Xiaosi Talks about Chung Wai Ming and the Influence of Radio Drama

Clip4-Listening to Cantonese Opera

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Radio Hong Kong used to broadcast Cantonese opera, sometimes live. I am sure many older people were grateful to Radio Hong Kong for it because not everyone could afford the expensive tickets to an opera performance. In 1948, I remember, when Ho Fei Fan’s “Dream of the Red Chamber” was staged in Guangzhou for 30 days, Radio Hong Kong transmitted it for fully 30 weeks [Editor: should be 30 days]. In addition, newspapers in Hong Kong printed the full libretto of the opera so that we could follow the words while listening to the broadcast. I was only a child then but I learnt many words this way. There are many reasons why people of my generation had such a good foundation in the Chinese language; apart from school, other media also gave us many opportunities to learn. The messages conveyed by the media at the time were positive and profound, and culturally nurturing; they could be easily absorbed by young people. It can be said that before I was in primary school, I picked up a lot of general knowledge and cultural knowledge, and classical literature from opera by listening to Radio Hong Kong.

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