THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS!

And I mean that. But not in the pervy sense of the song.
There are three charming Chinese girls for whom I will gladly do favours - one of them I'm actually living with, the other two are fellow bloggers whom I do not expect to ever meet in person.
All three are in San Francisco.


Stephanie 周
http://infectiousasian.blogspot.com/
Seems to write mostly about smells. Which is a welcome relief, because many teenage girls write about clothes and angst. Angst is not worth reading about, and its corollary, teenage despair, is frankly boring. Clothes, meh. Smells, on the other hand. Especially if food related. Her latest post is about dry ingredients, a previous post was about mooncakes. It's all happy blogging.
She's a member of PIBB


Snooky B. Wong
http://deathbynoodles.blogspot.com/
This one is hard to characterize. Her blog has mentioned motorbikes, food, Richard Becker's very small penis, a stuffed frog, and various other things. She had a major war with Grant Patel over Richard Becker's tiny penis - Grant insisted that it was miniscule, and that that datum was a matter of public record; Snooky demanded to know precisely how mister Patel knew this, and that he forward incontrovertible proof establishing the dimensions.
I do not think she had any real interest in Richard Becker's penis. She was simply goading Grant Patel, as he richly deserved.
She has listed grant Patel on her blogroll as 'THE PERVERT!'
This blog is feisty.
She's also a member of PIBB



Now, there is ONE other Chinese-American girl I should mention. No, not Savage Kitten (subject of many posts in her own right), but Miss 徐珺兒 (Choi Gwan-yee).

Whom I actually have met in person.

She's probably about eight or nine years old. Very small, and quite charming.



CHOI GWAN-YEE 徐珺兒

I was at a restaurant in Chinatown picking up some fish-slice porridge (yi pien jook, 魚片粥). While I was waiting for my food, a little girl wandered over. She had heard me speaking Cantonese, and, as big hairy glow-in-the-dark white devils who speak Cantonese are something of a lusus naturae, her curiosity had naturally been aroused.
I'm a sucker for charming Chinese girls - I may have mentioned that.

Where was I from? Did I work? Where did I live? Did I live with someone?
These are sensible questions, as the answers illuminate the background of the person being interrogated.

How had I learned Cantonese?
An easy answer - I've seen about two thousand or so Cantonese movies, back in the day when the Taai Ming Sing Hey Yuen (great Star Theatre, 大明星戲院), Sai Kai Hey Yuen (World Theatre, 世界戲院), and Kam To Hey Yuen (Golden Capital Theatre, 金都戲院) were all still in business. They're all closed now, unfortunately, but back in the old days you could show up whenever you wanted for the double bill, stay as long as you wanted, sit in the back smoking and eating, or chatting with friends. Very fine in the evening. Now the only time the Taai Ming Sing is opened up is when an opera troupe needs a place to perform.

At this point she drew my attention to a poster for an upcoming opera event at the Taai Ming Sing. She pointed at one of the people on the poster and happily said "that's me". She's in one of the performances, and quite pleased about it. As well she should be. Bravo, little girl, well done.

She really REALLY wants me to come to watch the show.

Alas, I am probably not going to go watch her - I no longer have quite the appetite for crowds that I used to, I'm rather shyer than I was then. But back in the nineties I remember attending performances at the Capital Theatre (Kam To Hey Yuen, 金都戲院), particularly one of the operas from the 'Women Generals of the Yang Family' cycle (楊門女将).


MU GUI-YING 穆桂英

During the Northern Sung period, the Yang clan (楊家, 楊氏), scholar officials and military leaders in service to the emperor, had been sending men to the frontier to repell the barbarians for over a generation. Most of the adult males had perished in battle, leaving only their children and widows holding the clan lands. Rather than admitting failure, the matriarch of the family details her daughters, grand-daughters, and other women of the family to lead the struggle.

[Sung (宋朝), 960 CE - 1279 CE. The Northern Sung (北宋) period was from 960 CE till 1127 CE, at which time the barbarian Chin dynasty (金朝) seized control of Northern China, and the court fled south, re-establishing itself at Lin An (臨安), today's Hanchow ( 杭州). The period from 1127 CE till 1279 CE is commonly called Southern Sung (南宋).]


Mu Gui-Ying (穆桂英), the widow of one of the Yang grandsons, heads towards the passes with an army, and in a heroic battle takes back the frontier gate from the invaders.
I cannot remember the woman playing Mu Gui-Ying, but she was very good indeed. Her rendition of the storming of the gate in defiance of the haughty Turk was so moving that we gave her a standing ovation - she had no choice but to storm three more times. It was a most splendid performance.

I do not know what role Choi Gwan-Yee has, nor did I look to see in which opera she'll be on stage. The shows are being put on by the 譚玉鶯戲曲薈萃 at the Taai Ming Sing on September 12 and 13.

It will probably be great fun. I am sure miss Choi will do well and I hope she enjoys being in the show.
I'll ask her all about it next time I pick up jook in C'town.

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ADDENDUM

Some mention of the Tam Yu-Ang Hey-Kuk Wooi-Seui (Lyric Jade Oriole Opera Airs Association Troupe: 譚玉鶯戲曲薈萃) can be found here: http://myoperain.com/en/about-us.htm.

The poster to which Choi Gwan-Yee pointed is here: http://myoperain.com/en/upcoming-event.htm

I must keep an eye out for future events - 粵劇 (Yuet Ju: Cantonese Opera) is an entertainment that easily addicts. I have tapes of most operas in which 方艷芬 (Fong Yin-Fan) ever performed, plus recordings of many other stars. Yes, yes, I know - tapes are SO last century. But it will take a while to replace them all.

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