Latest news with #MitcheChoi
South China Morning Post
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
How a Hong Kong neon artist is making new waves in a sunset industry
Published: 6:15pm, 19 Feb 2025 New faces of heritage: For four artists at the forefront of their craft, a deep sense of Hong Kong's past is fuelling their vision for the future. See our other features on Mitche Choi , Dennis Mak and Kiri Te Released in 2022, the film A Light Never Goes Out follows a family's efforts to grapple with the legacy of a Hong Kong neon-sign-maker after his death. In the final scene, a long, archival shot depicts Nathan Road in Kowloon during the 1980s heyday of the former British colony, a profusion of glowing neon signs advertising everything from camera stores and seafood restaurants to bars and nightclubs. It's a far, lamentable cry from Nathan Road now, which retains little to distinguish itself from a thoroughfare of any other Asian city. Flashing comparatively tepid whorls of LCD if anything, the road shows little evidence of what was once one of Hong Kong's most recognisable personality traits. Today, a mere 500 neon signs buzz throughout the city , down from as many as 120,000 in 2011. 'I normally try to stay away from news of neon signs being dismantled, but I ended up watching [the whole process] happen all in one sitting,' Jive Lau Ho-fai recalls of the film's wrenching 103 minutes. To call the 41-year-old neon-sign artisan an optimist would be an understatement. With his mop of fluorescent-dyed hair and weathered leather jacket, Lau cuts an unmistakable figure in a sunset industry, where only a handful of grey-haired veterans soldier on with the craft. Jive Lau's neon artwork Dragon Phoenix. Photo: Jocelyn Tam Lau is the founder of Kowloneon, a neon studio he established in 2021 to bring innovation to a discipline that has been battered in recent decades by rising labour costs and rents, tightening government regulations, the loss of talent and the influx of cheap LED alternatives.
South China Morning Post
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Cantonese opera star Mitche Choi on keeping the Hong Kong tradition alive
Published: 6:15pm, 18 Feb 2025 New faces of heritage series: For four artists at the forefront of their craft, a deep sense of Hong Kong's past is fuelling their vision for the future. See our other features on Kiri T and Dennis Mak Mitche Choi Wai-shan was 13 years old when she first took to the stage at the Sunbeam Theatre, Hong Kong's historic Cantonese opera venue. Portraying a male character, she donned a tightly secured headpiece that allowed her to dramatically swing her ponytail, capturing her character's grief and sorrow. The music was deafening, the lights blinding and the headpiece was pressing on her temples. Halfway into the performance she wanted to be sick, but she pushed through until the 30-minute show concluded. 'The moment I stepped backstage, I vomited,' says Choi, founder of Shan Opera, a non-profit venture dedicated to promoting, preserving and developing Cantonese opera. 'After that, I enjoyed being on stage. I liked the adrenaline rush, but I never thought it would be something I did professionally.' Mitche Choi takes the stage in an early performance by her company, Shan Opera. Photo: Courtesy of Mitche Choi Since its establishment by Shanghainese immigrants in 1972, the Sunbeam Theatre in North Point has been Hong Kong's go-to place for Cantonese opera. However, its days are numbered , having been bought by the Island Evangelical Community Church, with plans to close it in early March. While fans mourn the loss of a theatre that has been entertaining them for decades, it is far from being lights out for Cantonese opera in Hong Kong, thanks to a new generation of performers such as Choi. In mainland China, children as young as three begin Cantonese opera training, in specialised government-run schools, learning the art form alongside a standard curriculum. Hong Kong lacks such institutions, and Choi's foray into the discipline happened by chance. Mitche Choi and her sister at one of their performances at the elderly home. Photo: Courtesy of Mitche Choi On one Lunar New Year during her childhood, she and her younger sister visited a home for the elderly, to give out presents and perform a mini talent show. The staff mentioned that the residents enjoyed Cantonese opera, prompting her mother to suggest that the girls learn the art form so that they could put on a show the following year. They were soon enrolled in classes at Cha Duk Chang Children's Cantonese Opera Association in Sha Tin.
