although the name of cantonese opera only appeared in Guangxu period of Qing dynasty, its origin can be traced back to the middle of Ming dynasty more than 4 years ago. In the 3 years before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Cantonese opera was basically divided into two major factions: "provincial and port classes" and "mountain-crossing classes" (or "rural classes"). Li Wenmao, who is "the son of a king", is the only one in the history of world drama who has become the leader of peasant uprising by an artist. Kuang Xinhua, the first leader of the "Eight Harmony Guild Hall" of Cantonese Opera, is not only a representative of "Tongzhi Zhongxing", but also a famous veteran of civil and military affairs. He has performed such famous dramas as Su Wu Shepherd, Taibai Hefan and Li Mi Chen Qing. At the turn of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the stars were shining, and famous actresses came forth in large numbers, such as Li Ju, Xiao Lixiang, Xiao Cong, Zhou Lingli and Li Xuefang, all of whom were well-known at home and abroad. A swift horse is known as the "King of Hua Dan", while Li Xuefang is praised by Kang Youwei as "Southern Snow and Northern Plum", and is mentioned with Mei Lanfang. In the 193s, in the history of Cantonese opera, it was called the era of "learning from horses to compete for supremacy". Xue Juexian was close to the style of Peking Opera, with comprehensive performance skills. He was nicknamed "the omnipotent old man", but he was outstanding in his niche. His representative plays included four tragedies, such as Hu Bugui. The jockey won with a clown. He exposed the ugliness of feudal rich capitalists in a group drama featuring "lonely and cold species" (miser), which has Moliere's style. Not only in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia, but also in the United States for many years.
For more than 3 years, traditional plays with high ideological and artistic quality and relatively stand the test of time include Ping Gui Bie Kiln and Luo Cheng's Writing. Among the newly compiled historical and modern dramas, Sou Academy and Guan Hanqing have great influence. Transplanted plays account for the largest proportion, among which Liu Yi's Biography and Lotus Lantern are better. Cantonese opera singing music is mainly based on plate cavity, supplemented by Qupai style. There are two types of board cavities: bangzi and Erhuang. Bangzi has the first board, adagio, middle board, hibiscus, sigh board and shaman board. Erhuang has the first board, adagio, second-rate board and rolling board. In addition, there are Xipi (equivalent to the "four tones" of Peking Opera), love altar, Nanyin, Banyan, Muyu, Cantonese and other accents. Although the structure of Nanyin, Muyu and Banyan is different from that of Bangzi and Erhuang, the method of singing melody is the same. Xipi and Lian Tan wrote lyrics according to music, but their singing styles were similar to those of Bangzi and Erhuang. Qupai has two types: brand and ditty. Most of the brands are absorbed from Kunqu opera and Yiyang, and a few are Guangdong folk etiquette brand music; Xiaoqu includes traditional opera cut music, Jiangnan music, Cantonese music, such as Liu Qingniang, Dressing Table, selling groceries and Jade Beauty, as well as new songs, such as Seeking Needle, Urging Home, Hating Chest, Playing da ji, etc. Except for new songs, most of them belong to instrumental music and have relatively fixed melodies.
The accompaniment instruments of Cantonese opera are divided into orchestral music and percussion music. The former mainly plays gaohu, Erxian, dulcimer and throat. There are two different combinations of "hard bow" and "soft bow". The musical instruments used in the "hard bow" include two strings, short throat, long throat, bamboo violin, small three strings, yueqin, coconut palm, horizontal flute, etc., which are matched with percussion high-side gongs. The sound and timbre are loud and hard, and they are mostly used to accompany the ostentation and extravagance in traditional dramas and more intense scenes. The musical instruments used in the "Soft Bow" are Erhu (Nanhu), Zhonghu, gaohu, Coconut, Dahu, dulcimer, Pipa, Xiaosanxian, Zhongsanxian, zhongruan, Daruan, Long Throat and Dong Xiao. In addition to national musical instruments, Cantonese opera music also boldly adopts western musical instruments, such as violin, cello, saxophone and other bass instruments. With percussion instruments, Wen Gong and Drum (or Su Gong and Drum, bass Beijing Gong and Drum), the sound and timbre are slender and soft, which are used to accompany lyrical aria and carefully depict the inner feelings of characters. Percussion instruments include divining fish (board), measuring board, sand drum, double-skin drum, large cymbals, Wen gong, high-side gong, Su cymbals, Su gong, singles (high-pitched small gong), war drum and big drum. And there is a relatively complete set of various types of rhythm gongs and drums.
The martial arts performance art of Cantonese opera has maintained the rough and simple characteristics of the early "Mountain-crossing Class". Many famous actors have unique skills such as one foot, somersault, zip line, stepping on the jump, eye movement, hair tossing and twisting. Martial arts are based on "southern martial arts", including strong and powerful targets, hand bridges, Shaolin boxing, difficult chair skills and high platform skills. After the appearance of foot color, it is also quite rare for men to "jump" and women to "bend their backs". The repertoire of Cantonese Opera is mostly Shengdan Opera, which emphasizes singing but ignores doing, while literary opera is more than martial arts opera. It refines and creates some new performance programs from real life, and draws lessons from movies and dramas to form a free, flexible, popular and delicate performance style with emphasis on realism.