Politics of Arts, Arts of Politics: Political Influences on the Development of Peking Opera in Hong Kong

Peking opera was introduced to Hong Kong audiences almost ninety years ago. Throughout the twentieth century Peking opera existed in Hong Kong in a diversity of activities. Although it gained little positive response from the local community, it was still able to develop in Hong Kong society with support of the mainland emigrants community. While the old Peking opera activities gradually faded out in contemporary Hong Kong, they were replaced by some new ones, which drew increasing public attention and appreciation. This paper aims to unfold the political influences on the shaping of Peking opera's development in Hong Kong. Drawing upon historical sources, government documentations and fieldworks in local Peking opera troupes, I will discus how the adoptions of cultural policies by the external regimes of the Republic of China, originally in the mainland and on Taiwan after 1949, and the People's Republic of China, as well as the internal power of the British colony and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region governments brought Peking opera to Hong Kong and enabled the genre to develop.