Dacheng Opera

Dacheng opera grew from the ritual theatre performed by monks and Daoist priests around Quanzhou and gradually moved onto folk stages as a distinct form.

Its plots draw on Buddhist-Daoist stories and folk legend, and its performance blends acrobatics, martial movement and puppet-like postures, at once ceremonial and spectacular.

A rare and precariously surviving southern-Fujian opera, it entered the second national ICH list in 2008 and is now a focus of safeguarding.

With few surviving troupes, it is mainly seen at Quanzhou's heritage showcases and special performances.