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I Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House
Facial design, or "Lianpu", is the art of facial make-up used by the performers of traditional Chinese folk activities or theatre.
With lines and colours painted on some itnportant areas of'tlee face, the pu{pose of facial design is to show the distinguishing features of the characters. While observing some traditional guidelines pertaining to the art of appnying mai<e-up.
Chinese Facial Design
Folk Facial Design
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Facial Design in Chinese Theatre
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Facial Tattoo of the Ethnic Minorities
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by the perfomlers of traditional
of facial make-up used -- - -;.-:r. or "Lianpu" ' is the afi lines and colours painted - .-..: -..tk actirities or theatreWith
on some impofiant areas ol
..-'::.thepntposeoftacialdesignistoshowthedistinguishingfeahrresofthecharacters ,...':..bsen'tngsometraditionalguidelinespertainingtotheartofapplyingmake-up.facial
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and and is characterized by being suggestive enjol's freedom from real-life constraints
positive implications' ::':.rlic of good and evil roles ot negative and
i.,cial
design,
originated from the make-up used historically called"Damian" or "Daimian"'
.lthesong-dancedramasthatflourishedduringtheNorthQiofthesouth.NorthDynastyand theTangDynasty,andiscloselyrelatedtothedevelopmentofChinesetheatreandtheculture ofmasks.TheNrroritualscelebratedinthecourtshadbecomemoreandmoregrandafterthe HanDynasty,andtheirdancesmoreandmotesplendid.Themusic-dancespopularinancient
Clrinawerether-udimentsofChinesetheatre,andthe''maskeddances''inthemusic-dances
u'erethebeginningoftacialdesign.Alongwiththedeveloprrrentoffolktheatre,masked performanceshaveshowndisadvantages,especiallyindisplayingthevariedfacialexpressions Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty' of the performers. At the end of the Song
thereappearedinthevarietyplays',whiteface,,clowns,whohadthecentralareaoftheirfaces design ln order to highlight dramatic which was considered the earliest facial painted white,
powder and oil on their faces' a technique which effect, performers then began to use ink' gradually developed into the ar1 offacial design' :l :
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An actor paints his face before the perJormance photography by Liu Haifa (Reprinted with permission of section of Art Archives, shanghai peking opera Troupe)
Facial Design
Facial design progressed during the long history of its der elopment Characterized by aspects of primitive culture, early facial design was simple and rough. u ith mere contradictory colours such as black, red and white intensifying skin colour, facial contour and features-bushy eyebrows, big eyes, snub noses and big mouths, to name a
few. Later, the application of more
colours and use of better skills made it possible to show more subtle features of the characters. Thanks to the abundance of folk activities and the enrichment of theatre stories, the artistic creation of facial design was freed from the shackles of doctrines and formality; therefore,
a
complete set of make-up pattems are fixed at last.
Facial design can be roughly classified into two categories: one for artistic appreciation, and the other for stage performance. The former uses art products of various pattems and colours, made by means of painting, knitting, embroidery etc. on plaster casts of a man's face. The latter is facial representation with rich cultural connotations, which is painted, in accordance
with theatre stories, in various colours and designs on a man's face, for the purpose of strengthening stage effects and thus enriching traditional culture, parlicularly, theatre culture.
i:.'rers
make up before a perlormance
cr-:g'aohy by Liu Haila (Reprinted with permission of Section of Art Archives, Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe)
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I design in Chinese theatre, the facial painting mainly for the Jlng roles (male characters with striking personalities), is a traditional art of make-up used to represent the characteristics
of the roles. As known to all, musicians must follow the scores when playing the musical instruments; likewise, theatre performers must follow some regular pattems when painting their faces. The facial design in Chinese theatre originated from the nuo mask in the folk rituals, and its development is deeply influenced by that of the facial design of shehuo. There are two types of facial design in Chinese theahe, one is used in Beijing opera and the other is used
in local operas.
Beijing opera(jingjuor jingxi), oneof themajorformsof Chinesetheatre,hasahistoryas long as nearly two hundred years. Its facial design is used by most jing roles, c/zoz roles (clowns) and several sheng roles (male characters). It is quite symbolic, with images of bats,
swallows' wings and butterflies' wings, etc. on the face or bold colours around the nose or eyes. The design may cover the entire face or just part of it and, it is further classified into design ofdistorled face, heroic face, gods'face and clown face. There are four techniques of painting, namely, roulian, goulian, polian and. molian. Roulian means applying the pigments to the face, with striking colors on the eyebrows, eyes and cheeks; goulian means painting the face with brush pencil in colorful lines for such
jing roles
as fairies, gods generals and heroes;
polian is used for ugly and brute characters, with pattems of askew noses or aslant eyes; molian, also calledfenlian, means applying white powder to the area around the nose, usually used for chou roles.
Hualian aclors of Peking Opera Photography by Liu Haifa
(Reprinted with permission of Section of Art Archives, Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe)
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