Welcome to our first short-form Chung Lind blog! Today we will be highlighting an incredible 1923 group photo by C. B. Wand of the Le Wan Nian Cantonese Opera Troupe featured in our Chung Lind Gallery exhibits.
Item: RBSC-ARC-1679-CC-PH-10648, in Gallery
Open Collections
Cantonese opera and music have been an important cultural and social activity for Chinese Canadian communities for over 100 years. By the early 1900s, Cantonese opera troupes like Le Wan Nian were sponsored by companies and musical societies to perform for packed theaters across North America. This cultural entertainment was a welcome alternative to less ”wholesome” leisure activities for the vastly single-male “bachelor” communities of Chinatowns and work-camps. Opera troupes were able to secure special permits via their sponsors to enter Canada and the USA, enabling them to see the world at a time when most Chinese people were constrained by Exclusionary laws.
Today, there are many Chinese musical societies across Vancouver that continue the tradition of providing musical education, socialization for seniors, and sponsoring opera performances. They include Jin Wah Sing 振華聲藝術研究社, Ching Won 清韻音樂社, Vancouver Cantonese Opera 燕鳳鳴粵劇團, and the B.C. Chinese Music Association (BCCMA) 庇詩中樂協會. Continued connections to Hong Kong have enabled Vancouver to remain one of the world’s most vibrant centers of Cantonese opera.
On your next visit to the Chung Lind Gallery, we encourage you to also visit the UBC Museum of Anthropology where you can view Cantonese opera costumes in living color!
Further Reading:
Ng, Wing Chung. The Rise of Cantonese Opera. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2015. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/39750.
Rao, Nancy Yunhwa. Chinatown Opera Theater in North America. University of Illinois Press, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt1kc6hrk.
JinPei, Huang and Alan R. Thrasher. “Cantonese Music Societies of Vancouver: A Social and Historical Survey.” Canadian Folk Music Journal 21, (1993): 31