- published: 04 May 2016
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Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Cantonese culture. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia. Like all versions of Chinese opera, it is a traditional Chinese art form, involving music, singing, martial arts, acrobatics, and acting. 粵劇 (Jyut6 kek6) should not be confused with 越劇 (Yuèjù), the theatre of Zhejiang.
There is a debate about the origins of Cantonese opera, but it is generally accepted that the opera form was imported from the northern part of China and slowly migrated to the southern province of Guangdong in late 13th century, during the late Southern Song Dynasty. In the 12th century, there was a theatrical form called "Southern style" (Chinese: 南戲 (Cantonese: Naam4 hei3, Mandarin: Nánxì)), which was performed in public theaters of Hangzhou, then capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. With the invasion of the Mongol army, Emperor Gong of Song dynasty, called Zhào Xiǎn (趙顯 Chiu Hin), fled with hundreds of thousands of Song people into the province of Guangdong in 1276. Among these people were some Naam hei artists from the north. Thus naam hei was brought into Guangdong by these artists and developed into the earliest kind of Cantonese opera.