What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to analyze the transformation of the white color in military costumes within Peking opera, shifting from a symbol of mourning to a representation of heroism.

April 28, 2026Open Access

From Historical Precedent to Stage Codification: The Semantics of the White Color in the Military Costume of Peking Opera

Key Points

The study aims to analyze the transformation of the white color in military costumes within Peking opera, shifting from a symbol of mourning to a representation of heroism.
Utilized semiotic analysis to interpret the significance of color and costume in Peking opera.
Examined historical precedents and narrative developments related to the color white in military costumes.
Applied comparative-typological approaches to explore the literary-theatrical context of characters associated with the color white.
Demonstrated that the color white was historically transformed from insignificance to symbolize the 'young valiant general'.
Identified three transformation levels: historical precedents, narrative formation, and literary-theatrical projections.
Concluded that the meaning of white is a product of historical culture rather than a traditional symbolic meaning.

Abstract

The subject of this research is the semantics of the color white in the military costume of Peking opera. Unlike the traditional approach, which interprets the color white in Chinese culture exclusively within the framework of Confucian ritual systems—as a color of mourning, modesty, "lack of official rank" (), and its association with the West, metal, and autumn—this work considers the white military costume not as an element of a symbolic code but as a result of a prolonged historical-narrative transformation. The focus is on the process through which the color white, initially devoid of heroic semantics, gradually becomes associated with the image of the "young valiant general" on stage. Three levels of this transformation are examined: historical (military precedents of Chen Qinqi and Xue Rengui), narrative (the formation of the "white-robed hero" type in huaben and zaiju), and literary-theatrical ("whitening" of Ma Chao and Zhao Yun in the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and early drama). The research relies on semiotic analysis, historical-cultural, and comparative-typological approaches, as well as an analysis of chronicles, huaben, zaiju, and stage codes. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the color white in the military costume of Peking opera is considered for the first time not as an element of traditional symbolic systems but as a product of a historically conditioned semiotic process. It has been demonstrated that the meaning of the color white arises not from ritual code but from a specific charismatic gesture (Chen Qinqi, Xue Rengui), which is then repeatedly reproduced in the narrative tradition, transforming into a stable narrative topos of the "white-robed hero." The literary-theatrical projection of this topos onto the images of Ma Chao and Zhao Yun completes the process. Conclusion: the stable connection of the color white with the image of the young valiant general on the stage of Peking opera is the result of historical-cultural transformation, rather than an inherent symbolic given.

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