EdUHK and Educational Institutions in Greater Bay Area Organise Cantonese Opera Exchange Activities
The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) organised the ‘Advancing Chinese Traditional Culture in Greater Bay Area Schools – Symposium for Cantonese Opera Teaching & Student Exchange Activities 2025’, between 16 and 20 June, in collaboration with educational institutions in the Greater Bay Area. The University sent faculty members and students to Guangzhou and Foshan in Guangdong Province for academic exchanges, fostering collaboration between EdUHK and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the field of traditional cultural education.
The five-day exchange programme included site visits, classroom observations and artistic exchanges, providing EdUHK faculty members and students with in-depth understanding of the latest developments in Chinese cultural heritage education in schools across the Greater Bay Area.
The 21-member delegation from EdUHK attended a hands-on intangible cultural heritage ceramics workshop and the historic Nanfeng Kiln, as well as Huadong Primary School and Sanzhou Primary School in Shunde District. Through observing Cantonese opera classes and engaging with teachers and students, the delegation explored the practices and concepts of Cantonese opera education. Additionally, the group watched performances of classic Cantonese opera excerpts, including The Monkey King Borrows the Fan and Scattering Flowers by the Heavenly Maiden, performed by the Foshan Cantonese Opera Troupe, offering them an immersive experience of local Cantonese opera culture.
During the visit to Guangzhou, EdUHK faculty and students engaged in discussions with postgraduate students from Guangzhou University on opera education. They also visited the Lingnan Quyi Research Institute at the Guangzhou Cultural Centre, where they exchanged insights on Cantonese opera performance and educational experiences with professional Cantonese opera performers.
Professor Leung Bo-Wah, Director of the Xiqu and Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre (XICH) at EdUHK, said the University would strengthen connections with partner schools in Mainland China to promote the continued development of Cantonese opera education across a broader cultural region.
This event was funded by the University Grants Committee’s ‘Funding Scheme for Mainland and Global Engagement and Student Learning Experience’. The programme was a collaboration between EdUHK’s Academy for Educational Development and Innovation (AEDI), the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts (CCA), and XICH, in partnership with the Guangdong Academy of Education and the Shunde Education and Teachers Development Centre. It was supported by the Education Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Rural Training College Alumni Association.