(Gonggong News reporter Feng Chuangzhi)

According to media reports, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous Cantonese opera master, Ms. Hongluo. In mid-December 2025, while chatting with several loyal fans of Ms. Hongluo from Enping, I mentioned this Cantonese opera master, and everyone was unable to hide their excitement. Ms. Hongluo drew upon the strengths of various schools in the field of Cantonese opera singing, upheld her bold artistic spirit of innovation and meticulous craftsmanship, and created a unique style of Cantonese opera known as "Hongqiang," which has had a profound impact on the performance art system known as "Hongpai." On December 8, 2013, Ms. Hongluo passed away due to illness at the age of 88. Throughout her life, she remained unwaveringly dedicated to the art of Cantonese opera, using her pioneering spirit of innovation and consummate performance skills to make lasting contributions to the preservation and development of Cantonese opera. Her unparalleled artistic achievements and warm, noble personality continue to be celebrated by the world today. Ms. Hongluo was originally from Kaiping, but what is less well-known is that she had already formed a deep and unbreakable bond with the land of Enping. On December 12, Ms. Huang Jiacheng, who had worked at the Enping City Cultural Bureau for many years before her retirement, recounted a forgotten story to me.

It was February 26, 1991, when Ms. Hong led the Guangzhou Hongdou Cantonese Opera Troupe to perform in Enping County. The news caused an uproar throughout the city, and the people of Enping were overjoyed. Countless opera fans eagerly waited outside the hotel where Ms. Hong stayed, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Huang Jiao Chang recalled that one day, starting from two o'clock in the afternoon, hundreds of opera fans spontaneously gathered in the lobby of the hotel, looking forward to the appearance of Ms. Hong. As the clock ticked quietly towards three thirty in the afternoon, the enthusiasm of the opera fans did not diminish. She had no choice but to quickly go upstairs and explain the situation downstairs to Ms. Hong. At that moment, Ms. Hong was dancing with her sword in the small hall of the room, and her sword light showed off her dashing style. Hearing the earnest expectations of the people, she put down her long sword without hesitation and readily agreed: "Tell them I will come down at four o'clock." This simple promise instantly excited the opera fans who had been waiting for a long time, and cheers erupted one after another. This is Ms. Hong, who cares about the people and understands others.

In order not to delay students' normal schoolwork and at the same time meet teenagers' love for Cantonese opera art, cultural departments specially arranged two weekend morning performances for students to watch. After learning about this arrangement, Honglian smiled with relief on her face. In both performances, she personally took the stage and sang a melodious song with long-lasting charm. The children were so enchanted that they couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. Excited children could no longer contain their inner joy and stood up, clapping enthusiastically while jumping and cheering. The scene of jubilation full of respect and love still makes people's hearts surge when they think about it today.

What is even more moving is the story of how Ms. Red Line actively requested to perform in rural areas. Given her advanced age, everyone felt reluctant to trouble her by sending her out into the countryside. Unexpectedly, Ms. Red Line quietly pulled Huang Jiao Chan over and, with an air of mystery but an extremely serious and earnest tone, said, "Since I have come here to perform, I must take the stage and fulfill the wishes of the grassroots audience who want to see the true face of Ms. Red Line. Unless we don't perform, if we do, we must give it our all and never let down everyone's expectations." Many years later, whenever Huang Jiao Chan encountered challenges at work and felt lost, Ms. Red Line's resounding words, "Be serious about performing opera and be serious about being a person," would echo in her ears, becoming an inexhaustible driving force for her to forge ahead. To help Ms. Red Line perform at her best, Huang Jiao Chan would accompany her to the county hospital's dental department every day to receive throat care. This meticulous protection also became a warm footnote during those years.

Enping, which is well-known as the hometown of Cantonese opera, has always been respected and loved by its people. In 1994, with the great support from the deputy director of the Municipal Propaganda Department at that time, Enping City Cultural Center and Encheng Fourth Primary School joined hands to establish "Little Red Bean Training Class" under the spiritual guidance of Ms. Hong Xiuzhu. The training class invited Cantonese opera flower girl Chen Wenyu and Wu Liuxian as instructors, and selected dozens of Cantonese opera enthusiasts from students of Encheng Fourth Primary School to conduct amateur Cantonese opera skills coaching. Time flies like a song, and decades of hard work have allowed "Little Red Bean" to take root and thrive. Today, this training class has sent twenty or thirty outstanding talents to provincial and municipal Cantonese opera troupes. Among them, Wu Feifan stood out due to her superb acting skills and became the leading flower girl of Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Troupe, winning the title of Plum Blossom Award in Chinese Drama.

For thirty years, Cantonese culture has been passed down from generation to generation. Since its establishment in 1994, the "Little Red Bean Cantonese Opera Arts Training Center" was officially upgraded to the "Little Red Bean Art Troupe" in 2011. The art troupe has always been committed to the mission of "passing on intangible cultural heritage and cultivating people through culture." It has sowed the seed of Cantonese opera, a world-class intangible cultural heritage, in the fertile soil of the campus, allowing the ancient Lingnan art to flourish and become a model for the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture in Lingnan. Every semester, the regular performances of the art troupe at school come as scheduled. In the sound of silk and bamboo, the fragrance of Cantonese opera permeates the heart; in various literary and artistic events and exchange activities, young performers exchange skills with Cantonese opera enthusiasts outside the school, learning from each other's strengths and weaknesses; on the stage of community cultural welfare activities, they bring Cantonese opera art to the doorsteps of citizens, benefiting about 200,000 people. In the past eight years, students of the art troupe have repeatedly achieved excellent results in various Cantonese opera arts competitions, winning one national award, three provincial awards, and five Jiangmen municipal awards.

A lineage of Cantonese music carries on the flame, and 100 years of brilliance continue to write new chapters. This love story between Lady Honglian and Enping has long since turned into a lingering Cantonese melody that flows through the mountains and rivers of Enping, nourishing generations of new Cantonese opera performers to thrive and grow.