Taiwanese Opera, or gezai xi, was first performed in Ilan County some time during the second decade of the 20th century. It didn't take long at all for the newly born Taiwanese Opera to make its way to mainland China. It proved popular there, and came to be known as Xiang Opera in the Zhangzhou area, while in Xiamen they continued to call it gezai xi, as in Taiwan.
百年歌仔，民國初年，初初成型的歌仔戲隨著往返的歌仔戲班傳至大陸，在漳州地區稱為「薌劇」，廈門地區則同稱歌仔戲。