Cantonese Opera - History

History

There is a debate about the origins of Cantonese opera, but it is generally accepted that opera was brought from the northern part of China and slowly migrated to the southern province of Guangdong in late 13th century, during the late Southern Song Dynasty. In the 12th century, there was a theatrical form called "Southern style" (Chinese: 南戲 ), which was performed in public theatres of Hangzhou, then capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. With the invasion of the Mongol army, Emperor Gong of Song dynasty, called Zhào Xiǎn (趙顯 Chiu Hin), fled with hundreds of thousands of Song people into the province of Guangdong in 1276. Among these people were some Naam hei artists from the north. Thus naam hei was brought into Guangdong by these artists and helped with the development of opera traditions in this region.

Many well-known operas performed today, such as The Purple Hairpin and Rejuvenation of the Red Plum Flower, originated in the Yuan Dynasty, with the lyrics and scripts in Cantonese. Until the 20th century all the female roles were performed by males.