[3][4] Originating in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province in 1906, Yue opera features actresses in male roles as well as femininity in terms of singing, performing, and staging.

As Yue opera is performed in a variant of Wu, it is most popular in Wu-speaking areas including southern Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.

Like its performers, Yue opera fans are mainly women, resulting in a disproportionate number of love stories in its repertoire and very little acrobatic fighting.

Since Sheng County agriculturalists were experiencing difficulty earning their livelihoods, they started to turn this folk art into a second source of income.

Over years, the accumulation of lyrics built up the fundamental source materials for Yue opera, and the folk music gradually developed its own style.

Musical accompaniment was sparse consisting of only a pair of drums and a wooden clapper played by a performer offstage.

Due to its unique, elegant and soft singing style compared with other political and spectacular performances, Yue opera found an audience there.

It soon changed its name to Shaoxing Civil Opera (pinyin: Shào Xing Wén Xì 绍兴文戏) in 1916, to better represent its performances as art pieces that reflected regional culture.

The Shaoxing Civic Operatic Troupe further developed a systematic training in singing style and sound practice.

In February 1923, he opened an all girls opera class and spent huge amount of money attracting and rewarding young women to join.

Under great pressure and in a limited business market, the first wave of female artists left the class after six years for marriage.

Many factories in Shanghai closed down, and as a result, women often had no option but to attend female-performed opera classes to earn a living.

As young women tend to be more glorious on stage according to Sheng County's newspaper at that time, the tender and gentle features of Shaoxing Literal Art became more outstanding under such highlighting.

[6] After the foundation of People's Republic of China, Yueju was welcomed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party at first, and reached a pinnacle popularity in late 1950s and early 1960s.

[6] However, during the Cultural Revolution, like other traditional Chinese art forms, Yueju performances were outlawed, which caused a serious setback in its development.