Author: Tong Soon Lee
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252032462
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Fostering national culture in Singapore through Chinese street opera performance

Author: Tong Soon Lee
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252055896
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Since Singapore declared independence from Malaysia in 1965, Chinese street opera has played a significant role in defining Singaporean identity. Carefully tracing the history of amateur and professional performances in Singapore, Tong Soon Lee reflects on the role of street performance in fostering cultural nationalism and entrepreneurship. He explains that the government welcomes Chinese street opera performances because they combine tradition and modernism and promote a national culture that brings together Singapore's four main ethnic groups--Eurasian, Malay, Chinese, and South Asian. Chinese Street Opera in Singapore documents the ways in which this politically motivated art form continues to be influenced and transformed by Singaporean politics, ideology, and context in the twenty-first century. By performing Chinese street opera, amateur troupes preserve their rich heritage, underscoring the Confucian mind-set that a learned person engages in the arts for moral and unselfish purposes. Educated performers also control behavior, emotions, and values. They are creative and innovative, and their use of new technologies indicates a modern, entrepreneurial spirit. Their performances bring together diverse ethnic groups to watch and perform, Lee argues, while also encouraging a national attitude focused on both remembering the past and preparing for the future in Singapore.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789971730949
Category : Operas
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Author: Anthony M. Orum
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135257558
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Public spaces have long been the focus of urban social activity, but investigations of how public space works often adopt only one of several possible perspectives, which restricts the questions that can be asked and the answers that can be considered. In this volume, Anthony Orum and Zachary Neal explore how public space can be a facilitator of civil order, a site for power and resistance, and a stage for art, theatre, and performance. They bring together these frequently unconnected models for understanding public space, collecting classic and contemporary readings that illustrate each, and synthesizing them in a series of original essays. Throughout, they offer questions to provoke discussion, and conclude with thoughts on how these models can be combined by future scholars of public space to yield more comprehensive understanding of how public space works.

Author: Chong Guan Kwa
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9813277653
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1002

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Book Description
A General History of the Chinese in Singapore documents over 700 years of Chinese history in Singapore, from Chinese presence in the region through the millennium-old Hokkien trading world to the waves of mass migration that came after the establishment of a British settlement, and through to the development and birth of the nation. Across 38 chapters and parts, readers are taken through the complex historical mosaic of Overseas Chinese social, economic and political activity in Singapore and the region, such as the development of maritime junk trade, plantation industries, and coolie labour, the role of different bangs, clan associations and secret societies as well as Chinese leaders, the diverging political allegiances including Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities and the National Salvation Movement leading up to the Second World War, the transplanting of traditional Chinese religions, the changing identity of the Overseas Chinese, and the developments in language and education policies, publishing, arts, and more.With 'Pride in our Past, Legacy for our Future' as its key objective, this volume aims to preserve the Singapore Chinese story, history and heritage for future generations, as well as keep our cultures and traditions alive. Therefore, the book aims to serve as a comprehensive guide for Singaporeans, new immigrants and foreigners to have an epitome of the Singapore society. This publication is supported by the National Heritage Board's Heritage Project Grant.Related Link(s)

Author: Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao
Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
ISBN: 9814786152
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This volume is based on papers from the second in a series of three conferences that deal with the multi-scalar processes of heritage-making, ranging from the local to the national and international levels, involving different players with different degrees of agency and interests. These players include citizens and civil society, the state, and international organizations and actors. The current volume focuses on the role of citizens and civil society in the politics of heritage-making, looking at how these players at the grass-roots level make sense of the past in the present. Who are these local players that seek to define the meaning of heritage in their everyday lives? How do they negotiate with the state, or contest the influence of the state, in determining what their heritage is? These and other questions will be taken up in various Asian contexts in this volume to foreground the local dynamics of heritage politics.

Author: Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao
Publisher: Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.
ISBN: 9814786683
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This volume is based on papers from the second in a series of three conferences that deal with the multi-scalar processes of heritage-making, ranging from the local to the national and international levels, involving different players with different degrees of agency and interests. These players include citizens and civil society, the state, and international organizations and actors. The current volume focuses on the role of citizens and civil society in the politics of heritage-making, looking at how these players at the grass-roots level make sense of the past in the present. Who are these local players that seek to define the meaning of heritage in their everyday lives? How do they negotiate with the state, or contest the influence of the state, in determining what their heritage is? These and other questions will be taken up in various Asian contexts in this volume to foreground the local dynamics of heritage politics.

Author: Wing Chung Ng
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252097092
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Defined by its distinct performance style, stage practices, and regional and dialect based identities, Cantonese opera originated as a traditional art form performed by itinerant companies in temple courtyards and rural market fairs. In the early 1900s, however, Cantonese opera began to capture mass audiences in the commercial theaters of Hong Kong and Guangzhou--a transformation that changed it forever. Wing Chung Ng charts Cantonese opera's confrontations with state power, nationalist discourses, and its challenge to the ascendancy of Peking opera as the country's preeminent "national theatre." Mining vivid oral histories and heretofore untapped archival sources, Ng relates how Cantonese opera evolved from a fundamentally rural tradition into urbanized entertainment distinguished by a reliance on capitalization and celebrity performers. He also expands his analysis to the transnational level, showing how waves of Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia and North America further re-shaped Cantonese opera into a vibrant part of the ethnic Chinese social life and cultural landscape in the many corners of a sprawling diaspora.

Author: Mathews Mathew
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 981323475X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 505

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Book Description
Far from being a melting pot, multi-racial Singapore prides itself on the richness of its ethnic communities and cultures. This volume provides an updated account of the heterogeneity within each of the main communities — the Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian and Others. It also documents the ethnic cultures of these communities by discussing their histories, celebrations, cultural symbols, life cycle rituals, cultural icons and attempts to preserve culture. While chapters are written by scholars drawing insight from a variety of sources ranging from academic publications to discussions with community experts, it is written in an accessible way. This volume seeks to increase intercultural understanding through presenting ample insights into the cultural beliefs and practices of the different ethnic communities. While this book is about diversity, a closer examination of the peoples and cultures of Singapore demonstrates the many similarities communities share in this Singaporean space.

Author: Xiao Li
Publisher: LONG RIVER PRESS
ISBN: 9781592650620
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Even before Beijing Opera there was Kunqu, an opera form with 600 years of history. This highly distinctive form of Chinese theatre art is comprised of various elements-music, singing, dancing, recitation, and movement. As China's oldest and most influential theatrical tradition, Kunqu combines poetic librettos from the cream of classic Chinese literature (The Peony Pavilion, The Story of the Lute, The Peach Blossom Fan, etc.) with soft and refined music. A vivid, fully-illustrated picture of the origins and development of this grand performing art.