Because the Minnan speakers of Taiwan are all of southern Fujianese stock, Taiwanese Opera was able to spread from Ilan in the 1920s and become very popular in Zhangzhou and Xiamen, and even in parts of Southeast Asia where there are large concentrations of Minnan-speaking overseas Chinese. In all of these places, almost everyone can hum at least a tune or two from Taiwanese Opera.
也就是這樣同一臍帶的文化背景，歌仔戲在二○年代，得以由台灣宜蘭風靡了整個漳州、廈門一帶，甚至到東南亞閩南移民多的地區，幾乎人人都能哼上一兩段歌仔調。