Dong Opera is popular in Liping County, Rongjiang County, Congjiang County of Guizhou Province, Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County of Guangxi Autonomous Region and some Dong villages in Tongdao Autonomous County of Hunan Province. Liping is located in the southeast of Guizhou Province, connected to Jingzhou and Tongdao of Hunan Province in the east, Sanjiang of Guangxi Province in the south, and Congjiang, Rongjiang, Jianhe and Jinping in the northwest. It is the junction of Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi. There are many ethnic groups in the county, and the Dong people account for more than 60%. In the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, epics, poems, stories and "brocade" began to appear in the Dong culture, and the development and prosperity of "brocade" laid a solid foundation for the emergence of Dong Opera in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Han population flowed into the Dong area, so Xiang Opera, Gui Opera, Caidiao, Nuo Opera and other operas were introduced into the Dong area, which inspired the formation of Dong Opera. During the Jiaqing and Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Wencai from Ladong Village, Maogong Township, Liping County, created a new form of drama that uses Dong language for dialogue and singing, namely Dong Opera, which quickly spread to Dong areas such as Liping, Rongjiang, and Congjiang. Dong Opera can be roughly divided into two categories: one is based on Dong folk stories, such as "Zhu Lang Niang Mei", "Lang Ye", "Mang Sui", "Mei Dao", etc.; the other is compiled or adapted from Han novels and dramas, such as "Mei Liangyu", "Qin Xianglian", "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", etc., and there are also linked plays, such as Liang Shijin's "Xing Huan Zuo Ye", "Tou Jun Bie Yao", "Beating Lu Wenxiu", etc. The performance of Dong Opera is divided into several processes, such as "setting up the altar to invite the teacher", "hanging colorful flags", "main show", "delivering lunch", "going to the evening tune", and "jumping to get promoted". "Setting up the altar to invite the teacher" is a ceremony that must be held before the performance, presided over by the bookkeeper, and announced "opening". Next is "hanging colorful flags", that is, hanging colorful flags obtained from previous performances one by one to show off. "Main stage play" is a sitting singing performance. Two actors go to the stage together to announce their identities. Then one actor sings first, and the other actor sings back. After each actor finishes singing a paragraph, the two cross each other and change positions to continue singing. The basic performance techniques include singing, acting, walking, and dancing, as well as covering the face with a fan, shaking hands, and dancing "Yoho". Originally, all actors were male, but later it developed into men and women on the same stage. All female roles used false voices, but they could not play clowns. Actors mainly sing and rarely speak, but clowns mainly speak, with funny movements and jumping and bouncing, which is called "dancing clowns". The performance lasts until noon, and the girls bring lunch and oil tea. The last scene of the performance is "jumping for promotion", in which a man dressed as a woman stands in front of the stage holding a red cloth with the words "promotion" and "first-class court" written on it. After the playwright sings a sentence backstage, the actor in female costume says "promotion" once. The people who perform the "Jiaguan" dance are agile and have a distinct rhythm. The audience throws "red envelopes" at them for good luck, and the people who perform the "Jiaguan" dance try their best to avoid being hit by the "red envelopes". After the performance, firecrackers are set off to celebrate. The music of Dong Opera is composed of opera tunes, Dong songs and music. Opera tunes are derived from Dong songs, and are called "Suoxi" in Dong language. The basic form is the repetition of upper and lower sentences. After singing a sentence, the band will follow the ending to set off the atmosphere, similar to the chorus of Sichuan Opera. Later, in order to change this single tune, "crying tunes" were added to express sadness, "fairy tunes" were used to express the fantasy of gods, and "singing tunes" were used to liven up the atmosphere. Introducing the Dong ethnic group's big songs into the drama is the opera big song, which is called "Gahuxiang" in Dong language, making the Dong opera lively and full of musical sentiment. At the end of the performance, it ends in the form of "mass songs", and a solemn, majestic and warm mass scene appears. In addition to the opera songs, some places also sing small songs, such as Congjiang and Rongjiang, and add pipa songs and ox-legged harp songs to match the big songs. The instruments used in Dong opera originally only included erhu, gongs and drums. Later, string instruments were expanded to include large pipa, small pipa, ox-legged harp, jinghu, banhu, yangqin, yueqin and single string, and percussion instruments were expanded to include bangu, magnetic bell, wooden fish and guada board. The opening gongs and drums have a relatively fixed gong and drum scripture, and the rhythm is from slow to fast. At the beginning, the gongs and drums are tight and repeated three times in a row, telling the masses that the show is about to begin. There is no gong and drum scripture for the interlude gongs and drums, and they are improvised along with the "introduction" of the opera tune and the upper and lower sentences. The ending gongs and drums are extremely lively, accompanied by the singing of "Yiyoho, Yohoyi". Dong opera does not have a special team, and it is all freely combined by the masses, and can be together and separated from time to time. It is purely amateur, and there is no strict profession among the actors, except for the clown. In addition, although there are two types of performance venues, a dedicated stage and a temporary stage, there are no special props, and no need for scenery or sound effects. In the history of Chinese drama, the rich content and basic characteristics of Dong Opera, as well as its inheritance history, are rare in other Chinese operas. The excavation, rescue and protection of it will play a positive role in enriching and perfecting the history of Chinese opera. The basic structure of a Dong Opera troupe is: one book-keeping master; 20-30 actors; a small band of 3 to 5 people, mostly passed down from father to son or from master to apprentice. Its inheritance pedigree is: with the continuous impact of foreign culture, the living environment of Dong Opera has been constantly changing. In addition, the number of migrant workers has increased, and students have a heavy homework burden after entering school. Many villages are no longer able to organize opera troupes and carry out Dong Opera performances. Dong Opera is facing the danger of shrinking and disappearing.