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The all-night glow of Teochew opera
Five hundred years old, performed in twenty countries, and still lighting up temple courtyards after dark.
On a warm night during a temple festival, in a courtyard somewhere from Chaozhou to Bangkok, a stage is built from scaffolding and cloth. Lanterns go up. A small orchestra of gongs, drums and the reedy suona tunes itself. And then, until very late, Teochew opera (潮剧) unfolds.
It is one of the oldest living theatre traditions in China — more than 500 years old, with roots in the Nanxi opera of the Song and Yuan dynasties. It grew out of local folk songs and dances, and over centuries became its own form: high, ornamented singing in the Teochew language, stylised movement, acrobatics, and costumes heavy with embroidery and gold thread.
Theatre for gods and people
Traditionally, opera was not only entertainment. Performances were staged for the gods — to thank a deity, to mark a temple’s festival, to ask for protection. The audience of villagers watched from the same courtyard. That double address, to heaven and to neighbours at once, still shapes the art.
A travelling tradition
When the Teochew left home, the opera went with them. Troupes have performed in more than twenty countries, and diaspora communities in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and beyond kept the tradition alive — sometimes more faithfully than the homeland did during leaner years.
Today the audiences are greying, and the all-night performances are rarer. But supported by clan associations and a new wave of younger performers, the gongs still sound. If you ever find a temple festival with a stage going up at dusk, stay. Let the costumes catch the light. This is one of the great inheritances of the gaginan.