Stock's study offers the first book-length account of Huju, a Shanghai operatic tradition which blends music and acting with portrayal of the lives of ordinary people. Richly informed by first-hand accounts, the book follows the genre as it develops in China's largest city from rural entertainment to urban ballad, revolutionary drama, and contemporary opera. An innovative combination of urban and historical ethnomusicology, the book will engage the historian of China and general scholar of music alike.