Opera Peking

This print design artwork is based on the traditional Chinese opera Peking opera , I remember when I was little I watched the peking and impressed by their gender fluid and how beautiful they transform the guy performer to beautiful women with thick white make up and traditional clothes costume and mask . Back in the history of Peking opera also known as Beijing Opera, is a traditional form of Chinese theatre that combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in the late 18th century and became fully developed by the mid-19th century.Peking opera was initially an exclusively male pursuit. There were bans on female performers and major limitations on female audience members making the form a male one composed of male performers catering 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 1772The 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.