Peking Opera actress under fire for bird-feathers headdress

Famous Peking Opera performer Liu Guijuan shows off a lavish kingfisher feather headdress on Sina Weibo. [Photo/ECNS]

Famous Peking Opera performer Liu Guijuan shows off a lavish kingfisher feather headdress on Sina Weibo.

A famous Peking Opera performer has become the center of controversy after showing off a lavish kingfisher feather headdress on the Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo.

Liu Guijuan is well-known for playing the Peking Opera role "qingyi," a virtuous and elite woman. Liu is a member of the People's Political Consultative Conference of Tianjin city, an advisory body, and enjoys a special allowance granted by the State Council, China's cabinet, as recognition of her career achievements.

Liu wrote in a post on Sina Weibo that she bought the headdress for 120,000 yuan ($19,000) more than a decade ago, and that it is now valued at more than 400,000 yuan.

She said the iridescent blue feathers were taken from the wings of 80 kingfishers and further processed to maintain their color and gloss.

Bird lovers and netizens have been enraged by Liu's statement, accusing her of neglecting the cruelty inflicted on the birds.

Liu deleted her original post, but continued to highlight the beauty of the feathers.

Her statement that she would buy the best headdress made from even more kingfishers drew a flood of criticism online.

Many netizens said that it's unnecessary to use feathers from live birds, as there are many convincing supplements that can be used.

But some supporters of traditional Peking Opera have supported the elaborate designs and adornments in the costumes, known as xingtou, which include kingfisher feathers.