Huaihai Opera, Liuqin Opera and Sizhou Opera all originated from the "Soul-pulling Tune". Because it was popular in Lianyungang, Guanyun, Guannan, Shuyang, Lianshui, Huaiyin, Siyang and other places, it was once called "Huaihai Opera". It is one of the main local operas in Jiangsu. The origin and development of Huaihai Opera has a history of 240 years. According to legend, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the brothers Tang Daniu and Tang Ernian from Licheng, Shandong, went to Shuyang to sing and beg for food because of famine. Qiu, Ge and Yang from Haizhou learned from them and combined the two popular local folk songs "Taiping Song" and "Hunting Tune" to transform them into "Yixin Tune" and "Soul-pulling Tune". The latter three went out to perform separately, gradually forming today's Sizhou Opera, Liuqin Opera and Huaihai Opera. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods of the Qing Dynasty, artists were scattered in groups, going from village to village, singing in front of farmers' houses, and asking for food and cooked food, so it was also called "Door Head Words". The content of storytelling is mostly folk stories, and the instrument used is a three-stringed instrument, known as "three scraping tunes". This form of storytelling along the door has continued for more than 80 years. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, several artists gathered together to carry out activities, and gradually formed a team, singing in the village, the field, the street and the temple fair, forming a "small play". The content also developed from short story segments to the main play, and there began to be a division of roles. But the actors are all male, and those who play the female role sing in false voice. The actors' makeup is relatively simple: the female role is generally a black skirt, a handkerchief, and a folding fan; the old female role only needs a headscarf; the old male role only has a beard (beard) and a horse whip. The accompaniment instruments are mainly three-stringed instruments and clappers. By the late Qing Dynasty, the repertoire, style, singing and accompaniment instruments of the small drama were increasingly enriched and developed, and the repertoire developed to 32 large plays and 64 single plays. A few teams also performed on the same stage with Peking Opera, Sizhou Opera, Liuqin Opera, Hui Opera, etc. Huaihai small drama gradually developed from Haizhou to the southwest. Around the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930), small opera troupes from Shuyang, such as Hua Er, Ji Xiaohuozi, Zhao San, Chen Bulou, Wu Dayou, etc., successively performed in the northern part of Siyang, which had a great influence. In October 1942, Cheng Hanting, director of the People's Education Hall of Huaisi County, the Anti-Japanese Democratic Base, changed the name of "small opera" to "Huaihai Opera" at the request of artists. In 1954, it was named by the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Culture. Since then, Huaihai Opera has been truly put on the big stage. In the early days, Huaihai Opera had no music scores to rely on, and only relied on the master's teaching. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the famous artist Shan Weili (from Shuyang) began to record some of the music scores. The famous performing artist Shao Huichuan (from Guanyun, a monk) taught 16 Buddhist tunes (dressing table, big willow shaking gold, small willow shaking gold, opening the door, flowers opening the door, bean leaves yellow, small green sheep, city steps, flowers falling on the board, small peach red, step by step, thirteen ethics, etc.). In 1954, Ruan Lilin, a cultural officer of the Cultural and Educational Department of Huaiyin Special District, began to organize Huaihai Opera. In addition to adapting and processing some of the content of traditional operas, he also recorded and organized the singing scores. In 1963, Zhou Guangqian, a music teacher at Siyang Middle School, was transferred to Siyang Huaihai Opera Troupe as a band conductor and composer. He began to collect, organize and study the music of Huaihai Opera and scientifically classify it. By 1972, a total of 29 female tunes (12 basic tunes, 10 commonly used tunes, and 7 comprehensive board-style singing tunes) and 17 male tunes (11 basic tunes, 2 commonly used tunes, and 4 comprehensive board-style singing tunes) were organized. 29 instrumental tunes. During the development of Huaihai Opera, famous artists such as Yang Xiuying and Chen Yumei emerged in Siyang, and they also choreographed many popular large-scale stage plays with modern atmosphere, such as "Ten Miles of Fragrance", "Three Crossroads", "Chen Yi's Three Meetings with Han Deqin", "Military Wife Love", and other large-scale stage plays with modern atmosphere that are in line with reality, and small-scale plays with extremely strong local flavor, such as "Fifteen Strings of Cash", "Picking Pig Grass", "Pig Waist", "Chicken Paotang", "Donkey Rolling", "Dog New Year Greetings", "Walking on Tiptoe", "Ghost Pulling", "Wearing Eight Characters", "Short Steps", etc. The performance forms of these plays can be adapted to local conditions. They can be performed on the stage in elegant halls, or they can be condescended to sit and "set up stalls" on the streets, courtyards, fields, and temple fairs. Therefore, Huaihai Opera is deeply loved by the people in the Huaihai area. Urban and rural residents can't help humming Huaihai Opera when walking, working, and resting. However, since the 1990s, due to the popularization of modern media such as television networks, the people's culture has become increasingly diversified, and the pace has accelerated, which has put the development of Huaihai Opera into a dilemma. In 2007, Huaihai Opera was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage protection project, and its historical and cultural value was confirmed in a higher sense. Therefore, rescuing and protecting Huaihai Opera, which carries the profound historical and cultural connotations of the Huaibei region, will have very important scientific and historical value for the research, inheritance and development of historical culture. Information source: Siyang County People's Government Office Information source: Siyang County People's Government Office