Haikou Folk Opera Art: Qiong Opera

The origin of drama has always been an interesting topic in the history of world culture. Compared with western drama, although China's drama did not directly originate from religious sacrificial ceremonies and its history is not as long as that of western drama, its origin is more complicated and thorny, and there are still different opinions. As one of China's operas, Qiongju can only be originated from China's operas.

Qiongju Opera, also known as Qiongzhou Opera and Hainan Opera, is also known as the four major operas in Lingnan with Cantonese Opera, Chaozhou Opera and Han Opera. Qiong Opera has a long history and is a local opera popular in Hainan Province, Leizhou, Gaozhou and Hepu. On the basis of Minnan Chaozhou Opera and Liyuan Opera, it developed by absorbing the ballads of the local people.

Qiong Opera is a local drama of Yiyang Opera, which is based on Hainan's popular zaju (originated from Yiyang Opera), and gradually formed by absorbing Minnan Opera, Huizhou Opera, Kunqiang Opera, Chaozhou Andrew Opera, Bai Zixi (Chaozhou Opera), Guangdong Bangbang, Hainan folk songs, songs and dances, puppet shows and Daole. Qiong Opera was once popular in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other places in Southeast Asia. Also known as "Red Coral in the South China Sea".

Qiong Opera is a branch of Southern Opera, which mainly uses Hainan dialect as the drama language, so the popular area is limited to Hainan Island and Guangdong and Guangxi. Qiong Opera is one of the symbols of local culture, which is believed to have a long history, but its actual origin is hard to know.