Titled Zhan Tai Ping, this opera performance describes the military intrigues during the late Zhou Dynasty in China. Together with other folk mythologies and romance stories that are common in opera tales, storylines such as Zhan Tai Ping’s often captured the imagination of the common people with their tales of military and social heroism. Indeed, some of Chinese opera’s earliest audiences were the Chinese immigrants who arrived in Singapore during the 19th century and brought with them the popular culture of street opera. Also known by its Malay term ‘wayang’, which means ‘performance’, Chinese opera in Singapore enjoyed a mass following, in particular during the period up to the 1930s as it acted as both a platform for religious worship, as well as a cheap form of entertainment.
