Four main roles
* Sheng (生,Male role)
* Dan (旦,Female role)
* Jing (凈,Painted face male role)
* Chou (丑,Clown role)
The three roles other than the second role represent male characters.
There is an explanation about why the roles take the names above.It is said that they were chosen to have opposite meanings.Sheng in Chinese may mean "strange" or "rare",but the chief male role is a well known character.Dan,which means "morning" or "masculine",is contrary to the feminine nature of the characters.Jing means "clean",but in fact the paintings on their faces make the characters look unclean but colorful.And Chou in Chinese sometimes represents the animal "ox",which,in some senses,is slow and silent - in contrast,the Chou characters are usually quick and talkative.