Wuxi opera

Xiju (), also known as Wuxi opera, is a genre of opera which originated in the southern region of the Yangtze River Delta in China. It evolved from "Tanhuang" (), a folk opera art in the region of Wuxi and Changzhou of Jiangsu province. As one of the main local operas in Jiangsu Province, Wuxi opera has been reputed as "a piece of plum flower in Taihu Lake", a title given to the three major operas in East China, alongside Yue opera and Huangmei opera.

In May 1949, Wang Hanqing, Zou Peng, Wang Yuanyuan and others established the Red Star Tin Troupe in Shanghai. This was the beginning of the folks' renaming of "ChangXi opera" as the "Wuxi opera" (Xiju). In 1950, the Southern Jiangsu Administrative Office renamed the "Changxi Drama" as "ChangXi opera", referred to as "Wuxi opera". Since 1955, it has been officially named as "Wuxi opera". Wuxi opera was listed as the intangible cultural heritage by Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou respectively. On June 7, 2008, Wuxi opera was selected as the "Second National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China". Provided by Wikipedia