From Southern Opera to Zhengzi Opera and Baizi Opera:a Preliminary View of the Formation of Chaozhou Opera

Southern opera was spread around Chaozhou as early as the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty.A Story of a Gold Hairpin,a play of Southern opera in Xuande period,began to be performed in local dialect occasionally.Another play in the Jiajing period,A Story of Lichi and Mirror,became Chaoquan opera performed in Southern Fujian dialect.In the Wanli period,the play A Lady Named Gold Flower was performed in Chaozhou dialect.With this we can see the traces of formation of the local opera from a foreign one.