Source, Formation and History – Ending

In general, Chinese operas can be divided into three genres. The first is based on the story-telling and ballad-singing arts, such as Huju opera of Shanghai. Quju opera of Henan Pfovince, Luju opera of Shandong Province, Meihu opera of Shaanxi Province and the various Quzi operas of northwest China. Tibetan opera has also been greatly influenced by the ballad tradition of that nationality. The second genre developed on the basis of songs and dances, such as yangge, a folk dance popular in north China, and Flower-drum opera, Tea-picking opera and Flower-lantern opera in south China.

But of all the types of opera in China, Peking opera has achieved the highest artistic accomplishments. In the Qing Dynasty, huiban - opera troupes featuring the tunes of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and funded by the richest merchants in the city of Huizhou-began to arrive in Beijing. They performed with opera troupes from Hubei who sang in the Han tunes, and over time they influenced each other. Eventually, Peking opera was formed. Sichuan opera, Xiangju opera of Hunan Province, Dianju opera of Yunnan Province and Yueju opera of Guangdong Province were formed in a similar way. Because this third genre of operas consists of a mature art form which later absorbed the strong points of local operas it emerged more mature and shows a higher artistic level in terms of repertoires and staging arts than the other two genres.