Yue opera (Chinese: 越剧; pinyin: Yuèjù), also known as Shaoxing opera, is a popular Chinese opera genre, with only Peking opera considered to be more popular nationwide.

Originating in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province in 1906, Yue opera features actresses in male roles as well as femininity in terms of singing, performing, and staging. Despite its rural origin, it has found a second home in Shanghai, China's most affluent city, where it managed to out-compete both Peking opera and the native Shanghai opera. As Yue opera is performed in a variant of Wu, it is most popular in Wu-speaking areas including southern Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. In addition, the opera also has a sizeable following in Hong Kong due to Shanghainese migration to the city. Like its performers, Yue opera fans are mainly women, resulting in a disproportionate number of love stories in its repertoire and very little acrobatic fighting.

Prior to 1906, the antecedent to Yue opera was story-singing. It was initially an entertainment for people in Sheng County. Its lyrics are mostly collected from conversations between farmers while they were working. Audiences loved these ballads because of their vivid description of daily life. The Second Opium War interfered with the local economy of Sheng County, located in the Jiangnan area, near Shanghai. Since Sheng County agriculturalists were experiencing difficulty earning their livelihoods, they started to turn this folk art into a second source of income.

Over years, the accumulation of lyrics built up the fundamental source materials for Yue opera, and the folk music gradually developed its own style. Performers also began to integrate simple acting and accompanying instruments into the folk music. It gradually became well known, both in Sheng County and neighboring counties.

According to oral history passed down by Yue Opera practitioners, Yue Opera began in 1906. At the end of the first month of the lunar year Zhēngyuè (simplified Chinese:正月) in 1906, artists gathered together in Chen Wanyuan (simplified Chinese: 陈万元)'s house. Although these artists usually only performed in groups of two or three and had never performed together before, Chen and other residents encouraged them to put on a joint production instead of multiple separate retelling of the stories. The first performance was thus generated. The show turned out to be a great success, and residents were delighted and willing to talk about it.

Over time more and more counties invited them to perform. Because the music's tones were similar to those of Shange (Shān Gē,山歌) people named this art Small Tunes and Songs Troupes (pinyin: Xiao Gē Wén Shū Bān, simplified Chinese:小歌文书班). The small in the name referred to its humble folk foundation and contrasted it with "large" formal opera from the area.

Performances were simple. Actors were often peasants who would perform between busy agricultural seasons. They often had no costumes and only a few props, though sometimes rented simple costumes from larger local opera troupes. Musical accompaniment was sparse consisting of only a pair of drums and a wooden clapper played by a performer offstage. This made the performances very mobile allowing the troupes to perform throughout the region. The opera used plain language in the vernacular which made it accessible and popular with local populations.

As "Small Tunes and Songs Troupes" expanded in size and popularity, it entered Shanghai theaters. Due to its unique, elegant and soft singing style compared with other political and spectacular performances, Yue opera found an audience there. It soon changed its name to Shaoxing Civil Opera (pinyin: Shào Xing Wén Xì 绍兴文戏) in 1916, to better represent its performances as art pieces that reflected regional culture. However, both the singing style and banhu fiddle (accompaniment) that the Shaoxing Civil Opera utilized were underdeveloped and vulgar compared with other, more delicate opera genres in Shanghai. It soon lost its prestige and popularity in this big city.