Chinese Opera - A Dying Art?

True to the fusion nature of this blog, after the last two Mondays sharing the bizarre world of Western opera, today I wanted to change gear to a more serious note and show this moving documentary about the dying art of Chinese Opera - just managing to keep alive in no other place than my homeland Malaysia.

The documentary summary says it all: “Chinese opera in Malaysia face another brink of extinction, not by heavenly super powers but simply by the lack of interest in the young generations to learn and explore the art. We meet a few of the very last Cantonese opera singers left in Penang and learn what makes them pursue and love the art and why they have accepted the fact that they might very well have to take the art with them to the grave.”

I regret to admit it but I suppose people like me are part of the problem. We are educated in Western music and arts along with other aspects of our schooling over here in Europe and lack exposure to Eastern styles of creative expression so start to drift away from our cultural heritage at an early age. Then later on, we find the tones and harmonies of Chinese music strange to our ears - and performances are rare or difficult to locate. I’m hoping that an aspect of globalisation is that Asian arts are rising in international prominence: think of “Farewell My Concubine”, the Monkey myths that have been made into series and dramas and also the Peking Opera making inroads into the West. China itself is increasingly influential globally in terms of the economy - and no doubt, this will lead to its cultural influence widening its reach, too. With social media and the internet as well playing their part in disseminating documentaries like this one and bringing Chinese opera and arts to a new online audience, I’m optimistic that Eastern culture will continue to thrive.