Xiqu

“Catching Wang Kui Alive from Trials of Love”
One of the famous repertoires of Lu and Fu stylistic schools. The interpretation of the Lu school focuses on portraying the heartless and mercenary Wang Kui, who readily gives up his wife after she has gone through the hard times with him.
Guiying’s ghost finds its way to the capital as she wants to test Wang Kui’s heart herself. Despite giving him several chances in the hope that he would change his mind, Guiying fails to bring him round. He even wants to shut her up forever. Without any hope now, Guiying captures the spirit of Wang and takes him to the netherworld.

“Burning the Manuscripts and Mourning Daiyu from The Dream of the Red Chamber”
These are two famous excerpts in Yue Opera, with artists trained in the Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan stylistic schools reinterpreting them with heartrending performances. The excerpts are taken from The Dream of the Red Chamber. The Matriarch of the Jia family senses that Baoyu and Daiyu are in love, but she prefers Baochai to be her granddaughter-in-law. So she takes Wang Xifeng’s suggestion of ‘swapping the bride’. Baoyu is told that he would marry Daiyu, when in fact the bride is Baochai. When he discovers the truth, Daiyu has already passed on. Baoyu tears out of the bridal chamber to mourn Daiyu at her altar before he leaves home with a disillusioned heart.

“Seeking out His Wife at the Mulberry Orchard and Fortune-telling from He Wenxiu”
This is a well-known work by Yin Guifang of the Yin stylistic school. Seeking out His Wife at the Mulberry Orchard and Fortune-telling are two highlight scenes of the story, and made Zhao Zhigang famous as an exponent of the school.
The story takes place in the Ming Dynasty. A scholar, He Wenxiu, falls into hard times and has to make a living as an itinerant singer in the street. Wang Lanying, the daughter of a squire, takes pity on him and sees that he is a talented scholar, so she gives him some silver. But such an act is considered ‘indecent behaviour’ by her father, who threatens to kill her. Fortunately Lanying’s elder brother comes to their aid, and Lanying and Wenxiu can get married and elope to Haining in Zhejiang. Lanying’s beauty attracts the attention of Zhang Tang, an unscrupulous squire, who makes passes at her. She fights with a pair of scissors, managing to escape. She is saved by a middleaged woman, Madam Yang, who takes her in and hides her in a mulberry orchard. Zhang does not give up, and deliberately kicks a maid to death and incriminates Wenxiu by moving the corpse to his place. Wenxiu is found guilty is sentenced to banishment to the army. On the way, his guard takes pity on him and releases him. Later Wenxiu plucks the laurel at the national civil examination and is appointed an Imperial Commissioner of Zhejiang. He returns to Haining, disguises himself as a fortune-teller, and visits the mulberry orchard three times. Finally the husband and wife are reunited, while the real murderer is caught, and the wrongs are addressed.

“Torturing Kouzhu from How a Dead Cat Was Substituted for a New-born Prince”
This is an operatic excerpt featuring highly dramatic moments. The story is based on the well-known folklore of How a Dead Cat Was Substituted for a New-born Prince. The actors are challenged for their singing, acting and martial arts skills. The story takes place in the Song Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong. A royal consort, Lady Li, has given birth to a son. Out of jealousy, another royal consort, Lady Liu, colludes with the Chief Eunuch, Guo Huai, to substitute the new-born prince with a skinned dead cat and gives orders to the palace maid, Kouzhu to throw the baby into the imperial moat. Kouzhu cannot bring herself to carry out the order and turns to the Chief Eunuch Chen Lin for help. Chen secretly smuggles the young prince out to put him under the care of Xian the Eighth Prince. Twelve years later, Prince Xian, on the pretext that he is willing to let his emperor brother ‘adopt’ his son, returns Lady Li’s son to become the Crown Prince. Liu grows suspicious, and orders Chen Lin to interrogate Kouzhu. Despite the torture, Kouzhu refuses to tell the truth and commits suicide.