Wing Chung Ng's book The Rise of Cantonese Opera is an excellent social history of Cantonese opera from the mid-nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Pacific War. Focusing on three geographical areas—South China, Southeast Asia, and North America—it draws on an impressive array of primary source material and contributes to a growing body of scholarship in Chinese theatre studies focused on regional histories and transnational perspectives. Unlike previous studies of traditional Chinese theatre, Ng's book offers little analysis of the content or form of Cantonese opera performances. Rather, his innovative approach allows us to understand Cantonese opera as a social and economic institution: through Ng's account we trace the formation and evolution of actors' guilds, learn how theatre companies operated financially and navigated competition in the market, and piece together the many external factors—from immigration law to gang activity, taxation, and local political rivalries—that shaped the lives of the actors, musicians, playwrights, patrons, and audiences in the ever-changing world of Cantonese opera.
A pioneer in Chinese diaspora history, Ng is at his best in his portrayals of the dynamic relationships that emerge between places through the circulation of people. Whether it is the economically driven tacking between rural and urban stages along the Pearl River Delta, the merging of commercial tastes between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, competition with artists from other regions of China, or the market pressure valve provided by overseas Chinese communities, Ng presents a fascinatingly interconnected account that allows the reader to see Cantonese opera as both resolutely local and a hub with spokes stretching out in all directions.
Apart from the themes addressed above, several historical findings emerge in Ng's study. First, the 1920s marked a golden age of Cantonese opera, both in South China and in the diaspora. This was a time when the formation of the urban commercial theatres drove the rapid production of new works—at its peak requiring a one-week production cycle!—and encouraged new experimentation with a focus on innovation and celebrity. By the early 1930s, various factors led to a downturn in Cantonese opera globally, and, as Ng states several times throughout the book, the survival of the form through this and earlier crises is a sign of its resilience.
Second, the public exposure of performers and their itinerant lifestyle made them vulnerable to a variety of dangers, from debt bondage or other forms of financial manipulation by troupe organizers to life-threatening physical attacks by criminals and jealous audience members to detainment or even execution under harsh regimes. While always emphasizing the agency and ingenuity with which performers dealt with these challenges, Ng makes clear the risks they faced and the effort it took to keep Cantonese opera going. Thus, the performers who populate Ng's study, from stars like Chen Feinong and Ma Shizeng to bit performers whose jobs were threatened when troupe sizes shrank, all come across as multidimensional figures positioned within networks of social and economic relationships.
Finally, amateurs and women played important roles in the history of Cantonese opera during this period. In the case of South China, the amateur zhishi ban of the early twentieth century helped introduce innovations from spoken drama into Cantonese opera that helped usher in the latter's subsequent urban revolution; in the case of North America, musical societies formed during the mid-1930s helped revive professional touring in the wake of the Great Depression. Although all-female ensembles were a part of Cantonese opera from an early period, actresses became high-earning celebrities at first only in the diaspora. The gender imbalance and legal tolerance of mixed-gender performance in immigrant communities made them a more receptive market for actresses (including those who played male roles) than the local Cantonese opera industries in Guangzhou or Hong Kong, where women faced legal barriers and professional derision.
While excellent overall, the book does have a few limitations. Although the book's title references the “rise” of Cantonese opera, Ng offers almost no account (the final two pages notwithstanding) of what happened after the mid-1930s. He therefore fails to give the reader a sense of why Cantonese opera is important and how the period examined led the way for something greater. Overall, Ng assumes familiarity with Cantonese opera and a basic acceptance of its importance in modern Chinese theatre. In the sections comparing state intervention in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, he reproduces uncritically the colonial narrative of British non-interference. This is disappointing given the nuance with which he treats other cities. Finally, while Ng does offer a refreshing discussion of how new media such as recorded music and cinema may have contributed to the development of Cantonese opera—rather than being in direct competition with it, as is often assumed—I would have liked to learn more about the interactions between Cantonese opera performers and these newly emerging media industries.
