Wuxi Opera. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wuxi Opera. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wuxi Opera is commonly known as Wuxi Tanhuang, which is popular in the southern part of Jiangsu. After the War of Liberation, it gradually spread to the Yangtze River Delta and reached "golden age" in the 1950s?and 60s, with more than 40 Wuxi opera troups in Shanghai's Jiading, Jinshan, Qingpu, and Fengxian, Zhejiang province's Jiaxing and Anhui province's Langxi.

It is one of the three most popular operas in East China, and one of the major local operas in Jiangsu. There are more than 10 Wuxi opera troupes in Jiangsu nowadays.

The operas mainly tell everyday life stories of rural areas, most of which are against feudal marriage, old ethics and greedy landlords.

The operas are simple, sincere, humorous and vivid in language. In addition,?male actors play both men and women, which is another characteristic of Wuxi Opera.