Wah Yan Dramatic Society is an organisation in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

which performs

Cantonese opera Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Guangdong Province. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Like all versions of Ch ...

using

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, also called "Cantonese Opera in English".

History

Wah Yan Dramatic Society was established in 1947 by Wong Chin Wah, an alumnus from Wah Yan College, in order to allow foreigners to appreciate the culture of Cantonese opera. It started with an attempt by Father Sheridan to fit English lyrics into Cantonese operas. The attempt was welcomed, so Wong, Sheridan and some other alumni established the Wah Yan Dramatic Society. Wong Chin Wah wrote English lyrics for a total of 36 Cantonese Operas, including "A Lizard is No Dragon", "The Fighting Bride", "Three Times Engaged", and "A Tale of Two Kingdoms". Notable people such as

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

Dominic Wong Dominic Wong Shing-wah, GBS, OBE, JP (; 13 April 1942 – May 2012) was an official in the Hong Kong Government. Wong retired in 2002 from the Hong Kong Government as Secretary for Housing, after a 40-year career in public service. Career In 1 ...

Michael Suen Michael Suen Ming-yeung GBS CBE; born 7 April 1944) who served as Acting Chief Secretary for Administration in 2005 and 2012 and as Secretary for Education of Hong Kong from 2007 to 2012. Born in Chongqing in 1944, his family fled the then p ...

, and

John Chan John Chan Cho Chak, GBS, CBE, LVO, JP (born 8 April 1943) is a Hong Kong civil servant and executive. He currently serves as a non-executive director of Transport International Holdings Limited, The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited ...

have performed with the society. In February 2007 the Society gave a performance in the

Hong Kong Cultural Centre The Hong Kong Cultural Centre () is a multipurpose performance facility in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Located at Salisbury Road, it was built by the former Urban Council and, since 2000, has been administered by the Leisure and Cultural Servi ...

to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the society, and also to raise funds for its SDP project and

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (), with a history dating back to 1870, is the oldest and largest charitable organisation in Hong Kong. It provides extensive education and community services through 194 service centres spread across Hong Kong. ...

, with Donald Tsang and Bak Sheut Sin as chief patrons. During the performance, an English version of the noted mandarin song "

The Moon Represents My Heart "The Moon Represents My Heart" () is a Mandarin song. It was made famous by the Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng. The song is often cited as "one of the most famous and beloved Chinese songs of all time". Background The lyrics to the song were writte ...

" was sung by

Stanley Ho Stanley Ho Hung-sun (; 25 November 192126 May 2020) was a Hong Kong-Macau billionaire businessman. His original patrilineal surname was Bosman, which was later sinicized to 何 (Ho). He was the founder and chairman of SJM Holdings, which owns ...

References

{{reflist Wah Yan