The facial makeup is the special make-up in Chinese Opera, which also starts a separate school of thought in the opera art of the world. Peking opera always keeps improving, which assembled all the advantages of Hui, Han, Kun and Qin's operas to inherit and develop itself. So it is fairly representative.
Colorful facial makeup is a kind of pictorial and characterized make-up, which is generally used in Jing and Chou but is seldom used in Shengdan, therefore, we always call the facial makeup as "colorful face". The abundance in color and changes in style implicates exaggeration and symbolizatin. Major tone in red shows martial, loyalty and selflessness; Black shows intrepidity; Yellow shows bravery; Green shows fortitude; Water-white shows scheming, crafty and insidiousness while oil-white symbolizes demureness. Through the three methods sketching, mopping and rubbing. The makeup formed from green line and sheet-shape could be also divided into whole face, three nest-shape face, three-divided face, colorful face, evil face and elephant-shape face. However, the types of Chou's makeup are far more less, and mainly have bean-curd-shape face. All of these facial makeup show the character's loyal, tricky, kind and evil from the three aspects shape, expression and meaning. The facial makeup is distinct in emotion, have high art value and have become the national treasure. Furthermore, the ornament patterns of facial makeup have filled with appreciative value.
