Before the 1950s, opera performers belong to one theatrical company or another. Even today, companies of different opera types are active in rural and remotes parts of the country.
    A traditional theatrical company usually consisted of members of a clan, who passed on 
A group photo of girl students learning Peking Opera in the Chong Ya Opera School in Beijing.
performing skills on the basis of a master-apprentice relationship. A company borrowed elements of other opera types and kept improving performance to suit the taste of audiences in different localities. And it needed to have a rich repertoire so that it would not run out of plays at one location.
   A professional theatrical company earned its living by going to places to put up performances. Generally speaking, members of the company lived on a makeshift stage or in tents, and the company paid for its own transportation. Owing to competition between companies as well as natural and human disasters, it was not rare for a company of no particular fame to get into dire financial difficulties. Many performers knew about the hardships of life in a theatrical company and would not let their offspring take the road they had taken. Despite their dissatisfaction with their life, performers, to earn a living, had to do thick makeup, put on colorful costume and played one character after another emotionally on the stage. Such is the life of performers, generation after generation.

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