The Metalanguage of Corporeal Rhetoric in Peking Opera: Body, Four Affective States, and Eight Archetypal Forms

The subject of this study is the bodily rhetoric of Peking Opera as a system of signifying practices in which bodily movements, facial expressions, and postures of the actor function as elements of stage language. In contemporary theatre studies, corporeal expressiveness is increasingly regarded as an important level of artistic organization of performance; however, in relation to Peking Opera, it is most often described fragmentarily—through individual gestures and acting techniques—without analyzing it as an integral and structured system. Meanwhile, the bodily organization of the actor’s stage behavior serves as a key mechanism for the formation of stable, socially and emotionally significant images within traditional theatre. In this regard, the aim of the study is to identify the principles underlying the organization of bodily rhetoric in Peking Opera and to describe the mechanisms by which emotional states and social characteristics of characters are encoded through the actor’s body. The methodological framework of the study is based on semiotic analysis, theatre studies description, and a cultural-historical approach. The analysis is conducted on three interrelated levels: the morphology of the body (body parts as units of expression), the system of four affective states, and eight typical bodily forms. The results of the study demonstrate that the bodily rhetoric of Peking Opera constitutes a hierarchically organized system in which morphological elements of the body, affective models, and stable behavioral forms function as interrelated levels of encoding the stage image. It is shown that bodily expressiveness in this traditional theatrical art has a normative character and is realized through a system of stable bodily codes. The findings of the study may be applied in theatre studies, the study of traditional Chinese art, as well as in research on nonverbal communication and performance practices. The novelty of the study lies in interpreting the bodily rhetoric of Peking Opera as a hierarchically organized system in which morphological elements, affective models, and stable forms of behavior operate as interconnected levels of encoding the stage image. In contrast to descriptive approaches limited to the analysis of individual gestures and techniques, this study demonstrates that these elements form an integral structural model functioning according to the principle of internal coherence. It is concluded that the bodily organization of the actor’s behavior in Peking Opera has a normative character and is realized through a system of stable bodily codes. These codes not only ensure the transmission of emotional states and social meanings, but also establish structural constraints on stage behavior, determining the possible modes of interpretation of the character within the framework of the traditional theatrical system.