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Hainanese Opera
Do you know this intangible cultural heritage?
Hainanese Opera, also known as ‘Hainan Da Xi’ or ‘Hainan Xi’, originated on Hainan island (now Hainan Province). It evolved from the Teochew Opera and Minnan Liyuan Opera and combined with the Hainanese local dialect, folk tunes and ballads.
With a history of more than 300 years, it is one of the four major opera genres in Southern China, an indispensable spiritual source of the Hainanese and an integral part of the Hainan Culture. According to the official website of the Singapore Hainan Hwee Kuan, during the late Qing Dynasty, people fled from their hometown to make a living in the southeast Asia. The Hainan Opera thus spread to the area.
Hainanese Opera is a comprehensive traditional theatre performance art that brings together literature, poetry, music, art, vocal music, dance, lighting and choreography. Through the teamwork, the Hainanese Opera portrays Joys and sorrows, tragedy and reunion, family ethics, loyal and patriotic plots. In June 2008, Hainanese Opera was listed as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in China;
Mr Foo Soon Lee is head of the former HDB Advanced Horticulture. During his leisure time, he would participate in traditional Hainanese opera inheritance activities. Mr Foo is also President of the Singapore Hymn Rhyme Sing Opera Club. He originated from Wenchang city in Hainan province, China. He is a second-generation immigrant, and when he was younger, he lived in the old Hainan Village at Hougang Lorong Ah Soo.
Fu Qing Yun
Singapore Hymn Rhyme Sing Opera Club President
Exclusive interview
How did you first come to know of Hainanese Opera? What has kept you going so far?
It was the early 50s. On a Sunday, melodious Hainan Opera music and percussion suddenly filled the quiet village. The twelve-year-old me, back then, curiously looked for the source of the sound, hoping to discover something.
Before I knew it, I was already deeply attracted to a dozen of fellow villagers who were beating gongs and drums and singing opera. Indeed, they were singing the Hainanese Opera. Those people were famous Hainanese opera artists and musicians back then, such as Lin Xiahou, Sai Qionghua, Xiao Shiwu, Gan Dianguang, Huang Qisheng, Fu Xiangchun, Feng Shilong and more. They were rehearsing the Hainanese opera to record the music. And so, due to this coincidental encounter, the Hainanese Opera had taken root in my heart.
Fu Qingyun's Opera Costume
From then on, I would sing along when playing Hainanese opera records during my spare time. After graduating from Junior College, I joined the Yi Guang Opera Troupe founded by the Hainan village without hesitation, and I acted as the male lead (Xiao Sheng). I was immersed in the art of Hainanese opera for fifty years.
There are two reasons why I persevere and remain active in Hainanese Opera without giving up.
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Hainanese Opera is a cultural treasure and a pursuit of a lifetime. I have not learned enough of it.
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The satisfaction and pleasure of performing on the stage. Such ecstasy feeling is something you can’t find in the real life. Neither can you buy it with money.
What do you think is the most representative script? Why?
~ Mr. Fu Qing Yun：
Like other Operas, in Hainanese Opera, performers act and sing according to the script, the band play according to the score and the stage lighting will put forth a well-choreographed performance. What distinguishes it from other operas is the performing language of Hainanese dialect. It also focuses more on literary drama and less on martial arts. Also, the music uses Hainan's unique "ZhuHu" as its main instrument. The Suona in the Hainanese Opera is also unique. Some of the Paizi such as "Da Xiao Kai Men (大小开门)", "Sui Pai (碎排)" and "Liu Shui (流水)" and more, are similar to Cantonese Opera. In the meantime, the costumes are designed based on the historical background of the script. Its props, and choreography are not very different from other operas, such as Cantonese, Teochew and Yue opera.
Amongst all the plays that Singapore Hymn Rhyme Sing Opera Club have performed in the last decades, what impressed me most was the “Queen Han Wen/Han Wen Huang Hou （汉文皇后）”. The play was well-themed and highly educational. Its music set-up was extremely beautiful and echoed back and forth, making it a joy to listen to.
In October 2000, the Singapore Hymn Rhyme Sing Opera Club was invited to perform in Beijing. With an enormous visiting troupe of 95 performers, it gave a large scale public performance on the Hainanese Opera “Queen Han Wen/ Han Wen Huang Hou （汉文皇后）”at Shaw Theatre. It was a full house that day. Then China’s Ministry of Culture Sun Jiazheng and the director of Hainan Provincial Department of Culture, Yang Zhijie, and other leaders came to watch the performance and met the artists. They gave us a lot of encouragement, and the entire setting was warm and touching. I will never be able to forget that day for the rest of my life. We were the first Hainanese Opera group to be invited and perform in Beijing, China!
As the saying goes, it is easy to start a business but hard to keep it (创业容易守业难)”. In Singapore, where business is in high command, it is only harder for the local traditional opera, which is “unprofitable”. The Singapore Hymn Rhyme Seng Opera Club is the oldest Hainanese Opera group. For over 60 years, driven by the passion and resilience of Hainanese opera lovers, the club has never forgotten its mission. Although we experienced many setbacks and highs and lows in the journey, we remain committed to its mission, undaunted!
"Xue Hou Yan Mei (“雪后艳梅”)" Rehearsals
What challenges did the club encounter in managing the Singapore Hymn Rhyme Sing Opera Club? How did you overcome it?
In recent years, one of the challenges is that fewer and fewer youngsters are joining the traditional opera industry. At the same time, our audiences are ageing too. Our solution to this problem is to look for talents among the Hainanese immigrants such as Hainan women who have married the locals. They may have some experience of Hainanese Opera as their birthplace is Hainan. Given proper training, it will be easier for them to get started .
As for the issue of the drop in audience, apart from the ageing factor, the quality of the performance is also a contributing factor/. We have tried high-quality and large-scale versions presented to the audience after rigorous rehearsal under the guidance of the director. For example, the performance of “Zhen Zhu Tang Yu Yan (“珍珠汤御宴”) ” at Victoria Concert Hall and the performance of “Plum Blossoms After the Snow/Xue Hou Yan Mei (“雪后艳梅”) at Kallang Theatre. For both performances, the audience gave great responses and all seats were filled. This proves that the audience now has already learnt to “only choose the best shows to watch”!
How popular is Hainanese Opera in Singapore?
In your opinion, what is the age range of the audience group in Singapore? Do you think Hainanese Opera is well-appreciated by the youths these days? Are there any youths in your opera club?
Hainanese Opera first came to Singapore during the 1950s and 1960s. The Hainanese could not return to their hometown due to the halt in trade for China and Singapore. About nine Hainanese Opera clubs came about due to the requests of the Hainanese. Singapore Hymn Rhyme Sing Opera Club was one of them.
For every performance, the place would be filled with bursting crowds. The majority of the early Hainanese immigrants were aged 30 and above. Among the audience were also youths living in places like the Hougang Village, Changi Village and North Bridge Road, where the Hainanese migrants lived. They were attracted to the shows due to the exposure to the opera. Hainanese Opera remained popular till the later years of the 70s.
The Hai Nan Qiong Opera Theatre from Guang Dong was invited by the National Theatre in 1981 to perform. Their performance brought forth a tremendous interest in Hainanese opera. Their professionalism and avant-garde performance were adapted into local opera, which brought about the reformation of local opera clubs and improved performances.
Many Hainanese Youths joined Hainanese Opera Club during this period of time. The Hainanese Opera training class formed by the Hainan Hwee Kuan and the National Theatre, for example, had over 60 students. These youths were the future of Hainanese Opera in Singapore. Based on the local opera club’s performances and the public’s reaction, Hainanese Opera in the 1980s and 1990s were still very popular, with the first-generation Hainanese migrants and youths making up the majority of the audience group.
If there are any, how many young members are in your opera club? What is the reason for their participation in the opera club?
Due to the ageing of the first generation Hainanese migrants in the mid 20th century, both opera performers and audience groups started to decline. Due to various factors, even though one or two new opera clubs were formed, situation did not improve. Out of the nine Hainanese Opera clubs that started in the 1950s and 1960s, the Singapore Hymn Rhyme Seng Opera Club is the only surviving one, struggling together with the Qiong Ju Society of Singapore and Singapore Hainan Society which were established in the later years.
On the bright side, the quality of performance of the local Hainanese Opera is now very close to the ones we see in the professional Hainanese Opera Clubs in the Hainan province. As for our audience group, we have few first-generation of Hainanese migrants. We also have few younger people joining us. Gone are the days of full houses. Those who did join us are people with good passion and Chinese foundations or new Hainan immigrants who come into contact with the local Hainan Opera.
What do you think is the reason for the small number of younger members?
It is the harsh reality that Hainanese Opera is on the decline. Opera performers have no successors and our audience groups are ageing over the years. The“ Speak Mandarin Campaign” and the stress from our daily lives caused amateur clubs to lose its appeal. The young people are not able to see the “profits” in joining in the club.
In my opinion, the following are reasons why Hainanese Opera is in decline:
1. Most of the early Hainanese immigrants, our longest supporters of Hainanese Opera, have passed on.
2. Compared to the 1950s and 1960s, there are much more leisure activities, making Hainanese Opera less appealing.
3. Due to the emphasis on business and technology, youths do not have the extra time and effort to participate in traditional performances such as Hainanese Opera.
4. Due to the “Speak Mandarin Campaign”, very few youths can communicate in Hainanese. If one can’t speak the language, he or she can’t perform in Hainanese Opera.
5. As there are less performances, youths will have less opportunities to get in touch with Hainanese Opera. To the youth, Hainanese Opera is both alien and difficult to comprehend.
Through the Singapore National Council of Arts, the government and different organisations such as Lee Foundation, Hong Leong Fund, Kwan Im Thong Funds and more, have provided sporadic and individual funding. However, such funding would not be enough to reverse the overall declining of traditional opera, as it lacks an overarching blueprint. The opera would be left in a state of “making-do” and self-extinction. Also, the local media’s attention to traditional opera is negligible. There are hardly any reports on traditional operas. Some may comment that the development of the country and the changes of times bring about the natural decline of traditional operas including Hainanese Opera. There is no much we can do.
Do you think Singapore places enough emphasis on Hainanese Opera? Is the government or any organizations helping promote Hainanese Opera and its culture?
However, we have also seen many theatrical enthusiasts who have put in time, efforts and money to pass on this beautiful cultural legacy.
Do you believe that Hainanese Opera will be discontinued in the coming years? What are your thoughts on this?
In conclusion, in addition to the spontaneous efforts of the people, the government's attention or lack of it plays a crucial role in making traditional local theatre blossom in this multi-ethnic country, just like the theatre of other ethnic groups. If we want the traditional local opera to flourish in our country, we must gather our wisdom, search for the root cause of its decline, and find the right solution, so that traditional local opera can be revived and become a part of our multiculturalism!
—— Fu Soon Lee
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