Sean Xiao, G9, RDF International School

I’ve always been attracted to the one-of-a-kind Chinese cultural traditions, so my friend and I went to Sichuan during the recent National Day holiday to find out about face-changing, a unique feature of Sichuan opera.

Sichuan Province in Southwest China is renowned for its delicious spicy food, beautiful sceneries, and various cultural traditions; but the face-changing performance is what I wanted to experience most.

I reserved a table right in front of the stage so that we could appreciate every detail of the performance. Before the show, I also noticed the teacup on the table in front of me was different from those we used in daily life, consisting of a small plate, and a bowl with a cap on it. A few minutes later, the show began. When an actor took a sip of wine and then breathed fire out of his mouth, everyone in the audience couldn’t help applauding him with amazement.

Although I sat in the front and didn’t blink once during the show, I couldn’t figure out how the performer pulled this trick.

According to historical records, face-changing dates back to the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Legends have it that a local performing artist named He Xichang invented the feat as a reminder to himself which role he was to perform next and which lines he was supposed to say. He began to paint his face in red, blue, black, and white to distinguish between different roles and to impress the audience, which worked to great effect. The performance was so welcome that it spread beyond Sichuan to nearby Guizhou and Yunnan provinces.

Although I couldn’t see through the face-changing trick, a bit of online research reveals that it could be done in three ways. Some performers put colorful oil paints onto their faces during the show; some use their mouth to blow colored powders up to cover their faces, which requires them to close their eyes and stop breathing for a second to prevent the powders from getting into their eyes or nose; and some others use the elaborate method of sticking layers of painted masks onto their face, which they rip away one at a time during the show. Either way, the performance requires skills and deft hands so that the audiences won’t see through the magic.