Xin Xin Rong He

On the Vesak Day public holiday, I travelled by bumboat to Pulau Ubin, where the annual Tua Pek Kong Festival was underway. In the heat of the midday sun, the Xin Xin Rong He 「新新荣和」 Teochew opera troupe prepared backstage for their performance, continuing a form of wayang that has long been part of temple festivities on the island. In the scorching weather, devotees lit incense and candles, while Tua Pek Kong flags and festival banners marked the village and jetty. It was tradition in motion: a small island community keeping Chinese street opera alive.

A performer seen from behind applies white face paint, their reflection visible in a glowing lit vanity mirror on a cluttered dressing table. An opera performer in white and dark demon face paint smokes a cigarette backstage, a white towel draped around his neck.
Five opera performers in full imperial costumes and jewelled headdresses stand in profile in the wings, waiting for their entrance.
The ornate Xin Xin Rong He Teochew opera stage with red and gold proscenium, performers mid-scene under a large yellow banner, watched by a crowd below.
A performer in a teal and gold opera costume with headdress smiles while pulling back a curtain to peek at the stage, drum and gong visible behind.
A performer in a red and gold imperial opera costume with jewelled headdress holds a pink flower prop, flags fanning behind. A performer in a yellow and gold imperial opera costume with tall jewelled headdress holds an orange flower, yellow flags behind.
Pink, orange, and teal opera costume tassels and fringe laid out on red fabric.
Two elderly men play suona wind instruments side by side in a cluttered backstage room, a mixing board in the foreground.
Rows of bicycles parked under colourful parasols in front of a corrugated-iron shed labelled '45C Bicycle Rental'.
A man bends over a tall red ceremonial candle decorated with gold medallions, lighting it with a blowtorch. A man reaches up to light a tall paper-wrapped incense column beside a gold dragon column with a blowtorch, a second man in a red shirt watching.
An elderly man stands at the helm of a blue-painted bumboat cabin, looking back at the camera.
A rubber tyre fender roped to the red wooden hull of a bumboat, with churning green wake behind.