Qiong Opera, also known as Qiongzhou Opera and Hainan Opera, is one of the four major operas in Lingnan, along with Cantonese Opera, Chaozhou Opera and Han Opera. It is a folk opera art of the Han nationality in Hainan Province, China. Qiong Opera is one of the branches of southern opera, mainly using Hainanese as the opera language, so the popular area is limited to Hainan Island and Guangdong and Guangxi. In 2008, Qiong Opera was selected into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. The musical singing of Qiong Opera can be divided into two categories: the early stage is "qupai style" and there are helpers. For example, some plays such as "Pipa Ji", "Huaiyin Ji", "Peach Banquet" and "Eight Immortals Celebrating Birthday" all have brand names for the lyrics, and some also use some big-character brands and ditties. In the later period, it evolved into "banqiang style". The original qupai style and helpers were gradually eliminated, and now only traces can be found in some plays or "Chengtu" and Zhongban. Banqiang style is divided into five types: Zhongban, Chengtu, Kutanban, Qiang, and special Qiang special types. There is also a special gong and drum score for stage operation (i.e. stage noise). In addition, it also absorbs Hainan Daotan music such as Furong, Zhigao, Jinxian, Jinzike, Lingbaoke and other tunes and other folk music, song and dance music. The singing style is based on the middle board (including Sanqi middle board), which is evolved from the seven-character board (also called "seven flat board") of the accompaniment. There are different board styles such as middle, slow, fast, scattered, positive line, reverse line, outer line and inner line. It has great adaptability. Regardless of the roles of Sheng, Mo, Jing, Chou and Za, it can be used when performing different emotional changes of joy, anger, sorrow and happiness. It is a relatively ancient singing style of Qiong Opera. Qiong Opera martial arts belong to the southern school, and the boxing sect Shaolin used real swords and guns, and there were also acrobatic performances. There were many famous martial artists in the late Qing Dynasty who could use more than a dozen weapons and had special skills such as flying swords through pillars, through knife circles, and dancing fire racks. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, they also learned northern martial arts. In the earliest years, all classes hung a white cloth in Taichung with patterns of musicians (gong, drum, suona, and musical instruments). The musicians of the civil and military scenes were placed on the left and right sides. In the late Qing Dynasty, it was changed to black or flowered cloth curtains, and the two sides were hung with colored scrolls donated by the audience. After the May Fourth Movement, colorful and embroidered velvet curtains began to be used, and then various painted scenery (such as halls, palaces, pavilions, landscapes, etc.) were used, and they were raised and lowered according to the sequence of the script. The costumes used to be only the crowns and clothes of the Han and Ming dynasties. The official uniforms and dragon robes were all embroidered with velvet, and the scholars, village girls, and robbers only used white, black, blue, red, and other colors of city shirts, skirts, and robes. The boots and shoes were all thin-soled; soldiers and robbers wore straw sandals. Reforms began before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the crowns and clothes were designed according to the needs of the script. The accompaniment instruments of Qiong Opera were originally only gongs, drums, and flutes (i.e. suona), which were called "gongs, drums, and beating". There are more than 30 kinds of instruments now, including bamboo hu (high-pitched string), erhu, erhu, yehu, violin, sanxian, yueqin, qinqin, pipa, yangqin, big suona, small suona, horizontal flute, dongxiao, big throat pipe, long pipe, short pipe, flower drum, war drum, group drum, sub-drum, double-sided sub-drum, bangban, high-sided gong, Wenluo, Suluo, ping-pong gong, small circle gong, Beijing gong, bell, cymbals, Beijing cymbals, etc. The main instruments are bamboo hu, erhu, erxian, big suona, small suona, big throat pipe, and short pipe. The roles of Qiong Opera are divided into five major lines. They are Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo, and Chou. Sheng roles include Zhengsheng, Tiesheng, Wusheng, and Xiaohaisheng; Dan roles include Zhengdan, Tiedan, Huadan, Laodan (Pojiao), Caidan, Meixiangdan, and Wudan; Jing roles include Dahualian, Erhualian, and Sanhualian; Wei roles include Heixuwei and Baixuwei; Chou roles include Zajiao and Huasheng. In addition, there are Zajingtou and Four King Kong roles that have disappeared in Qiongju. Danjing sings in falsetto, while other roles sing in real voice. Literary drama focuses on singing instead of acting, and many artists are famous for their singing. Qiongju has a rich artistic heritage, and its traditional repertoire is divided into three parts: one is Literary drama (mainly based on singing skills), which originated from Yiyang Opera, mixed with Siping and Qingyang Opera, and belongs to the qupai system, with developed rolling singing and chorus. There are more than 800 plays, such as "The Story of Huaiyin" and "The Story of Pipa". The second is martial arts (mainly based on martial arts and fighting), including "The Celebration of the Eight Immortals", "The Six Kingdoms Conferring Prime Ministers", "The Meeting in the Ancient City", "The Single Sword Meeting", and more than 400 historical and mythological novels such as "The Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "The Story of Xue Family", "The Generals of the Yang Family", and "The Romance of the Gods". The third is civilized drama, also known as fashion cheongsam drama, with more than 130 plays such as "The Movement to Save the Nation", "The 1st Provincial and Hong Kong University", "Orchid in the Valley", "Heartbreaking Grass", "Qiu Jin's Martyrdom", and "The Fate of Tears and Laughter". After liberation, there are more than 1,500 costume and modern dramas that have been sorted, adapted, created and transplanted from other dramas. There are also a number of excellent plays that have been performed for a long time, such as "Poems on Red Leaves", "Zhang Wenxiu", "Searching the Academy", and "The Dog Holding the Golden Hairpin". These plays have moving stories, easy-to-understand lyrics, and are full of philosophy. Qiong Opera has a long history. It is a local opera of Yiyang Opera branch that gradually formed on the basis of the popular zaju (originating from Yiyang Opera) in Hainan, absorbing Minnan Opera, Hui Opera, Kun Opera, Chaozhou Zhengyin Opera, Baizi Opera (Chaozhou Opera), Guangdong Banghuang, Hainan folk songs, song and dance, puppetry, Taoist music, etc. Qiong Opera was once popular in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other places in Southeast Asia, and was called "Red Coral of the South China Sea". Qiong Opera has a long history, but its actual origin is difficult to know. There are four views on the historical origin of Qiong Opera: First, "imitation theory", represented by "Hainan Island Chronicle". The Chronicle says: "Drama in Hainan has already had hand-held wooden troupe singing in the Yuan Dynasty, which came from Chaozhou. In the early and middle Ming Dynasty, the locals imitated it, and the local opera flourished." In other words, Qiong Opera is an imitation of the puppet show popular in the Yuan Dynasty by Hainanese in the early Ming Dynasty. Second, "foreign theory", most of its adherents are old Qiong Opera artists. Fan Jingle, an old artist from Yacheng, said: "The predecessor of Qiongzhou local opera was zaju, which originated from Fujian. People in Yazhou used to call Qiongju "Minnan Zaju" and "Qiongzhou Zaju." Li Douguang, an old artist from Qiongdong, said: "Qiongju originated from Zhengyin Opera in Chaozhou. Later, the literary opera sang Qiongyin and the martial arts opera contained Mandarin." On the issue of the origin of Chinese opera, some people believed that there was no opera in China. It was not until the Han Dynasty that Chinese opera was influenced by Sanskrit opera from India that Chinese opera was created. 3. "Indigenous theory", which has a great influence in the Qiongju circle. The author of this theory is Cen Jiawu, who wrote "An Introduction to Hainan Han Opera". He believes that Qiongju originated from local folk songs in Hainan and is a native art. Many people support this theory, believing that the saying "No Zhongban, no Qiongju" circulated in the Qiongju circle is evidence of this theory. They believe that "Zhongban", the core of Qiongju, precedes Qiongju and its source is Hainan folk songs. Chen Zhiye's "A Brief History of Qiong Opera" believes that: "After the emergence of Hainan local opera, according to the characteristics of Hainanese language, the music and singing style of Liyuan Opera were released, absorbing local folk songs, songs and dances, and even abandoning the tunes, leaving only the rolling tunes, thus gradually showing local color." That is to say, Hainan local opera came first, and then local opera absorbed and transformed Liyuan Opera and other Yiyang Operas. Fourth, "religious theory". Many Qiong Opera enthusiasts believe that "Qiong Opera originated from Taoism". This view is actually Wang Guowei's "Witch Theory". In "A Study of Song and Yuan Operas", Wang Guowei pointed out: "Later dramas should come from witches and actors." "The difference between witches and actors is that witches entertain gods, while actors entertain people; witches mainly sing and dance, while actors mainly tease; witches are performed by women, while actors are performed by men." He also believed that opera has a closer relationship with "witches" than with "actors": "Although witches and sorcerers rose in the reign of the emperor, actors came much later." "Witches" are interpreted as "prayer, women who can dance without form and summon gods." Although the view that Qiong Opera originated from Taoism lacks strong evidence, it should not be ignored. The occurrence and formation of Qiong Opera cannot be simply attributed to a certain factor, but should be understood from the perspective of a diverse cultural background to understand the influence and role of various factors. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)