Min opera (simplified Chinese: 闽剧; traditional Chinese: 閩劇; pinyin: Mǐn jù; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ban-kiok; Foochow Romanized: Mìng-kiŏk), also called Fuzhou drama (Chinese: 福州戲; pinyin: Fúzhōu xì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hok-chiu-hi; Foochow Romanized: Hók-ciŭ-hié), is one of the major traditional opera forms in Fujian Province. It enjoys a good popularity in Fuzhou, Middle Fujian, East Fujian and North Fujian where Fuzhou dialect is spoken, as well as in Taiwan and Malay Archipelago. Having been evolving for 300 years, Min opera became fixed in the early 20th century.
A variety of Min opera called Beilu opera (also called Luantan), is popular in the Min Dong region of Shouning County, near Zhejiang.
Famous quotes containing the word opera:
“Opera once was an important social instrument—especially in Italy. With Rossini and Verdi people were listening to opera together and having the same catharsis with the same story, the same moral dilemmas. They were holding hands in the darkness. That has gone. Now perhaps they are holding hands watching television.”
—Luciano Berio (b. 1925)