Please capitalize where necessary: opera as we know it here in europe usually wallows in big feelings and focuses on drama – but it is incomparable to the qin-opera, qinqiang-opera, or simply “the first emperor’s opera”, as the genre is called in china. it was forbidden to perform this old folk opera as late as in 1785 in beijing. officially the prohibition was because of the sexual implications of the piece, unofficially because of the underlying social critique, which runs through this colourful, but rarely particularly rosy story.
Opera as we know it here in Europe usually wallows in big feelings and focuses on drama – but it is incomparable to the Qin-opera, Qinqiang-opera, or simply “The first emperor’s opera”, as the genre is called in China. It was forbidden to perform this old folk opera as late as in 1785 in Beijing. Officially the prohibition was because of the sexual implications of the piece, unofficially because of the underlying social critique, which runs through this colourful, but rarely particularly rosy story.