京劇一直就是廣受歡迎的娛樂形式,中國的普通百姓都很喜歡。京劇人物角色以性別、年齡、身份和個性為基礎進行區分,主要有四大行當(type of roles)。分別是生、旦、凈、丑。生是一個男性角色,進一步細分為老生、小生和武生(martial sheng)。旦指各種女性角色。凈角則是在性格、品質或相貌上有特異之處的男性人物。丑是一個機敏、滑稽或諷刺的角色。
Peking Opera, enjoyed by the common Chinese people, has long been a popular entertainment. The character roles of Peking Opera are distinguished on the basis of sex, age, identity and personality. There are mainly four types of roles: sheng, dan , jing and chou. The sheng is a male character, which is further subdivided into the elderly sheng, the young sheng and the martial sheng. The dan refers to various female roles. The jing role is a male character who has special personality, quality or appearance. The chou is a smart, funny or satirical character.