The University held the Kunqu Research and Promotion Project inauguration-cum-donation ceremony on 20 March to thank Mr. Yu Chi-ming Gabriel, chairman, iTVentures Group and Mrs. Teresa Yu, for their generous donation of HK$2.3 million to support the project and the performances for the course ‘The Beauty of Kunqu Opera’.

A CUHK alumnus, Mr. Yu and his wife fell in love with kunqu under the guidance of Prof. Pai Hsien-yung, Wei Lun Professor of Humanities, CUHK. They have been supporting the promotion of kunqu in schools since then. Mr. Yu hopes that the project can foster appreciation for the art among students who will help to rejuvenate Chinese culture. Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung, Vice-Chancellor, thanked Mr. and Mrs. Yu for sowing the seeds of kunqu on CUHK campus. Professor Pai, concurrently honorary director of the project, pointed out that he had to make requests to university presidents elsewhere to teach kunqu courses in the past. But, here at CUHK, it was Professor Sung who requested him to talk about the art. During the ceremony, Mr. Yu Jiulin and Miss Shen Fengying, male and female protagonists, respectively, of The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition, performed an excerpt from ‘Interrupted Dream’.

Led by Prof. Hua Wei, director of the Research Centre for Ming-Qing Studies, the projects aims at compiling and conducting research on kunqu, and publishing. It targets at becoming the premier international research centre for kunqu and facilitating communication, cooperation, and exchange between Hong Kong and overseas.

Launched in January 2012, ‘The Beauty of Kunqu Opera’ is the first CUHK’s course on this exquisite art. Professor Pai has taught three lectures. He also invited the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre of Jiangsu Province to stage demo performances.