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A favourite stop in the Chung Collection exhibition is always the photograph of the Cantonese Opera troupe in case 5. It is a beautifully detailed photograph, taken by Cecil B. Wand in 1923.

Those who are looking for more on Cantonese Opera must also stop at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, where they have a collection of over 400 Cantonese opera costumes, props and instruments. For reasons unknown, travelling troupes sometimes left costumes and other items behind in Vancouver with the Jin Wah Sing Musical Association, who stored the costumes until they were acquired by the Museum of Anthropology.

Do not despair if you cannot make it to campus- through the MOA website you can view high quality photographs of all of these objects. Visit the MOA Collection Online and type “Cantonese opera” as your search terms and this is what you will see:

You can click on each item and zoom  in to see the amazing detail that went into these costumes:

Information on visiting MOA is available on their website. It’s definitely worth a trip!