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.

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.

Popular Theater in the Diaspora

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wing Chung Ng
Keyword(s):  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Pearl River Delta Region ◽  
Popular Theater ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
Historical Outline ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Cantonese Opera ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
Different Parts

This chapter provides an overview on the spread of theater activities in the wake of massive emigration from Guangdong to Southeast Asia and North America from the mid-nineteenth century to the eve of the Pacific War. Extant records indicate a historical outline with three succeeding phases: (1) the opening period from the 1850s to the 1880s, when Cantonese opera activities were noticed in various locations on the heels of the first major wave of migration from the Pearl River Delta region to different parts of the Pacific Basin; (2) the intermediate period from the 1890s to the 1910s, with ups and downs registered in different places according to specific conditions; and (3) the interwar years of the 1920s and the early 1930s, when Cantonese opera, as a transnational theater, achieved unprecedented vibrancy.

Suitability of Natural Areas for Representing Ecological Change in the Pacific Northwest

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 452
Author(s):  
Margaret H. Massie ◽  
Todd M. Wilson ◽  
Anita T. Morzillo ◽  
Emilie B. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Ecological Change ◽  
Natural Areas ◽  
The Pacific
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