Kunqu Opera is a sort of stage art. Its name suggests that it originates in Kunshan of Jiangsu Province. Originally called "Kunshan Accent" or abbreviated as "Kun Accent", it has been called "Kunqu Opera" since the Qing Dynasty. It is also called "Kun Opera" nowadays. The accompanying musical instrument in Kunqu Opera is  mainly bamboo flute, with Chinese wind pipe, clarionet, Chinese clarinet, and ballon guitar, lute, etc (percussion instruments are available) as complements. With unique system and style in performance, Kunqu Opera has the most outstanding properties including that its lyricism is strong; its actions are exquisite; and its singing and dancing are artfully and harmoniously combined by performers.

The elegance of Kunqu Opera finds expression in its absorption of the essences of the classic art of China. In most circumstances, the libretto and spoken parts of Kunqu Opera follow the style of Song lyrics (songci) and Yuan melody (yuanqu) directly. Even its language and words are artful "poems", enjoying fairly high value of literal art.
The aria of Kunqu Opera also absorbs the acoustic essence of the classic poems of China. The acoustic charm in ancient China aimed at adjusting the rhythm and tones of Chinese characters, so that the articles would be easy for reciting and could be recited fluently like a song. The art of Kunqu Opera pays heavy attention to the stage performance of actors and actress. The performers of Kunqu Opera are all necessary to receive strict trainings on the gesture performance. Only through gestures, expressions, and dancing motions can these performers show all works of all themes of Kunqu Opera very well.

Kunqu Opera has a wide scope of subject matter, mainly including love, marriage, society, politics, history, and moral education. The Peony Pavilion is a representative of the love theme of Kunqu Opera. Since April 2004, the "youth edition" of The Peony Pavilion, created by lots of artists under the leadership of Bai Xianyong, a famous Taiwan writer, has been making a global performance tour, which endows the old art of Kunqu Opera with a youthful enjoyment and life.