How did the South Word Theater develop?

The Nanxu Opera is popular in the Nanping area. It is said to have been developed from the "Tanchuan" (滩簧小调). During the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods of the Qing Dynasty, the danhuanxiao was introduced from Suzhou to the Nanping area of Fujian Province, and was performed in the form of sitting and singing.

With the introduction of the danping ditty into the Nanping area, the art began to be integrated into local production and life, and through the transformation of local artists, the danping ditty was gradually combined with the local folk art of northern Fujian to form another new type of drama with a unique style, that is, the Nanyu Opera.

Tanxin Xiaojiao uses the "native official language" from the Suzhou area when singing and reciting, and in the process of performance, Tanxin Xiaojiao is mainly sung, with spoken words in between.

After the combination of Tangling Reed and Minbei folk art, the Nanxian Opera was formed, with two types of tunes: "major tunes" and "minor tunes", with Nanxian's eight rhymes as the basic tunes. And because of the direct influence of the beach spring by the Suzhou Kunqu, retained the "weeping Yan Hui", "play children", "a flower", "General Order" and other songs.

The repertoire of Nanyu Opera is also mostly from the Kunqu repertoire, such as Broken Bridge, Autumn River, Out of the Seaside, The Legend of the White Snake, The Western Wing, and Worshiping the Moon.

The South Word Opera is a sitting and singing form of opera, with singers ranging from three or five to more than ten, each playing the yangqin, sanxian, pipa, sheng, Su flute, shell hu, as well as gongs, cymbals, cymbals, fishing drums and other musical instruments, singing while playing, and most of them are based on the kunqu opera texts, whose melody is soft and elegant, and is melodious and pleasant to listen to.

Later, in order to make the elegant kunqu texts easy to understand, the southern words were gradually changed to seven-word phrases to suit the tastes of the lower and middle classes in both urban and rural areas, commonly known as the "eight rhymes of the southern words".

The performance form of Nanxian opera is that one person sings, and many other people sit around with different musical instruments, rapping according to different lines in turn.

The traditional repertoire of Nanxian Opera, known as "Eight Rhymes", includes: "Hunting and Hunting Back", "Zhaojun's Exodus from the Frontiers", "The Legend of the White Snake", "Monks and Nuns", "Peony's Pair of Pills", "The West Wing", "Borrowing Clothes to Persuade Friends", and other traditional plays and folding operas.

During the Qing Dynasty, the Nanxue opera developed rapidly, and the first class society called "Jingyixuan" was set up during the Jiaqing period; during the Daoguang period, "Yicheng Society" was established; during the Tongzhi period, "Sande Tang" was established; during the Guangxu period, "Sande Tang" was established; and during the Guangxu period, "Sande Tang" was established.

The first class society was called "Jingyixuan"; in the Daoguang period, there was "Yichengsha"; in the Tongzhi period, there was "Sande Tang"; in the Guangxu period, there was "Tonglexuan"; and later on, there were "Crane Society" and "Gengyunqin Society" and other organizations.

After the founding of New China, Nanyu opera has been further developed. 1953, in the original Nanyu sung on the basis of the qin society, Nanping, the establishment of the first amateur troupe, and rehearsed the first traditional small folding opera "Wells Terrace", so that the genre to the first step towards the drama. Actors began to sit and sing on the stage, and performed in make-up according to their roles.

Subsequently, amateur dramas were set up in cities and towns to perform plays such as "Autumn River", "Out of the Plug", "Spitting Sleeves", and "Peony and Medicine". At the same time, the original "local official language" was changed to Putonghua, and learning performance from Wu Opera, Beijing Opera, Kun Opera and so on, enriched the art of Nanyu Opera.

1960, Nanping city founded the Nan word art school, digging, organizing, compiling and printing "Nan word music" as teaching materials.

In 1964, the Nanping Nanjian Opera Experimental Troupe was established, and Nanjian Opera created and performed a number of modern operas, among which are Purple Breath East, Main Street and Alleyway, It's Not Just a Misunderstanding, Bamboo Grove Robbery, and Ancient Ferry Style.