On September 12, 2018, the “Mix the Spurious with the Genuine: An Introduction to Xiqu (Chinese Opera)” talk, which is part of the Hong Kong Seminar Series, was held at the Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library at the University of Toronto. This event featured Dr. Chan Chak Lui, who is the lead performer in a visiting troupe from Hong Kong. She has received a degree in Chinese Language and Literature, Gender Studies and Intercultural Studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. This event was hosted by the Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library in collaboration with Starlight Chinese Opera Performing Arts Centre, a non-profit organization aiming to preserve and promote Cantonese opera to the general public. Special acknowledgement was given to the co-sponsors, the Asian Institute and Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto). Chaired by the Director of the Richard Charles Lee Library, Jack Leong, the event started after he gave territory acknowledgement to show recognition of and respect for Aboriginal People. From this point on, the event was conducted in Cantonese.
Ms. Ivy Yue, the Head of Public Relations, delivered welcoming remarks on behalf of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto). As part of the Hong Kong Cultural Expo 2018 events, Miss Yue stated that the seminar undertook the role of fostering closer cultural ties between Hong Kong and Canada.
Dr. Chan Chak Lui began the talk by discussing the notion of “spurious” and “genuine” in real life vis-a-vis in the opera world. Opera (Xiqu) takes the form of dancing, singing, and acting, said Dr. Chan as she quoted the Chinese writer, Wang Guowei’s comment on traditional Chinese opera. In particular, performance technique for the acting part is the essential measurement of whether or not the “spurious” could be validated as the “genuine”. Reformulating the question, Dr. Chan regarded it as the question of how to preserve, construct, and produce captivating performances while traditions of Chinese Opera face the trend of realism in modern theatre. How did the performance remain compelling in the absence of magnificent stage setting and props? Dr. Chan discussed the use of language, props, and choreography for different representations in Chinese Opera. For instance, the vehicle flag was a piece of brocade with an embroidered carriage wheel on it, which was used to represent a vehicle. The use of fans was often beyond the object itself, as they were used to extend one’s body, thereby allowing for exaggerated movement and showcase of emotions. Dr. Chan emphasized the fact that all these objects, either in their concrete or figurative meaning, served the ultimate goal for acting. Some audience members would volunteer to demonstrate several scenes, and through this personal experience, showed the audience why people would understand and find resonance in the story and how this was achieved by the performance techniques. At the conclusion of the talk, Dr. Chan suggested that the idea of “mix the spurious with the genuine” in Chinese Opera connoted multilayered significance: it was about performance technique, the shared aesthetics and emotions, and the cultural belief that all came to sustain the spirit of this form of art, even in the flow of the modern technology and development. “Mix the spurious with the genuine”, in Dr. Chan’s words, means that, as in the well-known saying in the Grand Historian’s Record: “Although I cannot reach this level, my heart desires to be there.” (虽不能至，心向往之。)
At the end of the event, Jonathan Wu, a graduate student at the University of Toronto, shared a briefing of the ongoing Cantonese Opera Research Project from the summer. As the lead research assistant of this project, Jonathan described the project as dealing with a recently-donated Chinese Canadian opera collection. It is a pilot project initiated by the Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library and the Asian Canadian Studies Program in the University College, aiming to enrich resources in the field of Cantonese Opera history in Toronto and to pave the way for future scholarship. Individuals that have been involved in, witnessed, or have knowledge of potential contacts in Cantonese Opera in Canada that might contribute to this research project are welcomed to contact the Richard Charles Lee Library.
Nina Zhou studied History and East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. She is currently serving as an Event Reporter for the Synergy Journal of Contemporary Asian Studies.
Leave a Reply