History
In colonial Hong Kong, pipa was one of the instruments played by the Chinese, and was mainly used for ceremonial purposes. Western classical music was, on the other hand, the principal focus amongst British Hong Kongers with the Sino-British Orchestra being established in 1895. In the beginning of 20th century, Western pop music became popular. Mandarin pop songs in the 1920s were called Si Doi Kuk (時代曲). They are considered the prototype of Chinese pop songs.
In 1949 the People's Republic of China was established by the communist party. One of the first actions taken by the government was to denounce popular music as pornography. Beginning in the 1950s massive waves of immigrants fled from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Along with it was the Pathé Records (Hong Kong) record company, which ended up becoming one of the most significant popular record companies in Hong Kong.
The 1960s was marked by the rise of Hong Kong English pop which peaked until the mid-1970s among both British and Upper Middle/Upper class ethnic Chinese Hong Kongers. After the Chinese language had become an official language in 1974, Cantopop's popularity increased sharply due to the improved status of the language and the large Cantonese Chinese population in the city. Traditional Chinese Huangmei opera, on the other hand, had peaked in the 1960s amongst the general Chinese population.
Read more about this topic: Music Of Hong Kong
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