Xiqu Centre Opens as the First Venue of West Kowloon

The Xiqu Centre opened on 20 January 2019 at the eastern entrance of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong. It was the first major building of the district to be completed, more than twenty years after the project was first proposed, and it is dedicated to xiqu, Chinese opera, and above all to the Cantonese form that is the city’s own.

The building

The design is by Revery Architecture of Vancouver, the practice founded by the late Bing Thom, who was born in Hong Kong, with the local firm Ronald Lu & Partners. Construction began in 2013 and cost 2.7 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The exterior is wrapped in curved fins of metal that part at the corners like stage curtains being drawn back. Behind them, the ground level is an open atrium with no doors, which anyone can cross on the way from the street to the district beyond. It has a small stage for free performances and was conceived as a covered public square. The architects compared the form to a Chinese lantern.

The Grand Theatre, with about 1,070 seats, is lifted to the top of the building, some 27 metres above the ground. Raising it kept the hall away from the noise and vibration of the roads and railway lines below and made space for the atrium underneath. Two sky gardens beside the theatre look towards the harbour.

The Tea House Theatre

The smaller hall seats up to 200 and revives an older custom. In the early 20th century, Cantonese opera was often performed in tea houses, where the audience ate and talked during the show. The Tea House Theatre presents ninety-minute programmes of excerpts, with tea and dim sum and a narrator who explains the stories, singing styles and gestures in Cantonese, English and Mandarin. It is designed for those new to the art, and it is the right introduction for a visitor.

Why it matters

Cantonese opera was added to UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in 2009. In Hong Kong it had depended for decades on a few ageing theatres and on temporary bamboo stages put up for temple festivals. The centre gives it a permanent home, a resident troupe of young performers and a training programme.

It was followed in West Kowloon by M+ in 2021 and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2022.

Visiting

The centre stands beside Austin station and a short walk from the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminus. The atrium is open daily without charge, and guided tours are offered. Tea House Theatre performances take place several evenings a week and should be booked ahead. Rosewood Hong Kong and the other hotels of Tsim Sha Tsui are within fifteen minutes on foot.