Legitimating alternative forms of traditional arts : the case of Hong Kong's Cantonese opera (xiqu) sector

Abstract

Cantonese opera, a genre of Chinese opera which originated in Guangdong, has been an important traditional art form in Hong Kong and has gone through both rise and decline since the 1920s. Before the 1960s, Cantonese opera was a hugely popular form of innovative entertainment. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Hong Kong Cantonese opera sector experienced a downturn in terms of number of performances mainly due to the rising popularity of film, television and other mass media. Shengongxi, a traditional form of Cantonese opera performance, replaced theatrical performance as the mainstream Cantonese opera genre in Hong Kong. In recent decades, however, it has experienced a major revival. In 2009, Cantonese opera was inscribed onto UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. More importantly, Cantonese opera took on a number of distinctive characteristics in Hong Kong. Despite the traditional image of Cantonese opera, nouvelle Cantonese opera –a Cantonese opera performance that incorporates Western and modern elements from other art forms into traditional Cantonese opera in terms of performance content and production model – has begun to gain much local popularity, evidenced by the increasing number of nouvelle Cantonese opera productions since the 2000s. Understanding the factors underpinning the revival of nouvelle Cantonese opera in Hong Kong since the 2000s requires the investigation of the artistic legitimization process of a new form of traditional art. This thesis analyses how multi-level factors have affected the opportunity space of nouvelle practitioners in gaining legitimacy in the Hong Kong Cantonese opera sector. It draws on historical archival research and in-depth interviews with 13 nouvelle Cantonese opera practitioners, and argues that a combination of factors at the macro-level – the changes in Hong Kong’s socio-political environment caused by its retrocession to Mainland China; meso-level – the institutionalization of training and funding systems; and micro-level – the establishment of personal troupes for resource mobilization – led to the revival of nouvelle Cantonese opera. At the macro level, after the retrocession to Mainland China, the Hong Kong S.A.R. government implemented various cultural policies to support the development of Cantonese opera as a form of traditional Chinese culture with local characteristics. This provided a new opportunity space for nouvelle practitioners to acquire resources to create and promote their nouvelle productions. At the meso level, the application requirements of government funding bodies, such as the Cantonese Opera Development Fund and Arts Development Council, favoured nouvelle Cantonese opera productions in general. Formal Cantonese opera training institutions, such as the School of Chinese Opera of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, became a habitat for nouvelle practitioners to promote their ideas in the sector, particularly among young practitioners. At the micro level, nouvelle practitioners adopted different strategies, such as establishing their own troupes for resource mobilization and collaborating with players within or outside the sector to promote their nouvelle productions to important stakeholders, such as the government and dominant veteran practitioners. In this way, nouvelle Cantonese opera was able to gain legitimacy in the art world and in Hong Kong society.