The imperial power in the Tang Dynasty was closely related to Taoism, which was regarded as the state religion. In order to maintain the status of Taoism and win over believers, Taoists sing Taoist stories in Taoist temples. In order to attract more listeners, folk stories and historical legends are used to sing, and the rap in Taoist temples is gradually spread to the people. Through the creation and development of artists, a simple and earliest form of Tao Qing oratorio and rap was formed. This is how Taoism rose with the prosperity of Taoism.
In the Song Dynasty, Taoism was regarded as an orthodox religion, and it was vigorously promoted. Zhenzong revered Laozi as "the emperor of the old gentleman who mixed yuan and harmony" and built a magnificent view of palace and spirit. Later, Hui Zong's obsession with Taoism surpassed that of real sects, and he practiced Taoism all over the country, which led to a sharp increase in Taoist schools and Taoist priests. This expanded and developed the popular Taoist sentiment at that time, mainly in the following aspects: On the basis of using accompaniment instruments such as pipa, drum, bell and Qing in the Tang Dynasty, the main musical instruments still used by Taoist sentiment-fishing drum and simple board were added, which promoted the establishment of Taoist melody and style.
In the Yuan Dynasty, Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan in Yuan Shizu both believed in Taoism to unify China. They prohibit the plays that promote the rule of the Han nationality, but rarely interfere with the immortal plays, so the eight-hole immortal plays created by Yuan Zaju writers account for more than a quarter of Yuan Qu. At this time, Taoism, which is widely circulated among the people, has also entered a new period of development. From sitting in class to singing in the square, shadow play has been added on the original basis, becoming a duet performance with characters and plots, which has been regarded as the embryonic form of China traditional opera.
In the Qing Dynasty, Lamaism became more important and Taoism gradually declined. However, because Cixi had a dream of immortality, Taoist Gao Yunxi "bewitched Cixi with immortality, but stayed in the palace for a few days" and secretly participated in court affairs, so Taoism continued and Taoism continued to develop at this time. Some scholars also follow the old tune to create new songs, enriching the body of Taoism. Daoqing takes "children's play", "attracting the Qingjiang River" and "covering the robe" as its main vocals, and absorbs and adopts some gongs, drums, vocals, performances, plays and folk songs of Shaanxi Opera and other Bangzi operas, and gradually forms a mature Daoqing opera.
From the gradual development of rap, street singing, makeup performance and stage performance of the above-mentioned Taoist dramas, we can see that Taoist sentiment not only originated from Taoism, but also has been closely related to Taoism in its formation and development, and it is an art form of drama that cannot be separated from Taoism.
Taoist sentiment in northern Shaanxi first appeared in Xuanwu Village, Dongjiegou, Qingjian County. According to Wang Rulun, a Taoist artist in our village, it was only during the light years of Qing Dynasty (1821-1850) that a group of Taoist artists from Xinzhou, Shanxi Province came to perform in our village and nearby Zhaigou, and then the feelings of Shanxi Taoism were introduced into Qingjian. Later, combined with local folk songs, it absorbed the artistic elements of Hu Mei and Yangko, and formed the Qingjian Daoqing. The earliest group performance was Wang Rulun's grandfather, Wang Jiaban, who performed in the form of sitting singing. From Guangxu period to 1930s, Taoist teams of Shijiahe, Yantou, Yuanjiahe and Letangbao villages appeared in Qingjian County. They often go out to perform, so that Taoist operas spread to Zizhou, Zichang, Zhidan, Hengshan, Suide and other places, and there was a prosperous situation in which every family had a team. The form of performance has developed from sitting singing to stage performance, which has become the main entertainment variety of temple fairs and competitions around the country. It is often a Taoist play during the day and a yangko club fire at night. During the Spring Festival every year, every village Taoist love and yangko team will also invite each other to perform in the form of posting replies, which is called "lively" locally.
In the 24th year of the Republic of China (1935), the Red Army's Long March arrived in northern Shaanxi, and the Taoist situation in northern Shaanxi entered a new stage of development. Taoist artists have created new Taoist feelings in Hengshan and other places on the basis of traditional Taoist feelings. Because they performed many modern plays reflecting the people's revolutionary struggle life in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border region, they were called "Daoqing" by the masses. The artistic style is quite different from the old style, deep and tragic, while the new style is cheerful and bold, full of new characteristics of the times, and is widely welcomed. As a result, the old-fashioned sentiment has gradually declined, and urban and rural class clubs in various places have changed to sing new Taoism, such as Wu Xia Village Class, Caojiata Class, Chen Jiaping Class, Pojiagou Class, Badoucha Class, Huaijiawan Class, Luo Peng Village Class in Hengshan Mountain, Chai Xinliang Class, Peijiawan Class in Zizhou, Qiangjiagou Class, Liujiachuan Class, Zichang Qiangjiagou Class, Yulin Town Chuanbao Class and Yanchuan Baijia Class.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the new Taoism in northern Shaanxi developed further. The folk class clubs in villages and castles are constantly expanding, and some class clubs have also bought new boxes, trained a new generation of actors, and created and performed a large number of modern dramas.
Now it is mainly distributed in Yan 'an and Yulin in northern Shaanxi. The most concentrated are Zichang County, Yanchuan County and Qingjian County. Its radiation area extends to Hetao area in Inner Mongolia, northwest Shanxi and Gansu and Ningxia areas near northern Shaanxi.