Title: Archive of the Invisible: Cantonese Opera and the Transpacific Community in 19th Century California 

Speaker: Prof. Nancy Yunhwa Rao (Department of Music, Rutgers University)

Time: 4:30 – 6:00 pm
Venue: LG04, Hui Yeung Shing Building

Delivered in English, all are welcome

Synopsis:
Cantonese opera was woven into the cultural, financial, social, and family life of the Chinese community in 19th-century California. Yet excavating its history is nearly impossible, not only because of the limited archival sources but also due to various forms of erasure. This paper addresses the challenge, particularly the need to 'listen for the unsaid, translate misconstrued words, and refashion disfigured lives.' It begins with a discussion of how a laborer’s diary entries give color to the faded image of 19th-century Chinese theater in San Francisco and pull us into its everydayness. It then considers the theater institutionally as an expression of the transpacific community.