Since 2025, Yuen has been collaborating with the Hong Kong Arts Festival on a three-year project titled 300 Years of Cantonese Opera. The first season, themed "The Beginning", presented ancient plays in old Mandarin (also known as the Zhongyuan dialect) together with traditional formulaic plays. The current season, themed "The Transition", showcases outstanding excerpts by celebrated playwrights and performers from the 1930s to the present, alongside a revival of Yuen's own historical epic The Story of Wu Zixu, offering a comprehensive portrait of contemporary Cantonese opera.
Yuen sees the 1930s as a turning point: performances shifted from old Mandarin to vernacular Cantonese, transforming the art form into a true "regional opera". At the same time, all-male troupes gave way to mixed-gender casts, and sets became increasingly elaborate. As society endured hardship and war, audiences looked for more uplifting entertainment and the romantic, lyrical love stories of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly literary movement came to dominate.
Yet this narrowed focus led to the decline of other types of roles beyond the leading male (sheng) and female (dan) roles, such as the villainous huamian and the elderly female laodan (traditionally played by men). To highlight this diversity, Yuen's current selections include Tong Tik-sang's romantic ghost tale "A Union with the Ghost" from Dream of the Peony Pavilion, his earlier tragedy "Die for Love" from War Cape of Rouge and Blood, and Sun Ma Sze Tsang's "Reunion with Mother" from The Sword of Loyalty, which drew on Peking opera techniques to showcase the distinctive artistry of the lesser-known character type of laodan.
The chosen excerpts also illuminate the passing of tradition from master to disciple. Along with Nam Fung, Yuen will perform "Wedding Ceremony" from A Mismatched Couple, a piece once staged by his teacher, Mak Bing-wing. Meanwhile, "Sending Letters" from Romance of the West Chamber features actor Lam Tin-yau in a role originated by his mentor, Lam Kar-sing.
