Early Chinese Canadian Experiences in British Columbia

Early Chinese Canadian Experiences in British Columbia

Listen up! Sound recordings about this subject are presented here.

Chinese Opera Music

Cantonese Opera has been a major form of entertainment in Chinese Canadian communities in British Columbia. During the gold rush period, Cantonese Opera was reported to have been performed in Victoria and Barkerville's Chinatowns as early as 1862. As the majority of pre-1947 Chinese immigrants came from the province of Guangdong and spoke various dialects of Cantonese, Cantonese Opera was popular throughout the province. The Royal BC Museum preserves this important form of Chinese Canadian culture in the museum's phonograph records collections. This brief clip is from one of the records in this collection. It is a recording of the performance of the opera number "Gao Ping Chu Gie" by the first class of performers in the capital of Guangdong Province.

Credit: Royal BC Museum 2004.47.98B