Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association: From raising funds to promoting community ties

According to the Nanyang Yearbook published in 1939, the Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association was established in 1918 to “foster community ties as well as support education and charity work at home and abroad”.¹Then located at 37 Upper Nanking Street, the association had 119 members and was managed by Ng Sen Choy (1887–1960), Lum Mun Tin (1873–1943), and Ching Kee Sun (c. 1881–1972), with a monthly fund of $200.²

The beginnings of Hoi Thin

The predecessor of the Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association was Qi Ying Shan She, established in 1913. That year, following years of war, many areas in Guangdong, China, were further hit by typhoons and floods, causing widespread suffering. Many overseas Chinese, especially the Cantonese whose ancestral homes were in Guangzhou and Zhaoqing, actively donated to disaster relief efforts. In October the same year, the Singapore Thong Chai Medical Institution launched a fundraising campaign.³ Led by Ng Sing Phang (1873–1952), Wu Jinsheng (birth and death years unknown), Yow Ngan Pan (1863–1930), and Wong Ah Fook (1837–1918), 35 people whose ancestors hailed from Guangzhou (31 people), Zhaoqing (three people), and Chaozhou (one person) initiated a disaster relief society to raise funds through staging opera performances in vernacular Chinese or baihua (plain Chinese). They had originally planned to dissolve the society after funds were raised and remittances completed.⁴ On 29 October, the society renamed itself Qi Ying Shan She, and used Yeung Ching School as its correspondence address.⁵Its membership also increased to 48 people.⁶From 7 to 9 November, the society performed baihua plays at Lai Chun Yuen in Chinatown for three nights in a row. Besides raising funds for disaster relief, the shows also aimed to cultivate virtues and discourage evil deeds. More than $8,000 was raised from the three days of performances.⁷ From a temporary society, Qi Ying Shan She eventually grew into a formal charity, working with people from all walks of life to organise plays to support continued fund-raising efforts.⁸

In August 1917, with the government conducting rigorous checks on unregistered groups and requiring them to provide evidence related to their activities, Qi Ying Shan She registered itself as a society under the name Hoi Thin Club in September that year.⁹ Its members were mainly Cantonese, as well as Chinese from other dialect groups. In 1924, floods in eight provinces in China again prompted overseas Chinese of various dialect groups to donate to flood relief funds. In September that year, led by Hoi Thin Club, the Cantonese community formed Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Troupe to stage fundraising opera performances.¹⁰ In March 1925, the troupe was renamed Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association. In April that year, the association put on a three-day show in support of Singapore’s infant welfare.¹¹ Before June 1927, whether it was called Qi Ying Shan She or Hoi Thin Club, the association largely functioned as a charitable organisation comprising mainly Cantonese members. They performed plays for schools, hospitals, creches, and other institutions in Singapore, as well as raised funds for disaster relief in Southeast Asia, China and Japan.

In March 1927, the Registry of Societies started putting clubs in order, and required the Hoi Thin Club to produce evidence of its existence. Members of the performing association of Hoi Thin Club removed the word “club” from its name and re-registered itself under the name Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association. At the same time, it was also registered by the government as an Exempted Society.¹² The Hoi Thin Club was officially closed in June 1927.¹³

A new chapter

The re-registered Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association was mainly helmed by Cantonese businessmen in Singapore. Even as the association continued to stage fundraising performances for disaster and war relief across the world, it gradually became a meeting place for the Cantonese community. The members held gatherings, singing sessions, and later, meetings to discuss various matters. For instance, on 7 July 1936, representatives of Cantonese clan associations held a forum at Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association to discuss the formation of Kwangtung Hui Kuan.¹⁴The association was also where a Cantonese fundraising committee discussed relief efforts during the War of Resistance against Japan.¹⁵

Its anti-Japanese fundraising efforts were probably the reason Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association was not allowed to operate during the Japanese Occupation. After the end of World War II, the association became active again in 1948 when it moved from Upper Nanking Street to a new office in Neil Road. It continued to promote community ties and hold charitable activities post-war, but with a few differences: (1) it replaced baihua plays with Cantonese operas; (2) it played Cantonese operas on Radio Singapore and Rediffusion; (3) it organised local tours and interest classes like taichi; and (4) its charitable fundraising efforts and donations were mainly targeted at Singapore and Malaysian societies.¹⁶

After gaining independence, Singapore became more peaceful. In the late 1970s, dialects in performances and radio programmes in dialects were gradually replaced by Mandarin. The Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association “bade farewell to its era of leading the Cantonese community”,¹⁷ with “gatherings for members becoming its main activity. As the older generation of Cantonese opera enthusiasts passed on or retired, the association staged fewer public performances, but its members remained passionate about Cantonese opera and continued singing within the association”.¹⁸ Today, Hoi Thin Amateur Dramatic Association is located at Lim Teck Kim Road in Tanjong Pagar.¹⁹

In its over 100 years of history, the association has grown from a charitable society to a club that promotes ties among its clansmen, from staging group performances that transcended borders and dialect groups for disaster relief, to holding singing sessions and gatherings for its members.