Chinese opera is an important part of Chinese culture. After a long period of development and evolution, Chinese opera has gradually formed a Chinese opera library centered on the five major Chinese opera types of "Peking Opera, Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, Ping Opera, and Henan Opera". Chinese drama is loved by the people because of its artistic and charming performance form and it also occupies a unique position in the world theater scene.

Peking opera is broadcast throughout the country and has a wide impact, and is known as the "national opera". The Peking Opera performance system named after Mei Lanfang is regarded as the representative of the Oriental theater performance system and is one of the three major performance systems in the world. Peking opera is an important manifestation of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation. In May 2006, Peking opera was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists. In 2010, it was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

Peking opera, also known as Ping opera, is the most influential Chinese opera genre. It is distributed in Beijing and spread all over the country. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the four Huizhou troupes entered Beijing one after another to cooperate with Han tune artists from Hubei. At the same time, they accepted some repertoires, tunes and performance methods of Kunqu Opera and Qin Opera as well as some local folk tunes. Through continuous exchanges, Peking Opera finally formed.

Peking opera has a set of standardized artistic expressions in various aspects such as literature, performance, music, and stage art. The singing of Peking Opera is a variation of the style, with Erhuang and Xipi as the main voices. Peking opera accompaniment is divided into two categories: literary field and martial field. Huqin is the main instrument in the literary field, and the drum board is the main instrument in the martial arts field.

The four artistic techniques of Peking opera performance: singing, chanting, doing, and playing are also the four basic skills of Peking opera performance. Singing refers to singing and reading refers to musical chanting. The two complement each other and constitute the "song", which is one of the two major elements of the singing and dancing Peking Opera art. Doing dance-like physical movements, finger-fighting and tumbling skills, the two combine with each other to form "dance", one of the two major elements of the singing and dancing Peking Opera performance art.

Opera actors must be trained in these four aspects from an early age, and each actor must have the four basic skills of singing, reading, doing, and playing. Only in this way can we give full play to the artistic characteristics of Peking Opera. Better performance and portray various characters in the play. Peking opera has singing, dancing, dialogue, martial arts, and various symbolic movements. It is a highly comprehensive art.

The roles of Peking Opera are divided into Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou, Miscellaneous, Wu, Liu, etc. The latter three are no longer dedicated. Each profession has a set of performance programs, and the skills of singing, thinking, and fighting have their own characteristics. The main performance content of Peking Opera is historical stories. There are about 1,300 traditional repertoires, and more than 300 or 400 are often performed.

Peking opera masks are also diverse, and different colors of Peking opera masks have different meanings. Red face contains praise and loyalty. Black face is neutral, representing Mengzhi. The blue face and the green face are also neutral, representing rash heroes. The yellow face and the white face are derogatory and represent fierce and evil. The golden face and the silver face are mysterious and represent the gods.

The color painting methods of Beijing Opera facial makeup are basically divided into three categories: rubbing the face, wiping the face, and hooking the face. The initial role of facial makeup is to exaggerate the facial features and facial textures of the characters in the play, and use exaggerated techniques to express the personality, psychological and physical characteristics of the people in the play, so as to serve the plot of the entire play. After the development of Peking Opera facial makeup, facial makeup changed from simple to delicate and gradually became a pattern art with national characteristics and using human faces as a means of expression.