Gannan Tea-Picking Opera

Gannan tea-picking opera grew up in the late Ming and early Qing—once called "lamp play," "tea-basket lamp" and "three-corner troupe"—and spread through Ganzhou, Ganxian, Anyuan and Xinfeng, now some four hundred years old, a local theatre developed from Hakka tea-picking song-and-dance and folk lantern displays. In 2006 "tea-picking opera (Gannan tea-picking opera)" entered the first national ICH list (item Ⅳ-65) under traditional opera.

Its performance centres on the "three smalls" (young man, young woman, clown), sung and danced with lively wit; the singing rests on the "tea tunes" and "lamp tunes" buttressed by Hakka-dialect speech, while movements such as fan flourishes, single-sleeve work and the squatting step are highly distinctive. The plays draw on town-and-village life and courtship, rich in rural flavour.

Gannan tea-picking opera is one of the most representative art forms of Hakka culture, carrying the feeling and rural aesthetics of the Hakka people, and holds important value for the study of how southern local theatre formed and how Hakka folk art evolved.

Gannan tea-picking opera can often be seen on rural and urban stages in Ganzhou and at festival temple fairs; the city also has dedicated institutions for its transmission and performance.