Huai Opera is one of the local operas in Jiangsu with the largest performance area and the widest audience. Jiangsu Province 13 provincial cities, Yancheng, Huai 'an, Taizhou, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang and Suzhou-Xichang all belong to the performance scope of Huai Opera, and the whole province extends to eastern Anhui, Shanghai and northern Zhejiang, with a total population of about 25 million.
Huai Opera originated in Yancheng and Funing, Jiangsu Province in the middle of Qing Dynasty, and has a history of more than 200 years. From the beginning of its gestation, under the direct influence and edification of ancient Huizhou Opera and later Peking Opera, Huai Opera stepped into the track of traditional opera art norms, and gradually developed and expanded in strict accordance with the inherent laws of traditional opera art, forming a local opera with unique artistic personality. It not only has the beautiful and high-pitched singing characteristics of the North and South schools, but also has the elegant and heavy performance style of the East and the West. Jianghuai's historical and cultural heritage and simple and rich flavor of life of the times are integrated into the whole process of its artistic development, which can not only skillfully inherit and display the essence of history and culture on the artistic stage, but also vividly interpret colorful modern life. Representative works include Fishery Riverside, Liu Guiying is a Big Red Flower, Blue Bridge Club, Female Judge, Bitter Fruit, Trivia, Mung Bean and Red Bean, Soul of the Road, Ten Needle Village Officials, Sunflower and so on.
Yangju Opera is a traditional China opera that originated in Yangzhou, Jiangsu and grew up in Shanghai. On the basis of ancient "Flower Drum Opera" and "Incense Opera", it developed by absorbing Yangzhou Qingqu and folk songs. Formerly known as "Huaiyang Opera", it was called "Huaiyang Opera" in the mid-1930s. After the founding of New China, it was renamed Yangju, which was mainly popular in northern Jiangsu, southern Jiangsu, Shanghai and parts of Chuzhou, Anhui.
After the 1940s, the art of Yangju Opera has been developing and maturing, which is embodied in the following aspects: First, the artist has further borrowed from the martial arts skills, body movements, costumes and headdresses of Peking Opera, and also borrowed from the performing means such as Yue Opera, Huai Opera and Drama, thus enriching the artistic expression forms. Secondly, art schools from all walks of life have been formed. In addition, the artists also reformed and innovated the musical vocals on the basis of the original tunes, and formed a musical system combining Qupai style with board cavity. Representative repertoires include Dai, Qing Yu Court, Trimmer, Shangjinshan, Bajie Dapu, Stealing Poems, etc.