This opera face drawing belongs to a collection drawn by Ly Singko. This collection documents the unique face designs from traditional Beijing opera and was included in Ly’s unpublished manuscript ‘How to Appreciate Peking Opera’, a guidebook for the “non-initiated and non-Chinese to come to know the secret of Chinese stagecraft.” Seen here is the face design of a maid (‘ya huan’) character. Her ugly and comical look is intentional, signifying to the audience that her role is that of a clown (丑) in the opera.Born in Beijing and awarded a scholarship to read philosophy in Belgium, Ly Singko was a Chinese intellectual and avid supporter of the Chinese arts. After World War Two, he moved to Singapore and served as the editor of the Chinese newspaper ‘Sin Chew Jit Poh’ and later as senior editorial writer at the newspaper ‘Nanyang Siang Pau’.
