To dig more into the Cantonese Opera, I listened to the most famous 3 Cantonese Operas that some of which were made in the Qing Dynasty, and some were made after China.
The first one is called Dae Neui Fa in Cantonese or Dinühua in Mandarin. This is the first opera piece that I first absorbed myself into. I chose XiangYao to be the signature piece. Not only is it the last scene of the opera, but also shows the dismal patriotism of the end of one dynasty.
The Princess from the last dynasty and the Prince Consort were given to the wedding not long after the Ming dynasty collapsed. Years later, to win the hearts of people, the Qing Emperor forced to organise of the wedding of the Princess and Prince Consort, in order not to satisfy their wishes, not to be used, and to serve the Ming Dynasty, chose to pretend to agree. When the time of the ritual in the wedding process, which shows the worship of heaven and earth, they drank poisonous wine together, and both died in each other’s arms. Dae Neui Fa not only demonstrated a depressing but touching love story tragedy, but also a patriotic embodiment.
The second piece that I appreciated is called Zi Chai Ji. Compared to Xiang Yao, this opera is more about how the turbulent times and the conventional family affected the fate of two beloved people.
Zi Chai Ji uses the purple jade hairpin, which is called Zi Chai in Mandarin, as a clue to intertwine two people’s fate and love. It shows how the upper class controls the people and how difficult that two people to struggle to get together. It composes a piece of a romantic, sad song that transcends the class and hierarchy.
Mu Dan Ting is also from the same author as Zi Chai Ji. It is a story that surpasses life and death. The story is mainly about Du Liniang, the daughter of Du Bao, who fell asleep in the Peony Pavilion and dreamed of Liu Mengmei. The two fell in love at first sight in her dream, but later Liniang died of depression due to missing him. Three years later, Liu Mengmei appeared, and Liniang’s soul met him. Liu Mengmei learned that Du Liniang had a chance to be reborn, so he broke the coffin and resurrected her. The two got married privately in Hangzhou. It deeply demonstrated that ‘the living can die, and the dead can be alive’.生者可以死，死者可以生。
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