The origin of xiang opera

Hunan, south of Jingchu in Zhou Dynasty, belonged to Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Hunan local opera, as a branch of Chu culture, has a long artistic tradition and has experienced a long history of development and evolution. It was during the prosperous period of Hunan local opera art that many opera voices entered Hunan, enriching the musical expressions of local operas all over the country. Based on lanterns, tea picking, Tian Ge, folk songs, yangko, boat songs and other forms of folk entertainment. It has existed in rural areas of Hunan for a long time, and has formed folk song and dance singing methods such as ground flower drums and lanterns and some folk operas. These folk operas, which mainly praise labor and love, are lively, healthy and lively in art and are welcomed by farmers and urban civilians. It was also in the Qing Dynasty that a number of influential drama writers and dramas appeared in Hunan. A native of Xiangtan, Hunan Province, has written plays such as The Happy Man, and plays theoretical works such as Shi Yu, which occupies an important position in China's drama history. Yang Changshou, a native of Changsha, wrote drama scripts such as Guizhixiang and drama works such as Yu Ci Cong Hua and Yu Ci Cong Hua, which are of great significance to the development of China's drama. Wang Fuzhi of Hengyang, Zhang Jiuyue of Xiangtan, Zhang Shengjie and Xia Daguan, Zhu Jingying of Changde, Xiong Chao and Mao Guohan of Changsha, Chen Tianhua of Xinhua, etc. all created a number of influential opera scripts. There are countless other unknown writers and opera actors who have created drama scripts.

Hunan local opera art has absorbed the life nutrients of China and Huxiang culture through the creation of people and artists in past dynasties. After a long and difficult historical development, it has gradually formed 19 operas with different styles and characteristics. These artistic wonders, which flow in the blood of Chu culture and show the traditional splendor of Hunan, are even more dazzling in the spring breeze of the socialist motherland.

After the Yuan Dynasty unified the north and the south, the most mature form of China opera-Yuan Zaju entered Hunan, Tianjin and Chu by means of land and water transportation. Xia Tingyi, a Yuan Dynasty man, recorded in the Collection of Brothels that some zaju actors went to Hunan to perform and were welcomed.