Traditional Chinese operas ... agrees to perform Peking Opera whenever her American friends invite her to perform. "They love my performance. When I finish performing, they will come backstage and ask ...

Here begins the history of the various opera forms as ... four role types: the female, the male, the painted-face, and the clown. Performances consist of singing, poetry, music, dance, and gesture.

In traditional Chinese opera, cross-dressing is common practice, with male actors performing female roles and vice versa. Dressing up as the opposite sex often serves as a metaphor for the loss of one ...