27 Jun (Sat)
The HKAPA School of Chinese Opera’s original Cantonese opera Pearl Bay, funded by the China National Arts Fund 2024 and was subsequently selected by the HKSAR Government to receive additional cultural exchange activities funding, successfully completed its performance tour in Guangzhou and Hong Kong in 2025, and is extending its tour to the Macao Cultural Centre in 2026.
Framed by the scenery of fishing villages and the sea, Pearl Bay intertwines human bonds with nature’s rhythm. Through the Cantonese opera artistry of singing, acting, recitation, and martial performance, the performance conveys a vision of harmony between people and the natural world.
Programme Notes:
The new king of the Pearl Kingdom in the deep sea of the Pearl Bay, overturned the ancestral precept of harmonious coexistence with the villagers of the Pearl Village who had been living by pearl fishing for generations. He also detained a pearl-fishing boy, Yahai, to deter the villagers from pearl fishing. Princess Lianzhu of the Pearl Kingdom secretly released Yahai.
The villagers failed to fish pearls due to the depletion of pearl-oyster beds, so the county magistrate ordered to fill the Pearl Bay. The King of the Pearl Kingdom led the aquatic tribe to resist. Yahai died during the fierce battle with the king. Princess Lianzhu used her pearl to save Yahai and she lost her life. The old king of the Pearl Kingdom used his own pearl to revive Princess Lianzhu as a human being, and married her to Yahai.
The county magistrate was dismissed due to corruption, Yahai was elected as the new village head to rebuild the Pearl Bay. The aquatic tribe and the villagers have coexisted harmoniously since then.