Fonds F004 - Beatrice and Raymond Jai Cantonese Opera Collection

Beatrice Lew and Raymond Jai met in Vancouver’s Chinatown as fellow members and performers of the Ching Won Music Society from the late-1930s through the 1940s. Beatrice was a child performer, active in singing, dancing and acting. She was a young actress of Cantonese opera and a student of Chinese music. At twelve years her senior, Raymond was a violinist and music teacher, and Beatrice was one of his pupils.

They were dating by 1950 when Beatrice decided to relocate to Toronto with an older sister after finishing high school. Raymond followed suit and the couple wed the following year, on June 1, 1951. They settled in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood, purchasing a home at 88 Pricefield Road and adopting daughter, Julie, into the family in 1961. Beatrice worked at a produce shop, then as an educational assistant in the public school system, while Raymond worked the front-of-house in Chinatown’s Chinese restaurants.

In Toronto, Beatrice and Raymond continued to practice Cantonese opera, but the number of players and music clubs was far fewer in the smaller Chinese community. In 1963, with a handful of other musicians, they founded the Yet Hoy Cantonese Music Club in the city’s Chinatown, with the mounting of its first full production held downtown in the historic, 1,000-seat Ryerson Theatre.

The family and their artistry grew with the club, with Beatrice playing lead female roles, Raymond anchoring the music department and orchestra, and Julie performing on stage in child and youth female parts. Beatrice and Raymond brought young Julie to their rehearsals and performances, and taught her to sing and to act; but they made sure their daughter had the opportunity for a university education to make up for the opportunities they were not afforded in their time period as Chinese people, and particularly as a Chinese woman, as was the case with Beatrice. Julie outgrew Cantonese opera as a teenager, but her performing skills would serve her well in her studies and in her future career in law.

Through Cantonese opera, the Jai family contributed to the development of a thriving, post-war Chinese community in Toronto, helping establish the city as a centre for the art form. As principals of Yet Hoy, Beatrice and Raymond helped build up its strong cast of actors and actresses and a music ensemble of a dozen musicians. The club dominated the city’s Cantonese music scene through the 1960s and 1970s, with the only school, rehearsal space, and stage available to host weekly practice among both amateurs and professionals looking to develop their skills.

Beatrice and Raymond performed in and produced Cantonese opera through their own club, accepted invitations to perform at social events and fundraisers for other Chinese community organizations, and lent their talents to support new music clubs in need of a musician, actress and/or teacher. In later decades when Yet Hoy had declined and stopped mounting shows, the couple remained active in welcoming and hosting visiting performers and their presentations in the city.

Beatrice and Raymond were both born in Canada. They grew up during the Great Depression and under prevailing anti-Chinese sentiment that placed severe restrictions on Chinese people and their lives and livelihoods. Cantonese opera was one of the few forms of cultural entertainment enjoyed by early overseas Chinese communities; the art form was a lifeline for building community, lifting spirits, and offering the chance for rich social and artistic lives.

Beatrice and Raymond navigated seamlessly across both Chinese and Canadian cultures. As Chinese people born in Canada, their proficiency in Cantonese opera and traditional Chinese music was considered rare and they were generous in sharing it.