Singing and performing the challenging craft of Kunqu Opera on stage was how Xu Hongqing seemed to be realizing his ambition. After all, he had been learning the age-old mother of Chinese opera styles in an eight-year program.

But eventually he realized that he was not handsome enough to stand out as a performer. So Xu accepted the inevitable and changed his career path, moving behind the curtains to work backstage for Shanghai Kunqu Opera House's costume management department.

"It is never an easy decision for any performer who originally thought that he was born for the stage," the 35-year-old recalled recently.

"I was depressed until one day I realized that my new job was equally as interesting and important as that of the singers. The wardrobes of opera costumes opened up a new world for me."

Xu was studying Kunqu Opera singing at the Traditional Opera School affiliated with Shanghai Theater Academy, and his classmate was Zhang Jun who is now acclaimed as the "Prince of Kunqu Opera." Xu joined Shanghai Kunqu Opera House right after graduation.

But now, with about 15 years' experience behind the scenes, Xu is a senior costume artist for the troupe, in charge of all garments and accessories used in its 120 or so performances a year.

Xu's office is more correctly described as a storehouse. It holds dozens of 2-meter high wardrobes, trunks and a variety of clothing display fixtures. The 1,000 sets of silk garments stored systematically are also carefully folded to prevent damage and ware.

"As the old adage of Kunqu Opera goes, a performer would rather be dressed up in worn clothes than in wrong ones," Xu said. "Costumes used in traditional Chinese theaters are usually called xingtou. They must enable the audience to distinguish a character's gender and status at first glance. Some can also convey useful information about the character's personality and subtle mood changes."

For instance, according to a costume tradition, the heroine Du Liniang and hero Liu Mengmei of the romantic play "The Peony Pavilion" should both wear green to indicate their possible romance in the "Interrupted Dream" excerpt.

Even such small accessories as fans need to match the type and status of the characters.

The older male roles (laosheng) usually use fans decorated with watercolor figures and landscape paintings while the young male roles' (xiaosheng) fans have scattered golden spots on the surface. Floral patterns like peony and plum blossom are common for the golden fans used by young female roles (huadan).

Most pieces in Kunqu Opera wardrobes are a combination of dyed silk with hand embroidery of traditional Chinese patterns and are selected for high aesthetic value. They can't be washed.

Xu carefully prepares collar protectors and special shuiyi, a kind of underwear for the singers, to protect costly garments from performers' perspiration which can change the original colors.

He notes that, compared with the costumes in Peking Opera which are considered by the majority of people to be magnificent and brilliant, the Kunqu Opera costumes are more exquisite, elegant and scholarly as the art form usually depicts young scholars and cultivated young ladies.

"But there is still an obvious difference between Kunqu Opera's costume tradition and that of the sentimental and feminine Yueju Opera," Xu added. "Young ladies usually play male scholars in Yueju Opera, which can explain why pink colors are so widely found in its garments."

He has developed a habit of checking dozens of clothing items three times on each performance day, once early in the morning, once hours before the performance and once after the show. He takes a mooncake tin box with him which contains a sewing kit to fix buttons and also replacement batteries for emergency.