Jiang Nan，the regions south of the Yangtze River,since ancient times, has been the most prosperous and culturally advanced place in China.

The south part of Jiangsu, including Shanghai, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, etc. all belong to the region of an ancient local language：The dialect of Wu Chinese.

Kunqu, China's oldest opera with a history of 600 years, grew up in this soil. Apart from Kunqu Opera, there are also many younger traditional operas in this area. The most famous one in Zhejiang is the Yue Opera, while in Jiangsu it is the Xi Opera. 

Yue opera features actresses in male roles as well as femininity in terms of singing, performing, and staging. It started to get popular in Shanghai in early 1930s and now it is the second most popular Chinese opera genre.

Xi Opera developed from self-entertaining performances by the villagers in Wuxi and Changzhou areas delivering folk songs and stories in the form of antiphonal singing since Emperor Qianlong and Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty. It has a history of more than 200 years now. 

In the small town Xinfang of Yixing, by Tai lake side, Jiangsu province, the little Ma Li was born earlier than expected as a result of her mother accidentally falling off her bike. With a weight of only over a kilogram, Grandpa said she was too small to survive. But her father just held this little meatball so happily, saying so big, so big. All this seems to indicate her turbulent and unusual life.