Qinqiang is a thousand-year-old operatic genre originating in China's northwestern region. It has established a reputation as a "shouted out" form of opera with its bold, resounding arias.

Currently, a Qinqiang Opera Festival has opened in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Some of the most established Qinqiang opera artists sang their respective masterpieces at the festival's opening ceremony.

Most forms of Chinese opera owe their singing and acting styles, some of their melodies, and their plot-lines to the musically fertile Sha'anxi. The province is home to thousand-year-old Qinqiang folk melodies.

Qinqiang is also called "random pluck." It's one of the oldest and most extensive of the four major types of Chinese opera, and thrives in the country's northwestern regions, like Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, and the Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regions.