✏️Dan (丹 cinnabar) and qing (青 cyan) were two colors frequently applied in traditional Chinese painting. Cinnabar is red and cyan is bluish green. In early times, Chinese paintings often used minerals such as cinnabar and cyan to draw lines or fill in colors. Hence the term danqing (丹青) made from the combination of dan and qing could stand for painting in general. Representative works of this kind included silk paintings unearthed at Tomb No.1 of Mawangdui of the Han Dynasty as well as the Dunhuang frescoes of the Northern Wei period and the Sui and Tang dynasties. Later, colors made from cinnabar and cyan were gradually replaced by ink and wash. Partly because of their bright, contrastive colors, and partly because mineral colors do not deteriorate appreciably over time, people used red-character books to record merits and bluish-green-character books to record historical events. Historians often use danqing to refer to a man’s outstanding, indelible work that deserves to be put down in history.
A costume change from young woman (旦) to martial woman (武旦）in the comedic Chinese opera 三打陶三春 (The Three Fights of Tao Sanchun). The actor getting changed is playing the titular role of Tao Sanchun.
English added by me :)
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In this opera, Chai Rong (Emperor Shizong of Zhou) arranges for Tao Sanchun to marry Zheng En, who he has just granted the title of prince of Beiping, along with granting Zhao Kuangyin (future founding emperor Song Taizu of Song) the title of prince of Nanping. However, in the past, when he was selling oil and stealing melons (yeah), Zheng En once lost to Tao Sanchun in a fight. Subsequently, he is afraid of Sanchun and prior to their marriage, he orders the general Gao Huaide to mug Sanchun on her journey and humble her. However, Tao Sanchun learns of this after defeating Gao Huaide and storms to Zheng En’s palace in anger.
Zheng En hides and Chai Rong orders imperial guards to stop Sanchun, but she defeats them all. After more fighting and confusion, Zheng En is led to believe by Gao Huaide that Tao Sanchun has been beaten and emerges from hiding to finally go marry her, putting on princely airs in the bridal chamber (where the main wedding ceremony traditionally takes place). At one point, he notices an oil clapper on the table (an oil clapper a watchman rattle’s like device used to call attention to crowds) and is infuriated, thinking Sanchun is trying to humiliate him. He orders a maid to use family law (method of domestic discipline in feudal households) to punish Tao Sanchun, who finally has enough and starts fighting Zheng En. This sends him running off to find Gao Huaide for help.
However, Gao Huaide has vanished, running away and leaving Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin to hurry over to try and stop the fighting instead. Tao Sanchun orders that the Zheng family law become that of selling oil clappers, so that Zheng En never forgets his roots. Zheng En kneels down and apologises and the two bury the hatchet and marry, with Chai Rong recognising Tao Sanchun as a brave and powerful lady and granting her the right to participate in imperial court affairs.
as someone who's done some drag in the west, I'm super curious if men playing dan roles have a similar relationship with gayness, or what the differences are
A bit, especially in the Qing Dynasty. You can look it up (I don’t really have the mind to explain it all; someone else can add on if they’d like), but especially at that point, a celebrity culture around male dan (nan dan) singers flourished and some dan singers were sought after by male patrons and admirers.
Actually, here’s a pdf (40 pgs) I have on hand if you want to take a quick look:
I would not say the intersection of nan dan and queerness was/is the same as it is with western drag, however. There is a modern drag/drag queen/king culture in China which is specifically part of the LGBTQ+ scene.
Nan dan, both in opera and in subsequent/related folk art customs like yangge arose, I would say, more analogously to how men used to play female roles in Shakespeare plays. Women weren’t permitted to perform in Chinese opera until more recently in history. Nowadays the majority of dan roles are played by women, though there are still nan dan obviously.
Douyin from @郭天天天 showing the makeup process of a dan (旦; female character in Chinese opera) role.
OP is not an opera actor but he went to a specialised photography studio to film the process of the experience.
The studio he went to charged 2000 RMB for a session including makeup, costume, and photos. This is pretty cheap according to douyin commenters, especially compared to similar studios that specialise in hanfu photoshoots.
Douyin from @郭天天天 showing the makeup process of a dan (旦; female character in Chinese opera) role.
OP is not an opera actor but he went to a specialised photography studio to film the process of the experience.
The studio he went to charged 2000 RMB for a session including makeup, costume, and photos. This is pretty cheap according to douyin commenters, especially compared to similar studios that specialise in hanfu photoshoots.
Douyin from @郭天天天 showing how the front of dan (旦; female roles in Chinese opera) role hair pieces are fashioned. The OP is not an opera actor—he goes to a specialised photography studio to show how the looks are created.
Asked by Anonymous
