With its fascinating and artistic accompanying music, singing and costumes, the Peking Opera is China’s national opera. Full of Chinese cultural facts, the opera presents the audience with an encyclopedia（百科全书）of Chinese culture, as well as developing stories, beautiful paintings, magnificent costumes, graceful gestures and martial arts. Since Peking Opera enjoys a higher reputation than other local operas, almost every province in China has more than one Peking Opera troupe. Opera is so popular among Chinese people, especially seniors, that even “Peking Opera Month” has been declared.
Peking Opera’s main tune originated from Xipi and Erhuang in Anhui and Hubei and, over time, techniques from many other local operas were incorporated into Peking Opera.
It is believed that Peking Opera gradually came into being after 1790 when the famous four Anhui opera troupes came to Beijing. Peking Opera experienced fast development during the period of Emperor Qianlong and the infamous Empress Cixi, eventually becoming more accessible to the common people.
In ancient times, Peking Opera was performed mostly on stage in the open air, teahouses or temple courtyards. Since the orchestra played loudly, the performers developed a sharp style of singing. The costumes were a gorgeous collection of sharply contrasting colors to stand out on the stage lighted only by oil lamps. Peking Opera is a harmonious combination of the Grand Opera, ballet and acrobatics （杂技），consisting of dance, dialogue and martial arts.
The Peking Opera band mainly consists of an orchestra and percussion（打击乐器）band. The former frequently accompanies peaceful scenes while the latter provides the right atmosphere for battle scenes. The orchestral instruments include the Erhu, Huqin, Yueqin, Sheng, Pipa and other instruments. The band usually sits on the left side of the stage.
Title: .

	More than 200 years long
	It came into being after 1790 when the four .            came to Beijing.
Its main tune .          on Xipi and Erhuang.
Its techniques adopted many other local operas.
Artistic .	A harmonious combination of the Grand Opera, ballet and acrobatics, consisting of dance, dialogue and
Mostly performed on stage in the open air, teahouses or temple courtyards
of singing
The costumes looks luxury and brilliant.
The Peking Opera band	An orchestra	Atmosphere
Peaceful scenes	Erhu, Huqin, Yueqin, Sheng, Pipa and so on.
A percussion	Battle scenes	Not mentioned
Influence	Well-received by Chinese people, especially