 chinese opera () is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in china with roots going back to the early periods in china. it is a composite performance art that is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient china, and evolved gradually over more than a thousand years, reaching its mature form in the 13th century during the song dynasty. early forms of chinese drama are simple, but over time they incorporated various art forms, such as music, song and dance, martial arts, acrobatics, as well as literary art forms to become chinese opera. there are numerous regional branches of chinese opera, of which the beijing opera (jingju) is one of the most notable. ==history== ===six dynasties to tang=== an early form of chinese drama is the canjun opera (åè»æ², or adjutant play) which originated from the later zhao dynasty (319-351). in its early form it was a simple comic drama involving only two performers, where a corrupt officer, canjun or the adjutant, was ridiculed by a jester named grey hawk (è¼é¶»). the characters in canjun opera are thought to be the forerunners of the fixed role categories of later chinese opera, particularly of its comic chou (ä¸) characters. various song and dance dramas developed during the six dynasties period. during the northern qi dynasty, a masked dance called the big face (å¤§é¢, which can mean "mask", alternatively daimian ä»£é¢, and it was also called the king of lanling, è­éµç), was created in honour of gao changgong who went into battle wearing a mask. another was called botou (æ¥é ­, also ç¼½é ­), a masked dance drama from the western regions that tells the story of a grieving son who sought a 
Chinese_opera