“Lingering Echoes - Heritage and Innovation of Nanyin”Second Talk“Canton Music Legacy in Hong Kong: Nanyin, Banyan and Yueou by blind musicians Dou Wun and Lee Ngan-Kiu”

Publication Date: 2025-08-18

Jointly presented by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and Leisure and Cultural Services Department
Co-organised by Tung Wah Museum and Hong Kong Heritage Museum

Speaker: Professor Ching May-bo (Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences cum Head and Professor of the Department of Chinese and History, the City University of Hong Kong)

Date: 12 July 2025 (Saturday)

“Lingering Echoes - Heritage and Innovation of Nanyin” Activity Series
Second Talk “Canton Music Legacy in Hong Kong: Nanyin, Banyan and Yueou by blind musicians Dou Wun and Lee Ngan-kiu”
Many of the nanyin, banyan and yueou songs performed in both historical and contemporary Hong Kong originated from Canton (Guangzhou). This talk will explore how the imprint of Guangzhou has manifested in Hong Kong’s musical landscape and how the city is depicted in works from the late Qing dynasty, referencing the banyan song “The Paramours' Squabble” performed by gushi (male blind musician) Dou Wun, “Offerings by Qinglan” delivered in the yueou style by shiniang (female blind musician) Lee Ngan-kiu and other notable pieces, such as “Song of the Exile” and “Ho Wai-kwan Laments from the First till the Fifth Watch of Night”, and lyrics that recount the fire in Dashatou, Guangzhou, which occurred in the first lunar month of the first year of Qing Emperor Xuantong’s reign.