A Study on the Innovation and Development of Chinese Opera Films: Cantonese Opera “The Legend of White Snake” and Chinese opera Films “The Legend of White Snake”

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 535-557
Author(s):  
Yiru Du ◽  
Jong-Han Lee
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Cantonese Opera ◽  
Innovation And Development

scholarly journals When "Macbeth" Meets Chinese Opera: A Crossroad of Humanity

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (36) ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Li Xingxing
Keyword(s):  
Main Character ◽  
Story Line ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Cantonese Opera ◽  
Lady Macbeth ◽  
The City ◽  
Chinese Public

As one of the four Shakespeare’s great tragedies, Macbeth, with its thrilling story line and profound exploration of human nature, has been adapted for plays and movies worldwide. Though Macbeth was introduced to China just before the May 4th Movement in 1919, its characters and plot have attracted the world in the past 100 years. Macbeth was firstly adapted into a folk play Theft of a Nation during the modern play period, to mock Yuan Shikai’s restoration of the monarchy, who was considered as a usurper of Qing dynasty, followed by Li Jianwu’s adaptation Wang Deming, Kun opera Bloody Hands, Taiwanese version of Beijing opera Lust and the City, Hong Kong version of Cantonese opera The Traitor, Macao version of small theater play If I were the King, Anhui opera Psycho, Shaoxing opera General Ma Long, Wu opera Bloody Sword, a monodrama of Sichuan opera Lady Macbeth, and an experimental Kun opera Lady. Therefore, this essay aims to comb the relations among various adaptations of Macbeth, to discover the advantages and disadvantages of different methodologies by examining the spiritual transformations of the main character Macbeth and reinvention of Lady Macbeth, and ultimately to observe acceptance of Chinese public, which might give thoughts to communications of overseas literature in China.

Aesthetics, Repertoire, Roles, and Playbills

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Yunhwa Rao
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Performance Practice ◽  
North American ◽  
York City ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Cantonese Opera ◽  
Popular Novel ◽  
Over Time

This chapter provides a survey of Cantonese opera, its connection to other genres of Chinese opera, its music, repertoire, vocal style, accompanying instruments, etc. Because the performance practice changed over time, this chapter draws from a wealth of primary and secondary documents to offer a working knowledge of Cantonese opera as it was practiced in North American during the 1920s. Over 1000 Chinese playbills from San Francisco, New York City, Vancouver, Seattle and Havana between 1917 and 1929 provide the foundation for understanding the popular repertoire during the time. In addition, commentaries in Chinese newspapers, as well as memoirs and oral histories from veteran performers reveal much about the historical performance practice. Taken together, these resources form the basis of an understanding of the Cantonese opera in this period ranging from the increased usage of stage backdrops and stage props, a gradual shift of popular role types and vocal styles, and popular novel repertoire types. A reflection on the significance of daily opera playbill closes the chapter.

scholarly journals Inside Chinese Theatre: Cantonese Opera in Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 81-104
Author(s):  
Nancy Yunhwa Rao
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Chinese Theatre ◽  
Performance Culture ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Cantonese Opera ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
Chinese Canadian

Opera theatre forms an important part of Chinese Canadian cultural history. Since first appearing in Victoria in the 1860s, Chinese theatres were woven into the community’s everyday life, performing Cantonese opera, the regional genre known to the majority of Chinese immigrants who came from the Pearl River Delta of southern China. A brief survey of historical city maps from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shows their central role in Chinese Canadian community of the Pacific Northwest. Recent discovery of a Chinese theatrical company’s daily business receipts provides a window into the performance culture and daily operations of a Chinese theatre between 1916 and 1918 in Vancouver. This vibrant period of the 1910s paved the way for full-fledged theatre operation in the following decade that brought about a new era of Chinese opera performance in Canada.

A proposed model of transmission of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong higher education: From oral tradition to conservatoire

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-166
Author(s):  
Bo-Wah Leung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Traditional Art ◽  
Art Forms ◽  
Cantonese Opera

Transmission of traditional art forms in the modern world has been a major issue in the field of arts education. Different issues have been raised on how to preserve the traditional art forms for further development. Cantonese opera is a representative Chinese opera popular in south China including Hong Kong. However, the genre has been experienced fluctuation since 1950s with the difficulties of transmission through oral tradition to conservatory tradition. While the Hong Kong Government promotes the genre to reserve the cultural tradition, great masters have been fading out and younger generation encounters difficulties in inheriting the genre. This article reports parts of a large-scale study on the nature and characteristics of oral tradition, learning in community settings, conservatory tradition, and proposes a model of transmission of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong. The model may shed light on preserving, inheriting, and further developing traditional performing arts in the modern world.

From Honolulu to Havana

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Yunhwa Rao
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Transnational Network ◽  
Cantonese Opera

Though the Cantonese opera network spanned the Americas, its manifestation in any particular place varied according to local conditions. This chapter considers three Chinese theaters (in Honolulu, Vancouver, and Havana) of the 1920s to offer further perspectives on the renaissance of Cantonese opera during that decade. Through this study, we gain a fuller appreciation of how Chinese opera theaters were linked to, steered by, and shaped by the larger transnational performing network, and in turn, how the larger network was affected by them. Kue Hing was the company based in Vancouver that brought opera theater to Honolulu. Meanwhile, in Vancouver a theater was reestablished in the name of Mandarin Theater, though no owned by the theater of the same name in San Francisco. Finally, through a recently discovered set of correspondences among family members disbursed in US, Cuba and Canada, the chapter unveils the working of transnational network at the ground level.

Powder and Rouge

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Yunhwa Rao
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
North America ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
New Era ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Cantonese Opera ◽  
Late Nineteenth

This chapter shifts our focus to the thriving community of Cantonese opera theaters in Canada, from as early as the late nineteenth century. Despite anti-Chinese initiatives growing toward the end of the century, Chinese opera performers were admitted into Canada with regularity, and Chinese theaters continued to find success. Beginning with the troupes, popular performers and theaters of the 1910s, the chapter traces the trajectories of their performing circuit and theaters into the 1920s. In particular, the 1921 opening of Le Wannian theater in Vancouver marked the beginning of a new era, whose performers, such as Guan Yinglian, had an enormous impact on the community. Finally, the Victoria/Vancouver-based Lun On company led Cantonese opera troupe to return to United States, which in turn commenced the golden era of Cantonese opera in North America. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the significance of Triangle Route between Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle.

Chinese Opera in Turn-of-the Century Canada: Local History and Transnational Circulation

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Yunhwa Rao
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Southern China ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Cantonese Opera ◽  
Canadian Chinese

One of the most curious aspects about Canadian Chinese cultural history is the role of opera theatres. They served as the public face of the community, cultural ambassadors or even artistic curiosities, but at the same time provided Chinese audiences the intimate world of emotive musical drama. Because of their public role, they were often ambitious projects. Since first appearing in Victoria in the 1860s, Chinese theatres played an integral role in its community life. Featuring performance of Cantonese opera, the regional genre known to the majority of Chinese immigrants that came from the Pearl River Delta of southern China, these theatres provided crucial entertainment. Chinese theatres’ success in Victoria, and later in Vancouver, was not an isolated phenomenon, but rather closely connected to other cities along the Pacific coast. The opera business waxed and waned, in large part as a result of the Chinese exclusionist policy in Canada and United States. In the 1910s and 1920s, through joint ventures, Chinese in Canada and the United States succeeded in forming a network of opera performance and revived their fluidity of movement in the Pacific Northwest region. Because this network returned significant mobility to troupes and performers, Chinese theatres flourished again in North America. This article provides a preliminary overview of this body of troupes and performers in Canada, its impact and the national and transnational forces that shaped it. It addresses key issues related to this history: the effect of immigration control, the relevance of Chinese theatres to community life, and the transborder crossings.

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