Nanyin develops different categories with the prolonged history. It can categorize by the identity of the performers into ‘Dishui Nanyin’, ‘Xiqu Nanyin’, ‘Laoju Nanyin’, and so on. On the other hand, categorized by the lyric of the performing track, it is classified into ‘Wenren Nanyin’, ‘Yiren Nanyin’ and ‘Baoren Nanyin’. As the earliest genre of southern tunes in Guangdong that is part of the Lingnan district with Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and the like, exploring Wenren Nanyin can help understand the origin and developing history of the treasure of Lingnan culture, nanyin.

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南音歷史悠久，發展至今衍生多個派別。常見的類別是以表演者的身份作分類的地水南音、戲曲南音和老舉南音等，而以唱詞分類則可分為文人南音、藝人南音和報人南音。「文人南音」是廣東南音最早期的形式，廣東與廣西、海南及香港和澳門等區域統稱為嶺南地區，因此探討其起源便能了解嶺南文化的瑰寶——南音的起源。

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Starting from the Qing Emperor Qianlong period, the imperial court conducted transactions with foreign countries. Guangzhou is assigned to be the only harbour opened to the western merchants wanting to access China, so the economic development is flourished. Because of it, the entertainment industry developed rapidly at that time, including the red-light district and huafang, a brothel run in the form of boating. However, during the period ruled by the emperor Qianling and Jaiqing, political corruption occurred, and the folks were treated harshly by governing officers. Living in poverty, commoners had to sell their wives and daughters into huafang to earn a living. At that time, huafangs were divided into three gangs: Guangzhou gang, Chaozhou gang and Yangzhou gang. Yangzhou gang specialized in singing Nanci, which its performing skill differs from the Cantonese song arts longzhou, chaoqu, and muyu. Huafang later mixed all the characteristics of the song arts from different gangs and formed a new type of performance method called "Nanyin". Huafang, as a red-light district, was a place that the literati liked to visit to find entertainment and build romantic relationships with the female workers there. The literati composed tracts by using the love story between themselves and prostitutes and the situation of society as inspiration. After writing the song, the prostitutes in huafang would perform. These are the development of Wenren Nanyin. 

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清代乾隆時期開始，中國與西方進行貿易，廣州成為全國唯一的通商港口，當地經濟發展蓬勃，娛樂業如花舫等風月產業伴隨著繁榮的經濟急促興旺起來。然而乾隆至嘉慶年間政治腐敗，朝廷官員苛待百姓，令他們被迫賣妻賣女至花舫作歌妓以補生計。當時珠樓花舫中其分為三個幫派：廣州幫、潮州幫和揚州幫。揚州幫擅長唱南詞，又稱為南詞戲班，與龍舟和木魚這些廣東音樂的聲腔不同。其後，花舫在木魚及龍舟的基礎上，吸收揚州彈詞的音調，三種說唱藝術的表演技巧和方式結合形成了南音。風月場所是文人雅士聚集的地方，他們以自身與女妓的波折之情和社會的景況為靈感編寫曲詞唱詞，花舫歌妓演唱，便創作出文人南音。

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Using one of the Nanyin masterpieces, "Love's Yearning", as an example, the content is about the male composer who fell in love with the prostitute living opposite Lychee Bay. His father discovered their relationship and broke off their acquaintance by confining his home until he finished the imperial examination. However, the composer could not find his lover again. Owing to the background of the story differing from the authentic background of the composer, some people conjectured that the composer imagined how the prostitute missed him and put himself into her shoes. Then he summarized the unfortunate life story of countless prostitutes in huafang to compose the song to express his anger towards the society system leading to the unfortunate life of women and the corrupted society in the Qing Dynasty. Additionally, the lyrics of the song mention numerous famous Cantonese architectures, including Honam Temple, which is labelled as the place foreign merchants must visit, and Shou Chue Bridge in Honam built by Hong merchants and a Chinese merchant Pan Wenyan in the Qianling period. As a result, the classic Nanyin masterpiece can reflect the history and social issues of the Lingnan area in the Qing Dynasty.

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以何惠群創作的《嘆五更》為例，曲目是關於他在荔枝灣與對岸的女妓意兒互通心意，但後來被父親發現斷絕二人的來往，更被禁足於家中直至考科舉，考取功名後卻再也尋找不到心上人的故事。同時，由於詞中的背景與他的身世不符，因此亦有人猜測何惠群想象了意中人思念他的心情，並將其心情轉移至自己，再把花舫上無數女子不幸的遭遇整合編寫了這首曲，表達出他既為當時女子在社會制度下淒慘的命運感到悲憤，也對清代黑暗腐敗的社會與現實作出強烈的控訴。此外，曲目也提及多個廣州特色建築，如當時被指定為外國商人遊覽之地的廣州河南海幢寺和十三行與文洋行富商潘振承於乾隆年間在廣州所建的漱珠橋。由此可見，南音的傳統曲目反映了清代嶺南地區的歷史和社會情況。