The past and present of Hong Kong Cantonese Opera

THE PAST: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CANTONESE OPERA

The history of Cantonese opera is very long and complicated. This paper humbly uses “past and present” as the main theme, to briefly describe the historical development and the current status of Cantonese opera.

The previous incarnation of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong could be traced to the Qing dynasty, when a famous actor Li Wenmao (李文茂, ?- 1858) echoed the Tai-Ping rebellion against the Qing dynasty (清朝，1851-1864) by establishing  The Heaven and Earth Society (天地會) and led an uprising in Guangzhou (廣州), which was defeated by Qing army after 14 years. Blaming the Cantonese opera actors as the culprit of the rebellion, the Qing government banned all Cantonese opera in the Canton area for more than ten years. Some actors fled to Hong Kong and therefore spread Cantonese opera to Hong Kong.

In 1868 (the seventh year of ruling of Emperor Tong-zhi 同治皇帝) , the Ba-he Association (now Chinese Artists Association, 八和會館), which was established in Guangzhou, brought a revival in Cantonese opera. In 1875 (late years of Emperor Guangxu光緒皇帝), Cantonese opera kept reforming with the drastic change of social and political situations. In the Republican era (1911-1949), Cantonese opera encountered the first summit of its development with a wide variety of Cantonese opera troupes, giving rise to various categories and nicknames such as All-female Troupe (全女班), Local Troupe (本地班), Foreign Troupe (外江班), Red Boat Troupe (紅船班) and Mountain-Crossing Troupes (過山班). Among them, Red Boat Troupe, which refers to the Cantonese opera troupe moving around the Pearl River Delta with red boats and lived there, were rife at that period. The system and organization brought from Red Boat Troupe are still influential nowadays.

The Five Major Schools: The First Generation of Renowned Cantonese Opera Performers in Hong Kong

“The Five Major Schools” refers to the schools which were based upon the first generation of renowned Cantonese opera performers in Hong Kong from 1930s to 1950s, namely “The School of Sit (Sit Kok Sin, 薛覺先, 1904-1956)”, “The School of Ma (Ma Si Tsang 馬師曾, 1900-1964)”, “The School of Kwai (Kwai Ming-Yang 桂名揚, 1909-1958)”, “The School of Liu (Liu Hap Wai廖俠懷, 1903-1952)”, and “The School of Pak (It was said to be either Pak Kui-Wing 白駒榮, 1892-1974,  or Pak Yuk Tong 白玉堂, 1901-1995)”. The representatives of the second generation are “Yam Pak (Yam Kim Fai 任劍輝, 1913-1989 and Pak Sheut Sin 白雪仙, born 1928)”, Lam Kar-sing (林家聲, 1933-2015), Chan Kam Tong (陳錦棠, 1906-1981) and Mak Bing Wing (麥炳榮, 1915-1984) etc. Apart from that, there are many renowned artists such as Lan Chi Pat (靚次伯, 1904-1992), Leung Sing Bor (梁醒波, 1908-1981) and Leung Yum Tong (梁蔭堂, 1913-1979), who all contributed to the golden era of Cantonese opera. Since 1950s, these schools of Hong Kong Cantonese opera have developed and adapted to changes in modern times and have become a signature of Hong Kong.

Transformation from “Ten Types of Actors” (十大行當 ) into “Six Pillar System” (六柱制 )

Six-Pillar system (六柱制) was one of the signature reforms of Cantonese opera over these years. Before the appearance of Six Pillar system, there were many types of characters, which were collectively named as “ten types of actors”, including old men (末)、Handsome guys (淨)、male protagonist (生)、female protagonist (旦)、ugly persons / villains of supporting role (丑)、antagonists (外)、militants (小)、female supporting roles (貼)、old women (夫)、miscellaneous (雜). With the increasing costs of Cross-Border Troupe and the competition from movies and televisions, there was a need to cut costs to preserve those troupes. Therefore, the six-pillar system was formed, which including protagonists (either literal or military) (文武生)、supporting (literal) roles (小生)、female protagonists (正印花旦)、supporting female actors (二幫花旦)、antagonists (丑生) and supporting martial performers (武生).The streamlining of structure is controversial. On one hand, it led to the elimination of some types of actors, the unemployment of such artists, as well as the disappearance of the heritage of these types of actors. On the other hand, this system in some way protected the survival and development of Cantonese Opera troupes in face of the huge changes in the market.

The White Golden Dragon (《白金龍》): the fusion between Chinese opera and movies

Movies adopted from Chinese Opera achieved huge success. This could be attributed to Sik Kok-Sin (薛覺先) and Ma Si-Tsang (馬師曾), and the Five Major Schools’ endeavor and  reform. The first Cantonese movie with soundtrack, which was filmed in 1933, was performed by famous actor Sit Kok Sin. Its screenplay is based on a famous Chinese Opera The White Golden Dragon (《白金龍》). The film was a record maker which broke the box record in Hong Kong and even Southeast Asia. Since then, there were many massively successful Chinese Opera movies like The Love Eterne (《梁山伯與祝英台》)、 Romance of the Western Chamber (《西廂記》)、The Lotus Lantern (《寶蓮燈》), and the genre of Chinese Opera movies reached its summit in the ninety fifties and ninety sixties.

THE PRESENT: RECENT WORKS FOR PRESERVING THE CANTONESE OPERA AND ITS RESEARCH OUTPUT

In 2009, the UNESCO enlisted Cantonese opera into the list of non-tangible cultural heritage. This led to the increased awareness from the world on this previously ignored art genre and its significance to development of art, culture, and history. Among all groups, the most representative one is Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong (香港八和會館), which is the society organized by various of Hong Kong Cantonese opera troupes and was established in Emperor Guangxu’s reign with more than 130 years of history. The association aims at protecting and promoting Cantonese opera in Hong Kong so that this art-form can maintain its sustainable development and inherited by future generations.³

The Hong Kong government has made tremendous effort to preserve the heritage of Cantonese opera by establishing Cantonese Opera Advisory Committee (粵劇發展諮詢委員會), Cantonese Opera Development Fund (粵劇發展基金) and Xiqu Centre (戲曲中心) as well as supporting research, promotion and sustainable development of Cantonese opera. Besides, I participated in the research and inheritance plan titled “香港粵劇戲台服飾金碧輝煌” (Project Cantonese Opera Costumes) sponsored by Intangible Cultural Heritage Office (非物質遺產辦事處) and led by Hong Kong Art Culture and Education Development Centre (香港文化藝術教育拓展中心) in 2019. One of the accomplishments of this plan is the publishing of a paper book titled 《香港粵劇戲台服飾裝扮藝術：個案研究——戲服大師陳國源》(The Costume Art of Hong Kong Cantonese Opera: A case study of Costume Designer Master Chan Kwok-Yuen) which outlines the development of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong and clothing culture of costumes. Another accomplishment is an online database called “Cantonese Opera Costumes” (https://www.cantoneseoperacostumes.com/) which is open to the public. In the future, we will seek cooperations with local secondary schools to share and promote the accomplishments of these projects through face-to-face seminars and online interactive workshops. I believe, with endeavours from various parties to preserve and promote Cantonese Opera – a gem in our history and culture – this art form will keep on blossoming and transmitting to future generations to come.