Yuan Zaju used mime, makeup, costumes, roles - all of the ingredients, in fact, which characterized the southern Nanxi style. Comic roles ( chou) also played a part, providing ironic commentary on the events taking place. Zaju typically featured three major roles: a woman ( dan) an older, usually venerable, man ( mo) and a young man ( sheng). Yuan Zaju differed from the Nanxi style in that the main character sang a solo using a single major rhyming scheme, while all other characters spoke their lines. The most popular form at the time was nanxi (literally 'Southern drama'), characterized by sung or spoken dialogue written largely in rhyme.īeginning in the thirteenth century A.D., a northern form of opera called Yuan Zaju - which was usually divided into four acts - developed into a sophisticated theatrical style and gained prominence. Many regional opera forms in modern China draw on a tradition extending at least as far back as the twelfth century A.D., when opera was performed in the large public theatres of Hangzhou, capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (A.D. Emperor Li Longji founded the first known opera troupe in China - the 'Pear Garden' - and today's opera professionals are still referred to as 'Disciples of the Pear Garden'. 618–907), under Emperor Li Longji (reigned A.D.

Chinese opera became more formalized during the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 220–265), when a form of opera called Canjun was popular among the general public. The history of Chinese opera can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms Period (A.D.