Every Saturday, Cheng Tin-ho, 10, goes to the Mills, a\nrevitalized arts and cultural complex in Tsuen Wan to attend a class. It is not\npiano or ballet class that many children in Hong Kong join but Cantonese opera.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The underlying mask of Cantonese opera <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n His mother, Wong Ching-han, admits that she had no knowledge\nor interest in the traditional Chinese art before getting her son studying in\nthe Cha Duk Chang Children\u2019s Cantonese Opera Association. \u201cOriginally,\nCantonese opera was just noise in my mind,\u201d she says, adding that she hoped her\nson would learn to be patient by attending the class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But her interest in this centuries-old art has grown. \u201cWhen\nI pass by Sunbeam Theatre, I will start checking out the upcoming shows,\u201d she\nsays, and no longer finds Cantonese opera noisy, but an art to appreciate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cha Duk Chang Children\u2019s Cantonese Opera Association\u2019s\nsite inside the Mills is divided into two parts. One for visitors to take\npictures with different Cantonese opera costumes, another one for students to\nlearn skills and methods of vocal and dramatic training that performers have to\nmaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cantonese opera with singing and spoken scripts delivered in\nCantonese dialect is popular in Cantonese-speaking regions, such as Guangdong,\nHong Kong and Macau. Its variegated costumes, distinctive singings and symbolic\ngestures attract people from all over the world. In 2009, it was inscribed onto\nthe UNESCO\u2019s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of\nHumanity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the younger generation in the city may not know how\nto appreciate this traditional art form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Is education enough? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While teaching Cantonese operatic music is compulsory in the\nHKDSE Music curriculum, not all music teachers are equipped with the knowledge\nto teach it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Li Yin-hing, Program Officer of the Cha Duk Chang Children\u2019s\nCantonese Opera Association, says: \u201cIf a school teacher teaches Cantonese opera\nby himself or herself, he or she will play pieces of traditional music and\nvideos of Cantonese opera, or just open a textbook and ask students to sing a\nCantonese opera song together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Li\u2019s view, making Cantonese opera compulsory in school\u2019s\nmusic class can let students learn Cantonese opera. But such teaching methods\nare inefficient to cultivate children\u2019s interest or increase their\nparticipation in Cantonese opera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2005, to help develop Cantonese opera, the Home Affairs\nBureau (HAB) set up the Cantonese Opera Development Fund (CODF) for local\nassociations. CODF aims to support and fund different kinds of projects to help\npromote Cantonese opera. Meanwhile, some non-governmental associations also\noffer funding to support Cantonese opera, such as the Hong Kong Jockey Club\nMusic and Dance Fund. But resources are still limited, so not all schools have\nthe financial ability to seek help from Cantonese opera associations to train\nmusic teachers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nowhere to perform <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Li points out small opera associations struggle to find\nsuitable performance venues due to expensive rents in private sites. \u201cFor some\nlocal small troupes, we cannot afford the rent for performance sites if there\nis no subsidy,\u201d she says. Cantonese opera associations find it hard to book\npublic performance sites which are much cheaper to rent. While major\nperformance sites are often reserved by big opera associations, local small\ntroupes can only turn to sites they can afford. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is difficult for us to set the stage or carry\nperformance props,\u201d she says. Li shares their experience of using Youth Square\nin Chai Wan, which turns out to be an unsuitable site, as it is not specially\nbuilt for performing Cantonese opera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Officially opened on January 20, 2019, Xiqu Centre, is the\nfirst completed project of the West Kowloon Cultural District and the first\nprofessional Cantonese opera performance centre in Hong Kong. Occupying a total\nof 28,164 square metres, the Xiqu Centre holds a Grand Theatre, a Tea House\nTheatre, eight professional studios and a seminar hall. They are all specially\ndesigned for different types of functions and activities related to Chinese\nopera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But some insiders reflect that the government may give\npriorities to famous Cantonese opera troupes to use performance sites at the\nXiqu Centre, so it may not be available for the small-scale ones. Also, the\nexpensive rent may not be affordable for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHaving one more performance site is better than one less,\u201d\nsays Lau Wai-ming, Artistic Director of Yeung Ming Cantonese Opera Troupe. She\nbelieves the opening of Xiqu Centre is good news for Cantonese Opera. While she\nappreciates that the government has put effort into the Xiqu Centre, she\nbelieves another challenge is that there are not many performance sites\nspecifically designed for Cantonese opera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Who can help? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Other than shortage of performance sites, Lau believes the\ndevelopment of Cantonese opera is not on the right track. \u201cWe are now\ndeveloping arts with government resources and we have to comply with government\npolicies, but not all activities from the creative industry are supported by\nthe government,\u201d she says. Lau thinks it is inappropriate for arts association\nto change their principles in a bid to receive government support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lau also points out the current policies tend to favour\nyounger artists, which could drive current artists out of the field due to the\nlack of support. When the quality of current performance is affected, it can\npossibly lead to loss of audience. But, Lau stills feel optimistic about the\nfuture of Cantonese opera, with the growing population of old people in Hong\nKong. \u201cIt is absolutely normal for a 60-year-old to appreciate Cantonese opera\nas an art form with their own life experience,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Future of Xiqu <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lau believes there is a need to sow the seeds for younger audience to accept this traditional art form now. \u201cThe main purpose of promoting Cantonese opera to children is not just to cultivate actors, but also to cultivate the audience,\u201d Lau adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to preserve Cantonese opera, Ching May-bo, professor of History at the Department of Chinese and History at the City University of Hong Kong, believes it is a collective responsibility. \u201cNo one should be blamed for the problems in the development of Cantonese opera today,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ching stresses that we should respect opinions from Cantonese opera performers, while we as audience, can give honest comments to them so that they can improve. Also, we should advise the government to follow up and review its funding allocation and adjust it accordingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All in all, Ching believes Cantonese opera will embrace a glorious future. \u201cSince everyone knows that there is a problem, it is a good start for Cantonese opera,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Edited by Erica Li<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can Xiqu, a relatively unpopular traditional art among the young generation, thrive again with the opening of the new Xiqu Centre in West Kowloon?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1805,836],"tags":[32,157,317,1271,1270],"class_list":["post-14188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-152","category-lifestyle","tag-cantonese-opera","tag-conservation","tag-performance-arts","tag-west-kowloon-cultural-district","tag-xiqu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14188"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14262,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14188\/revisions\/14262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/warm-up-1024x683.jpg\")
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