Beijing opera: origins and evolution

Despite the processes of globalization and rapprochement between the countries of the East and the West that have been going on for several decades, the cultural differences between the two civilizations are quite obvious and are unlikely to be finally smoothed out. The culture of the Asian countries, including China, has always been a mystery for most people in the West. Even in the present days the situation has not got much better. The studying of the cultural traditions is important for a successful interaction in terms of business, politics etc. Beijing opera is appraised by us as one of the most interesting and distinctive parts of Chinese culture. Nevertheless, it is insufficiently explored, hence this work is topical. Beijing opera plays a great role in the culture of China. Moreover, it is a synthesized genre which includes dancing, singing, acting etc. Taking this fact into consideration, the study of this subject is of great importance for the research of the Asian civilization. The purpose of this article is to describe the process of the development of this genre by showing its origins and modern condition. To achieve our purpose, the following tasks were solved: the period and historical conditions of this genre's emergence were determined, the periods of its development were described, the names of the actors who contributed to the development of Beijing opera greatly and took part in its popularization outside of China were mentioned. The article describes the transformation of Beijing opera during the period of the "Cultural revolution" in China and its "regeneration" in the period of "Reform and opening-up policy". The conclusion of great potential of this genre and its possible role in the interstate cultural exchange was made. The Beijing opera genre was scrutinized as a cross-cultural exchange factor. The study was executed with attraction of different sources, including works in Russian, English and Chinese languages. Such approach allowed us to compare the perception of this genre by various cultural traditions. During the research it was revealed that since the twentieth century the Beijing opera has transformed into one of the measures of Chinese cultural dissemination in terms of the "soft power" policy. In addition to this, it is still considered as one of the greatest treasures of Chinese cultural heritage. The government of China has put a great effort to contribute to the development of this genre in the second half of the twentieth century and turned it into one of the modern Chinese brands.

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