Chinese opera does not exist only in China, the same way we can find Chinatown in most many cities around the world, where there’s Chinese, that is. Thailand is no exception, and we have not just only one chinatown in the capital but in several big cities across the country, in fact.
As I am a Chinese descendant, I watched Chinese opera since a school boy. Though it’s always some kind of an attraction but I can hardly say that I know much about it at all, even today:-) Chinese opera is not very common in Bangkok despite the large number of Chinese community in this Thai capital. But again, neither is traditional Thai opera, (https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7131718175128337399#editor/target=post;postID=7461036183959717119;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname) which is a shame indeed.
Sometime last year, I attended a friend’s family funeral and chanced upon a Chinese opera at a location nearby. A small group of us, sketchers of course, went wild and spent a good many hours enjoying both the sight, sound and SKETCHING of the Chinese opera.
I made some google search on comparison of western and chinese opera and thought the subject was indeed very interesting. I shall love to look out for the next chance of watching more Chinese operas in Bangkok soon:-)
