Demao's Tea-picking Opera in Gannan

Gannan tea-picking opera is a famous Hakka opera, which originated from Han folk songs and dances in some places in Gannan. In the middle and late Ming dynasty, it gradually developed into a tea lantern drama.

Gannan has been rich in famous tea since ancient times, and Anyuan Jiulongshan tea is a tribute of the Qing Dynasty. Every year in late spring and March, tea merchants from Haval, Kyushu gather in Kowloon to purchase spring tea. Beautiful tea-picking girls are singing tea-picking songs, singing one song after another, singing tea-picking songs, singing this ups and downs, and singing chorus. With the development of tea industry, tea picking songs are also spreading and developing. As early as the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the song of transplanting rice seedlings and picking tea had entered the elegant hall of gentry officials. According to the record of "Bear Overhaul Spectrum" in Yaling, Shicheng, every evening, when there is a full house and the wine is half drunk, Xiao Yin sings "The Song of Transplanting and Picking Tea", which echoes among the bamboos and makes a big noise. Sometimes I sing "December Tea Picking Song". Since then, it originated from Gannan, the descendant of tea-picking lanterns in eastern Guangdong, and is also one of the main components of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi. It was combined with the folk lanterns in Kowloon tea area and evolved into a tea-picking drama "Sisters Picking Tea" with simple plot and singing and dancing characters. Later, it was adapted, and props such as paper fans were added to create plays such as selling tea and bench dragons. The characters in the play have evolved into two ugly people, that is, the triangle class. Later, it developed into 13 performances, more than 40 performances, and 10 performances of Tea Picking in Jiulongshan and other tea lantern dramas, and the tea lantern drama evolved into the tea picking drama in southern Jiangxi. This kind of drama developed from Han folk songs and dances has a strong flavor of life, distinctive local characteristics and cheerful performance forms, so it has developed rapidly.