Kunqu (昆曲), also known as Kunju (昆剧) or Kunqu opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved from the Kunshan melody, and dominated Chinese theatre from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The style originated in the Wu cultural area.

Origin

Kunqu boasts a 600-year history. Due to its influence on other Chinese theatre forms, it is known as the "teacher" or "mother" of a hundred operas, including Beijing opera. Its emergence ushered in the second Golden Era of Chinese drama.

One of the major literary forms of the Ming and Qing dynasties was chuanqi (传奇) drama, originating from the South. Chuanqi, an old form of dramatic opera, originates from the nanxi in late 14th century before the kunqu opera arises. However, in late 16 century, kunqu opera started to dominate large parts of Chinese drama.

Kunqu was not adopted for opera until 1560, when the famous playwright Liang Chenyu used Kunqu as the musical foundation for his new play Laundering the Silken Yarn (《浣纱记》).

Thereafter, Kunqu opera quickly became the most popular form of Chinese opera and soon was referred to as "Official Melody". During this period, the composition of new plays for Kunqu opera became a collaborative project shared by poets, scholars, musicians and artists, who together wrote the play text and developed the choreography. It was during this period of dominance, which lasted for about 200 years that almost all of the Kunqu repertory was developed.

Toward the middle of the 18th century, a new offshoot of Kunqu opera emerged, which eventually became known as Beijing opera. With the support of the emperor, it quickly began to supercede Kunqu to the point where by 1,900 Kunqu had almost disappeared.

It is probably due to the success of a single play, Fifteen Strings of Copper (《15串é"œé'±å¸ã€‹), in the first half of the twentieth century that Kunqu survived at all. In fact, all Kunqu performers today can trace their lineage back to a handful of masters that kept the art form alive in the early part of the 19th century.

The Peony Pavilion 《牡丹亭》

Fortunately, during the period of Cultural Revolution in Chinese mainland, people in the art and educational communities in Taiwan and Hong Kong began to rediscover this precious traditional Chinese opera. Since the opening of China in the late 1970s, they have organized large scale Kunqu performances and arranged a series of classes to teach Beijing opera students and amateurs in Taiwan to sing and perform Kunqu opera.

Plays that continue to be famous today, including The Peony Pavilion (《牡丹亭》) and The Peach Blossom Fan (《桃花扇》), were originally written for the Kunqu stage. In addition, many classical Chinese novels and stories, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms (《三国æ¼"义》), Water Margin (《水æµ'传》) and Journey to the West (《西游记》) were adapted very early into dramatic pieces.

Kunqu was listed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001. Its melody or tune is one of the Four Great Characteristic Melodies in Chinese opera.