Chinese Masks - used for many things!

I took lots of pictures of Chinese masks in Sichuan. They are used by actors in Sichuan opera and by performers in shows.

You see them everywhere in shops for sale, particularly where there are tourists.

I first saw a performer use such masks at a Chinese New Years concert in Chongqing.

This particlar performer was very clever because he had several masks stacked together.

He held them over his face and with the flick of a finger changed the mask during the performance.

So he had several different faces during his act.

Chinese Mask The mask is used by an actor to describe a character. You will notice the mask is very colourful with the bright colours having a meaning.

The colour red is for loyalty - so the charcter is a loyal and honourable one.

The colour black is for honesty and integrity.

The colour blue is for bravery and enthusiasm.

The colour white shows an artistic streak.

The colour yellow represents cruelty.

So this mask represents a character who has lots of good virtues - loyal (red), honest (black), brave and enthusiastic (blue) and has some artistic streaks(white).

Chinese Mask Some masks have yellow - so they represent a character who is not so nice - in fact he is a cruel person.

The middle mask has some black and red so although a cruel person, he is loyal.

So he could be a guard who serves his master faithfully - even if what he does is cruel.

And strangely he also has some honesty in his character - he would not lie to his master.

Chinese Mask This is quite a different mask but which I found quite amusing.

Here in the West we like to tan our skins so they go brown.

It supposedly looks good and indicates some wealth or good fortune because the person has spent time in interesting and exotic places which usually have lots of sunshine.

So people in the West expose themselves to the sun or put on tanning lotions and creams.

In China it is the opposite.

Performers like to paint their skin white and women like to whiten their skin with face masks and creams.

I saw lots of face whitening masks in the shops and chemists. Chinese women buy these masks and use it to whiten their skin - a different slant on Chinese masks!