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Projects

 

Bamboo Shed Cantonese Opera Education and Publication Project

Year of Approval

2009-2010

Grantee

Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Project Status

Completed in December 2013

Brief Description of the Project

Cantonese opera is an important form of Hong Kong’s traditional art and culture. It was inscribed onto the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 30 September 2009, and became the first item of world intangible cultural heritage in Hong Kong.

Bamboo shed theatres provide more than stages for Cantonese operas. They also create a multi-faceted cultural space: Apart from various Cantonese opera performances (or ritual performances), including both regular repertoire works and traditional set pieces (e.g. Prime Minister of Six States, the Eight Immortals Bestowing Longevity and A Fairy Delivers Her Son to the Mortal Father), there are religious rituals and ceremonies rooted in folk customs and beliefs to worship the deities and celebrate their birthdays; bamboo structures, floral board (fa pai) and decorated paper tributes (fa pau) that are great expressions of traditional craftsmanship; and temporary stalls in the surrounding areas that are a throwback to the bazaars of the past.

The Lord Wilson Heritage Trust provided funding support to the Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong at the end of 2009, to subsidise the Bamboo Shed Cantonese Opera Education and Publication Project led by Dr Ng Fung-ping and her team. The project aims to promote the preservation and conservation of Cantonese opera in bamboo theatres by developing materials for teaching the art form as a component of school curriculum and introducing students to the cultural space created by bamboo theatres using modern pedagogical methods. The team subsequently published a book entitled Bamboo Sheds Cantonese Opera and School Education: From Cultural Space to Learning Space to present their findings and related teaching materials.

Related Link(s)

(1) Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
(2) Bamboo Shed Cantonese Opera and School Education: From Cultural Space to Learning Space (for reading the e-book version)
(3) Lord Wilson Heritage Trust: Bamboo Shed Cantonese Opera Education

Cover and back cover of Bamboo Sheds Cantonese Opera and School Education: From Cultural Space to Learning Space
Construction of bamboo shed theatre
Set piece: Prime Minister of Six States
Set piece: A Fairy Delivers Her Son to the Mortal Father
Bamboo shed cultural space (Birthday of Tin Hau in Tsing Yi)
Stalls next to bamboo shed
Dragon and Lion Dances to celebrate the Birthday of Hau Wong in Tung Chung
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