Taiwanese Opera (Gezai Xi)

Gezai opera is the only major regional theatre to take shape natively in Taiwan, originating in the late Qing from the Minnan "gezai" folk songs of the Yilan area and blending with folk song-and-dance such as the chegu-nong and tea-picking traditions; it began as open-air rural performance, later moved into indoor theatres, and absorbed the conventions of Peking opera and luantan to form a complete system of role-types and the arts of song, speech, acting and combat. It has been registered by the Ministry of Culture's Bureau of Cultural Heritage as an "important traditional performing art."

Sung in the Minnan tongue, gezai opera draws on a rich set of melodies such as the qizi, duma and crying tunes, with vivid stage movement close to everyday life; traditional plays draw on folk tales and historical romances, and during the Japanese era it evolved a freely blended form called "hopiaxi," still performed today on temple fair open stages and in theatres.

Gezai opera carries the dialect, music and folk narrative tradition of Taiwan's Minnan communities, and is a key genre for understanding the island's social change and the formation of its native theatre, still sung at temple fairs and theatres in Taipei and beyond.

Gezai opera can be seen at Taipei temple-fair open stages and at venues such as the Taiwan Traditional Theatre Centre.