Humming without Knowing
Back to the Original Spirit
A fan of canto-opera or not, any local citizen will likely be able to hum a few lines of Floral Princess like “raining petals overshadowing the moonlight,” i.e. lok-faa mun-tin bai jyut-gwong. One may not exactly feel the grudge of subjugation expressed in “lamenting the calamitous country”, but will probably know of the tragic love story of Princess Coeng-ping and Consort ZAU Sai-hin. Floral Princess seems to be the symbol of canto-opera, or everyone’s first experience in this art form.

The year 2022 is the 65th anniversary of YAM-PAK’s interpretation of TONG Tik-sang’s Floral Princess. Utopia is staging a series of nine events to take friends old and new back to the era of TONG’s creation to savour the heart-breaking romance of Princess Coeng-ping and Consort ZAU in troubled times.
 
Weeping in Gale | Reminiscence
It was 1957, corresponding to a lunar Year of the Rooster. Though a year of mutually restricting Fire and Metal in the Five-Element Theory, the world was generally peaceful and less than eventful. However there were occasional climatic anomalies in Hong Kong. Some cold currents flew southbound from Siberia, dropping the temperature of this small colony in the south in February to the lowest in over a century with a death toll over ten. There were several occurrences of huge fires and storms in the year with close to 200 casualties. On 29 May, Rediffusion, Hong Kong’s first television platform, started broadcasting. Floral Princess made its debut on 7 June. Who says art and literature have no place at a time of turmoil? Chinese Opera with romantic storylines is often comforting to embittered audience.

Remaking the Classic | Meticulously Refined
A Series of 9 Events; Passing on the Torch as well as Broadening the Scope …

“Floral Princess in the remote palace. Are you willing to hearken to her poignancy?”

65 years after its debut, the remake of the classic Floral Princess is not simply for commemoration and salutation. It is also for broadening the scope, passing on the torch and exploring the contemporary significance of this classic. In-keeping with its tradition, Utopia is crossing its border to collaborate with various art groups including photography, experimental theatre and symphony orchestra. We strive to reinterpret the text of Floral Princess by means of different art forms, in the hope of broadening the audience and stimulating their thought and imagination.

Albeit a canto-opera performance by nature, for the purpose of cultural inheritance and sharing a taste of the beauty of Chinese Opera with the younger generations, the events encompass various student-edition performances namely the theatre, theatrical concert and recital.  As regards the professional edition, a daily cross-generational mix of artists will play the last princess and consort of Ming Dynasty producing differing sparkles.

Romance in a grand epoch: Who is Princess Coeng-ping? Who is Consort ZAU? It is a river of no return in the pursuit of true love. It’s him/her; it’s you; it’s me ……

Floral Princess 65th Anniversary
a series of 9 events
Floral Princess | Professional Edition
ArenA | Write on, as THE tribute to YAM-PAK-TONG
Floral Princess | Theatre Student Edition
Floral Princess | Theatrical Concert Student Edition
Floral Princess | Recital Student Edition
Call Loud Yeah! | Black Box Theatre Festival
Seoi-bo-long Video Festival
A Collection of Coeng-ping Images 65
Raining Petals: An Orchestral Re-imagining