O c t o b e r   2 1,   1 9 9 6 Backstage at the Opera Ten minutes till show time! Zhang Guan-zheng rushes about the dressing room, urging his actors to finish painting their faces and adjusting their intricate costumes. Barbarian guards hurriedly strap themselves into magenta satin robes while their king finishes painting a meaty bulb on the forehead of his primitive face mask. Zhang, an associate professor of the Academy of Chinese Traditional Opera, inspects the three leading characters of the production. Li Ling, Su Wu and Hunu are each being attended by academy instructors who are streaking ocher face powder on their faces and pulling their jet-black wigs into pony tails. Candide Spotlight Zhang Yao, 25 Zhang Yao, who plays the character of Li Ling, has been studying the Beijing Opera for 16 years and is now a lecturer at the academy. Zhang teaches in the performing arts department, but emphasizes that his students also study classic Chinese literature and philosophy. Many of the roles are based on real-life personalities like Li Ling and Su Wu, who were actual high officials during the Han dynasty, he says. Before the students can truly enter the psyche of such historical figures, they must first understand the social forces that produced them, says Zhang. Often the operas are written in archaic Chinese and actors must rely on other devices such as exaggerated facial expressions and gestures to convey the personality of their characters to modern audiences. According to Zhang, dramatically accentuated eyes are often the most critical prop for the opera actor. Eyes, (says Zhang, rolling his own from side to side) are windows to the soul and must say everything not scripted in the lines or arias of the character. Zhang Liyuan, 22 While many Chinese youth dismiss the opera as the antiquated fare of the elderly, many children of troupe members follow their parents into the ancient art. Zhang Liyuan's mother began teaching her to sing opera arias when she was just four. Zhang, who plays Hunu, has been at the academy for three years and plays qingyi roles, characters of young to middle age. Her favorite among them is Hunu, she says, because the barbarian girl is very independent and outspoken, unlike many of the traditional Chinese female characters that are docile and reserved. Han Shengcun, 23 The key to mastering the Beijing Opera is practice, practice, practice, says Han Shengcun, who plays the role of Su Wu. Opera students must study not only dramatic performance, but also singing, martial arts, and mime. Han Shengcun began studying the opera at age 10 and has been practicing every day since middle school, when he rose each morning before 7 a.m. to practice martial arts. Han plays laosheng, or older male, roles. In order to portray men that are usually 30 or 40 years his senior, Han says he spends a great deal of time observing elderly people. He also rehearses in front of a mirror in order to perfect his facial expressions and gestures. The trick is to capture the essence of the character and reflect that spirit in the symbolic movements and facial makeup, he says. Actors must rely on dramatic makeup, hand gestures, and mime to convey much of the action in Beijing Opera because sets are very spare. Originally performed in open air markets or tea houses, the stages are often empty except for a wooden bench or stool.