A Daomadan is a special role in Chinese Opera representing a female warrior or general. To break the word down by characters, Dao means sword in Chinese, Ma means horse, and Dan means female roles in Chinese Opera. Unlike other female roles that focus only on singing or acting, a Daomadan must be able to sing, act, and perform high-level martial arts and acrobatics, usually while pretending to ride a horse.
As the Year of the Horse approaches, Global Times reporter Niu Yingbo trained intensively for seven days at National Peking Opera Company to master the art of Daomadan—an iconic female warrior role embodying courage, loyalty, patriotism and wisdom. In the Year of the Horse, let’s ride with the legends! Photos: Chen Tao/GT