I. Introduction

As the quintessence of Chinese culture, traditional Chinese operas epitomizes Chinese thought and art, and after so many years’ continuous effort, the opera artists and theorists have promoted this art form from worldwide, contributing to the spread of Chinese culture overseas. But the fact is that the oversea spread of traditional Chinese operas really has faced a thorny problem, most operas’ content, and even their names haven’t been translated well in English, we should introduce traditional Chinese operas in a more attractive way. Beautiful costumes and accessories really are direct or more vivid approach for audiences to knowing Chinese operas, especially some operas have been given their names by using traditional Chinese Robes, Chinese gowns or Chinese Coats, besides it, also there are operas’ name came from hair decorations or dress decorations, and even some came from bracelets &neck ornaments. There is close relationship between the items of clothing, accessories, dress decorations and traditional Chinese operas.

The diversity of ancient apparel and accessories, to some extent, inspired drama writing; conversely, the creativity and performance of operas also enriched the fashion culture. In many ways, an opera’s portrayal of character, expression, mind, and emotion are inseparable from the costumes its actors wear. The contributions of apparel are prominent in different opera’s theme, enriching the development of the story, and subsequently resulting in the emergence of a variety of opera costumes. The article circles around the study of drama named after the traditional Chinese costumes (not only refer to the clothes and the accessories worn, but also the makeup and facial cosmetic modifications), investigates how the name of dresses/ clothes both inspired the dramas and represent their rich cultural content.

II. Review of Literature

Traditional Chinese opera epitomizes Chinese thought and art, it is not only a heritage for Chinese nation, but also for the whole world and all human beings. Dating back to Chinese history, as early as in 1891 of Qing Dynasty, traditional Chinese operas’ artists, zhang Guixuan (1873-1963), started to present this Chinese tradition to the rest of the world, to spread the spirit and charm of traditional Chinese culture. Later, the most famous artist Mei Lanfang (1894- 1961) has done great contribution to the spread of Chinese operas since 1920s, especially when he visited the united States from January to July in 1930, he tried to make detailed drawings with English illustrations to help the audience understand the cultural background of artistic features, costumes worn by the performers, and the props to be used on stage. Focusing on theatrical pieces accompanied with drawings or pictures is really a breakthrough study in this field, and this set of materials was published under the title of A collection of illustrative Plates of Beijing Opera Performed During Mei Lanfang’s visit to the United States.

At the same time, some foreign traditional Chinese operas lovers began their translation to introduce Chinese operas based on story lines, song lyrics, stage art and characters’ roles, even providing musical scores for the singing parts. In 1937, Famous Chinese Plays, as a co-authored work published, completed by L C Arlington (1859-1942), an American who lived in China for up to six decades, and the British poet Harold Acton (1904-1994), they cooperated 33 Chinese operas into English translation, accompanied by 29 drawings and photos (Sun, 2012). But both the artists and scholars in China and the other countries have similar difficulties in cultural differences, some traditional Chinese operas’ names are confused to the audience, especially the names named after traditional Chinese apparel and accessories, such as traditional Chinese robe/gown/coat, hair decorations, dress decoration, bracelets & neck ornaments, then how to translate them well to help the audiences know the operas much more easier.

Most same costumes in traditional Chinese operas can be worn in many different plays, the custom for a scholar in ancient China can be worn in many other plays too. Based on the daily clothing worn in Ming Dynasty and earlier, the costumers for the operas are selected, refined, beautified and decorated by generations of artists, and the whole set of specialized clothing designed for different characters has gradually be complicated. Usually the costume plays a role in building a character’s outward image, personality, indicate the identity and social status of a character, and even more so to express and depict the character’s inner emotions and mental activities under certain circumstances. In one word, the custom serve the plot, all the components of traditional Chinese operas aim to enhance the performance. For example, Qingyi (Qing means black or blue, yi refers to the clothing) as the major character in the role type of dan in traditional Chinese operas (Lu, 2007) who is either young woman or a middle aged lady, dressed in black or blue costumes represented dignified, solemn, and upright female, and she is usually a woman with a strict moral code, a wise wife, a loving mother, a martyred virgin, and a faithful widow of ancient China. The custom really is the very important element for further study of the traditional Chinese opera, which help the audience understand or deduce the play efficiently.

III. Research Method

1. Classification method

The paper is written focused on the different names of traditional Chinese operas, classifies the operas into four categories, and each category has a name connected with the costume, decoration or an ornament, which means that these operas’ names named after traditional Chinese apparel and accessories, such as traditional Chinese robe/gown/coat, hair decorations, dress decoration, bracelets and neck ornaments. Based on such classification method, the study may focus on the relationship between the costumes and the operas, and build up a foundation for further study.

2. Analysis method

Based on the classification of the operas named after traditional Chinese apparel and accessories, such as traditional Chinese robe/gown/coat, hair decorations, dress decoration, bracelets and neck ornaments, the paper gives a further analysis of the content of the operas, gives a summarization of each opera, and helps the reader know that the costumes is the key to the development of the story, based on this key point or the clue, usually the readers or audience may deduce the main idea of the opera.

IV. Results and Discussion

1. The operas named after the traditional Chinese Robe/Gown/Coat

1) The opera named as Slashing the Imperial Robe (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F1">Fig. 1</a>)

During thousands years of feudal society in China, the yellow had been the symbol of imperial power, and yellow robe is the metonymy of the emperor (Hua, 2001), so putting on yellow robe means that the emperor ascended the throne, and the Slashing yellow robe indicates the punishment of the emperor.

Slashing the Imperial Robe is a traditional Chinese drama, which is very popular with Peking Opera, Yu opera, Qinqiang Opera and other opera, also known in some dramas of killing Zhengen or killing Zhengen by mistake, and the transcript also written as Slashing Red Robe. Because the pronunciation of yellow and red in the southern part of Fujian Province is very similar to each other, and yellow is likely to be replaced by Red.

In fact, the opera focused on one main character Zhao Kuangyin, during the Song Dynasty (AC960- AC1276), became an emperor, and changed the reign title but ignored the state affairs and spent time with his Imperial Concubine Han. His sworn brother King Beiping tried to remonstrate. Meanwhile the brother of the Imperial Concubine Han, Han Long, dizzy with success, hid in the palace and urged to escape the punishment from Zheng Enzhi. Emperor Zhao, listening to slanderous villain, mistakenly killed Zheng En. The wife of Zheng En, Tao Sanchun was outraged and led the army surround the palace to kill the emperor to avenge her husband. The minister Gao Huaide entered the palace to kill Han Long, and tried to mediate the situation. Emperor Zhao had no choice but to take off his imperial robe and let Tao Sanchun to cut it into two parts in public, and retreated after her husband was honored.

Based on the name of the opera, especially the knowledge of the imperial robe, it is a short cut for the audience to deduce the main idea of the story, and even for modern Chinese viewers, it may arouse their interesting to know why the robe will be slashed, who is so brave or crazy to do such things, so the good translation of the names of the operas connected with robes is so meaningful.

2) The opera named as Striking the Imperial Robe (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F2">Fig. 2</a>)

This opera is very similar to the last one mentioned above, and during thousands years of feudal society in China, in actual fact, the imperial robe indicates the imperial power, and which is the metonymy of the emperor, so striking the imperial robe means that the punishment of the emperor in a special way. The Imperial Robe is the symbolization of the Emperor in ancient China(Chen, 2009)

Striking the Imperial Robe is the name of Beijing Opera, which often performed with the opera Queen Encountered, and it can be called as opera Imperial Robe Encountering Queen too, Tianqi temple or Zhaozhou Bridge. The play originated from the first, the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth of the classic Three Knight-Errants and Five Righteous Persons in Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), which is the cooperation of Character Jin and a pantaloons in Chinese traditional play, and it is also one of the traditional repertoire Lee School.

The opera is about a story that happened during the Northern Song Dynasty (AC960-AC1127), Prime Minister Bao followed the order to distribute grains in Chen Prefecture. He happened to meet a blind beggar woman who brought a lawsuit, and who told the palace secretes. The woman turned out to be the mother of Emperor Li, with a yellow silk as the proof. Prime Minister Bao promised to redress the wrong for her when he was back to the court. After he returned to the capital, he skillfully used the story of ungrateful Zhang Jibao, who was killed by thunder to refer to the emperor’s lack of filial piety. The Emperor was mad and wanted to kill the Prime Minister. After the old eunuch confirmed the past, the Emperor forgave the Prime Minister. He brought back the queen mother. Facing the punishment of the queen for the Emperor, the Prime Minister took off the emperor’s robe to replace the emperor to receive the punishment, which maintained the emperor’s dignity, and more important is saving the preservation of their lives.

3) The opera named as the Red Royal Robe (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F3">Fig. 3</a>)

In traditional Chinese opera, the use of color in costumes designing is also an art, and different colors of the robe indicate different social status, the yellow is for the imperial family, and the red robe usually indicates the high nobility (Hua, 2010).

The opera tells us the story happened in Ming Dynasty (BC1368-BC1683), Hai Rui (a officer) offended the officer Yan Sun and was banished to Chunan County to be its magistrate. On his way there, he encountered a girl named Feng Lianfang, who was rude and unreasonable. After being educated, the girl recognized her mistakes, and even helped Hai Rui get rid of the corrupted officials. The red robe in the opera used to refer to Hai Rui, representing loyalty as well as comedy.

If the audiences know such common knowledge of traditional Chinese operas earlier, it would be much more convenient for them to understand the theme of the plays, which will be helpful to appreciate the operas for people of different nations.

4) The opera named as the Gift of Cotton Gown (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F4">Fig. 4</a>)

In operas in ancient China, the cotton gown indicated the character in the play usually has a lower social position, when it had been described as a gift to somebody, which told the audience that the receiver was very poor. The name of the opera helps the audience know that the story circled around the gift of cotton gown and gave an account of some changes in social rank to some character.

The opera told a story happened during Warring States (BC471-BC221) period, Fan Ju from the State of Wei, following Xu Jia, went to the State of Qi, and was received with great courtesy, which caused jealousy from Xu Jia. Xu Jia slandered him to the Prime Minister who ordered people to beat Fan and deserted him in the wilderness. After his awakens, he was taken to the State of Qin, and changed his name to ZhangLu. He was made Prime Minister by the King of Qin. When Xu Jia went to Qin, Fan disguised as a poor person to see him. Xu Jia pitied his former colleague in a snowy weather and sent him a cotton gown. The following day, when he went to the Prime Minister, and to his horror realized it was Fan Ju. But Mr. Fan pardoned him because of the robe he sent him.

The opera used a cotton gown as a clue to develop the whole story, aroused the audiences to think more about how to deal with the similar changes in our daily life, and such theme is still fresh nowadays, which help for us learn from such wisdom and openminded.

5) The opera named as Qing Wen Mending the Fur Cloak (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F5">Fig. 5</a>)

The opera name indicates that there is a girl named Qing Wen, who is very skillful, and she can get rid of some difficulties to mend the very expensive fur cloak well. In ancient China, may till today, the fur coat is precious, In Chinese, “Qiu” is the phonetic word, constituting of the two Chinese characters “yi” (衣) and “qiu” (求). “qiu” (求) not only gives the pronunciation and also means “Fur”. Combining “yi” (衣) with “qiu” (求) refers to the clothes made from “fur”, which indicates that in ancient China, “qiu” (求) and “Qiu” (裘) is the same word, with the same meaning, which was rare in ancient times.

In traditional opera, the maid Qing Wen mended the fur cloak for Baoyu, the character in Dream of Red Chamber (one of the four traditional Chinese classical literature), when he went to a banquet in the fur cloak that was sent by his grandmother, it got burn by accident. Fearing the grandmother’s blame, he asked Qing Wen to mend it for him, Qing Wen accomplished it while still being ill, and such mending almost took her the whole night. After finishing the great mending, her health condition became worse and worse, which showed her deep affection for Baoyu.

The story developed by the important affairs of mending a fur cloak, which happened between the maid Qin Wen and her “boss” Jia Boyu, and he was also her ideal lover in her heart. Based on the name of the opera, may attract the audience attention to think that it was story about a smart girl who was skillful and they wanted to concern about her fortune.

6) The opera named as White Undergarment (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F6">Fig. 6</a>)

In traditional Chinese operas, the white undergarment refers to the “unlined upper garment”, in fact, it is a close-fitting tunic made of leno, light weight and very thin. There are both narrow sleeves and wide sleeves, cross collar, straight collar, and their length is long enough to the knee with the splitting armpit.

This opera has been played as the Yu opera, Wuxi opera and Kunqu Opera. The main character of the story Su Yun, went to Lanxi for his official post with his family. Upon leaving, his mother sent a while undergarment to him. The Husband and wife mistakenly boarded on a pirate boat in Qiantang River. The water pirate, Xu Neng saw the beauty of Mrs. Su, and thus murdered Su Yan by throwing him into the river. Tao Da used some trick to let Mrs. Su escape, who fled to riverside and gave birth to a son. Xu took the boy and asked Tao Da to raise him. After 18 years, the boy, now called Xu Jizu, grew up and won the first place in the imperial examination. On his inspect tour to the region of the lower Yangtze River, Mrs. Su went to the inspector’s office to bring a law suit. In midnight, Yao Da told him the murder case happened eighteen years ago by taking out the White Under garment. Xuzu avenged for his father, and reunited with his real family.

The white undergarment is an ordinary cloth, but as a precious witness to the murder, which can help the character investigate the truth and reunite with his family members in the end.

7) The opera named as Undershirt (Pearl Shirt) (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F7">Fig. 7</a>)

Qingqiang opera Pearl Shirt or Undershirt, also named as the Yu Kuan Divorces his wife. The main character Yu Kuan in ancient Xianyang city left home a few months after he married Zhou Lanying. Lanying waited for outside the door and was spotted by Chen Shiwu, a merchant. After failing to seduce her a few times, he bribed the old lady Yan who got Lanying drunk, stole her undershirt, and gave it to Chen. When Chen met Yu in a hotel, he showed him the undershirt, indicating his affair with Mrs. Yu. Returning home, he divorced Lanying. The wife of Chen remarried to Yu Kuan after Chen’s death, and told him the truth of the stolen undershirt. Yu regretted but at this time Lanying already became the second wife of Li Wenfang and moved to the Prefecture of Jia. Xu looked for Lanying to apologize. He mistakenly injured the guard, but Lanying pled for him. Eventually Li showed mercy and allowed them to reunite.

The traditional Chinese opera Pearl Shirt or Undershirt, which may attract the most audiences’ attention to its’ complex craftsmanship, but the story just gives a good account of the transfer of the precious cloth as the clue of the whole opera, and it is also a witness to the past, and the present Name should be creative and indicate the theme of the story, it is a successful case to some extent.

8) The opera named as Nine Wedding Dresses (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F8">Fig. 8</a>)

Wedding dresses is a popular term for the audiences in their daily life, but when it has been modified by using “nine”, we may puzzled, may be it is just the author’s ideal writing style luring us to know more about it.

Dating back to the history, the opera Nine Wedding Dresses is also named as the Murder with Wedding dress, which is popular with Huai Opera, Chu opera, Jin opera or Gan opera. During Tang Dynasty (618- 907), Qian Yulin and his cousin Jiang Qiaoyun, growing up together, were sweet hearts. Qian wanted to take the imperial examination but due to poverty, he went to his uncle’s home to borrow money. When Qiaoyun could not get enough silver as his father was not around, she gave him her dowry of nine wedding dresses and asked him to sell them for the money. Fearing not enough, she also put ten liang of silver money and an embroidered show as a love token. However, when he went to pawn the dresses, it happened that the daughter of local candidate of the imperial examination, Mr. Qiao, Cuihua, lost her nine wedding dresses. Yulin was caught as a suspect. In the court, Mr. Qiao insisted on Yulin being the thief. Yulin was tortured to death. Hearing the news, Qiuyun confronted Cuihua, and the truth was revealed, which cleaned her cousin’s name. Seeing the package, Qiuyun committed suicide in the court. The Magistrate Yang regretted, and could not face the old parents who had no one to rely one. He thus sent his own son and daughter to them to amend his mistake. He eventually was forgiven by the two families.

2. Hair decorations in dramas’ titles

1) The opera named as Banquet with Hamlet Tassels Removed (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F9">Fig. 9</a>)

Helmet tassel refers to the silk accessories of the Helmet. During the Central Plains Dynasty in ancient China, people originally used Phasianus colchicums’ feather as the tassels, generally two to three, and later with the introduction of Buddhism in China and Turkey, the spearhead-shaped bottom pressure spikes with the red silk tassel (see Ming Dynasty armor) has now become popular, or the helmet with a tubular on the top, which has inserted the helmet tassel inside. The Peking opera named as removing the hat tassel off in the banquet, or cutting the hat tassel off in the banquet.

The King of Chuzhuang (Spring and Autumn Period; ---591 B.C.) held a celebration banquet for suppressing Dou Yujiao’s Rebellion. When the light was blown out by wind, the secondary general, Tang Jiao, in darkness, tried to harass the Imperial Concubine Xu who plucked his hamlet tassel, and also secretively informed the King of Chuzhang. The King immediately ordered all the generals to remove their hamlet tassels. When the light was relit, Tang Tiao was grateful and determined to return his gratitude to the King. Later when Jin Sate invaded Chu State in BC 575, Tang Jiao saved the King of Chuzhang’s life, fought against the enemy and gained the rewards.

2) The opera named as the Green Jade Hairpin (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F10">Fig. 10</a>)

The Green Jade Hairpin was usually used to refer to Jade hair clasp or the beauty, which originated from the poem of Zhongxing Yue Autumn night in Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). This great opera has become popular with Yue opera, and made into a film. Li Tingfu, the Minister of Ministry of Personnel in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) married his daughter, Xiuying to the son of Wang Yuzhi, an academician of the Imperial Academy. However, Xiuying’s cousin Gu Wenyou, who did not get her hand in his marriage proposal, bought off the matchmaker to borrow Xiuying’s jade hairpin, and placed it together with a forged love letter, in the bridal chamber. As expected, Yulin ran into the trap. He suspected Xiuying of infidelity, and ignored and insulted her. When her father learnt all this, he went to question about the situation. And then the case was cleared. However Xiuying was very ill due to the long torture. Yulin was regretful, and after he won the first place in the imperial examination, he apologized to Xiuying in his full official regalia, at the same time, Xiuying had been dressed by the phoenix coronet and robes of rank, gained the highly respect.

3) The Story of the Gold Hairpin (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F11">Fig. 11</a>)

The jewelry of Golden-hair-pin consists of two strands, which had been usually used as the hair decoration for women. In the Huang mei opera the Gold Hairpin gave account of the story about the main character, a scholar named Wang Jinlong went to take the imperial exam and was robbed of his silver on his way, and got stranded in a small hotel making a living by selling his writing. He was later invited to teach in his teaching school by the ministry councilor Huang. He fell in love with the daughter of Huang became secretly engaged with her. Miss Huang used her gold hairpin as a token of their engagement, and gave him some money for him to take the imperial examination. He succeeded in receiving the first place in the exam and married Miss Huang and her maid, Chunxiang.

The traditional opera chose the gold hairpin as a token for the two young’s loyal to their love, and such a hairpin is very dear even today, it may help us think of the value of the diamond ring for the wedding or marriage, which usually gives us good inspiration or good belief for the true love and happy life.

3. Dress decorations in dramas’ titles

1) The opera named as the Kirin Purse (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F12">Fig. 12</a>)

The name of the opera gives us a introduction of the custom in ancient China, Shandong province, before the daughter was married off, the mother would send her a purse with embroidered kirin filled with jewelries, hopes that her daughter give a birth to a healthy baby much more earlier. Such purse could also be called as Kylin bag, and the kylin is the mascot of Chinese ancient legend.

In the story, the Purse Embroidered with Kirin, Xue Xianglin received one from her mother. On her way to her husband’s home, she stayed in a pavilion for sheltering from rain, and saw a girl, who was also on her wedding sedan, crying for fickleness of the world. So Xue Xianglin sent her kirin purse to her, and the two separated.

Six years later, when the hometown of Xue was flooded, and Xue and Zhou’s families fled, and Xue got lost and went to Cai Zhou. She then became the nanny of the youngest son of the ministry councilor Lu. One day, when she picked up the ball in a small building, she came upon the kirin purse she sent six years ago, and could not help crying. It turned out that Mrs. Lu was the bride who received the kirin purse six years ago. When she recognized Xue, she treated her as a guest. Eventually Xue reunited with her families and both women became good friends.

The opera named after Kirin Purse was really a beautiful story, and especially with the widespread of Chinese culture, the theme of the opera will be agreed with each other, to be optimistic towards life no matter what happens, be kind to each other, and never forget to appreciate other’s help through our lives.

2) The opera named as the Jade Lion Pendent (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F13">Fig. 13</a>)

Jade lion pendant is hanging on the clothes can also be worn as an ornaments, and because the pendant lion is small, beautifully crafted and cute. In Tang Dynasty (618-907), the poet Yuan Zhen had written a poem about the pendant.

The opera the Jade Lion Pendent is also called as the Small Roof. Before Qian Cong went to take the imperial examination, Zhu Xiuying his wife sent him a jade lion pendent for fear of his changing his heart, and asked the old servant to go with him. When passing the Black Wolf Mountain, he came cross Yang Chun, the robber, and was saved by Miss Wu. Miss Wu forced him to marry her. Qian had no choice but left the jade lion pendent as betrothal gifts and left for the examination. Later both his wife Zhu and Miss Wu were kidnapped Yang Chun to his village. Both women killed him. When Qian came back with the first place in the examination, his wife asked him for the pendant on purpose, and pretended to prison Mis Wu. Qian was embarrassed but asked his auntie to preside over the wedding ceremony with Mis Wu. But when he opened the bride veil, he found her wife Xiuying. After the truth was revealed by Miss Wu, he reunited with his wife.

4. Bracelets & neck ornaments in dramas’ titles

1) The opera named after the Investigation of the Jade bracelet (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F14">Fig. 14</a>)

Peking Opera the Investigation of jade bracelet told us a story in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Su Qiu, a wealthy Yu Ren’s daughter, in her childhood, was betrothed to Zhang Shaolian. Because Zhang Shaolian did not do well in his life, Yu Ren forced Zhang to break up the engagement, which made Su Qiu and her mother unhappy. Su gave one of a pair of the jade bracelets to her mother, and another to her maid Luan Ying, and asked her to give it to Zhang Shaolian to sell it so that he had money to marry her. However, the maid unexpectedly sent the jade bracelet mistakenly to Han Chen, a dandy, and Su Qiu was cheated into the marriage. Su Qiu committed suicide afterwards. Zhang Shaolian was sent to the local government by the girl’s father and confessed to the false accusation under torture. At this time, the sister of Han Chen, Yujie really wanted the jade bracelet, and also found someone was selling another identical one. She stole the one from her brother. After a careful investigation, the real situation was revealed. Han Yujie admired Zhang Shaolian, and the two eventually married.

Based on the English version of the name of opera, can help the audience deduce that the story has a little bit of complex clues, may arouse their interests, through some investigation can discover the truth. And it is a truth that lies can never cover the truth forever.

2) The opera named as Picking Up the Jade Bracelet (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F15">Fig. 15</a>)

Jade Bracelet is still very popular today in China, most women like to wear them and it has been said to protect the wearer from being hurt or suffering from disaster. In ancient China, the jade bracelet also usually bought as a gift or token for a female, and sometimes it associated with the long history or legend for the family members.

The story of Picking Up the Jade Bracelet happened in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in the Sun Jia Village of Shanxi Province. When Sun Yujiao, a young girl was doing embroidery in the front of her house, Fu Peng, a handsome gentleman happened to see her. He admired her, and started to talk to her. His good manner also touched Xun Yujiao deeply. But because of social manner between the male and female should be abided by, Yujiao invented an excuse and gave no reply to Fu Peng, and even pretended to close her door to avoid further communication with him. Fu Peng fell in love at the first sight to Yujiao, and deliberately dropped a jade bracelet on her front door and left. Sun Yujiao watched FuPeng through the slight opening in door panel, and later shyly picked the precious jade bracelet up, willing to accept Fu Peng’s affection (Sun, 2012). All these has been witnesses by the matchmaker, who saw through their wish, and went to find out the truth with Jujiao. She asked an embroidered show as a token of love, and helped them to get married at last.

As mentioned above, the jade bracelet is the key point in the play, and has been used to reveal that the character Sun Yujiao hesitated to pick it up for three times, who is actually filled with a tangle of contradictory emotions. The opera may help the foreign audience know more about how ancient Chinese girl deal with their love is a very special way, although on the surface, the ancient Chinese girl looks more shy, in heart, they shared a lot in common.

3) The opera named as the White Wintersweet Sash (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F16">Fig. 16</a>)

The whitesweet sash is something with the similar function just like our band, which cannot help people associating it with private affairs. As the name indicated, the story developed by the wintersweet sash, indicated a love story will be told in a new way.

The story of the White Wintersweet Sash belonging to Qingqiang opera, and it told a story happened during the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (BC.202-220), Fu Zi Empress’s sister, Wei Qiaoyun married Huo Guang, born the son of Huo Qubing, who accepted as an adopted son by Emperor Wudi, given a white winter sweet sash, and raised in the palace of Princess Pingyang. He later married the daughter of Princess Pingyang with this sash as an engagement gift. When the chief of Huns, Wang Xiaozhu wanted to invade Han’s border area, and married Fu Zi Empress for peace making, which really made the Emperor Wu has no choice. At this time, Huo Huang suggested that his wife Qiaoyun to take the place of the Empress. When Huo Qubing learnt the new, he was in anger, chased after the Huns’ chief and saved his mother. The chief surrendered and Huo came back triumphantly.

4) The opera named after the Jade Tiger Pendant (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F17">Fig. 17</a>)

The jade tiger pendant is a special decoration in ancient china, and usually chosen as a gift for people with great value, just because it will be in accompany with the owner all time, which indicated their close relationship with each other, it can be taken as a token sometimes.

The story of the Jade Tiger pendant also known as Juan Juan, it is very famous both in Peking Opera and Shandong opera drama. At the same time, it is also popular in the drama of Sichuan, Henan, Yunnan, Qingqiang opera, Shanxi opera and a local opera of Hebei province.

Ma Wu, who occupied the Taihang Mountain, went down the mountain search for her-oes. While drinking in a pub with the diviner Wang Teng, he got into a quarrel with Feng Yan, and was defeated by the latter in their fights. He wanted to invite Feng Yan go to the mountain but was refused. He killed Wang Teng, hung his head outside Feng’s home, and framed him in order to force him up to the mountain.

The son of Feng Yan, Tian Lang found the head in the morning; Feng Yan also informed his stepmother, Ms. He. But in fact, the son of Ms. He, He Qijuan who always plotted for the property of Feng’s family, and took the opportunity to falsely accuse him of manslaughter. Feng was prisoned. He disguised himself as a monk to harass Feng’s wife, then accused her of infidelity and finally kicked her and her son out of the house.

Feng’s wife and his son stayed in Ciyun Temple during the night, met Wang Teng daughter Juanjuan. Both Tian Lang and Juanjuan fell in love, and Juanjuan gave him a jade tiger pendant and let him to sell it to save his father. After Tian Lang accidentally met General Wang Yuan he went to Luoyang, and it happened that Feng’s wife and Juanjuan also went to the Luoyang government of Wang Yuan. Wang liked Tian Lang and wanted to marry his daughter to him. Tian Lang had to give the jade tiger pendant to Wang as an engagement gift. Later, Wang Yuan heard the case. Ms. He and his son were both sentenced to death, and the whole family reunited.

5) The opera named as the Dragon-Phoenix Lock (<a title="ref-type:fig" class="ref-type" xlink:href="#F18">Fig. 18</a>)

Dragon-Phoenix lock is a lock shaped ornaments. In Ancient China, the Eurygamous lock is a symbol of a happy marriage (Gao, 2001). In the story of the Dragon-Phoenix Lock, during Ming Dynasty (1368- 1644), in Lanxi County, the local government councilor’s son, Lin Fengchun while seeing lanterns in the Lantern Festival, encountered the daughter of a tofu shop’s owner Jin Shan’s daughter Jin Feng. The two fell in love at first sight. On the night Lin used the dragon phoenix lock as an engagement gift and the two were secretly engaged. While making love, they heard Jin Shan came back and Jin Feng hid Lin in a box, which unexpectedly suffocated Lin. After the incident, Lin’s mother insisted on Jin Feng’s death. Lanxi county magistrate, He Tingzhong who was the protégé of the councilor Lin, accepted the case, and believed that Jin Feng was innocent. He asked the councilor Lin back, and argued strongly for Jin Feng. Under the pressure of Lin’s mother and Jinhua prefect, he insisted on the justice at the risk of his official position. After learning Jin Feng’s pregnancy, the councilor Lin finally excused Jin Feng.

V. Conclusion

Traditional Chinese opera originated from the Qin and Han dynasties, after many years’ (two centuries) development, it almost had become mature in the Song Dynasty & Yuan Dynasty. After Ming & Qing dynasties, Chinese drama had been flourished, especially Peking opera has been the quintessence of the Chinese nation, and an important symbol of the Chinese culture, it is not only belongs to the Chinese people, but also to the whole world. Traditional Chinese operas, with Peking Opera and kunqu opera as representatives, both of them have been well preserved and listed by the United nations as part of the intangible cultural Heritage of Mankind.

How to enhance cultural exchange and promote mutual understanding and build up good friendship between Chinese people and foreign friends, culture nourishes mind and hear quietly, we should take great effort to carry out translation practice of operas in new ways, classify the operas from different aspects to help audiences from different countries understand the opera much easier.

Based on the investigation, it can be found that whether in its initial period or the flourishing stage, the impact of the clothing culture on the drama creation has always been very influential. Some operas have been named after the clothing apparels, and which really provide new clues to the fashion studies, and even provide rich materials for the fashion style in different periods of the history. The relationship between the apparel’s names and the fashion reveals the creation of opera and the development of fashion at the same time. As a big nation noted for clothes and hats, and even the other name of “huaxia” also come from clothes, “hua” refers to beautiful clothes worn by emperors or officials with meaning splendid; the word “xia” refers to a big nation with the meaning of great or grand. As the traditional Chinese operas, so many of them has been given the name from Chinese Robe, Chinese gown or Chinese Coat, besides it, there also are operas’ names came from hair decorations or dress decorations, and even some came from bracelets & neck ornaments, the paper studies the classification of the traditional operas names based on the mentioned above, and translates them into English giving account of the main idea of the play, it is a breakthrough to operas’ translation from this aspect, and it is also an interesting approach to the widespread of traditional fashion and traditional operas at the same time. The increasing of Chinese soft power needs us study traditional Chinese operas from different angles, it is a great task for further exploration.