Face Changing in Sichuan Opera

Face Changing in Sichuan Opera

　Face changing, or bian lian in Chinese, is an important part of Sichuan Opera. It started about 300 years ago. And it is one of the great treasures¹ in traditional Chinese culture. The changing faces show different feelings of actors in a special way.

　People think face changing has something to do with fighting against dangerous animals. In ancient times, when people met with dangerous animals, they drew colourful pictures on their faces to scare the animals away. Later, pepple used this in the shows of Sichuan Opera. And day by day, it turned into a great form² of art.

　Today, lots of people are interested in face changing. They want to know how actors change their faces. A man once tried to get the secret behind this with his camera. But the face changed so quickly that even his camera couldn’t follow the action.

Notes:

1. treasure n. 珍宝 2. form n. 形式