Sichuan Opera (Chuanju)

Chuanju, or Sichuan opera, is a regional theatre popular in Sichuan, Chongqing, and parts of Yunnan and Guizhou. Taking shape around the mid-Qing, it fused five vocal styles, kunqu, gaoqiang, huqin (pihuang), tanxi, and the local lantern opera, into the most influential grand theatre of southwest China.

Its most distinctive voice is the high-pitched gaoqiang, sung with an offstage chorus and percussion, and its acting unites singing, speech, movement, and combat across a full set of role types. It is famed above all for signature stunts, face-changing, fire-spitting, and hidden-blade tricks, with "face-changing" the best known emblem of the form.

Blending many vocal styles, Chuanju carries the dialect, folkways, and aesthetics of the Ba-Shu region; it entered the first national intangible-heritage list in 2006 and is an important living sample for studying how China's regional operatic voices merged. Note that Chuanju is a national heritage item, not a UNESCO-listed one.

Chuanju is performed in Chengdu's old teahouses, opera gardens, and tourism quarters, with face-changing excerpts especially loved by visitors, offering a window onto Ba-Shu theatrical culture.