Introduction : Hong Kong Cantonese Opera, Fong Yim Fun, and the Female Subject

Siu Leung LI

Research output: Book Chapters | Papers in Conference ProceedingsForeword / Postscript

Abstract

Cantonese opera as we know it today has a relatively short history. It was around the 1920s and the 1930s that the genre generally adopted the Cantonese spoken language in performance and gradually developed distinctive characteristics of its own. It was also at this historical moment that urban theaters and productions began to flourish, while most performances were in rural, ritual contexts. Even until today, ritual performances still constitute a major and integral part of Cantonese opera activities and business in Hong Kong. An interesting irony is that there are only few rural areas existing in today s Hong Kong but many ritual contexts remain in this highly urbanized and modernized city.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAnthology of Hong Kong Cantonese opera : the Fong Yim Fun volume = 香港粤劇選 : 芳艷芬卷
EditorsSiu Leung LI
Place of PublicationHong Kong
PublisherInfolink Publishing
Pagesxix-xxxi
Number of pages13
ISBN (Print)9789881299536
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Bibliographical note

This article is the introduction to Anthology of Hong Kong Cantonese Opera: The Fong Yim Fun Volume that is one of the two volumes of English translations of Cantonese opera published as outcomes of the translation projects undertaken individually by academics from different universities in Hong Kong, with the sponsorship of the Cantonese Opera Development Fund. This volume collects five representative Cantonese operas from the repertoire of the “Queen of Diva” Madam Fong Yim Fun (Dr Katie Y. F. Yang). This anthology is intended to provide translations based on scholarly deliberation but written for the general reader rather than for the specialists, and for use in university education hopefully not merely in the English-speaking world, but also in teaching and learning environments anywhere that ask for English as the medium of instruction. This book will contribute to the transmission of Cantonese opera and Chinese opera to transnational and cross-cultural bodies of readers and students.

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