Seeing a Peking Opera performance for the first time, a foreigner wouldwonder: why are faces of actors painted red, white, black, yellow or green?Are they masks? But masks are separate from the face. Facial make-upsin Peking Opera are different from masks. Intrigued, many foreign touristswould go backstage to see actors and actresses remove stage makeupand costume. Next time, they would go there before a performance startsto see how performers do their makeup. Luciano Pararotti, the great tenorof international fame, once had a Peking Opera actor paint on his face themakeup of Xiang Yu, a valiant ancient warrior portrayed in numerous Peking Opera plays.