Cantonese Opera

Cantonese opera is the major Lingnan regional theatre sung in Cantonese, formed in the Ming and Qing around Guangzhou and Foshan and carried by Cantonese migration to Hong Kong, Macau and abroad. Macau has a long operatic history, its Qing Ping Theatre once a key stage in the Pearl River Delta. In 2006 Cantonese opera entered the first national ICH list, jointly declared by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and in 2009 it was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Cantonese opera is complete in song, speech, acting and combat, its singing built on bangzi and erhuang melodies with folk tunes and speech; the painted faces, costumes and gestures are richly Lingnan, traditional plays drawn from historical romances and folk tales, and Macau troupes still perform regularly at temple fairs and theatres.

Cantonese opera is a shared treasure of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, carrying Lingnan dialect art, operatic vocal styles and the memory of the overseas Chinese, an important window onto East-West exchange and qiaoxiang culture, and a living part of Macau's cultural life.