Huangmei opera or Huangmei tone (黃梅戲 or 黃梅調, pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: Huángméixì or Huángméidiào) originated as a form of rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

 folksong and dance that has been in existence for the last 200 years and possibly longer. The music is performed with a pitch that hits high and stays high for the duration of the song. It is unique in the sense that it does not sound like the typical rhythmic Chinese opera

Chinese opera

Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE...

. In the 1960s Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 counted the style as much as an opera as it was a music genre. Today it is more of a traditional performance art with efforts of revival in mainland China

Mainland China

Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...

, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

.

It was traditionally sung in the Anqing

Anqing

Anqing is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Anhui province, East China. It borders Lu'an to the north, Chaohu to the northeast, Tongling to the east, Chizhou to the southeast, and the provinces of Jiangxi and Hubei to the south and west respectively....

 dialect of Mandarin.

History

China

About the only thing certain is that this art came from China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. It became a part of the operatic genre at the Anqing

Anqing

Anqing is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Anhui province, East China. It borders Lu'an to the north, Chaohu to the northeast, Tongling to the east, Chizhou to the southeast, and the provinces of Jiangxi and Hubei to the south and west respectively....

 region of southwestern Anhui

Anhui

Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...

 province. It first appeared as a simple drama of song and dance at the Huangmei county in the Lanyang plateau in southeastern Hubei province a hundred years ago before it became the operatic form with costumes and additional roles. The music was simple and short.

Huangmei opera did not involve the traditional opera gestures which often used the sleeves and step movements. It was also not performed on stage initially but as a kind of roving troupe performance.

Hong Kong

The Taiping rebellion

Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty...

 occupied Hubei

Hubei

' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...

 and brought Huangmei opera to its homeland, Guangdong

Guangdong

Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...

.

The theme of Huangmei opera began to expand with its initial introduction in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 via the 1959 film The Kingdom and the Beauty

The Kingdom and the Beauty

The Kingdom and the Beauty is a 1959 Hong Kong musical-drama film directed by Li Han-hsiang. The film was set in Imperial China, directed by a Hong Kong based-Mainland Chinese director and produced by the famed Hong Kong Shaw Brothers film studio, there was minimal Singaporean input in the...

(江山美人). The art form is believed to have come from the massive wave of immigrants from mainland China

Mainland China

Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...

 to Hong Kong in the 1950s. The film that peaked the music genre was the 1963 Love Eterne. The audience was attracted by the rewritten music style which combined both Chinese and Western musical instruments The tempo was also livelier and faster than the traditional opera. The skilled adaptation of the actors in their roles and the chorus helped the audience to understand the emotions and context of the story. The music mainly gave the film an exotic and rural charm. During this period, many Huangmei films were made, evolving into various forms and combinations, which later included wuxia

Wuxia

Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...

 sword fights. Because the genre have such a heavy association with romance films like Love Eterne, it is sometimes preferred that the singing be done with a male and a female pair.

There have only been a handful of big name Huangmei tone artists in Hong Kong. Betty Loh Ti

Betty Loh Ti

Betty Loh Ti was a Chinese actress who was often described as the 'Chinese Classic Beauty'. In the 1960s, she was popular among both Chinese and Western filmgoers.- Biography :...

 and Ivy Ling Po

Ivy Ling Po

Ivy Ling Po is a Chinese actress and Huangmei opera singer. She played an important role in the entertainment industry for preserving the art form.-1950s - 1960s:...

, Tsin Ting

Tsin Ting

Tsin Ting is a Chinese singer and dubbing artist, who is perhaps best known as the Marni Nixon of Hong Kong cinema.-Biography:...

 are some examples.

Costumes

Huangmei costumes are generally less extravagant compared to the other Chinese opera branches. There is usually a greater emphasis on the singing than the display. In Hong Kong there is not necessarily a requirement to wear any traditional Chinese opera

Chinese opera

Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE...

 attire. An example is the cantopop

Cantopop

Cantopop is a colloquialism for "Cantonese popular music". It is sometimes referred to as HK-pop, short for "Hong Kong popular music". It is categorized as a subgenre of Chinese popular music within C-pop...

 artist Jenny Tseng

Jenny Tseng

Jenny Tseng mostly known in Cantonese speaking regions as Yan Nei, is a Macau-born singer, based in Hong Kong for much of her career. Her father is Austrian while her mother is Chinese....

 singing Huangmei style music with Ivy Ling Po

Ivy Ling Po

Ivy Ling Po is a Chinese actress and Huangmei opera singer. She played an important role in the entertainment industry for preserving the art form.-1950s - 1960s:...

in a concert.