A Study of Painted Face Character

The masquerade and acting pattern that the characters act with, are very important in the classical Chinese opera. It helps the audience understand the story and the character's reenacting. Jing, refers to the painted face character in the opera of Yuan comedy, which always played the role of the villain .But originally, jing refered to the main character of the military officers in the later Zhao dynasty's opera. It might be the decency or the villain before the Yuan dynasty. It had undergone so many changes through those years from the Tang to the Yuan dynasty. This essay attempts to synthesize the points of the predecessor scholars so as to find out the changing track of jing.