Hong Kong Heritage Museum

Splendour of Cantonese Opera: Masters Tong Tik Sang and
Yam Kim Fai

Thematic Galleries (1) & (2) and Function Place,
Hong Kong Heritage Museum

20 December 2009 - 27 September 2010

A Salute to Masters Programme Series
Celebrating the successful inscription of Cantonese Opera on the "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" of UNESCO

Legendary greats of Cantonese opera, both Tong Tik-sang and Yam Kim Fai remain household names, even though Tong passed away 50 years ago and Yam two decades ago.

Having penned over 400 scripts, Tong is widely regarded as the greatest playwright to have graced the world of Cantonese opera. Noted for their beautiful rhetoric and tightly woven plots, his operas transcend time and enjoy an enduring popularity. Affectionately dubbed the "opera fans' lover", Yam Kim Fai commanded the stage for more than four decades, charming generations of opera fans with her rich repertoire of performances. Many of Tong and Yam's operas have been adapted for the screen, a fact that has proved instrumental in promoting and preserving the operatic art.

Presented to honour and commemorate these two opera greats, this retrospective exhibition showcases libretti, postbills, film stills, records and stage costumes as testaments to their outstanding artistic achievements and contributions to the opera stage, while film clips will allow visitors to immerse themselves in a cinematic reverie. A collection of Tong's paintings and calligraphy works, unveiled to the public for the first time, and some of Yam's treasured personal effects, on loan from the Yam Kim Fai and Pak Suet Sin Charitable Foundation Limited, are also on display, making this exhibition a wonderfully nostalgic trip down the memory lane of Cantonese opera.

A set of exhibition postcards designed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of opera great Yam Kim Fai are distributed at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in phases from 20.12.2009 / 1.3.2010 / 17.5.2010 / 1.8.2010 onwards to visitors holding a valid museum pass or an admission ticket for the appropriate day. Available while stocks last.

20.12.2009 1.3.2010 17.5.2010 1.8.2010

Exhibit Highlights

	Special issue published for the film, Lady General Fa Muk Lan Premiered on 29 December 1951 Donated by Ms Ho Chi-hing


Character sketches for Romance of Fuji Mountain by Tong Tik-sang 1953

	Album of Princess Cheung Ping 1961 Performed by Yam Kim Fai and Pak Suet Sin Donated by Ms Wong Kit-kwan

Calligraphy by Tong Tik-sang (detail) Handscroll ink on paper 1957

	(From left) Lang Chi Pak, Tong Tik-sang, Fung Wong Nui and Ng Kwan Lai discuss the libretto of Lee Sam Neung. 1958 Donated by Ms Ng Kwan Lai

Tong Tik-sang, the master playwright. Courtesy of Mr Patrick Ng

	Yam Kim Fai, affectionately dubbed the "opera fans' lover". Donated by Ms Ho Chi-hing

An inside page of the special issue published for the Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe's eighth performance featuring The Regeneration in the Red-Plum Chamber. 1959 Donated by Ms Ho Shuk-ying

	Inner pages of a clay-printed libretto of A Beauty's Grave, performed by the Lai Sing Opera Troupe. Written by Tong Tik-sang Premiered on 4 November 1956 Donated by Ms Ng Kwan Lai

(From left) Yam Kim Fai and Pak Suet Sin in the stage adaptation of The Peony Pavilion. 1968 Donated by Ms Ho Chi-hing

Other Past Exhibitions