Huaihai Opera (Southern School) Southern Huaihai Opera is a traditional drama project in the third batch of representative projects of municipal intangible cultural heritage. Southern Huaihai Opera is a unique system formed by Xiangshui County Huaihai Opera Troupe, which is rooted in traditional Huaihai Opera and has made comprehensive innovations in dialogue, singing, and repertoire. It is recognized by experts and drama fans as a major school different from traditional Huaihai Opera. Xiangshui County spans the area outside the Weili of Haizhou. Huaihai Opera has been circulated here since the Qing Dynasty. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Binhai County Huaihai Opera Troupe was established in 1958 with the former Xintan Salt Field Employees Huaihai Opera Troupe as the team. In 1966, it was divided into Xiangshui County Huaihai Opera Troupe. Now Southern Huaihai Opera is not only circulated in the entire Huaihai area, but also involved in the entire city of Yancheng and parts of Taizhou City. The formation of Southern Huaihai Opera is due to the continuous reform and innovation of dialogue and singing. In the nearly 40 large and small operas created and transplanted, the essence of folk tunes, palace songs, and singing styles of Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Huai Opera, and Yang Opera were absorbed to create and design singing styles, focusing on lyricism and singing. While retaining the traditional charm of Huaihai Opera, it focuses on portraying characters and delicate lyricism, with strong artistic appeal. The most notable feature of Southern Huaihai Opera is the large number of scripts and good quality. After the small Huaihai Opera "Hua Dagu Talking about Matchmaking" won the first prize in the country in 1984, 9 major operas such as "Flower and Candle Tales" and "Return to the South" created and performed have won many awards in provincial and municipal performances. In recent years, a number of small operas such as "Night of Wind and Snow" and "Wu Erlai Asking for Land" created and performed have won many awards at the national and provincial levels. The Southern Huaihai Opera is influenced by the language, culture and customs of the intersection of the north and the south. The dialogue is close to Mandarin, the stage design is avant-garde, and the music is professionally arranged, making the performance elegant and grand, more suitable for the aesthetic needs of modern people. The Southern Huaihai Opera has distinct regional characteristics and is a "living fossil" of the customs and language characteristics of the Huaihai region. The singing style of the Southern Huaihai Opera has not lost its traditional charm. Through deliberate innovation of inclusiveness, it focuses on portraying characters, paying attention to pleasant sounds, and paying attention to delicate lyricism. It has formed a unique singing style system with high artistic aesthetic value. Well-known drama experts in China and the province have repeatedly discussed the "Xiangshui phenomenon" of Huaihai Opera, marveling at how an economically underdeveloped county has pushed a drama genre to a brilliant height. In May 2012, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture held a special seminar in Xiangshui and designated Xiangshui as the "small drama creation and performance base", indicating that the Southern Huaihai Opera has a high theoretical research value. In the late 1980s, due to the influence of multiculturalism, the market shrank and it was almost endangered. With the attention of the local government, the innovative development of Huaihai Opera was promoted through a number of measures such as creating high-quality products, cultivating talents, holding academic seminars, carrying out performances, supporting and guiding mass singing activities and performances in folk communities. The project was included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage protection list of our county in 2008 and in the intangible cultural heritage protection list of Yancheng City in 2013. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)