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In 1960 the noted scholar of Chinese performance, A. C. Scott, wrote in his book Chinese Costume in Transition that “to treat stage costume in any detail requires a book in itself . . . .”* His words inspired me to compose the first book written in English dedicated to the exploration of this beautiful and expressive aspect of the art of traditional Jingju (capital drama), commonly known as Beijing opera, and I am grateful to Mr. Scott for his seminal research of the topic, as well as his challenge. He was the first of many people who stimulated and assisted me in the creation of this work. While in Taipei, Taiwan, on a teaching Fulbright Fellowship in 1990–1991, I mentioned my interest in traditional Jingju costumes, and one of my colleagues told me that the main goal of those costumes was to identify the role for the audience. As a costume designer myself, this statement set off a chain reaction in my brain, because identification of the character is a principal goal in Euro-American costume design as well. I wondered how these two distinct images of dress could follow different paths to end up in the same place. Eighteen years of research later, I am still fascinated by the universal desire to imbue dress with the expression of character and the unique approaches to that end taken by each culture. During my research in Beijing, a Jingju colleague, Professor Li Wencai, explained, “When we give performances abroad, the martial arts and the costumesarethemostattractiveelementstoouraudiences . When our foreign colleagues see the costumes, they are amazed.” I anticipate that you, too, will be amazed by the dazzling beauty of these costume creations, as well as the depth of meaning ascribed to the brilliant colors and intricate ornamentations. In writing this book, I have used standard Chinese terms where the words are specific to the theatre or historical context and have included English translations in the text the first time each word is used in a chapter, as well as in the glossary. When the Chinese word is merely the name of a garment, and translates directly to English, then I employ the English word after introducing the Chinese. I have written the terms using pinyin, the official romanization system used in the People’s Republic of China. For the sake of consistency, all nonpinyin romanization has been converted to pinyin, except for titles and authors of Chinese works published in western languages and in self-chosen English titles of Chinese organizations. The form of Chinese theatre focused on in this book has been known by many names throughout its history, and has been referred to in English as Peking opera or, more recently, Beijing opera. The Chinese name for this performance style in the People’s Republic of China has been standardized as Jingju (capital drama), and that is how I refer to it. Further discussion of this issue can be found in "oo *Scott, Chinese Costume in Transition, 58. xii @ pr eface the Introduction and Chapter One. The ancient word for costumes, xingtou, was seen in print as early as the Jin period (220–420). Xing means all of the clothes and tou refers to headdresses; together, xingtou encompasses everything in connection with costuming. In the early twentieth century, when modern Chinese began to replace the classical language, fuzhuang (putting on clothes), a generic term for all clothing, daily wear and costumes, joined xingtou as a word used for Jingju costumes. Because the translations for both words essentially parallel the English, this book uses the word costumes. I conducted research at the Academy for Traditional Chinese Opera (Zhongguo Xiqu Xueyuan) in Beijing, as the first foreigner to go there specifically for the study of costume arts. The Academy of Traditional Chinese Opera is the only institute offering universitylevel training in Jingju in China, and it is considered a major center for the style. There, I attended classes, dress rehearsals, and performances; conducted interviews ; and arranged tutorials in costume theory and practice. I attended performances by the two major Jingju troupes in Beijing, the National Jingju Company (Zhongguo Jingju Yuan) and the Beijing Jingju Company (Beijing Jingju Yuan), as well as by other troupes in Beijing and Taipei. The color photographs used in the text were taken during the performances. I traveled to Hebei province to the Donggaokou Embroidery Factory to observe the embroidery and construction process of the costumes. My research has also taken me to the Department of Theatre and Dance...

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