RED BOAT TROUPES AND CANTONESE ... - University of Georgia

y me, by people from the estuary, by the Chinese, and by the world. From then on, I compared
my projects on Western music history with developments in Chinese music. They included
small projects such as “What was Happening in Chinese Music during the Western Medieval
Period,” and “The Development of Chinese Music During the Western Renaissance, Baroque
and Classical Period.” Eventually I chose to explore Cantonese opera for my undergraduate
senior project.
I began listening to Cantonese opera, called older people to ask what they knew about it,
and tried to recall what my grandmother had spoken about the genre. Perhaps it was a nostalgic
reaction for people like me, who had been away from their native culture for a long time. The
more I got involved with the research, the more I decried the little documentation and few
resources available, and the more I understood my roots. In the process, I asked friends in the
very small Cantonese community in Augusta, GA, what they knew about Cantonese opera. We
started to discuss Cantonese opera at social gatherings. The response led to many audio and
video recordings being sent to me. I did not expect that these “Westernized” friends, with
college educations and residence in America for more than 30 years knew much about the opera.
Most had kept listening to and watching Cantonese opera private. People in the past, especially
during my friends’ teenage years, considered Cantonese opera a low-class entertainment in Hong
Kong. The more I researched the opera, the more I found my cultural roots. Both my grandmas
(one grew up in the Pearl River Estuary, the other lived in Vancouver, Canada, since the age of
nine) were fans of the opera. I also grew up watching Cantonese movies whose stars were
Cantonese opera performers. After graduation in 2004, I visited the Opera Information Center at
the Chinese University of Hong Kong. As I frequented the center, I gained access to books,
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