Mr Alain M F Lo, Author and editor, Teaching Consultant, Faculty of Education, HKU (left); Dr Dorothy F P Ng, Author and editor, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, HKU (middle) and Dr Joseph W I Lam, Author and editor, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, HKU (right).

Hong Kong is a highly urbanized metropolitan, yet it still preserves many traditional Chinese cultural practices. One of the most significant practices is Bamboos Shed Cantonese Opera.

Cantonese Opera is the first Hong Kong item to be inscribed in the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Humanity. Education is an important means to inherit and further develop this intangible cultural heritage. The education reform of New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum offers new opportunities for integrating Cantonese opera into formal curriculum. It is time for utilizing the critical element of Bamboo shed of local Cantonese opera to transform its cultural space  into a learning space, and let students learn about the local arts and culture from different dimensions.

Since 2006, the Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research (CACLER) of the Faculty of Education, HKU, worked together with partnering schools, under the HKU Cantonese Opera Education and Research Project, to integrate Cantonese Opera into the secondary school curriculum and on related researches. The Bamboo Shed Cantonese Opera Education and Publication Project is one of the sub-projects, funded by the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust, which guides students to explore the cultural space of Bamboo Sheds, to learn how to appreciate and treasure their own culture and traditional art form, to recognize Cantonese Opera as an intangible cultural heritage, and to fulfill their social responsibility as members of the global community to preserve their own cultural heritage by participating actively in promoting its sustainability. The Project is chosen to be one of the ten highlights in the 20^th anniversary of the Trust.