Xiqu

“Fang Qing Visits His Aunt from The Pearl Pagoda”
This is a signature piece in the repertory of Lu Jinhua stylistic school. The actor playing the male lead needs to exude the integrity of a scholar, whether in hard times or good. The delivery of lines, in particular, should demonstrate the pride and self-respect of someone who knows his worth. The story opens with a birthday banquet at the Imperial Commissioner of Xiangyang’s residence. His Excellency’s wife, Fang Duohua, is a snob, and likes to flaunt her status and wealth. It happens that her nephew, Fang Qing, whose family has fallen into hard times, comes to ask for a loan so that he can go to the capital to attend the civil examination. But Duohua is not one to remember what care and concern she had received from Qing’s family when she was down and out. Instead, she slings insult upon insult on Qing, and orders him to leave. Qing is a filial son, and honours his promise to his mother that he would not retort despite the fact that his aunt is such a vain snob. Before he leaves, he vows that he would not appear before her again unless he has plucked the laurels in the civil examination.

“Seeking Vengeance from Trials of Love”

This is from the famous repertoire of Lu Jinhua (of the Lu Stylistic School) and Fu Quanxiang (of the Fu Stylistic School), who were long-term partners on stage. The interpretation of the Fu school focuses on the painful psychological changes in the suffering wife, Guiying, when love turns to hate. Wang Kui is a scholar who has failed in the national civil examination in the capital. Unable to take the long journey home, he is in dire straits when Jiao Guiying, a famous courtesan, finds him and takes him in. She supports him in his studies, and later the two are married. But when Kui plucks the laurels at the civil examination in the capital this time, he has a change of heart. He marries the daughter of the Prime Minister and sends Guiying a letter of annulment, seeking to divorce her. Guiying is devastated and with nowhere to turn to, she goes to the Temple of the God of the Sea where the two of them had made their pledge never to part two years ago. She makes an invocation to the God and tearful accuses Kui of his infidelity and heartlessness before she hangs herself. The Judge in Hell accepts Guiying’s plaint, goes with her spirit to the capital to catch Kui alive.

“Burying Flowers from The Dream of the Red Chamber”

This is a classic and a perennial favourite in the Yue Opera repertory. It was first made famous by the iconic duo in Yue Opera, Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan. The respective exponents of these two stylistic schools often partner on stage to tell the love story of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. Lin Daiyu has lost her mother at a young age, and has to take up residence at her maternal grandmother’s place. There she grows up with her cousin, Jia Baoyu, and the two are very much in love. When Baoyu receives a hard beating from his father for having befriended a young actor, Daiyu goes to visit him in his chamber, only to be unwittingly turned away by his maid. Outside his door, she happens to see Baoyu seeing Baochai, another cousin, out. She mistakes that to be Baoyu’s intention not to accept her and is heartbroken. Now it is late spring, and when she sees the falling petals, she feels that she is seeing her pitiable self, homeless, drifting, and unloved. So she decides to get a hoe to dig a grave for the fallen petals. Baoyu traces Daiyu to the garden and pours his heart out.

“At the Study from The Aloeswood Fan”

This is a comedy that has been an audience favourite for decades. Its story appeals to popular taste, and the vivid portrayal of the characters makes them memorable. A young scholar Xu Wenxiu meets Cai Lanying, the daughter of a high official of the imperial court. It is love at first sight. In his urge to see her again, Wenxiu sells himself into the Cai’s Residence as a slave. The two finally meet after two weeks, and become secretly betrothed. But their affair has come to the attention of Lanying’s mother, who marries her to another. Lanying refuses to accept the arranged marriage and leaves home disguised as a man. She attends the same national civil examination as Wenxiu, and comes third while Wenxiu comes top. Not knowing the situation behind all these, Lanying’s father gives her to the scholar who has come second in the examination. It is a hilarious situation of three top scholars vying for one wife. Later, with the assistance of Wenxiu’s uncle, the young lovers are finally reunited in Lanying’s study, and the two enter into wedlock.

“Chen Sanliang Tortured in a Trial from A Pure Spirit”

This is a well-known work for which Zhao Zhigang is famous. Zhao, an exponent of the Yin Guifang stylistic school, came to be recognized when Lü Ruiying, the founder of the Lü stylistic school, sought him out to be her partner on stage and he rose to the occasion with his excellent performance. The story takes place in the Ming Dynasty. Li Suping’s father was framed by the corrupt eunuch, Liu Jin, because he refused to bribe him. In order to give her father a proper burial and to raise her younger brother Fengming, Suping sells herself to a pimp. But she refuses to become a prostitute, vowing instead to pay for her debt by sheer academic excellence. She sells her poems and prose for three taels of silver per piece, so she gives herself a new name, Chen Sanliang (‘sanliang’ meaning ‘three taels’ in Chinese). When she and her brother are separated by an unfortunate chance, she adopts Chen Kui, whose family has fallen victim to Liu’s treacherous manoeuvrings. Chen Kui attends the national civil examination and comes top, which is followed by an appointment as an Imperial Commissioner. Back home, Sanliang is being sold to an old man, Zhang Zichun, as wife. When she refuses to comply, she is tied up and forced to go to Cangzhou. Zhang bribes the prefect, so Sanliang is tortured in an unfair trial. To everybody’s surprise, this corrupt prefect is none other than the younger brother, Fengming, whom she has not seen for ten years. At this juncture, Chen Kui the new Imperial Commissioner arrives on his inspection rounds. Sanliang turns her own brother in, and requests Chen to punish him according to the law in the hope that this would make a new man out of him.