Spirits

Someone is interested to know who the Yao Jing are from my previous post. This show was staged last year I think around May.

The first Yaojing is Bao Si of Zhou Dynasty. Emperor Zhou You was a useless one who only know how to eat and play. An official with the surname Bao warn the emperor that he shouldn't continue to just eat and play but the emperor was angry and put Bao to jail. The Bao family wanted to save him so they found a pretty lady to acknowledge her as daughter, Bao Si, and taught her to sing and dance. They then send this girl to Zhou You. Zhou You was happy and released Bao. Bao Si thus 'mo ming qi miao' got invloved in this political situation.

Since the day Bao Si entered the palace, she did not smile or laugh. Hence the emperor said he will reward anyone who can make her smile. In the end, an official suggested making fun of the army by lighting the beacon towers. Zhou You stupidly did that and Bao Si unintentionally gave a smile. From then on, Zhou You keep lighting the beacon towers to please Bao Si. Finally, when the real enemies attack, the army refused to fight for Zhou You. Bao Si and her son were killed and Zhou dynasty collapsed.

The beauty of Bao Si led to her death and caused her to be scolded for thousands of years but she was a victim too. Her smile at the beacon tower was unintentional but it led her to a tragic end.


This role was done by Lin Shao Ling in Liyuan opera.

The second Yaojing was Lv Hou. She is the wife of Liu Bang, name was Lv Zhi. Lv Hou married Liu Bang since he was a normal peasant. Lv's parents were held as hostages during the war and the suffering changed Lv Zhi's mentality. They suffered together and finally after many years, Liu Bang became the king and he made Lv Zhi as empress. They had a son named Liu Ying who was made the crown prince. Years later, Lv Zhi started to age and Liu Bang fell in love with another women called Qi Fu Ren. Later he thought that Liu ying was too weak and wanted to set Qi Fu Ren's son as crown prince. Lv was very angry but she can't do anything but luckily the officials objected and Qi's son was not made the crown prince.

After the emperor died, Liu Ying became emperor and Lv Hou became more powerful. She started to take revenge and killed Qi's son. According to the 'Shi Ji', she tortured Qi Fu Ren, chopped off her hands and legs, dug out her eyes and ears and poisoned her to make her dumb and deaf. Then she put Qi Fu Ren in the toilet to show everyone. Liu Ying was unhappy about his mother's actions and finally died of sickness. Lv Hou then took over the throne. However, under the ruling of Lv Hou, Han dynasty became prosperous. Lv hou was a good ruler yet she cannot accept a woman in her life. She was blinded by love.. or maybe jealousy.

This role was done by Qin Zhan Bao in Pekin opera.


The third one was Yu Xuan Ji. I got a deep impression of this part too. I felt Yu Xuan Ji is pitiful too. Like the other girls, she wanted to find true love but end up with nothing. 易求无价宝，难得有情郎 is a poem written by her. Her real name was You Wei, borned in the Tang Dynasty. Her father taught her writing and paint and when she was 11 years old, she already made a name for herself as a poet. After her father died, she and her mum were forced to live in a red-light district. A famous poet finds that she has talent and teaches her. One day, while she was stolling, she made a poem which attract a man named Li Yi. Finally Li Yi married Yu with the help of the teacher but Yu was married as a concubine.

However, the first wife of Li Yi, named Pei, could not accept Yu. She insulted Yu and made Li Yi divorce her (divorce? erm.. Xiu). However Li Yi did not give up. She settled Yu in a taoist temple and donated alot of money to the temple for the wellfare of Yu. Yu Xuan Ji this name was given at that time. However, because of Li Yi's first wifes intervention, Li yi could not see Yu often and slowly they drifted apart. Finally, Li Yi decides to abandon Yu and move to another state. Yu was very upset and gave up all hopes. At that time, the master of the temple was dead and Yu was the only one living in the temple. She put up a notice to invite people to discuss poetry with her. Everyday, she flirts with the people who came and her temple became sort of a 'brothel'.

In the temple, Yu kept several maids and they got influenced by Yu to become flirtish. At that time, she like this guy called Zuo because he looked like Li Yi. Another man named Pei likes her too but she did not give him a chance as his name is the same as li yi's first wife. Later Yu fell in love with a man called Chen but her maid, Lv Qiao, flirted with Chen and they had an affair. Yu told Lv Qiao to leave Chen but Lv Qiao refused. So in a rage, Yu killed Lv Qiao. Yu was brought the court and the judge was unfortunately, Pei, whom Yu rejected ealier on. Pei sentenced Yu to death. She was only 26.

I remembered that in the show, before the execution, Yu sang 易求无价宝，难得有情郎. I felt that she is very pitiful... *sobz*
This role was acted by OuYang BingWen in cantonese opera.


Ke Shi was the fourth Yaojing. She was a normal peasant of Ming Dynasty but was selected to be a nanny in the palace. She was good at children's physcology and made the crown prince like her so much that he must see her everyday. She had an affair with a eunuch, Wei Zhong Xian. Wei Zhong Xian is very notorious for being evil. Together, they ruled the inner palace.

When the crown prince became the emperor, he was weak and powerless and he relied everything on KeShi. All was controlled by Ke Shi and Wei. Together, they eliminate whoever goes against them and incurred heavy taxes on the peasants. They even made all the concubine and even the empress lose their babies when they were pregnant. They did not want there to be an heir to the throne. It was said that she was whipped to death but it did not say how that can happen.
This role was done by Ma Zi Jun in Huang Mei opera.


Last yaojing is Sai Jin Hua. Sai Jin Hua was pretty but she was not extremely pretty and mesmerising but her life was full of ups and down. She married to officials 3 times, She entered brothels 3 times as prostitute, she was once an ambassador, she was once titled as 'hu guo niang niang' (protecting the country lady) and was once titled as 'zi di mai guo' (traitor). She was a vip in the german royal family and was a prisoner in the Qing royal family.

She was born in the qing dynasty, originally named Cai Yun. She was sold to the brothel as a kid but an official liked her and took her in as concubine. At that time she was 15 yrs old and the official, Hong Jun, was 48 years old. After the death of Hong Jun, Cai yun escaped to Shanghai and became prostitute again. Then she changed her name to Sai Jin Hua. During the Ba Guo Lian Jun, she became a lover of a german official. After the war, she went back to prostitution and was arrested for torturing young prostitutes. She spent her old age in poverty and died in Beijing in 1936.

This part was done by Lin Jia in Yu Opera. Sorry no photo of him.

Overall, I think the best one is Bao Si and Yu Xuan Ji. Not because that bao si was done in Liyuanxi ok but I think that this excerpt and Yu Xuan Ji's excerpt are the more touching ones. Bao Si was designed to have a lot of singing. Practically throughout the whole excerpt. I felt that the speeches Uncle Lim did was very feminine but the songs he sang was a bit too musculine. I know he very stress over singing cuz it is hard to imitate a dan's singing.

OuYang BingWen was a dan himself so he did his yu xuan ji's part well. His part has less singing and had some dances.

For the Ke Shi and Bao Si, there were alot of dances too but Bao Si had more singing parts while Lv Hou had a swordplay. Qin Zhan Bao did not sing well. Ahh.. it's hard to sing the dan's part in Pekin Opera. Need special training one.

Ke shi's huang mei opera was quite well sang I remember. His voice was quite 'Xi' naturally. Lin Jia didn't do well in Yu Ju though. Poor thing, had to do an opera type which is not what he learnt. It is hard for him. Fortunately, his body language was not bad and I can close one eye on the singing.

MD say he can't understand a word in the clip I uploaded previously. Well, I will tell you the first line.

再莫笑（于）过，再莫笑（不女）笑过。

于 and 不女 are immaterial. No meaning one. Just to make the song sound nicer. You will hear these 2 words alot in liyuan opera.

I will now biasly say that the best excerpt is the Bao Si's one. Hahahaa....

PS: Please don't ask me where the photos are from.