Cantonese Opera in Global Context

We are delighted to welcome you to the Symposium on Cantonese Opera in Global Context, organised by Dr Xunnan Li as part of our collaboration with the Cantonese Opera Research Centre at Hong Kong Metropolitan University, together with scholars and practitioners from around the world.

This mini-symposium focuses on the translation, cultural industrialisation, artistic creation, and heritage preservation of Cantonese opera in global contexts. Through interdisciplinary dialogue, the event explores how Cantonese opera is created, transmitted, adapted, and reimagined across different cultural, institutional, and artistic settings.

Symposium Schedule

9:00–9:15
Arrival

9:15–9:30
Welcome: Frances Weightman, Director of the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing

9:30–9:45
Presentation 1: Kelly Kar-yue Chan, Hong Kong Metropolitan University
Resistance and Compromise: Literary Transadaptation of Cantonese Opera Plays in The Peony Pavilion and The Reincarnation of the Red Plum

9:45–10:00
Presentation 2: Lau Chi Sum Garfield, Hong Kong Metropolitan University
From Folkloric Tradition to Cantonese Opera Film and Children’s Animation: Analysing The Injustice Done to Tou Ngo

10:00–10:15
Presentation 3: Chi Chun Chan, Hong Kong Metropolitan University
Authenticity in Flux: Western-Oriented Aesthetics, Mainland Collaboration, and the Sonic Making of Hong Konger Identity in Taoist Funerary Rituals and Cantonese Opera

10:15–10:30
Break

10:30–10:45
Presentation 4: Stephan Dobson, University of Leeds
Leading Across Difference: Executive Leadership Programmes in Arts and Cultural Industries at the Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District

10:45–11:00
Presentation 5: Xunnan Li, University of Leeds
Gamification of Intangible Cultural Heritage: Cantonese Opera Workshops for Diaspora Children at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

11:00–12:00
Panel Discussion, chaired by David Weiguo Jiang

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14:00–15:30
Short Film Screening and Director Talk: Luka Yuanyuan Yang (Alec Clegg, Stage@Leeds)

Short Film 1: Cantonese Tunes on Mott Street (2022)
Short Film 2: Tales of Chinatown (2019)