Peking Opera is the most representative of all Chinese tradi- tional dramatic art forms. Created and developed by talented artists over a period of several centuries, classical Chinese drama is a comprehensive performing art with a unique form of its own---comprehensive because it is an ingenious combination of elements from many sources: traditional Chinese music, poetry, singing, recitation, dancing, acrobatics and martial skills, all blended into one great theatrical art without a trace of affectation. 　

　Varying in style from place to place, the traditional theatre in our vast, populous country boasts over a hundred different types, with singing as their common feature. Hence, traditional Chinese drama is a kind of singing drama or opera and yet it has nothing in common with the opera or operetta of the West. It is much more than mere opera or operetta in the usual sense.