Yongjia Kunqu Opera

Yongjia Kunqu is the branch of Kunqu that took root in Yongjia, Wenzhou, of great antiquity and one of the city's oldest living opera forms. It first entered the inaugural Zhejiang ICH list, then in 2006 joined Kunqu in the first national ICH list, and forms part of Kunqu's inscription on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Yongjia Kunqu inherits the gentle, flowing water-polished singing of Kunqu while blending in Wenzhou dialect and local vocal colour; its singing is antique and its acting refined, drawing its repertoire from the southern-play tradition, simple yet archaic and distinctly its own.

Yongjia Kunqu preserves the old face of the southern play and early Kunqu, called a "living fossil" for the study of Chinese theatre's origins, holding major scholarly value for how the southern play spread across southern Zhejiang and how Kunqu took on local form.

Yongjia Kunqu can be seen at performances of the Yongjia Kunqu Troupe and related opera events in Wenzhou.