A “Hong Kong–Style”? Identity and Authenticity in Hong Kong Cantonese Opera

The identities of Hongkongers have long been represented as homogenized in traditional media, cultural policies, and public discourses. As Hong Kong has undergone significant social and cultural shifts in recent years, it has become increasingly important to critique homogenizing depictions of Hongkongers by investigating their diverse identities. If most scholarly examinations of identity in Hong Kong hold true, then Cantonese opera is an unlikely candidate through which to explore that diversity—it is regularly omitted from this scholarship, possibly due to stereotypes that position the opera as old-fashioned and irrelevant to contemporary social trends. In contrast, this article argues that Cantonese opera discourses and performances generate senses of Hongkongness, Cantoneseness, and Chineseness that resonate with but also challenge previous conceptions of Hong Kong identity. Moreover, these senses of belonging are shown to emerge through the subtle manipulation of authenticity discourses that reveals how identities in Hong Kong are often produced by understated processes that go unrecognized in favor of analyzing explicitly political themes.