Spring 2018 Events

The Flower Princess and the Imaginations of Hong Kong

On March 7, 2018, Dr. Kwok Kou Leonard Chan, Chair Professor of Chinese Literature and Director of the Research Centre for Chinese Literature and Literary Culture at the Education University of Hong Kong, spoke at the UBC Centre for Chinese Research about the legacy of one Cantonese opera that has stood the test of time: Tang Disheng’s The Flower Princess (Di nü hua 帝女花). Audience members were treated to two arias from the opera performed by live performers. Professor Chan then explained how the playwright created a world where politics and ethics, patriotism and romantic love, intertwine. His talk covered the work’s entertainment value and cultural influence, which has grown over time, citing multiple examples of adaptions of the opera that have been produced in different art forms, contributing to various cultural-political imaginations of Hong Kong.