Chinese opera-玉堂春

Last Sunday(2024/5/12) was the Mother's Day 母親節 in Taiwan, I hope all the mothers have a nice holiday. My mother and I watched an old movie. It was an adaptation of a classical opera 玉堂春. So today, I would like to introduce you to a classical opera: 玉堂春, also called: 蘇三起解.   

This story is write by 馮夢龍(Feng Menglong) (1574–1646), 明朝Ming dynasty.

A poor girl named 蘇三. She was trafficked into a brothel when she was five years old. Since the brothel owner has three girls and the brothel is called 蘇淮, the owner simply calls her 蘇三, which means the third girl of the brothel 蘇淮, and gives her a stage name 玉堂春(Yu-tang-chun).

As time goes by, she grows up and becomes a beautiful girl. She has mastered 四藝 the Four Arts . What's Four Arts 四藝? They are 琴、棋、書、畫：

• 琴 a stringed instrument
• 棋 a strategy board game
• 書 calligraphy
• 畫 painting

Such a beautiful and versatile girl, of course will attract all the boys in the city to admire her. 

One day she met a man, 王景隆(Wang Jig-long), and they fell in love. 王 spent all his money on her. The brothel owner finds out that 王 is now poor, she kicks him out of the brothel. But 蘇三 does not want to give up this relationship. She finds 王 on the street and gives him all her money, and makes a vow to him that she will be waiting for him to return when he takes the Imperial Examination.

The Imperial Examination 科舉考試 was a civil service examination system in Imperial China. 

王 passed the exam, but he didn't go back. His father asked him to marry the other woman. In the meantime, 蘇三 has been sold by the owner of the brothel to a rich man.

The rich man is already married. But his wife cheated on him. The wife saw 蘇三 and thought she was a wonderful scapegoat, so she poisoned her husband and bribed the law enforcer. The law enforcers arrested 蘇三, tortured her, and escorted her to trial. This is 蘇三起解.

起解 means escorting prisoners or goods on the road. It's an archaic word, no one uses it except for opera. 

The name of the play is 蘇三起解, so this section is the climax of the whole play. But I can't feel anything...so I'll just tell you what happened next.

王 finally comes back here, but he is here for work, not for 蘇三. He is now a powerful governor.

He figures out the truth and releases 蘇三. At the end of the story, 王 takes 蘇三 home, and his wife accepts 蘇三 to stay in their home. Happy ending.