Face Changing in Chinese Sichuan Opera

Known in Chinese as bian lian, face changing is an important aspect of Chinese Sichuan opera. Faster than the eye can detect, the faces of opera performers may change multiple times during a performance. One technique allows the performer to whisk away one face mask while another is pulled down from the top of the head by a series of silk threads attached to different parts of the costume. The secrets of face changing have been passed down from generation to generation, but only some two hundred individuals have mastered the art. Traditionally restricted to males, the practice of bian lian is now being learned by women as well. Many of the face masks depict well-known characters from Sichuan opera. The colors range from green and blue to red, yellow, brown, and gold; they depict emotions such as fear, tension, relaxation, slyness, desperation, and outrage.

In this video from the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival program, “China: Tradition and the Art of Living,” Hu Dongxiao from the Zhejiang Wu Opera Troupe displays seven different faces in sixty seconds.

Editing: Jackson Harvey
Camera: David Barnes, Shiyu Wang, Abby Sternberg

[Catalog No. CFV11262; © 2019 Smithsonian Institution]

[towvalee]

And here in the state the kardashians spend thousands to have there face changed.

[morbeo]

This got nothing on my girl changing moods in the same timespan.

[buyukiosif]

Ive been to chinese opera live in beijing(used to live there)

[InksAutism]

How? How? Just how? Do they wear a magic hat? Do they wear a hundred masks and slip em off one by one? Do they have a hidden guy backstage who changes out the mask when they turn around? Is it A black hole that sucks their mask away and then the magic mask fairy gives em a new one ? HOW? I HAVE TO NO

[jimgalle]

such cute faces .. look just like Disney characters ...