Chou.

The chou, or comic, roles include foolish magistrates, nagging women, and servants. The characters are generally humorous and optimistic. No social status or rank is implied; emperors and beggars can be classified in the chou category if their personality deserves it. The word chou is written with the same simplified Chinese character as the word ugly, making the two homophones. This convergence is visualized in their makeup, which features a white patch over the nose and eyes that is intended to make the face look weak and dim-witted. The white block of makeup causes these characters to sometimes be called doufu or "bean-curd" face. chou are also called xiao hualian (little painted face) for their small area of makeup. They may also wear beards that are short and oddly shaped. The chou are released from the traditional ideal of character portrayal to the extent that they can ad lib and address the audience directly. Their skills include speech and danceacting. Because of their reduced level of dignity, they rarely play the leading character, but instead provide the comic moments.

The chou roles are divided into three subcategories: wenchou (civil chou, sometimes shortened to chou), wuchou (martial chou), and caidan (female chou, also called choudan). The wenchou roles in court scenes are the imprudent officials. They wear the same kind of costumes as their sheng colleagues of the same status, but because their characters are flawed, the chou wear a costume shorter than the ideal, the color may be out of the accepted range, and their embroidery may be less decorous. Wenchou can also play servants, woodcutters, boatmen, waiters, and other working-class men.

For these roles they are dressed in some of the simplest costumes in traditional Jingju, unembroidered silk or cotton robes tucked up to reveal their trousers and gaiters (bangtui) underneath. The wuchou are also comic martial characters, who are usually quite resourceful and clever with their counterattacks. They dress in the same style kuaiyi as other hand combatants or in a special version, the hua kuaiyi (flowered "fast clothes"), and thin-soled ankle boots. Undignified women, ugly stepsisters, and some matchmakers fall into the role of caidan. Instead of the white patch, the makeup for the caidan roles parodies the delicate polish of the qingyi face or the dignity of the laodan, depending on the age of the caidan character.

The younger caidan wear comic versions of the qingyi robes, in unusual colors, with skirts that may be too long. Their movements mock the graceful elegance of genuine qingyi characters. The older caidan may wear caipo ao (colorful old women's jackets) that are oversized and boxy, and trousers that are too short.