Xiong Yi’s research project is entitled ‘The digital arrangement and innovation inheritance of Cantonese Opera Costumes and Face-makeup during the era of big data’.
In 2009, Cantonese Opera was officially included in UNESCO's representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity, becoming the first world intangible cultural heritage in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The ageing of inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and the cultural shock of modern information society have prompted Xiong Yi to think about recreating Cantonese Opera Art from the perspective of visual aesthetics, attracting more young people and designers to join the application, presenting traditional Cantonese Opera Aesthetics in the context of modern design, and activating intangible heritage by making the past serve the present.
She researched the original documents published about the face-makeup of Cantonese opera in 1968 and the costumes of Cantonese opera in 1988. Based on the study of the historical materials, Xiong Yi conducted interviews with the inheritors, actors and staff members of Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Performance Company (est. 1953). She also studied the historical materials of Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Museum and completed the vector digital library of Cantonese Opera Costume and Face-makeup. This has made the permanent preservation of original data for Lingnan traditional art possible.
The research results will be used to build Cantonese Opera Visual Art websites designed to promote the international recognition of Chinese visual arts. The research results will also be incorporated into the teaching of innovative design in universities, gradually forming the speciality of Lingnan Characteristic Arts Design.