For Cantonese, no Spring Festival holiday is complete without watching at least one traditional opera. A deeply rooted tradition in China’s southern Guangdong province, as well as neighboring Hong Kong and Macao, almost every village invites an opera troupe to ring in the New Year. Sometimes, villages even compete against each other to stage the most lavish performance, drawing large crowds and raucous celebrations.

Spring Festival operas tend to be light affairs, telling stories of reunion and good fortune. But for their performers — tasked with preserving their art in the hollowed-out countryside — they’re serious business.

Sixth Tone’s Wu Huiyuan went to Wencun, Guangdong province, to document the artists and communities who are keeping the traditional Cantonese New Year alive.

(Header image: Cantonese opera performers apply makeup backstage in Wencun, Guangdong province, Jan. 31, 2025. Wu Huiyuan/Sixth Tone)