commission and local county historical commissions in Texas. This page includes RTHLs in the following counties: Trinity, Tyler, Upshur, Upton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Van Zandt, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Ward, Washington, Webb, Wharton, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger, Willacy, Williamson, Wilson, Winkler, Wise, Wood, Yoakum, Young, Zapata, and Zavala.
KEY
Landmarks with multiple historic designations are colored according to their highest designation within the following hierarchy.
Zavala County.
There are currently no Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks listed within the county.


Exceptional Public Achievement Medal

The Exceptional Public Achievement Medal is an award of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) . It is awarded to any non-Government individual or to any individual who was not a Government employee during the period in which the service was performed. The award is for a significant specific achievement or substantial improvement in operations, efficiency, service, financial savings, science, or technology which contributes to the mission of NASA.
To be awarded the medal, a NASA employee must fulfill the following criteria: work-related achievements yielding high-quality results and/or substantial improvement that supports the Agency mission; innovative approaches used in the conception, design, or execution of the individual's work; and/or impact and importance of the individual's achievement that made a significant contribution that enables NASA to accomplish its mission.


Naderi Throne

The Naderi Throne of Iran is a gemmed and enameled throne made during the Qajar era, now kept in the national treasury of the Central Bank of Iran. The throne has no relation to Nader Shah: the name derives from the word nader meaning "rare" or "unique" in the Persian language.
History.
The throne was made by the order of Fat'h Ali Shah Qajar (1772–1834) and is seen in many paintings of his era. Unlike the platform-like Sun Throne, the Naderi Throne has the appearance of a chair.
The throne was kept in Golestan Palace but it was later transferred to the National Treasury of the Central Bank of Iran. It was last used in the coronation ceremony of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1967.
Design.
The throne can be taken apart into 12 separate sections. It was intended to be portable, to be carried along when the Shah traveled to his summer residences. It is made of wood, covered with gold and encrusted with jewels. Among the 26,733 jewels covering the throne, there are four very large spinels on the backrest, the largest of them weighing 65 ct. There are also four very large emeralds on the backrest, the largest of them weighing approximately 225 ct. The largest ruby on the throne is 35 ct.
The height of the throne is approximately 225 cm. It has inscribed verses attributed to Fat'h Ali Shah. Diaries written by travelers who visited Fat'h Ali Shah's court at the time also mention a throne similar to this one, though the throne may have been refurbished by Naser al-Din Shah Qajar.
The designs which can be seen on the throne include a peacock tail on the backrest, ducks, dragons, leaves and tree branches. A lion rests on the front panel of the footstool.


Rose Gonzales

Rose Cata Gonzales (1900–1989) was born in San Juan Pueblo in the U.S. state of New Mexico. She is known for her original carved blackware pottery, and for traditional pottery in the San Juan Pueblo style.
Biography and artistic career.
When she was very young, her parents died during a swine flu epidemic. She and her sister Pomasen were left orphans and lived with a relative, Mary Cata. In 1920 Gonzales married Robert Gonzales and, along with her sister, moved to his native pueblo of San Ildefonso.
It was her mother-in-law, Ramona Sanchez Gonzales, who taught Gonzales how to make pottery. She learned the methods of black-on-black, polished blackware and black-on-red. By 1930 she began to create very refined and highly polished, blackware and redware. The fine redware she made came from her home tradition of San Juan Pueblo.
In 1930 she also began her innovative process of deep carved pottery. Her carved blackware pottery was an original creation. She credits a shard of carved pottery that was found by her husband while deer hunting for giving her the idea. Using a sharp knife and a chisel she would carve out her designs. She carefully sanded her edges to create a “cameo” style with the design standing out in low relief. She would then sand the edges of her design to create more rounded forms. She used an old-style yucca brush when adding painted designs to her pieces. Some of her favorite designs were the Avanyu (water serpent), birds, clouds, seeds uncurling, thunderbird (mythology) figures and kiva steps.
When firing she used juniper wood and cow dung, placing the pots upside down on a metal grate to allow the flames to swirl evenly around them. She would often fire up to twenty pots at a time.
During the 1930s and 40s she traded these innovative pots for food, allowing her to feed her large family. By the 1970s she had received numerous awards from the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial and had become a well-known and successful potter.
Gonzales taught her son Tse-Pe to make pottery along with his wife Dora and their daughter Irene. Gonzales and Tse-Pe sometimes worked together, especially when creating pottery in duotones (two shades of the same color). While Tse-Pe also carves pottery he prefers sgraffito, which is carving designs in low relief.
Gonzales had a major influence on pottery making at San Ildefonso, and today her pieces have become highly valued by collectors. She died in 1989.


Leah Baird

Leah Baird (born Ada Frankenstein; June 20, 1883 – October 3, 1971) was an American actress and screenwriter.
Life.
Baird was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 20, 1883, the daughter of William Frankenstein and Bertha Schreiver Frankenstein Rathjen. She had an older sister, Mathilda Marie Emilie Frankenstein.
An early star for Vitagraph Studios, Baird began her film career in 1910 in "Jean and the Waif" opposite Jean, the Vitagraph Dog. She played several leads in William F. Brady's troupe, opposite Douglas Fairbanks. In the late 1910s she played in 15 episodes of the serial "Wolves of Kultur". Baird wrote and produced film during the 1920s.
Baird later became a screenwriter and contributed to a number of Clara Bow features. She was married to producer Arthur F. Beck.
Baird was under contract to Warner Bros. for seventeen years, where she appeared in character roles and as an extra.


Peking opera

Base on Chinese traditions
Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. Major performance troupes are based in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. The art form is also preserved in Taiwan, where it is also known as (). It has also spread to other regions such as the United States and Japan.
Peking opera features four main role types, "sheng" (gentlemen), "dan" (women), "jing" (rough men), and "chou" (clowns). Performing troupes often have several of each variety, as well as numerous secondary and tertiary performers. With their elaborate and colorful costumes, performers are the only focal points on Peking opera's characteristically sparse stage. They use the skills of speech, song, dance and combat in movements that are symbolic and suggestive, rather than realistic. Above all else, the skill of performers is evaluated according to the beauty of their movements. Performers also adhere to a variety of stylistic conventions that help audiences navigate the plot of the production. The layers of meaning within each movement must be expressed in time with music. The music of Peking opera can be divided into the () and () styles. Melodies include arias, fixed-tune melodies and percussion patterns. The repertoire of Peking opera includes over 1,400 works, which are based on Chinese history, folklore and, increasingly, contemporary life.
Traditional Peking opera was denounced as "feudalistic" and "bourgeois" during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and replaced mostly with the revolutionary operas until the period's end. After the Cultural Revolution, these transformations were largely undone. In recent years, Peking opera has responded to sagging audience numbers by attempting reforms, including improving performance quality, adapting new performance elements, shortening works, and performing new and original plays.
Etymology.
"Peking opera" is the English term for the art form; the term entered the "Oxford English Dictionary" in 1953. "Beijing opera" is a more recent equivalent.
In China, the art form has been known by many names in different times and places. The earliest Chinese name, "Pihuang", was a combination of the "xipi" and "erhuang" melodies. As it increased in popularity, its name became "Jingju" or "Jingxi", which reflected its start in the capital city (). From 1927 to 1949, when Beijing was known as Beiping, Peking opera was known as "Pingxi" or "Pingju" to reflect this change. Finally, with the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the name of the capital city was reverted to Beijing, and the formal name of this theatre in Mainland China was established as "Jingju". The Taiwanese name for this type of opera, "Guoju", or "national drama", reflects disputes over the true seat of the Chinese government.
History.
Origins.
Peking opera was born when the 'Four Great Anhui Troupes' brought Hui opera, or what is now called "Huiju", in 1790 to Beijing, for the eightieth birthday of the Qianlong Emperor on 25 September. It was originally staged for the court and only made available to the public later. In 1828, several famous Hubei troupes arrived in Beijing and performed jointly with Anhui troupes. The combination gradually formed Peking opera's melodies. Peking opera is generally regarded as having fully formed by 1845. Although it is called Peking opera (Beijing theatre style), its origins are in the southern Anhui and eastern Hubei, which share the same dialect of Xiajiang Mandarin (Lower Yangtze Mandarin). Peking opera's two main melodies, "Xipi" and "Erhuang", were derived from Han Opera after about 1750. The tune of Peking opera is extremely similar to that of Han opera, therefore Han opera is widely known as the Mother of Peking opera. "Xipi" literally means 'Skin Puppet Show', referring to the puppet show that originated in Shaanxi province. Chinese puppet shows always involve singing. Much dialogue is also carried out in an archaic form of Mandarin Chinese, in which the Zhongyuan Mandarin dialects of Henan and Shaanxi are closest. This form of Mandarin is recorded in the book "Zhongyuan Yinyun". It also absorbed music from other operas and local "Zhili" musical art forms. Some scholars believe that the "Xipi" musical form was derived from the historic Qinqiang, while many conventions of staging, performance elements, and aesthetic principles were retained from Kunqu, the form that preceded it as court art.
Thus, Peking opera is not a monolithic form, but rather a coalescence of many older forms. However, the new form also creates its own innovations. The vocal requirements for all of the major roles were greatly reduced for Peking opera. The Chou, in particular, rarely has a singing part in Peking opera, unlike the equivalent role in Kunqu style. The melodies that accompany each play were also simplified, and are played with different traditional instruments than in earlier forms. Perhaps most noticeably, true acrobatic elements were introduced with Peking opera. The form grew in popularity throughout the 19th century. The Anhui troupes reached their peak of excellence in the middle of the century and were invited to perform in the court of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that had been established during the Taiping Rebellion. Beginning in 1884, the Empress Dowager Cixi became a regular patron of Peking opera, cementing its status over earlier forms like Kunqu. The popularity of Peking opera has been attributed to the simplicity of the form, with only a few voices and singing patterns. This allowed anyone to sing the arias themselves.
At the time of its growth in the late nineteenth century, albums became used to display aspects of stage culture, including makeup and costumes of performers.
Peking opera was initially an exclusively male pursuit. There were bans on female performers and major limitations on female audience members, so the art form mainly catered to the tastes of male audience members. Qing dynasty emperors repeatedly banned female performers beginning with Kangxi Emperor in 1671. The last ban was by the Qianlong Emperor who banned all female performers in Beijing in 1772. The appearance of women on the stage began unofficially during the 1870s. Female performers began to impersonate male roles and declared equality with men. They were given a venue for their talents when Li Maoer, himself a former Peking-opera performer, founded the first female Peking-opera troupe in Shanghai. By 1894, the first commercial venue showcasing female performance troupes appeared in Shanghai. This encouraged other female troupes to form, which gradually increased in popularity. As a result, theatre artist Yu Zhenting petitioned for the lifting of the ban after the founding of the Republic of China in 1911. This was accepted, and the ban was lifted in 1912, although male Dan continued to be popular after this period.
Model "revolutionary opera" and Peking opera in Taiwan.
After the Chinese Civil War, Peking opera became a focal point of identity for both involved parties. When the Communist Party of China came to power in Mainland China in 1949, the newly formed government moved to bring art into line with Communist ideology, and "to make art and literature a component of the whole revolutionary machine". To this end, dramatic works without Communist themes were considered subversive, and were ultimately banned during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).
The use of opera as a tool to transmit communist ideology reached its climax in the Cultural Revolution, under the purview of Jiang Qing, wife of Mao Zedong. The 'model operas' were considered one of the great achievements of the Cultural Revolution, and were meant to express Mao's view that "art must serve the interests of the workers, peasants, and soldiers and must conform to proletarian ideology."
Among the eight model plays eventually retained during that time were five Peking operas. Notable among these operas was "The Legend of the Red Lantern", which was approved as a concert with piano accompaniment based on a suggestion from Jiang Qing. Performances of works beyond the eight model plays were allowed only in heavily modified form. The endings of many traditional plays were changed, and visible stage assistants in Peking opera were eliminated. After the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s, traditional Peking opera began to be performed again. Peking opera and other theatrical art forms were a controversial subject both before and during the Twelfth National People's Congress in 1982. A study carried in the "People's Daily" revealed that over 80 percent of musical dramas staged in the country were traditional plays from the pre-Communist era, as opposed to newly written historical dramas promoting socialist values. In response, Communist party officials enacted reforms to curb liberalism and foreign influence in theatrical works.
After the retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan in 1949, Peking opera there took on a special status of "political symbolism", in which the Kuomintang government encouraged the art form over other forms of performance in an attempt to claim a position as the sole representative of Chinese culture. This often occurred at the expense of traditional Taiwanese opera. Due to its status as a prestigious art form with a long history, Peking opera has indeed been studied more and received more monetary support than other forms of theater in Taiwan. However, there has also been a competing movement towards advocating native opera to differentiate Taiwan from the mainland. In September 1990, when the Kuomintang government participated in a state-sponsored mainland cultural event for the first time, a Taiwanese opera group was sent, possibly to emphasize "Taiwaneseness".
Modern Peking opera.
During the second half of the 20th century, Peking opera witnessed a steady decline in audience numbers. This has been attributed both to a decrease in performance quality and an inability of the traditional opera form to capture modern life. Furthermore, the archaic language of Peking opera required productions to use electronic subtitles, which hampered the development of the form. The influence of Western culture has also left the younger generations impatient with the slow pacing of Peking opera. In response, Peking opera began to see reform starting in the 1980s. Such reforms have taken the form of creating a school of performance theory to increase performance quality, employing modern elements to attract new audiences, and performing new plays outside of the traditional canon. However, these reforms have been hampered by both a lack of funding and an adverse political climate that makes the performance of new plays difficult.
In addition to more formal reform measures, Peking-opera troupes during the 1980s also adopted more unofficial changes. Some of those seen in traditional works have been called "technique for technique's sake". This has included the use of extended high pitch sequences by female Dan, and the addition of lengthier movement sections and percussion sequences to traditional works. Such changes have generally met with disdain from Peking-opera performers, who see them as ploys to gain immediate audience appeal. Plays with repetitive sequences have also been shortened to hold audience interest. New works have naturally experienced a greater freedom to experiment. Regional, popular, and foreign techniques have been adopted, including Western style makeup and beards and new face paint designs for Jing characters. The spirit of reform continued during the 1990s. To survive in an increasingly open market, troupes like the Shanghai Peking Opera Company needed to bring traditional Peking opera to new audiences. To do this, they have offered an increasing number of free performances in public areas.
There has also been a general feeling of a shift in the creative attribution of Peking-opera works. The performer has traditionally played a large role in the scripting and staging of Peking-opera works. However, perhaps following the lead of the West, Peking opera in recent decades has shifted to a more director and playwright centered model. Performers have striven to introduce innovation in their work while heeding the call for reform from this new upper level of Peking-opera producers.
Channel CCTV-11 in Mainland China is currently dedicated to broadcasting classic Chinese opera productions, including Peking opera.
Peking opera around the world.
In addition to its presence in mainland China, Peking opera has spread to many other places. It can be found in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese communities elsewhere.
Mei Lanfang, one of the most famous Dan performers of all time, was also one of the greatest popularizers of Peking opera abroad. During the 1920s, he performed Peking opera in Japan. This inspired an American tour in February 1930. Although some, such as the actor Otis Skinner, believed that Peking opera could never be a success in the United States, the favorable reception of Mei and his troupe in New York City disproved this notion. The performances had to be relocated from the 49th Street Theater to the larger National Theater, and the duration of the tour extended from two weeks to five. Mei traveled across the United States, receiving honorary degrees from the University of California and Pomona College. He followed this tour with a tour in the Soviet Union in 1935.
The theatre department at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa has been home to English language Jingju for more than twenty-five years. The school offers Asian Theatre as a major and has regular Jingju performances, the most recent being "Lady Mu and the Yang Family Generals" in 2014.
Performers and roles.
Sheng.
The Sheng (生) is the main male role in Beijing opera. This role has numerous subtypes. The "laosheng" is a dignified older role. These characters have a gentle and cultivated disposition and wear sensible costumes. One type of "laosheng" role is the "hongsheng", a red-faced older male. The only two "hongsheng" roles are Guan Gong, the Chinese God of War, and Zhao Kuang-yin, the first Song Dynasty emperor. Young male characters are known as "xiaosheng". These characters sing in a high, shrill voice with occasional breaks to represent the voice changing period of adolescence. Depending on the character's rank in society, the costume of the "xiaosheng" may be either elaborate or simple. Off-stage, "xiaosheng" actors are often involved with beautiful women by virtue of the handsome and young image they project. The "wusheng" is a martial character for roles involving combat. They are highly trained in acrobatics, and have a natural voice when singing. Troupes will always have a "laosheng" actor. A "xiaosheng" actor may also be added to play roles fitting to his age. In addition to these main Sheng, the troupe will also have a secondary "laosheng".
Dan.
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". One of Mei Lanfang's most important contributions to Beijing opera was in pioneering a sixth type of role, the "huashan". This role type combines the status of the "qingyi" with the sensuality of the "huadan". A troupe will have a young Dan to play main roles, as well as an older Dan for secondary parts. Four examples of famous Dans are Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Shang Xiaoyun, and Xun Huisheng. In the early years of Beijing opera, all Dan roles were played by men. Wei Changsheng, a male Dan performer in the Qing court, developed the "cai ciao", or "false foot" technique, to simulate the bound feet of women and the characteristic gait that resulted from the practice. The ban on female performers also led to a controversial form of brothel, known as the "xianggong tangzi", in which men paid to have sex with young boys dressed as females. Ironically, the performing skills taught to the youths employed in these brothels led many of them to become professional Dan later in life.
Jing.
The Jing (净) is a painted face male role. Depending on the repertoire of the particular troupe, he will play either primary or secondary roles. This type of role will entail a forceful character, so a Jing must have a strong voice and be able to exaggerate gestures. Beijing opera boasts 16 basic facial patterns, but there are over 100 specific variations. The patterns and coloring are thought to be derived from traditional Chinese color symbolism and divination on the lines of a person's face, which is said to reveal personality. Easily recognizable examples of coloring include red, which denotes uprightness and loyalty, white, which represents evil or crafty characters, and black, which is given to characters of soundness and integrity. Three main types of Jing roles are often seen. These include "dongchui", a loyal general with a black face who excels in singing, "jiazi", a complex character played by a skilled actor, and "wujing", a martial and acrobatic character.
Chou.
The Chou (丑) is a male clown role. The Chou usually plays secondary roles in a troupe. Indeed, most studies of Beijing opera classify the Chou as a minor role. The name of the role is a homophone of the Mandarin Chinese word "chou", meaning "ugly". This reflects the traditional belief that the clown's combination of ugliness and laughter could drive away evil spirits. Chou roles can be divided into "Wen Chou", civilian roles such as merchants and jailers, and "Wu Chou", minor military roles. The "Wu Chou" is one of the most demanding in Beijing opera, because of its combination of comic acting, acrobatics, and a strong voice. Chou characters are generally amusing and likable, if a bit foolish. Their costumes range from simple for characters of lower status to elaborate, perhaps overly so, for high status characters. Chou characters wear special face paint, called "xiaohualian", that differs from that of Jing characters. The defining characteristic of this type of face paint is a small patch of white chalk around the nose. This can represent either a mean and secretive nature or a quick wit.
Beneath the whimsical persona of the Chou, a serious connection to the form of Beijing opera exists. The Chou is the character most connected to the "guban", the drums and clapper commonly used for musically accompaniment during performances. The Chou actor often uses the "guban" in solo performance, especially when performing "Shu Ban", light-hearted verses spoken for comedic effect. The clown is also connected to the small gong and cymbals, percussion instruments that symbolize the lower classes and the raucous atmosphere inspired by the role. Although Chou characters do not sing frequently, their arias feature large amounts of improvisation. This is considered a license of the role, and the orchestra will accompany the Chou actor even as he bursts into an unscripted folk song. However, due to the standardization of Beijing opera and political pressure from government authorities, Chou improvisation has lessened in recent years. The Chou has a vocal timbre that is distinct from other characters, as the character will often speak in the common Beijing dialect, as opposed to the more formal dialects of other characters.
Training.
Becoming a Peking opera performer requires a long and arduous apprenticeship beginning from an early age. Before the 20th century, pupils were often handpicked at a young age by a teacher and trained for seven years on contract from the child's parents. Since the teacher fully provided for the pupil during this period, the student accrued a debt to his master that was later repaid through performance earnings. After 1911, training took place in more formally organized schools. Students at these schools rose as early as five o'clock in the morning for exercises. Daytime was spent learning the skills of acting and combat, and senior students performed in outside theatres in the evening. If they made any mistakes during such performances, the entire group was beaten with bamboo canes. Schools with less harsh training methods began to appear in 1930, but all schools were closed down in 1931 after the Japanese invasion. New schools were not opened until 1952.
Performers are first trained in acrobatics, followed by singing and gestures. Several performing schools, all based on the styles of famous performers, are taught. Some examples are the Mei Lanfang school, the Cheng Yanqiu school, the Ma Lianliang school, and the Qi Lintong school. Students previously trained exclusively in the art of performance, but modern performance schools now include academic studies as well. Teachers assess the qualifications of each student and assign them roles as primary, secondary, or tertiary characters accordingly. Students with little acting talent often become Peking-opera musicians. They may also serve as the supporting cast of foot soldiers, attendants, and servants that is present in every Peking-opera troupe. In Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China runs a national Peking-opera training school.
Visual performance elements.
Peking-opera performers use four main skills. The first two are song and speech. The third is dance-acting. This includes pure dance, pantomime, and all other types of dance. The final skill is combat, which includes both acrobatics and fighting with all manner of weaponry. All of these skills are expected to be performed effortlessly, in keeping with the spirit of the art form.
Aesthetic aims and principles of movement.
Peking opera follows other traditional Chinese arts in emphasizing meaning, rather than accuracy. The highest aim of performers is to put beauty into every motion. Indeed, performers are strictly criticized for lacking beauty during training. Additionally, performers are taught to create a synthesis between the different aspects of Peking opera. The four skills of Peking opera are not separate, but rather should be combined in a single performance. One skill may take precedence at certain moments during a play, but this does not mean that other actions should cease. Much attention is paid to tradition in the art form, and gestures, settings, music, and character types are determined by long held convention. This includes conventions of movement, which are used to signal particular actions to the audience. For example, walking in a large circle always symbolizes traveling a long distance, and a character straightening his or her costume and headdress symbolizes that an important character is about to speak. Some conventions, such as the pantomimic opening and closing of doors and mounting and descending of stairs, are more readily apparent.
Many performances deal with behaviors that occur in daily life. However, in accordance with the overriding principle of beauty, such behaviors are stylized to be presented on stage. Peking opera does not aim to accurately represent reality. Experts of the art form contrast the principles of Peking opera with the principle of "Mo", mimes or imitation, that is found in western dramas. Peking opera should be suggestive, not imitative. The literal aspects of scenes are removed or stylized to better represent intangible emotions and characters. The most common stylization method in Peking opera is roundness. Every motion and pose is carefully manipulated to avoid sharp angles and straight lines. A character looking upon an object above them will sweep their eyes in a circular motion from low to high before landing on the object. Similarly, a character will sweep their hand in an arc from left to right in order to indicate an object on the right. This avoidance of sharp angles extends to three-dimensional movement as well; reversals of orientation often take the form of a smooth, S-shaped curve. All of these general principles of aesthetics are present within other performance elements as well.
Staging and costumes.
Peking opera stages have traditionally been square platforms. The action on stage is usually visible from at least three sides. The stage is divided into two parts by an embroidered curtain called a "shoujiu". Musicians are visible to the audience on the front part of the stage. Traditional Peking opera stages were built above the line of sight of the viewers, but some modern stages have been constructed with higher audience seating. Viewers are always seated south of the stage. Therefore, north is the most important direction in Peking opera, and performers will immediately move to "center north" upon entering the stage. All characters enter from the east and exit from the west. In line with the highly symbolic nature of Peking opera, the form uses very few props. This reflects seven centuries of Chinese performance tradition. The presence of large objects is frequently indicated through conventions. The stage will almost always have a table and at least one chair, which can be turned through convention into such diverse objects as a city wall, a mountain, or a bed. Peripheral objects will often be used to signify the presence of a larger, main object. For example, a whip is used to indicate a horse and an oar symbolizes a boat.
The length and internal structure of Peking-opera plays is highly variable. Prior to 1949, "zhezixi", short plays or plays made up of short scenes from longer plays, were often performed. These plays usually center on one simple situation or feature a selection of scenes designed to include all four of the main Peking opera skills and showcase the virtuosity of the performers. This format has become less prevalent in recent times, but plays of one act are still performed. These short works, as well as individual scenes within longer works, are marked by an emotional progression from the beginning of the play to the end. For example, the concubine in the one act play "The Favorite Concubine Becomes Intoxicated" begins in a state of joy, and then moves to anger and jealousy, drunken playfulness, and finally to a feeling of defeat and resignation. A full-length play usually has from six to fifteen or more scenes. The overall story in these longer works is told through contrasting scenes. Plays will alternate between civil and martial scenes, or scenes involve protagonists and antagonists. There are several major scenes within the work that follow the pattern of emotional progression. It is these scenes that are usually excerpted for later "zhezixi" productions. Some of the most complex plays may even have an emotional progression from scene to scene.
Due to the scarcity of props in Peking opera, costumes take on added importance. Costumes function first to distinguish the rank of the character being played. Emperors and their families wear yellow robes, and high-ranking officials wear purple. The robe worn by these two classes is called a "mang", or python robe. It is a costume suitable for the high rank of the character, featuring brilliant colors and rich embroidery, often in the design of a dragon. Persons of high rank or virtue wear red, lower-ranking officials wear blue, young characters wear white, the old wear white, brown, or olive, and all other men wear black. On formal occasions, lower officials may wear the "kuan yi", a simple gown with patches of embroidery on both the front and back. All other characters, and officials on informal occasions, wear the "chezi", a basic gown with varying levels of embroidery and no jade girdle to denote rank. All three types of gowns have water sleeves, long flowing sleeves that can be flicked and waved like water, attached to facilitate emotive gestures. Tertiary characters of no rank wear simple clothing without embroidery. Hats are intended to blend in with the rest of the costume and will usually have a matching level of embroidery. Shoes may be high or low soled, the former being worn by characters of high rank, and the latter by characters of low rank or acrobatic characters.
Stage properties (Qimo).
Qimo (stage props) is the name for all stage properties and some simple decorations. The term first occurred in the Jin dynasty (265–420). Qimo includes articles of everyday life such as candlesticks, lanterns, fans, handkerchiefs, brushes, paper, ink and ink slabs, and tea and wine sets. The props also include: sedan chairs, vehicle flags, oars, and horsewhips, as well as weapons. Also employed are various articles to demonstrate environments, such as cloth backdrops to represent cities, and curtains, flags, table curtains, and chair covers. Traditional qimo are not just imitations of real articles, but also artistic articles in their own right. Flags are also frequently used on the stage. A square flag with the Chinese character for "marshal" on it, a rectangular flag with the Chinese character for "commander" on it, and a flag with the name of a certain army on it represent the location of army camps and commanders-in-chief. In addition, there are water, fire, wind, and vehicle flags. Actors shake these flags to represent waves, fire, wind, or moving vehicles.
Aural performance elements.
Vocal production.
Vocal production in Peking opera is conceived of as being composed of "four levels of song": songs with music, verse recitation, prose dialogue, and non-verbal vocalizations. The conception of a sliding scale of vocalization creates a sense of smooth continuity between songs and speech. The three basic categories of vocal production technique are the use of breath ("yongqi"), pronunciation ("fayin"), and special Peking-opera pronunciation ("shangkouzi").
In Chinese opera, breath is based in the pubic region and supported by the abdominal muscles. Performers follow the basic principle that "Strong centralized breath moves the melodic-passages" ("zhong qi xing xiang"). Breath is visualized being drawn up through a central breathing cavity extending from the pubic region to the top of the head. This "cavity" must be under the performer's control at all times, and he or she develops special techniques to control both entering and exiting air. The two major methods of taking in breath are known as "exchanging breath" ("huan qi") and "stealing breath" ("tou qi"). "Exchanging breath" is a slow, unhurried process of breathing out old air and taking in new. It is used at moments when the performer is not under time constraint, such as during a purely instrumental musical passage or when another character is speaking. "Stealing breath" is a sharp intake of air without prior exhalation, and is used during long passages of prose or song when a pause would be undesirable. Both techniques should be invisible to the audience and take in only the precise amount of air required for the intended vocalization. The most important principle in exhalation is "saving the breath" ("cun qi"). Breath should not be expended all at once at the beginning of a spoken or sung passage, but rather expelled slowly and evenly over its length. Most songs and some prose contain precise written intervals for when breath should be "exchanged" or "stolen". These intervals are often marked by carats.
Pronunciation is conceptualized as shaping the throat and mouth into the shape necessary to produce the desired vowel sound, and clearly articulating the initial consonant. There are four basic shapes for the throat and mouth, corresponding to four vowel types, and five methods of articulating consonants, one for each type of consonant. The four throat and mouth shapes are "opened-mouth" ("kaikou"), "level-teeth" ("qichi"), "closed-mouth" ("hekou" or "huokou"), and "scooped-lips" ("cuochun"). The five consonant types are denoted by the portion of the mouth most critical to each type's production: throat, or larynx ("hou"); tongue ("she"); molars, or the jaws and palate ("chi"); front teeth ("ya"); and lips ("chun").
Some syllables (written Chinese characters) have special pronunciations in Peking opera. This is due to the collaboration with regional forms and kunqu that occurred during the development of Peking opera. For example, 你, meaning "you", may be pronounced "li", as it is in the Anhui dialect, rather than the Standard Chinese "ni". 我, meaning "I" and pronounced "wo" in Standard Chinese, becomes "ngo", as it is pronounced in the dialect of Suzhou. In addition to pronunciation differences that are due to the influence of regional forms, the readings of some characters have been changed to promote ease of performance or vocal variety. For example, "zhi", "chi", "shi", and "ri" sounds do not carry well and are difficult to sustain, because they are produced far back in the mouth. Therefore, they are performed with an additional "i" sound, as in "zhii".
These techniques and conventions of vocal production are used to create the two main categories of vocalizations in Peking opera: stage speech and song.
Stage speech.
Peking opera is performed using both Classical Chinese and Modern Standard Chinese with some slang terms added for color. The social position of the character being played determines the type of language that he or she uses. Peking opera features three major types of stage speech ("nianbai"). Monologues and dialogue, which make up the majority of most plays, consist of prose speeches. The purpose of prose speech is to advance the plot of the play or inject humor into a scene. They are usually short, and are performed mostly using vernacular language. However, as Elizabeth Wichmann points out, they also have rhythmic and musical elements, achieved through the "stylized articulation of monosyllabic sound units" and the "stylized pronunciation of speech-tones", respectively. Prose speeches were frequently improvised during the early period of Peking opera's development, and "chou" performers carry on that tradition today.
The second main type of stage speech consists of quotations drawn from classical Chinese poetry. This type is rarely used in Peking opera; plays have one or two such quotations at most, and often none at all. In most instances, the use of classical poetry is intended to heighten the impact of a scene. However, "Chou" and more whimsical "Dan" characters may misquote or misinterpret the classical lines, creating a comical effect.
The final category of stage speech is conventionalized stage speeches ("chengshi nianbai"). These are rigid formulations that mark important transition points. When a character enters for the first time, an "entrance speech" ("shangchang") or "self-introduction speech" ("zi bao jiamen") is given, which includes a prelude poem, a set-the-scene poem, and a prose set-the-scene speech, in that order. The style and structure of each entrance speech is inherited from earlier Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, folk, and regional forms of Chinese opera. Another conventionalized stage speech is the exit speech, which may take the form of a poem followed by a single spoken line. This speech is usually delivered by a supporting character, and describes his or her present situation and state of mind. Finally, there is the recapitulation speech, in which a character will use prose to recount the story up to that point. These speeches came about as a result of the "zhezixi" tradition of performing only one part of a larger play.
Song.
There are six main types of song lyrics in Peking opera: emotive, condemnatory, narrative, descriptive, disputive, and "shared space separate sensations" lyrics. Each type uses the same basic lyrical structure, differing only in kind and degree of emotions portrayed. Lyrics are written in couplets ("lian") consisting of two lines ("ju"). Couplets can consist of two ten character lines, or two seven character lines. The lines are further subdivided into three "dou" (lit. "pause"), typically in a 3-3-4 or 2-2-3 pattern. Lines may be "padded" with extra characters for the purpose of clarifying meaning. Rhyme is an extremely important device in Peking opera, with thirteen identified rhyme categories. Song lyrics also use the speech tones of Mandarin Chinese in ways that are pleasing to the ear and convey proper meaning and emotion. The first and second of Chinese's four tones are normally known as "level" ("ping") tones in Peking opera, while the third and fourth are called "oblique" ("ze"). The closing line of every couplet in a song ends in a level tone.
Songs in Peking opera are proscribed by a set of common aesthetic values. A majority of songs are within a pitch range of an octave and a fifth. High pitch is a positive aesthetic value, so a performer will pitch songs at the very top of his or her vocal range. For this reason, the idea of a song's key has value in Peking opera only as a technical tool for the performer. Different performers in the same performance may sing in different keys, requiring the accompanying musicians to constantly retune their instruments or switch out with other players. Elizabeth Wichmann describes the ideal basic timbre for Peking opera songs as a "controlled nasal tone". Performers make extensive use of vocal vibrato during songs, in a way that is "slower" and "wider" than vibrato used in Western performances. The Peking opera aesthetic for songs is summed up by the expression "zi zheng qiang yuan", meaning that the written characters should be delivered accurately and precisely, and the melodic passages should be weaving, or "round".
Music.
The accompaniment for a Peking opera performance usually consists of a small ensemble of traditional melodic and percussion instruments. The lead melodic instrument is the "jinghu", a small, high-pitched, two-string spike fiddle. The "jinghu" is the primary accompaniment for performers during songs. Accompaniment is heterophonic – the "jinghu" player follows the basic contours of the song's melody, but diverges in pitch and other elements. The "jinghu" often plays more notes per measure than the performer sings, and does so an octave lower. During rehearsal, the "jinghu" player adopts his or her own signature version of the song's melody, but also must adapt to spontaneous improvisations on the part of the performer due to changed performance conditions. Thus, the "jinghu" player must have an instinctive ability to change his or her performance without warning to properly accompany the performer.
The second is the circular bodied plucked lute, the "yueqin". Percussion instruments include the "daluo", "xiaoluo", and "naobo". The player of the "gu" and "ban", a small high pitch drum and clapper, is the conductor of the entire ensemble. The two main musical styles of Peking opera, "Xipi" and "Erhuang", originally differed in subtle ways. In the "Xipi" style, the strings of the jinghu are tuned to the keys of A and D. The melodies in this style are very disjointed, possibly reflecting the style's derivation from the high and loud melodies of the Qinqiang opera of northwestern China. It is commonly used to tell joyous stories. In "Erhuang", on the other hand, the strings are tuned to the keys of C and G. This reflects the low, soft, and despondent folk tunes of south-central Hubei province, the style's place of origin. As a result, it is used for lyrical stories. Both musical styles have a standard meter of two beats per bar. The two musical styles share six different tempos, including "manban" (a slow tempo), "yuanban" (a standard, medium-fast tempo), "kuai sanyan" ("leading beat"), "daoban" ("leading beat"), "sanban" ("rubato beat"), and "yaoban" ("shaking beat"). The "xipi" style also uses several unique tempos, including "erliu" ("two-six"), and "kuaiban" (a fast tempo). Of these tempos, "yuanban", "manban", and "kuaiban" are most commonly seen. The tempo at any given time is controlled by a percussion player who acts as director. "Erhuang" has been seen as more improvisational, and "Xipi" as more tranquil. The lack of defined standards among performance troupes and the passage of time may have made the two styles more similar to each other today.
The melodies played by the accompaniment mainly fall into three broad categories. The first is the aria. The arias of Peking opera can be further divided into those of the "Erhuang" and "Xipi" varieties. An example of an aria is "wawa diao", an aria in the "Xipi" style that is sung by a young Sheng to indicate heightened emotion. The second type of melody heard in Peking opera is the fixed-tune melody, or "qupai". These are instrumental tunes that serve a wider range of purposes than arias. Examples include the "Water Dragon Tune" ("shui long yin"), which generally denotes the arrival of an important person, and "Triple Thrust" ("ji san qiang"), which may signal a feast or banquet. The final type of musical accompaniment is the percussion pattern. Such patterns provide context to the music in ways similar to the fixed-tune melodies. For example, there are as many as 48 different percussion patterns that accompany stage entrances. Each one identifies the entering character by his or her individual rank and personality.
Repertoire.
The repertoire of Peking opera includes nearly 1,400 works. The plays are mostly taken from historical novels or traditional stories about civil, political and military struggles. Early plays were often adaptations from earlier Chinese theatre styles, such as "kunqu." Nearly half of 272 plays listed in 1824 were derived from earlier styles. Many classification systems have been used to sort the plays. Two traditional methods have existed since Peking opera first appeared in China. The oldest and most generally used system is to sort plays into civil and martial types. Civil plays focus on the relationships between characters, and feature personal, domestic, and romantic situations. The element of singing is frequently used to express emotion in this type of play. Martial plays feature a greater emphasis on action and combat skill. The two types of play also feature different arrays of performers. Martial plays predominantly feature young sheng, jing, and chou, while civil plays have a greater need for older roles and dan. In addition to being civil or martial, plays are also classified as either "daxi" (serious) or "xiaoxi" (light). The performance elements and performers used in serious and light plays greatly resemble those used in martial and civil plays, respectively. Of course, the aesthetic principle of synthesis frequently leads to the use of these contrasting elements in combination, yielding plays that defy such dichotomous classification.
Since 1949, a more detailed classification system has been put into use based on thematic content and the historical period of a play's creation. The first category in this system is "chuantongxi", traditional plays that were in performance before 1949. The second category is "xinbian de lishixi", historical plays written after 1949. This type of play was not produced at all during the Cultural Revolution, but is a major focus today. The final category is "xiandaixi", contemporary plays. The subject matter of these plays is taken from the 20th century and beyond. Contemporary productions are also frequently experimental in nature, and may incorporate Western influences. In the second half of the 20th century, Western works have increasingly been adapted for Peking opera. The works of Shakespeare have been especially popular. The movement to adapt Shakespeare to the stage has encompassed all forms of Chinese theatre. Peking opera in particular has seen versions of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "King Lear", among others. In 2017, Li Wenrui wrote in "China Daily" that 10 masterpieces of the traditional Peking opera repertoire are "The Drunken Concubine", "Monkey King", "Farewell My Concubine", "A River All Red", Wen Ouhong's "Unicorn Trapping Purse" ("the representative work of Peking Opera master Chen Yanqiu"), "White Snake Legend", "The Ruse of the Empty City" (from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"), Du Mingxin's "Female Generals of the Yang Family", "Wild Boar Forest", and "The Phoenix Returns Home".
Film.
Peking opera and its stylistic devices have appeared in many Chinese films. It often was used to signify a unique "Chineseness" in contrast to sense of culture being presented in Japanese films. Fei Mu, a director of the pre-Communist era, used Peking opera in a number of plays, sometimes within "Westernized", realistic plots. King Hu, a later Chinese film director, used many of the formal norms of Peking opera in his films, such as the parallelism between music, voice, and gesture. In the 1993 film "Farewell My Concubine", by Chen Kaige, Peking opera serves as the object of pursuit for the protagonists and a backdrop for their romance. However, the film's portrayal of Peking opera has been criticized as one-dimensional. Chen returned to the subject again in 2008 with the Mei Lanfang biopic "Forever Enthralled". Peking opera is also featured in "Peking Opera Blues" by Tsui Hark.
A 1993 Western film that thematized Peking opera was "M. Butterfly" by David Cronenberg with Jeremy Irons and John Lone, based on a play of the same name by David Henry Hwang, which was itself based on the real-life relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Peking opera singer Shi Pei Pu. This story of love and espionage focuses especially on the fact that in traditional Peking operas, all female roles were played by men.
Peking-opera houses in Beijing.
Fundamental to the performance and overall ambience of traditional Peking opera is the venue. There are many restored venues in Beijing dating from the late 17th century onwards, the opera stage at Prince Gong Mansion, Zhengyici-xi-lou and Huguang Guild Hall, being among them. However, modern venues for the general operatic and theatre stage are also common, such as the National Centre for the Performing Arts, and the Chang'an Grand Theatre located on the East Chang'an Avenue is an example of modern Peking opera theatre.