The Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong City Hall, the Auditorium of the Tsuen Wan Town Hall, the Auditorium of the Kwai Tsing Theatre and the Auditorium of the Sha Tin Town Hall

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) reserves time slots totalling 70 days each year at the above five major performing arts venues for hiring by local professional troupes to stage performances of full-length Cantonese opera and opera excerpts.

Cantonese opera organisations may submit special booking applications for those reserved time slots for a continuous booking period of not less than five days (including Saturday and Sunday) for six performances of full-length Cantonese opera and opera excerpts by local professional troupes within 13 months prior to the month of hire until the day before ordinary booking applications are accepted. All relevant booking applications received by each venue in each month will be processed together. Reserved time slots left available will continue to be kept for hiring by Cantonese opera organisations until the ordinary booking period starts. All Cantonese opera organisations can continue to hire venues through ordinary booking. Ordinary booking applications are accepted by the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the Hong Kong City Hall within 12 months prior to the month of hire while they are accepted by the Sha Tin Town Hall, the Kwai Tsing Theatre and the Tsuen Wan Town Hall within seven months prior to the month of hire.

The number of days and the period for individual venues reserved by the LCSD are as follows:

Professional troupes meeting the following requirements may submit special booking applications to the above five venues:

• The hirer of the venue must organise performances staged by a local professional troupe. The troupe must present no less than five consecutive days (including Saturday and Sunday) for six performances in each hire period.
• The hirer must be the organiser and the same troupe must be arranged to stage performances.
• Each performance in the same hire period shall feature at least six artists on the list of leading artists (i.e. six to eight top leading artists). The role of Man mou sang (the principal male) or Jing yan fa dan (the principal female) shall be played by the same artist in each performance. Except the above leading roles played by the same artists, other leading roles (e.g. Chou sang (the comic role)), if not played by the same artists in each performance, must be taken up by artists of the same level.
• The list of leading artists must include at least six local artists. Among them, there can be two local budding artists at most. Other roles can be taken up by non-local professional artists. Self-financed local amateur Cantonese opera singers shall not be included in the main cast.