Defined by its distinct performance style, stage practices, and regional and dialect based identities, Cantonese opera originated as a traditional art form performed by itinerant companies in temple courtyards and rural market fairs.  In the early 1900s, however, Cantonese opera began to capture mass audiences in the commercial theaters of Hong Kong and Guangzhou--a transformation that changed it forever. Wing Chung Ng charts Cantonese opera's confrontations with state power, nationalist discourses, and its challenge to the ascendancy of Peking opera as the country's preeminent "national theatre." Mining vivid oral histories and heretofore untapped archival sources, Ng relates how Cantonese opera evolved from a fundamentally rural tradition into urbanized entertainment distinguished by a reliance on capitalization and celebrity performers. He also expands his analysis to the transnational level, showing how waves of Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia and North America further re-shaped Cantonese opera into a vibrant part of the ethnic Chinese social life and cultural landscape in the many corners of a sprawling diaspora.

Defined by its distinct performance style, stage practices, and regional and dialect based identities, Cantonese opera originated as a traditional art form performed by itinerant companies in temple courtyards and rural market fairs.   In the early 1900s, however, Cantonese opera began to capture mass audiences in the commercial theaters of Hong Kong and Guangzhou--a transformation that changed it forever. Wing Chung Ng charts Cantonese opera''s confrontations with state power, nationalist discourses, and its challenge to the ascendancy of Peking opera as the country''s preeminent "national theatre." Mining vivid oral histories and heretofore untapped archival sources, Ng relates how Cantonese opera evolved from a fundamentally rural tradition into urbanized entertainment distinguished by a reliance on capitalization and celebrity performers. He also expands his analysis to the transnational level, showing how waves of Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia and North America further re-shaped Cantonese opera into a vibrant part of the ethnic Chinese social life and cultural landscape in the many corners of a sprawling diaspora.

In The Chinese in Vancouver, Wing Chung Ng captures the fascinating story of the city's Chinese in their search for identity. He juxtaposes the cultural positions of different generations of Chinese immigrants and their Canadian-born descendants and unveils the ongoing struggle over the definition of being Chinese. It is an engrossing story about cultural identity in the context of migration and settlement, where the influence of the native land and the appeal of the host city continued to impinge on the consciousness of the ethnic Chinese.The Chinese in Canada is long overdue in view of the many previous studies that tend to describe Chinese people as victims of racial prejudice and discrimination and Chinese identity a matter of Western cultural hegemony. Ng's account gives the Chinese people their own voice and shows that the Chinese in Vancouver had much to say and often disagreed about the meaning of being Chinese.In his concluding chapter, Ng looks beyond the Canadian context by engaging in a comparative discussion of the experiences of ethnic Chinese elsewhere in the diaspora. References to the Chinese in various Southeast Asian countries and the U.S. force a rethinking of "Chineseness." He ends with reflections about Vancouver's Chinese community since 1980.

In The Chinese in Vancouver, Wing Chung Ng captures the fascinating story of the city's Chinese in their search for identity. He juxtaposes the cultural positions of different generations of Chinese immigrants and their Canadian-born descendants and unveils the ongoing struggle over the definition of being Chinese. It is an engrossing story about cultural identity in the context of migration and settlement, where the influence of the native land and the appeal of the host city continued to impinge on the consciousness of the ethnic Chinese.The Chinese in Canada is long overdue in view of the many previous studies that tend to describe Chinese people as victims of racial prejudice and discrimination and Chinese identity a matter of Western cultural hegemony. Ng's account gives the Chinese people their own voice and shows that the Chinese in Vancouver had much to say and often disagreed about the meaning of being Chinese.In his concluding chapter, Ng looks beyond the Canadian context by engaging in a comparative discussion of the experiences of ethnic Chinese elsewhere in the diaspora. References to the Chinese in various Southeast Asian countries and the U.S. force a rethinking of "Chineseness." He ends with reflections about Vancouver's Chinese community since 1980.

Defined by its distinct performance style, stage practices, and regional and dialect based identities, Cantonese opera originated as a traditional art form performed by itinerant companies in temple courtyards and rural market fairs.  In the early 1900s, however, Cantonese opera began to capture mass audiences in the commercial theaters of Hong Kong and Guangzhou--a transformation that changed it forever. Wing Chung Ng charts Cantonese opera's confrontations with state power, nationalist discourses, and its challenge to the ascendancy of Peking opera as the country's preeminent "national theatre." Mining vivid oral histories and heretofore untapped archival sources, Ng relates how Cantonese opera evolved from a fundamentally rural tradition into urbanized entertainment distinguished by a reliance on capitalization and celebrity performers. He also expands his analysis to the transnational level, showing how waves of Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia and North America further re-shaped Cantonese opera into a vibrant part of the ethnic Chinese social life and cultural landscape in the many corners of a sprawling diaspora.

Defined by its distinct performance style, stage practices, and regional and dialect based identities, Cantonese opera originated as a traditional art form performed by itinerant companies in temple courtyards and rural market fairs.   In the early 1900s, however, Cantonese opera began to capture mass audiences in the commercial theaters of Hong Kong and Guangzhou--a transformation that changed it forever. Wing Chung Ng charts Cantonese opera''s confrontations with state power, nationalist discourses, and its challenge to the ascendancy of Peking opera as the country''s preeminent "national theatre." Mining vivid oral histories and heretofore untapped archival sources, Ng relates how Cantonese opera evolved from a fundamentally rural tradition into urbanized entertainment distinguished by a reliance on capitalization and celebrity performers. He also expands his analysis to the transnational level, showing how waves of Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia and North America further re-shaped Cantonese opera into a vibrant part of the ethnic Chinese social life and cultural landscape in the many corners of a sprawling diaspora.

In The Chinese in Vancouver, Wing Chung Ng captures the fascinating story of the city's Chinese in their search for identity. He juxtaposes the cultural positions of different generations of Chinese immigrants and their Canadian-born descendants and unveils the ongoing struggle over the definition of being Chinese. It is an engrossing story about cultural identity in the context of migration and settlement, where the influence of the native land and the appeal of the host city continued to impinge on the consciousness of the ethnic Chinese.The Chinese in Canada is long overdue in view of the many previous studies that tend to describe Chinese people as victims of racial prejudice and discrimination and Chinese identity a matter of Western cultural hegemony. Ng's account gives the Chinese people their own voice and shows that the Chinese in Vancouver had much to say and often disagreed about the meaning of being Chinese.In his concluding chapter, Ng looks beyond the Canadian context by engaging in a comparative discussion of the experiences of ethnic Chinese elsewhere in the diaspora. References to the Chinese in various Southeast Asian countries and the U.S. force a rethinking of "Chineseness." He ends with reflections about Vancouver's Chinese community since 1980.

In The Chinese in Vancouver, Wing Chung Ng captures the fascinating story of the city's Chinese in their search for identity. He juxtaposes the cultural positions of different generations of Chinese immigrants and their Canadian-born descendants and unveils the ongoing struggle over the definition of being Chinese. It is an engrossing story about cultural identity in the context of migration and settlement, where the influence of the native land and the appeal of the host city continued to impinge on the consciousness of the ethnic Chinese.The Chinese in Canada is long overdue in view of the many previous studies that tend to describe Chinese people as victims of racial prejudice and discrimination and Chinese identity a matter of Western cultural hegemony. Ng's account gives the Chinese people their own voice and shows that the Chinese in Vancouver had much to say and often disagreed about the meaning of being Chinese.In his concluding chapter, Ng looks beyond the Canadian context by engaging in a comparative discussion of the experiences of ethnic Chinese elsewhere in the diaspora. References to the Chinese in various Southeast Asian countries and the U.S. force a rethinking of "Chineseness." He ends with reflections about Vancouver's Chinese community since 1980.