Linwu Qi Opera is popular in Linwu County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province. Linwu County is located in the southwestern part of Chenzhou City, on the border of southern Hunan. It borders Beihu District, Guiyang County, Jiahe County, Lanshan County, and Lianzhou City, Guangdong Province. The landforms are mainly mountainous, hilly, and plain. It belongs to the subtropical seasonal humid climate zone. It is a well-known "Qi Opera Nest". In 2008, Linwu Qi Opera was identified as the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list projects in Hunan Province. Linwu is a place with mountains and rivers. Emperor Shun once taught people how to farm. It is the birthplace of agricultural civilization. Agricultural culture has a long history. Various cultural elements have permeated Linwu's local culture and integrated with the simple folk customs passed down from generation to generation, which has become more and more new over time. It is this unique landscape charm and cultural immersion that provide a broad and fertile soil for the rooting, development, and growth of Qi Opera in Linwu. Qi Opera was introduced to Linwu from Qiyang during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. After several ups and downs and the inheritance and innovation of famous Qi Opera actors of the older generation such as Xiao Yumei, Wu Fuqiu, and Zhang Hanhua, it has been constantly close to the people, close to life, keeping up with the pulse of the times, learning from many others, and embracing all, and launched a series of masterpieces that made a sensation inside and outside the province and were at their peak. Especially around 1981, a new chapter in the development of Linwu's characteristic Qi Opera art was opened. One stage feast after another spread the fragrance and dazzling brilliance of Linwu's characteristic Qi Opera art to Linwu, to the three rivers and four waters, and to Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiangxi. It has created a batch of Qi Opera directors, performers, music, stage art and other artistic talents. Linwu's characteristic Qi Opera develops in inheritance and innovation. On the basis of the traditional characteristics of Qi Opera art, the Chenzhou language system and Linwu Mandarin are applied to the reading and singing of Qi Opera. The traditional repertoire and performance program are discarded and innovated, and the traditional musical instruments and percussion combinations are innovated and improved, forming the Linwu characteristic Qi Opera that organically combines war drums and class drums, big gongs and tiger sound gongs. At the same time, the Linwu characteristic Qi Opera inherits and carries forward the value of Qi Opera art. First, it has high literary value. The classical poems, lyrics, songs, fu, and orders inherited by the Linwu characteristic Qi Opera and the new lyrics created based on real life are all rhythmic, reflecting high literary value. It not only follows the creative rules of classical poems, lyrics, and orders, but also cuts into real life, expresses the content of the times, whether elegant or vulgar, and is deeply welcomed and loved by the masses, and has a strong artistic vitality. Second, it has high social educational value. Most of the traditional Qi opera repertoires are based on historical themes and myths and legends. They are committed to creating artistic models with distinct personalities, clear likes and dislikes, and full images. At the same time, they also pay attention to the arrangement of dramatic scenes, the setting of atmosphere, and the rendering of emotions, which have a strong penetrating and infectious power on the audience, and play a good role in social education, the cultivation of the soul, and the enhancement of the artistic conception of life. Third, they have high musical value. The repertoires of Qi opera that meet the entertainment needs of the general public are either high-pitched and passionate, or melodious and beautiful. In addition, Qi opera uses a combination of high, medium and low-pitched national instruments and passionate percussion instruments for accompaniment. In some traditional repertoires, Linwu local tunes are incorporated, making Qi opera music an effective form of reflecting the life of the times and expressing the voice and wishes of the masses. It has a wide audience and strong vitality. It occupies a very important position in the development of national instruments and music. Fourth, it has a strong communication function. The traditional repertoire of Qi Opera is derived from historical allusions and literary masterpieces, and the performances are appreciated by both the elite and the masses. Therefore, the process of the general public appreciating Qi Opera is not only a process of artistic appreciation and natural thinking, but also a process of consciously accepting historical and cultural knowledge. Fifth, it has important inheritance value. The older generation of Qi Opera artists represented by Xiao Yumei closely followed the pulse of the times, kept close to the people and life, and learned from others. They made bold reforms and innovations in the language, singing music, and stage performances of traditional Qi Opera, forming a unique style of Qi Opera singing music and performance art. Their bold spirit of reform and innovation and the achievements they have made are precious treasures in drama art, and it is worth our descendants to inherit and carry forward this artistic treasure. In 2008, Linwu Characteristic Qi Opera was identified as a project in the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Hunan Province.