1 Day Essence of Chongqing

2 days Chongqing Tour to Dazu World's Heritage

2 Days Mountain City Tour

Sichuan opera is one of the oldest and most interesting opera forms in Southwestern China. It features perfect blend of local dialect, customs, folk music, and dances of different regions.

The opera is characterized by its unique mixture of various art forms: gaoqiang (high-pitched singing); kunqu, huqin, and tanxi (flute, violin and zither) accompaniment; and denxi (lantern-play), solo singing, refined acting, rich percussion, and irresistibly funny comedians. Through its varied popular performances, such as Bianlian (Changing faces), Gundeng (Rolling lamps), Tuhuo (Spitting fire), and performing clowns, the Sichuan opera is colorful, vivid, and funny. Sichuan opera is noted for its high-pitched tunes accompanied only by percussion instruments and choruses, without any wind or stringed instruments. In addition, this spectacular theatrical presentation features bright sets and costumes, plus a combination of music, dance, and acrobatics.

Exceptional skill is needed for changing faces ("bianlian" in Chinese). Only a handful of talented actors can grasp it and master changing masks on stage at the blink of an eye and before the audience can notice it. By raising a hand, swinging a sleeve, or tossing the head, an actor uses different masks of different colors, red, blue, black, white, green, etc. to show different emotions such as fear, stress, desperation, anger, relaxation and so on.

There are three types of face changes. In the Wiping Mask routine the actor applies cosmetic paint in a certain position on his face. The Blowing Mask routine works with powder cosmetics, such as gold, silver, and ink powders. The most difficult is the Pulling Mask routine. Masks are painted on pieces of damask, well cut, hung with a silk thread, and then lightly pasted to the face one by one. This is main highlight of the Sichuan Opera.