LI Bao-Chun on Traditional Chinese Operas

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9/7 The Carp Spirit

Scholar Zhang Zhen was engaged since birth to Mu-Dan, the prime minister’s daughter. But after Zhang’s family fell into poverty, the prime minister denied Zhang’s request for her daughter’s hand and sent Zhang to study in a hut beside Green Wave Pond. Zhang’s hard work touched a carp spirit’s heart, who transformed herself into Mu-Dan to visit and comfort him. Zhang later met the real Mu-Dan, but he was framed and taken for a thief and kicked out the prime minister’s house.

The carp spirit tried to stay with Zhang. They were captured on the way, but no one could tell the real Mu-Dan and the carp spirit’s embodiment apart. Even the most respected Judge Bao failed to settle the matter because the carp spirit had a turtle transformed into a fake Judge Bao. A Taoist priest was then hired by the prime minister to catch the false spirit, but Guanyin Buddha rescued the carp spirit in time. The carp spirit chose love over immortality and stayed in the human world to marry Zhang Zhen.

9/14 The Auspicious Pearl

Chief Master by SUN Zheng-Yang

XIAO En by LI Bao-Chun

XIAO Gui-Ying by HUANG Yu-Lin

LI Jun by LEE Long-Xian

NI Rong by LEE Ching-Fong

HUA Feng-Chun by TSAI Yueh-Hsun

Jinhu(Leader of Strings): LU Yu-Yong

Drum(Leader of Percussions): LU Yong-Hui

Duration: 120 minutes

Filmed on May 3, 2015, Family Theater, Taipei

Xiao En left Mt. Liang to live peacefully with his daughter, Gui-Ying as a fisherman by Lake Tai. One day, his friend Li Jun and Ni Rong came to visit. As they sat in a boat drinking, Mayor Ding’s son came to collect fishing tax. With Li Jin and Ni Rong there, the “tax” was not collected successfully, and Mayor Ding sent his men to teach Xiao En a lesson. Xiao En defeated those men and decided to file a case against Mayor Ding. He lost his law suit, got cane-beaten forty times, and was ordered to apologize to Mayor Ding. Enough was enough. Xiao En visited Mayor Ding pretending to be presenting to Ding the famous auspicious pearl. In a house fight, he killed Mayor Ding and his men and fled.

9/21 Ban Zhao

Lady Ban Zhao had two senior classmates while going to school as a young girl: Ma Xu and Cao Shou. At 14, she married Cao Shou, wishing he could help continuing the Book of Han which her own brother was writing. But Cao Shou soon charmed the Empress Dowager and became one of her protégées. When Ban Zhao’s own brother died, she took over the writing. Her loyal supporter, Ma Xu, always stood by her side.

After the Empress Dowager passed away, Cao Shou was ordered to guard her tomb. He couldn’t bear it and took his own life. Later, a fire destroyed many of Ban Zhao’s writings. Ban Zhao moved into the royal academy in the palace to write but got distracted by social activities. To help her stay focused, Ma Xu volunteered to become a eunuch. Touched by his sacrifice, Ban Zhao returned to her work and finished the Book of Han which gives her long-lasting fame as a great writer.

9/28 Monkey King Fights the Skeleton Demon

Monkey King by HSU Yan-Kai

Skeleton Demon by YU Chi-Jou

Monk Tang by LI Long-Xian

Zhu Ba-Jie by LI Zhao-Yun

Sha Wu-Jing by LEE Ching-Fong

Monkey King Fights the Skeleton Demon is a famous episode of the novel Journey to the West.

Monk Tang and his disciples journeyed west in search of the sacred scriptures. At Mountain Bai-Ling, they encountered the Skeleton Demon, who transformed into three different figures to deceive Monk Tang and to kidnap him for his flesh. Once again, Monkey King came to the rescue!