The earliest historical record of the origin of Huangmei Opera is Mr. Lu Hongfei's book "The Origin of Huangmei Opera". He listed three legends about the origin of Huangmei Opera, but did not draw a final conclusion. Various existing academic and non-academic articles and dictionaries have been written based on this selection of materials. Here is a complete introduction to the views of this book as follows:

One of the legends: "Huangmei Opera is based on the 'Huaining Tune' Developed on the basis of... Whenever planting in spring and harvesting in autumn, farmers are used to singing "Huai Diao Folk Song" to praise the harvest of their labor. This kind of beautiful and lyrical folk song is collectively called "Huai Ning Diao". "

Legend 2: "...Huangmei Opera originated in the Anqing area of ??Anhui Province. In the past, floods often occurred during the yellow plum season. In order to pray for a good harvest, farmers from all over the country held games to welcome the gods at this time. Various singing and dancing performances appeared in the world. A form of opera based on this form of singing and dancing is called "Huangmei Diao" because it is related to the Huangmei season."

Legend No. 3: " Huangmei Opera originated from the folk tune of Huangmei County, Hubei Province. "This is unlikely.

Modern scholars have also explored the origin of Huangmei Opera. For example, Mr. Wu Furun recently wrote an article in the magazine "Huangmei Opera Art", believing that Anqing's "Huangmei Opera" is famous throughout the country, and there are different opinions on the origin of Huangmei Opera. Some people believe that it originated in Huangmei, Hubei County may be a misinformation caused by the word "Huangmei". "Huangmei Opera" is indeed closely related to the word "Huangmei", but "Huangmei" is not what people call Huangmei County, but "Huangmei Mountain". Legend has it that this mountain got its name from the yellow plum blossoms that bloomed all over the mountain in the twelfth lunar month of winter a long time ago. Later, the "yellow plum blossoms" gradually became rare, and now traces of "yellow plum blossoms" can occasionally be found.

Mr. Zhang Jianchu, a famous literary and historical scholar, pointed out: "This yellow plum is not the other yellow plum."

When interviewed by reporters, the 80-year-old Zheng Lisong, the former director of the Huangmei Opera Art Research Institute, also shared the information he had collected over decades and his own opinions one by one.

Mr. Zheng told reporters that the core of the debate about the origin of Huangmei Opera lies in the word "Huangmei". The word "Huangmei" has two explanations: one is the Huangmei season; the other is Hubei Huangmei County, which means "originating from Huangmei County". The folk tune of Huangmei County in eastern Hubei, that is, Huangmei tea-picking tune, came to Anqing area with local victims fleeing water shortages during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. "Mr. Zheng thinks that the term "Huangmei season" is not unreasonable, but later. Or, he thought it was inappropriate.

Mr. Zheng showed the information he collected. There are two records in "Chinese Opera Chronicles" (Anhui Volume): In March of the sixth year of Xianfeng (1853), Shi Da, the general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, restored Susong, the county seat. The Flower Drum Opera (later known as Huangmei Opera) was performed for three days to welcome the heavenly soldiers entering the city. In the seventh year of Xianfeng (1857), the Qing army built a theater in Susong County to perform the Flower Drum (Huangmei) Opera and invited the captains and civil servants of each battalion. Watch a play. Mr. Zheng also once saw a manuscript of opera couplets from the late Qing Dynasty, which recorded: In the sixth year of Bingchen in the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty (1856), in Duijiang, Anqing, there was a couplet circulated, "Songs in praise of virtue should express Bai Xuedeng's high tone" Don’t sing Huangmei.”

Mr. Zheng believes that these are the earliest records of Huangmei Opera. Huangmei Opera should have been formed during the Xianfeng period, and the name "Huangmei Opera" was named by Anhui people. "During the Qianlong period, there was no Huangmei Opera. The people fleeing the floods and famines brought folk tunes from Hubei, not even tea-picking tunes." Mr. Zheng also affirmed that Huangmei Opera was unique to Anhui. In the early years of the Republic of China, Cheng Yansheng, a scholar from Huaining, There is a sentence in the book "Wan Youpu" as evidence: "In the villages all over Anhui today, and also south of the Yangtze River, there are so-called Caotai opera performers, who all sing Huangmei tune. ... There is no such opera in other provinces. ”

During the conversation, Mr. Zheng also told reporters about Hubei Province’s invitation to “Huangmei Opera” back to her parents’ home. After this slogan was put forward, around 1984, the China Journalists Association invited Mr. Zheng to Hubei for an interview. During the interview, the Hubei drama circle had different views on the official point of view, represented by Gui Yuqiu, a Hubei drama expert and senior scholar. Some drama researchers believe that Hubei Province does not need to invest too much in Huangmei Opera and should develop its own drama art based on Hubei Chacha Diao. "Inviting Huangmei Opera back" will only "add one more theater troupe to Anhui, while Hubei One opera type (picking tea tune) has been lost."

Other relevant scholars believe that "Tongcheng Song" from Tongcheng, Anqing, Anhui Province was spread to the Huangmei (Hubei - cited by press) area during the Ming Dynasty. Huangmei Opera was sung by Yan Fengying from Luojialing, Tongcheng County. The dialect of Luojialing is pure Tongcheng accent.

It can be seen that Anqing is the most convincing source of Huangmei Opera.

There are also some Jiangxi folk legends that Huangmei Opera originated in Jiangxi, but this statement is basically not recognized by the public.

Some people think that it is meaningless to argue where Huangmei Opera belongs now, and it will not promote the development of Huangmei Opera. He suggested that experts and scholars should pay more attention to the development laws of Huangmei Opera itself and further consolidate and improve the status of Huangmei Opera as a local opera in the field of contemporary opera.

There are also some Jiangxi folk legends that Huangmei Opera originated in Jiangxi, but this statement is basically not recognized by the public.

Some people think that it is meaningless to argue where Huangmei Opera belongs now, and it will not promote the development of Huangmei Opera.

He suggested that experts and scholars should pay more attention to the development laws of Huangmei Opera itself and further consolidate and improve the status of Huangmei Opera as a local opera in the field of contemporary opera.

China's first batch of national intangible cultural heritage - Huangmei Opera protection areas are Anqing City in Anhui Province and Huangmei County in Hubei Province.

The three national intangible inheritors of Huangmei Opera announced by the Ministry of Culture are all from Anhui: 39-year-old Han Zaifen (Huangmei Opera No. 2 Troupe, Anqing City, Anhui Province, a native of Anqing, Anhui Province), 41-year-old Zhao Yuanyuan (Anhui Province) Anqing Huangmei Opera Troupe, from Anqing, Anhui), 61-year-old Huang Xinde (Anhui Huangmei Opera Theater, from Wuhu, Anhui).