Conclusion
The transformation of an all-male art for the laborer class to today’s Cantonese opera is significant. As Chinese immigrants became more affluent and established, they moved out of Chinatown and moved into American middle-class suburbia. Cantonese opera has taken up a new meaning for many “successful” Chinese Americans. It is a connection to home, a cultural heritage, and an expression of wealth and status. The new “rebirth” of Cantonese opera happened in the 1980s, as some retired master performers moved to the Bay Area and started teaching local people. It is an expensive art to practice and most participants are amateurs. Even as most traditional arts are “dying” without proper education and without government support, Cantonese opera is surprisingly “alive” in the Bay Area. It is the traditionally voiceless women who have taken on a man’s job to transmit the art, to help strengthen the community, and most significantly, to project their female voice.
The curtains have risen and a woman is in the spotlight. The audience gradually quiets down. “Can you hear me?” She asks. Yes, absolutely. Pay attention! The show is starting. A woman is singing.
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