Anqing, in Anhui Province, is regarded as the ‘hometown’ of Huangmei Opera and Hui Opera. Anqing was first built in 1217 and is almost eight-hundred years old, but Huangmei Opera first appeared about two centuries ago as a simple drama of song and dance.
Huangmei opera did not involve the traditional opera gestures which often-used sleeves and step movements. The music is performed with a pitch that hits high and stays high and does not sound like the typical rhythmic Chinese opera.
Chinese opera together with Greek tragic-comedy and Indian Sanskrit Opera are the three oldest dramatic art forms in the world. For an example of Huangmei Opera, watch Cowherd and Weaver Girl.
To learn more about Chinese opera, see “Peking Opera” http://wp.me/pN4pY-lf
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