We often habitually use the order of "Yuan Zaju and Ming Legend" to summarize the development of Chinese drama history. However, this order only shows that Yuan Zaju is the main form of Yuan Zaju and Ming Dynasty legends, not that Yuan Zaju and legends came into being successively. Because the theory of human music in Ming Dynasty (such as Duqu Exegesis and Qulv) has repeatedly claimed that legend is a change of zaju, and Nanyin is a change of Beiqu, which gives people the illusion that zaju came into being before legend, and legend came into being after legend. In fact, as early as 12 century, that is, from the Xuanhe period of the Northern Song Dynasty to the early Southern Song Dynasty, Wenzhou and Hangzhou formed the Southern Opera. Lechang split mirror, Zhao Zhen's daughter Cai Erlang and Wang Kui are his first repertoires. In the Yuan Dynasty, although zaju tended to monopolize the theater, the southern opera did not decline, and it was still performed and developed in the southern folk. Zi Qi's Caoshuzi in Yuan Dynasty called Yuan Zaju "popular", which shows its strong vitality. The problem is that these scripts are written by anonymous people, and the form is not mature enough. Over time, the script has been lost, and people rarely know that there were legends before the appearance of Yuan Zaju and its heyday. It was not until modern times, due to the textual research of Feng, Zhao and Qian Nanyang, and the discovery of three existing operas in Yongle Dadian, that people learned about the repertoire, content and artistic characteristics of southern operas in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and also learned about the long historical origin of the development and formation of Ming legends. This kind of drama was called "Drama" in the Song Dynasty (such as another collection of Guixin Magazine), "Southern Drama" in the Yuan Dynasty (such as Ye's Caoshuzi), or "Yongjia Zaju" and "Wenzhou Zaju" in the Ming Dynasty (such as Zhu Yunming's Wretched Talk and Xu Wei's South Talk Narration). Since the Ming dynasty, the title of "legend" has become more popular. This is because since tang legends's novels, all stories that are "strange" and can be circulated are called legends, not only novels, but also palace tunes and zaju. For example, the early scripts of Southern Opera "Wrong Body" and "Little Sun Picture" are also called legends. It was only after the Ming Dynasty that people used to call the scripts of the southern opera system in the Ming Dynasty "legends".

At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, zaju declined, and audiences and writers began to be indifferent to northern music, but showed strong interest in southern music. Great changes have taken place in the social situation since the Ming Dynasty. Hong Wuchu wrote a letter to abolish the Yuan customs and restore the Han system, which undoubtedly dealt a blow to the Yuan culture and gave opportunities for the development of southern culture. Shen Chongsui said: "Ming Xing, music is only ancient, not ancestral and foreign style ... Pseudo-generation lyrics are learned and swept away. Although the words are different, the world has changed its voice, there are fewer authors, fewer singers, the atmosphere has changed, and the north has become the south. " This is absolutely true, but we should admit that the social environment has indeed changed, which has created conditions for the development of legends. Therefore, after the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, the creation and performance of legends entered a period of development.

Legend has it that the initial prosperity was marked by the pipa and four legends: Jing (), Liu (Liu Zhiyuan White Rabbit), Bai (Moon Pavilion) and Killing Dogs. Although these works have different ideological and artistic values, they have made great progress in ideological content and artistic form compared with the early scripts of Southern Opera. For example, The Story of My Own, which focuses on the joys and sorrows of Wang and Qian, not only shows the theme that enslaved women have to fight tenaciously for loyal love and power, but also becomes more and more mature in plot handling and characterization. Lu Tiancheng's Qupin called it "the true tone, which vividly describes love, affection and literature, the most difficult to achieve", which is not a hollow reputation. Adapted from Guan Hanqing's original work, The Story of the Wandering Moon Pavilion (also known as The Girl's Story) describes the love and friendship between Jiang Shilong and Wang Ruilan, and between Mentor Happiness and Jiang Ruilian, which profoundly reflects the people's sufferings in the chaos, and its artistic achievements have always been affirmed by composers. He Yuanlang thinks that "it is wonderful to tell the story in detail without any words." Among these works, pipa has the most far-reaching influence. On the one hand, it was appreciated by Zhu Yuanzhang, calling it "delicious food, why do rich people need it?" Therefore, it has become a tool for rulers to advocate famous religion. On the other hand, it has been deeply rooted in people's hearts. The audience saw the tragedy brought by the imperial examination system and hierarchical system to an ordinary family. From Zhao Wuniang, they also saw the precious qualities of self-sacrifice, kindness and perseverance of women in China. In art, it gives full play to the excellent tradition of Southern Opera and becomes a model for a generation of dramatists to learn. At the same time or after these famous works came into being, many works appeared, such as The Golden Seal, The Story of Thousand Gold, The Story of Two Loyalties in Zhang Xun's Xu Yuan, The Story of Three Yuan, The Story of Li Yue, etc. Some of them exposed the cruel world with money as the axis (such as the golden seal), and some praised the martyrs who resisted foreign aggression and adhered to national integrity (such as the golden seal)

However, the legends in the early Ming Dynasty were restricted by politics and writers' world outlook. The establishment of the Ming Empire restored the rule of Han landlords in China, which was followed by the obvious strengthening of feudal absolutism. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the rulers practiced a high-handed policy in culture, advocated Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, and imprisoned intellectuals' thoughts with eight-character cages. In terms of drama creation and performance, "Daming Law" stipulates: "All musicians are not allowed to dress up as emperors and queens, loyal ministers and martyrs, and sages and sages. Offenders are punished with a hundred sticks, and people's homes allow those who dress up to be guilty of the same crime. Those who pretend to be fairies, like my husband and wife, my dutiful son and grandson, and persuade others to be kind, are not prohibited. " Although such laws were constantly resisted in practice and could not be fully implemented, they undoubtedly stifled the progressive ideological content in legendary creation, and works promoting feudal ethics came into being. Therefore, when a group of court officials and Confucian celebrities picked up pens to write legends, they took the example of maintaining weathering in Pipa as the mouthpiece of feudal morality. The style of writing has completely changed the simple and "natural" tradition of Southern Opera, and it is full of eight styles. The Complete Collection of Five Luns and the Collection of Boxes are typical examples of promoting feudal morality such as folly, loyalty and filial piety, three cardinal guides and five permanents, and represent a countercurrent in the legendary creation of the Ming Dynasty.

The climax of the creation and performance of Ming legends appeared after the middle of Ming Dynasty (Jiajing). From Jiajing to Wanli, great changes took place in the feudal social and economic forms of China. Production technology in textile, printing and dyeing, shipbuilding, smelting and other fields has developed greatly, and the urban economy has prospered. Professional handicraft workshops and manual workshops have emerged in southeast cities. The germination of this new capitalist mode of production has produced a group of thinkers who have resisted the old tradition, from Wang Gen, Yan, He, Luo Rufang to. The germination of the new mode of production provided an economic foundation for the unprecedented prosperity of the legend, while the emergence of new ideas gave a stronger impetus to the production of some works reflecting the citizens' struggle against autocracy and the pursuit of individual liberation, which made the works of this period have a new ideological outlook.

It should also be noted that the development of vocal cavity is the internal factor for Ming legends to enter the golden age. Southern Opera in Song Dynasty is a kind of southern folk music. During Jiajing and Wanli years, these tunes developed greatly. For example, Haiyan tune was the most popular, and Yiyang tune also spread to Beijing, Hubei, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong and other places. In order to adapt to its service scope, it is further divided into Qingyang, Taiping, Siping and other local tunes, and at the same time, a new singing method is created by "rolling". It is of epoch-making significance that during Jiajing period, Wei Liangfu reformed Kunshan Opera, and then Chen Liang Yu put it on the stage. This new sound caused a great sensation for a period of time. Since then, this legend has not only amazed people in the expressive force and skills of music, but also attracted a large number of writers to engage in the creation of Kunqu opera scripts, forming a perfect Kunqu opera art in the history of China drama.

As a result, many writers and stars appeared in the late Ming Dynasty. They are: Liang Chenyu, Lu Cai, Wang Shizhen, Tang Xianzu, Shen Jing, Gu Dadian, Wang Tingne, Zhou Chaojun, Xu Fuzhong, Sun Zi, and Xu Zichang. Meng Chengshun, Ling Mengchu, Feng Menglong, Fan, Shen Zijin, Yuan Yuling, Li Yu, Zhu Zuochao, Zhu? Wait a minute. In addition, there are many unknown folk authors in Yiyang. It is these well-known and unknown authors who have created hundreds of works with a wide range of contents and diverse styles, forming another peak in the development of China opera art.

Compared with the previous works, the legendary themes of this period are much broader, with much deeper thoughts and stronger sense of reality, and the works reflect more themes related to real politics and life. As we all know, politics in the late Ming Dynasty was very corrupt and dark, and the powerful officials and eunuchs manipulated power, which embodied the fatuity, greed and cruelty of the supreme ruling group. At this time, a number of works criticizing eunuchs appeared, such as Ji, Guang Gui Shu, Liu Zhongzhu, Ming Yuan Ji, Gu Zhong Ji, Mo Zhong Ji, Happy Spring, Si Gong Ji and Six Evil Records. Chunzhongpu, Banana Fan, An and other works not only expose the darkness, but also show the just and magnificent struggle between the lower class and the dark forces, and shape the heroic image of the citizen class. As for Jiajing Wanli, there is more and more trouble. There are harassment from Mongolia and the late Jin Dynasty in the north, and Japanese invaders in the southeast. In the struggle against aggression and harassment, safeguarding national security and people's life stability, Zhongjing Banner, Yujingtai, Yunfu, Shuanglie Temple, Niutoushan and Qusi appeared.

This historical period is the period when the feudal ideological rule is strengthened and the rebellious thoughts against the feudal tradition are constantly rising. Taizhou School's criticism of feudal Taoism and its advocacy of a certain concept of equality and individual liberation reflect the spirit of the times in this period. The outstanding dramatist Tang Xianzu accepted the influence of this trend of thought. On the one hand, he mercilessly attacked corrupt politics and reactionary Neo-Confucianism; on the other hand, based on his thoughts of loving nature, freedom and pursuing individual liberation, he created the Peony Pavilion, a brilliant work in legendary literature. Tang Xianzu not only voiced the voices of young people who were suppressed by ethics through his own works, but also personally led Linchuan School, a drama school with a certain democratic ideological tendency.

Naturally, there are also many dross in the legendary works of the Ming Dynasty. Some of them advocate feudal ethics such as the Three Cardinals and the Five Permanent Principles, some advocate absurd feudal superstitions, some engage in religious propaganda, and some are keen on fame and fortune. Even some excellent works are branded with the feudal era to varying degrees.

In a word, as a drama form coexisting with zaju, legend has formed its unique artistic form characteristics after a long development process in Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. These characteristics are mainly manifested in the following aspects: First, from the perspective of tunes, northern music is used in zaju and southern music is sung in legend. In the early days, Southern Opera was mainly composed of rural ditty and Li Xiang ballads. After the local vocal cavity system was formed, it was sung in Wenzhou, Haiyan, Yu Yaoqiang, Yiyang and Kunshan. Some legends after the end of Yuan Dynasty also used several northern songs as couplets, but this did not change the nature of the legendary tunes. Secondly, in terms of palace tune and rhythm, the requirements of zaju are very strict, and each fold can only use the same palace tune divertimento. A play is sung from one foot to the end, and every fold of lyrics must rhyme to the end. Legend can change the tone and rhyme of a song, and different rhymes are often mixed together. In a play, different foot colors can be divided into singing, chorus and duet, which is much more flexible than the singing form of zaju. Third, the common tones of zaju can be synthesized into two or three songs, while legends often use several or even twenty or thirty songs to synthesize an episode. Fourth, in the script structure, zaju generally maintains a fixed pattern of four folds and one wedge, but there is no limit to the length of the legend. Generally, it's thirty or forty, and the older one can reach more than fifty, and the shorter one can only reach twenty. Legend has no wedge, but the first one is designated as "home", and as usual, it opens for the vice end and reports the main idea of the plot. Fifth, in terms of script language, Yuan Zaju is good at local language, which is natural, refined and fragrant with garlic. Most early southern dramas were simple and natural. After entering the Ming Dynasty, due to the change of writers' composition and the influence of eight-part essay, the tendency of parallel marriage was very prominent, and many works became off-stage desk literature. Sixth, in the role setting, Yuan Zaju maintained the structural form of "final" and "Dan", while the legend focused on "destiny" and "Dan". As the division of roles became more and more detailed, some new businesses appeared in the legend, which were inherited by the later flower department (that is, local operas other than Kunqu opera).