Liu Jin - Red Eunuch Face

Eunuch Face

This makeup represents a eunuch who tyrannizes people. Only two colors, red and white are used. The face is basically similar to a full face or a three-tile face, except that certain features indicative of a despot are magnified; thin, pointed brows that suggest craftiness; eye sockets shaped like kitchen knives to symbolize butchery of the people; a beardless mouth turned downward at the corners, a sign of cruelty and deceitfulness; a circle of light on the forehead to mock the eunuch's claim to be a disciple of the Buddha, "cleaned" of all sensual desires because he has been castrated; and lines representing folds on the plump cheeks and forehead, marks of ease and comfort.

Liu Jin with his red eunuch face plays the leading character in the opera "Faman Temple.