Popular Cantonese Opera about Donald Trump

Hong Kong responds to global events in a semi-traditional style

Greetings,

I am trying something new here for the second week. In addition to my Sunday evening (EST) feature article, I am sharing a brief, media-focused piece. Throughout the week, I find a lot of good stuff related to Asian culture and history that I have wished to share, and now I am able to do so.

For those of you who are new, for almost a year I have been writing and publishing this email newsletter. I recently added a few people who I used to know to my mailing list thinking they might like to check it out and hopefully spread the word that I am doing this. At the moment, everything’s free, that might change soon, but if I added you, don’t worry, you have been given a limited free all-expense paid subscription.

Next Sunday, more on how superhuman martial arts stunts are performed, but when that series is finished, I expect to return to more on Chinese in the old American West, a topic that you could read a great deal about in the archives.

I love YouTube. Of course, some will point out flaws in its parent company, or its algorithms, or its fee structure, and so on, and they might all be true. And others might say that I really should spend time checking out competing on-line, internet video sharing platforms instead, and these might all be true and valid and even very important. Nevertheless, having acknowledged all that and acknowledged my ignorance on many aspects of the topic, I am just thrilled at all the cool stuff that is available on YouTube.

And with that here’s what I found recently. People in Hong Kong are creating Chinese style operas about contemporary subjects, in this case Donald Trump.

I wrote about Traditional Chinese Opera here in late September with a lengthy essay. You can read it here: Chinese Opera, an Introduction and Classical History

Around the time I wrote the September 2024 on the Chinese Opera and the local children’s program for Chinese opera, I purchased a copy of Nancy Yunhwa Rao’s 2017 book, “Chinatown Opera Theater in North America” published by the University of Illinois Press. For those interested, the first Chinese Opera Troupe came to North America in 1852 and, like so much else, came in the wake of the massive waves of Chinese who came to North American either seeking gold in the 1849 California Gold Rush or selling products and services to others seeking gold in the 1849 California Gold Rush. Chinese made pre-fab houses shipped from Asia were a common type of house for Gold Rush fortune seekers in mid-19th Century California for instance. I look forward to reading this massive work and sharing what I learn with my readers.

YouTube Videos on the Trump Hong Kong Opera Shows

5 year old piece

This one is short. It comes from AFP News Agency, a company that I am not familiar with, but it does show some interesting scenes from the Hong Kong opera where they compare Donald Trump’s disruptive actions to the Chinese Cultural Revoluation and use elements from Maoist Opera of that era. Fascinating.

Alas, it seems the Opera has been losing money for years, its home theater is closing this week, but it expects to continue as a travelling show.

Thanks for stopping by!! Enjoy please!! PLEASE share this if you enjoyed reading it.