The origins of Chinese opera and drama could be found in the early religious ceremonies and could be traced from the earliest time of Chinese written history.

The story says that a famous minister at the court of the Chu State (5th BC) died on the eve of the important state banquet he was supposed to attend. One of the court jesters, Yu Meng, decided to dress up like the Prime Minister and spent a day learning his manners with the help of his son. He was so successful that the king haven't noticed any difference and when he finally found out, he was so impressed that he offered lands and power to the actor which, however, refused and offered these to the family of the late minister.

Another story from Han dynasty (3d BC - 3d AD) tells that the emperors' favorite concubine died and one of the court officials claimed he could bring her back to life, using the shadows on the wall for that purpose. Emperor did not discover at once and got carried away, but when he found out…he put the official to death.

History of the traditional opera could be traced with certainty from the middle ages, the Tang dynasty, owing to the emperor Ming Huang that founded school of art in his palace, inspired by a dream in which he found himself on the Moon surrounded by beautiful singers and dancers. Ming Huang is still celebrated as a Patron Saint of Chinese opera.

Peking opera is a synthesis of singing, dancing, acrobatics and is a performance to the eyes and senses as well as to the ears. It is the most popular opera in China and has the greatest variety in repertoires. It became popular in the West after 1919, when Mei Lanfang, the Grand Master of the Chinese opera visited Japan for the first time.

Music, unlike on the West, is not the main part of the Opera but is only one of the elements. Tonality of the Chinese language is facilitated to the maximum as to emphasize important parts of the play. Orchestra is usually small and consists of 7-8 players situated in the right corner. Sometimes they are very loud due the fact that in the past theaters and tea houses were the main meeting places where people came to talk and see the performance in the same time, and the orchestra thus had to increase the volume all the time.

Roles, there are four main roles in Peking opera: sheng (male) dan (young female), jing (painted face, male), and chou (clown / comedian, male or female). Actors were trained for a single role entire life and were considered very talented if they could change the roles. The main ideal for the actor was to master his role perfectly and to manage to show his own character within the strictly fixed rules. Male actors played all the roles until the 20th century.

Costumes
Only a minimum of scenery was used at the traditional stage and thus very high importance was attached to the actors themselves - including costumes, makeup and gestures. Strict rules for marking the ranks and personal characteristics had to be followed in costumes:
Yellow - emperors and their families
Red - high officials or virtue
Purple - high official ranks
White - very old / very young
Brown / olive - old
Black - low status
Blue - lower rank official

Makeup
All the faces were painted with very strong colors, where each color presented a character; the costumes were very colorful and faces would look too pale if not painted with strong colors.
Faces expression are very important in the Peking opera, and thus the eye area is particularly emphasized. There are certain assumptions as for the origin of the Jing character, the 'painted face': criminals' faces were painted in the Song Dynasty with strong colors; plays were sometimes performed on the open sky and the faces were not distinctive enough from the distance.
Face colors symbolizing characters:
Red - good, honest, loyal
White - cunning and crafty
Blue - brave, wild
Black - good and honest
Yellow - intelligent
Brown - stubborn
Green / gold - spiritual