Peking Opera School

Peking Opera School

The Peking Opera Schools were boarding schools located throughout Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, specialising in teaching Peking opera. The most well known of these schools are those that were based in Hong Kong during the 1950s and 60s, as many of the attending students subsequently embarked on successful careers in the Hong Kong film industry.

In learning Peking opera, attending students developed skills in martial arts, acrobatics and tumbling, music and dance and performed these skills for audiences. The schools produced a generation of stunt performers, action choreographers, actors and film directors including some of the most famous stars of Hong Kong action cinema. Public interest in Peking Opera waned in the late 1960s and during the Cultural Revolution most of the schools were closed.

Historically, pupils had been handpicked at a young age by a teacher (or sifu) and trained for a period of seven to ten years, on contract from their parents. As the teacher provided food and accommodation for the pupils during this period, they accrued a debt to the teacher that was later repaid through performance earnings. After 1911, training took place in more formally organised schools. Typically, students at these schools rose at five o'clock in the morning for exercises. The daytime would be spent learning the skills of acting and combat, and the senior students would perform in outside theatres in the evenings. If they made any mistakes during such performances, it was not uncommon for the entire group to be beaten with bamboo canes. Schools with less harsh training methods began to appear in 1930, but all schools were closed down in 1931 after the Japanese invasion. The modern schools, such as the China Drama Academy and the Spring and Autumn Drama School opened after the war, in around 1952.