Annotation

Liyuanying shared the same editorial board, issue dates, distributor and printing company as Huaying, but while the latter focused on prostitution news, this periodical’s centre of attention was Cantonese opera news. It appears to have served as the institutional publication of the Chung Sing Benevolent Society’s drama club.

The magazine provides considerable evidence about an adaptation of ‘Romance in the Jade Hall’ by Xue Juexian, first into a Cantonese opera and then in 1934 into a film. It reports that the work was first staged by the drama club of the Chung Sing Benevolent Society in 1930 and includes many photographs of that performance. Among the performers was Ma Shizeng, thoug it is not clear what role he played (a photograph of him captioned ‘Dress of Ma Shizeng in “Romance in the Jade Hall”’ shows him in Western court costume). Also pictured is Cantonese opera music master Huang Zhiyun, who was reported to have supervised the show’s music. An article titled ‘Chung Sing Benevolent Society drama club: its view on the art of performance in “Romance in the Jade Hall”’ which reviewed the actors’ performance, includes the information that Xiao Xianrong played the role of Queen while Wu Chuhang played the role of Duke.