Huangmei Opera absorbed the recital and singing art of "luohanzhuang" well accepted in the local area, later influenced by "qingyang" tune from Qingyang County and "huidiao" tune from Huizhou. This enabled Huangmei Opera to build up its collection of complete stories. After another period of accumulation, around the Revolution of 1911, the big opera Seven Fairies Descending to the World appeared as well as the small opera Collecting Grass for Pigs. The tunes consisted of different styles of folk singing-"huaqiang" tune and the changeable type of metre for music in Chinese traditional operas-"pingci," "huogong," "xianqiang" and "caiqiang." Percussion instruments were the only musical accompaniment and with a chorus, the performance consisted of song and dance. Most of the performance was limited to the detailed imitation of real life, without any fixed mode.
Performances of that time were mostly amateur, and the performers were farmers or craftsmen. In later years, Huangmei Opera became a semi-vocational troupe, giving performances in the farming slack seasons, but without a permanent performing ground. The opera was usually performed on any flat ground or a "stage" composed of several ox carts. Costumes and props were quite simple. There were only three musicians with seven performers. Huangmei Opera at this period was still merely recreation.
