Southern opera in the Song and Yuan Dynasties was born out of folk songs and dance operas in Wenzhou. It was developed from village operas formed from lane songs and village operas. Xu Wei's "Nanci Narrative" of the Ming Dynasty stated that "the rise of Yongjia Zaju was based on village ditties. There was no palace tune and little rhythm. It was just adapted from the tunes that farmers and scholars could sing smoothly." "The songs are from the Song Dynasty. People's lyrics are more beneficial to lane songs than palace tunes, so scholar-bureaucrats rarely pay attention to them.

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