On the morning of May 19, the Master Class of the 1^st World Theatre Education Convention was held at the Theatre Centre of the Central Academy of Drama. Prof. Guo Yuejin, Director of the Department of Peking Opera conducted a Master Class named as “Traditional Chinese Culture Mirrored in the Stylization of Peking Opera”.

Prof. Guo believed that Peking Opera is about “telling big stories on a small stage”. In the form of elaboration and interactive demonstration, she introduced how traditional Chinese culture was mirrored in the stylization of Peking Opera. Her lecture was divided into four parts: 1. the depression, ethereality, and clarity in the stylized movements originated respectively form Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism; 2. the moderation, combination of imagination and reality, romanticism, and the preference for happy ending in Peking Opera embodied Chinese people’s pursuit of harmony; and unlike the classical unities, a story of a whole life could be performed with merely a single desk and chair; 3. there were distinctive roles in Peking Opera, namely Sheng (male roles), Dan (female roles), Jing (painted-face roles), Chou (clowns), and they featured differently stylized costumes, makeup styles, colours, and music; 4. the performers and audience of Peking Opera shared the same aesthetics of the stylized elements in this art for.