After the “mulberry garden”, here comes the other old Yu school play starring P.Y. Wang. I have a copy of the same play with her from 2002; 10 years after she’s noticeably better! (Somehow that’s logical. :P)

→ 京剧《琼林宴》Qiong Lin Yan (Banquet for Successful Candidates)
2011-12-10, Mei Lanfang Grand Theatre, Beijing
Broadcast: CCTV11 Theater in the Air 2012-03-17.
 [part1.rar] | [part2.rar] | [part3.rar] | [part4.rar] 669MB
CCTV: [1]
ed2k link: [COPY]

Story: HERE
Photos: HERE and HERE

Main cast:
Fan Zhongyu: Wang Peiyu (王珮瑜)
Woodcutter: Yan Qinggu (严庆谷)
Ge Dengyun: Zhu Feng (朱峰)
Ge Hu: Wang Wenzeng (王文增)
Sha Shen: Luo Shuai (罗帅)
Percussion: Feng Hongchao (冯洪超)
Jinghu: Liu Junqiang (刘俊强)

The following Ma school classic is a Han vs. Hun story, it was often played by Ma Lianliang and Zhang Junqiu. Since it’s a fairly long play, it requires above the average singing skills, thus it’s often performed as a “highlights” version with the most famous excerpts.

This one is a full version, staged at the Chang’an Grand Theatre, Beijing. Faithfully to the traditional casting, the leading roles are played by Ma school laosheng Zhu Qiang and Zhang school actress Zhang Ping.

(Special note: I always laugh so hard at 1:40:52.)

→ 京剧《苏武牧羊》 Su Wu Muyang (Su Wu Herds Sheep)
 [part1.rar] | [part2.rar] | [part3.rar] | [part4.rar] | [part5.rar] 946MB

Cast:
Su Wu (苏武): Zhu Qiang (朱强)
Hu Ayun (胡阿云): Zhang Ping (张萍)
Li Ling (李陵): Zhang Wei (张威)
Wei Lü (卫律): Wang Jue (王珏)
Hu Kedan (胡克丹): Liu Kuikui (刘魁魁)
The Xiongnu Chanyu: Wei Jiaqing (危佳庆)
Kun Yandi (壸衍鞮): Hu Bin (胡滨)
Chang Hui (常惠): Chen Guosen (陈国森)
Peng Yin (彭殷 ): Di Jiandong (翟建东)
Fu Jiezi (付介子): Wang Baoli (王宝利)

Summary:
Since Han general Wei Qing’s major victory over the Xiongnu, several years pass by without friction between the two states. However, despite of peace negotiations, the Xiongnu’s intention is still to invade the Han mainlands.
Hu Kedan, the highest Xiongnu military officer is coming with armed forces against Peng Yin. Su Wu, ordered by the Han emperor, comes to help out by suing for peace as an envoy.

Wei Lü  previously was a Han ambassador who surrendered to the Xiongnu, and later was put in an important position by the chanyu. He tries to convince Su Wu to surrender too, but Su Wu refuses to go against the feudal ethical code and remains faithful to the Han emperor. Su Wu meets the chanyu who gets offended because Su Wu doesn’t kneel down before him. Su Wu explains he’s not obliged to, since he’s a messenger of peace on imperial order, holding the yak-tail decorated rod. The chanyu gets furious, and accepts the treacherous Wei Lü’s suggestion to send Su Wu to Beihai at the Baikal lake to herd sheeps, with the condition that when the rams give birth, he can return.

The Han emperor sends an expedition force of 3000 soldiers under Li Ling to crush Xiongnu, but he gets defeated and captured by Hu Kedan. Li Ling refuses to surrender to the Xiongnu, so the chanyu wants to execute him, but since Li Ling is a brave general and his military skills would come handy to the Xiongnu state, Hu Kedan suggests better let Princess Huayan betrothed with him. Li Ling finally yields to the temptation of high position and great wealth, he doesn’t have another option anyways, and gives in. Su Wu is greatly disfavouring Li Ling’s decision. He was hoping that the Han emperor will send troops to his rescue, but Li Ling is showing him that the Xiongnu-Han borders are dark, no-one comes from the South. Su Wu is very sorrowful and stays in Beihai.

Ten years go by. The new Xiongnu ruler, Kun Yandi is in need of talented officials. Li Ling tells him about the exiled Su Wu, and suggests that in order to gain his alliance, they should send him a wife, maybe that makes him surrender. They choose Hu Kedan’s daughter, Hu Ayun as bride.
Meanwhile Kun Yandi gets a letter from the Han emperor, inquiring about Su Wu’s whereabout. Kun Yandi realizes that Su Wu is a great talent, and falsely informs the Han government that Su Wu is dead for many years.
Hu Ayun arrives to the palace. Kun Yandi, seeing how beautiful she is, wants her to become an imperial concubine, but the girl refuses, so as intended, she’s sent to Su Wu as a wife.
Su Wu is grumpy at their first meeting, but with due course of time the two get more and more fond of each other, and despite the hard conditions at the desolate place, Hu Ayun becomes Su Wu’s devoted wife, also she gives birth to a child. Su Wu is still holding to his staff, using it to herd the sheep, though the decorations one after another fall off. (If you check it in the beginning the rod has 9 yellow yak tails, when he meets Hu Ayun it has 6, and at the end it has only 3.)

Another nine years later the Later Han courtyard gets informed that Su Wu is still alive. The emperor dispatches Fu Jiezi to the Xiongnu on a diplomatic mission, to get Su Wu back. In the first run the chanyu is denying that Su Wu is alive, but after Fu Jiezi is facing him with the fact that a wild goose was shot in the Han imperial garden, and the bird had a message attached to his feet in which Su Wu asked for help, he confesses. Kun Yandi is willing to return Su Wu to his homeland, but refuses to let his wife to accompany him. Seeing that his husband, though heartbroken, is willing to part with her and the child, Ayun commits suicide – firstly because she’s already bond to Su Wu by deep emotions and unwilling to live without him, secondly to make it easier for Su Wu to leave. Finally Su Wu and his child return to Han land.

I wanted to post at least one full play with Chen Shaoyun. He’s always playing his roles with sheer professionalism and adorable charm, be it a kind-hearted official, a learned scholar or a painted face general.
Finally my choice fell on The Auspicious Dragon and Phoenix, a joint performance of Ganlu Temple and Returning to Jingzhou, since this Shanghai staging was also featuring Jin Xiquan (who I’m biased towards as you might have noted), also An Ping and Li Jun. Grab a bucket of popcorn, it’s 2¾ hours long.

→ 京剧《龙凤呈祥》Long Feng Cheng Xiang (The Auspicious Dragon and Phoenix)
 [part1.rar] | [part2.rar] | [part3.rar] | [part4.rar] | [part5.rar] | [part6.rar] 1.08GB

Cast:
Qiao Xuan (乔玄): Chen Shaoyun (陈少云)
Sun Shangxiang (孙尚香): Shi Yihong (史依弘)
Liu Bei (刘备): Li Jun (李军)
Sun Quan (孙权): An Ping (安平)
Zhou Yu (周瑜): Jin Xiquan (金喜全)
Empress of Wu (吴国太): Hu Xuan (胡璇)
Zhao Yun (赵云): Hao Shuai (郝帅)
Zhang Fei (张飞): Yang Donghu (杨东虎)
Qiao Fu (乔福): Yan Qinggu (严庆谷)
Jia Hua (贾化): Yu Wei (虞伟)
Lü Fan (吕范): Zhuang Shunhai (庄顺海)
Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮): Zhu Haozhong (朱浩忠)
Lu Su (鲁肃): Fan Yongliang (范永亮)

Summary:
Sun Quan plans to lure Liu Bei to Wu under the pretence of marrying his younger sister, Sun Shangxiang, in order to kidnap Liu and exchange him for the strategic town of Jingzhou in return. Zhuge Liang, Liu’s chief officer sees through the conspiracy, and convinces Sun’s mother that Liu is worthy of being her son-in-law. Thus Sun Quan’s plan fails and Liu really marries his sister.
Zhou Yu of Southern Wu is tricking Zhuge Liang with the false information that Cao Cao is attacking Jingzhou, so in a letter he’s asking Liu Bei to return. Sun Shangxiang, who already fell in love with Liu, is accompanying her husband. Zhou Yu is dispatching generals to chase after Lady Sun and Liu, but Zhuge Liang comes to the rescue. He already prepared a ship to escape Liu and his wife from danger, and finally they safely return to Jingzhou.

Some more related videos
In another staging of the same opera at Chang’an Theater Zhu Qiang plays Qiao Xuan, Chen Shaoyun Lu Su and Ye Shaolan Zhou Yu, and it would be a crime against humanity to not post the following scene.

→ 京剧《龙凤呈祥》Long Feng Cheng Xiang – excerpt  [DOWNLOAD] 171MB
Performed by Ye Shaolan and Chen Shaoyun.

A short comedy for the weekend.
The screenplay of Shiwen Hui was adapted from a Ming dynasty short story, 《绿牡丹》Lü Mudan (Green Peony Tree) and first performed to the public in 1961 by Zhang Junqiu and Liu Xuetao in Beijing.
The following version comes with Wang Rongrong and Bao Fei in the leading roles.

→ 京剧《诗文会》Shiwenhui (Meeting by Poetry)
 [part1.rar] | [part2.rar] | [part3.rar] | [part4.rar] 705MB

Cast:
Che Jingfang (车静芳): Wang Rongrong (王蓉蓉)
Xie Ying (谢英): Bao Fei (包飞)
Che Buqing (车步青): Sun Zhen (孙震)
Niu Siwen (牛斯文): Bao Yan (包岩)
Gu Ziyu (顾子玉): Liu Mingzhe (刘明哲)
Shen Zhong (沈重): Song Haoyu (宋昊宇)
Piao Xiang (飘香): Wang Yueling (王岳凌)
Shen Wan-e (沈婉娥): Wang Pan (王盼)

Summary:
Shen Zhong decides to pick the future husband of his daughter, Shen Wan-e by a poetry competition. Gu Ziyu and two other people apply. Gu Ziyu has outstanding talent, but the other two are ignorant and incompetent. At Shen Zhong’s residence, they get the task to write a poem about a green peony tree. The two simpletons struggle while Gu Ziyu is writing a nice poem. But the idiots are cheating: their servants secretly deliver them a decent poem. Che Buqing was asking his younger sister, Jingfang to help him out, while Niu Siwen was hiring a gifted scholar, Xie Ying to write poetry.
Shen Zhong is judging the poems: Niu Siwen wins first place, Che Buqing comes as second and Gu Ziyu as third. Though Shen Zhong isn’t impressed by Niu Siwen’s disgraceful appearance, so he sets up one more condition: passing the imperial examinations. Of course, Niu and Che are not able to accomplish this task.

Che Buqing at home is showing the winning poem to his sister who is very impressed by the talent of the poet. Niu Siwen now wants to marry Jingfang, and asks Che Buqing to introduce him to his sister as the one who wrote the excellent poem. Jingfang wants to test his skills, so Niu is depending on Xie Ying’s talent again, but when the young scholar sees how intelligent and beautiful Che Jingfang is, he’s unable to deceive her, and deliberately comes up with a stupid poem. Che Jingfang is disappointed, of course.

Xie Ying meets with Gu Ziyu and they go to the examinations together. When Che Buqing and Niu Siwen hear that the preliminary round of the imperial examinations has finished and the successful candidates are already published, they disguise themselves as if they were top scorers, then go to the Shen house to escort the bride. Gu Ziyu also comes, together with Xie Ying and everything gets exposed. Shen Zhong accepts Gu Ziyu as son-in-law, and Xie Ying also proposes Che Jingfang. Jingfang is suspicious at the beginning, but Xie Ying is proving her that he’s actually a learned and talented man, so she agrees to marry him. Only Niu and Che, the two clowns were unable to bag themselves a wife.

The following military drama was staged at the Chang’an Grand Theatre in Beijing with illustrious cast. Ladies will need tissues while watching this 2 ½ hour patriotic play.

A motion picture with the same title and cast was released on April 3, 2009 at Beijing theaters. Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu were shocked by the huge stage and exaggerated make-up when they watched the movie prerelease. “This is our first time on silver screen, so we’re allowed to make a few mistakes, we’ll do it better next time.”, Yu Kuizhi noted, also expressed his hopes that the movie sparkles up interest in younger audiences for Beijing opera.

The stage play is different, less flashy, plus Yu Kuizhi comes unbearded in this version.

京剧《袁崇焕》Yuan Chonghuan
 [part1.rar] | [part2.rar] | [part3.rar] | [part4.rar] 779MB

Cast:
Yuan Chonghuan: Yu Kuizhi
Yuan’s wife: Li Shengsu
Yuan’s mother: Zhao Baoxiu
Hong Taiji: Meng Guanglu
Chongzhen: Li Hongtu

Summary:
The story is set during the reign of Chongzhen, the last Ming emperor. (Tears of Barren Hill gives a great insight what kind of person he was.) The great army of Hong Taiji, Later Jin khan invaded the country and Beijing is on the verge of falling. To save the country in the times of danger, Yuan Chonghuan is leading an elite troop of soldiers in a rush during the night and arrive to the capital just when needed.
After many hard fighting, the Eight Banners Army is defeated. Hong Taiji and skilled strategist Fan Wencheng come up with the stratagem of sowing dissension between the emperor and Yuan Chonghuan. As expected, Emperor Chongzhen falls into the trap of false charges, imprisons Yuan Chonghuan and sentences him to death by lingchi which is the punishment for treason.
In the prison Yuan Chonghuan doesn’t care about the injustice that happened to him, instead he’s writing a plan, attaching most importance to the safety of the capital and advises to dispatch the troops to Beijing. For the nation’s sake, he lets his opponent to take the writing, without the slightest desire for personal gains.
The plan works, his army catches the Jin army offguard, and repelling them with a sudden thrust. Emperor Chongzhen isn’t suspicious any more, also he moves the treacherous court official who defamed Yuan Chonghuan, but the sentence stays in effect and Yuan Chonghuan is cut to pieces. However, he’s able to meet his death with peace in his heart, knowing the country was saved.

I swear I’m not stalking the young man, he just always comes to me nowadays.
Jin Xiquan has already shown in Xi Xiang Ji that he has a talent in comedy. The following 2 hour play has quite a lot of funny scenes.
Lu Kunjie’s role was often played by Ye Shenglan, then by his son Ye Shaolan who now directed this opera with his student, Jin Xiquan in the leading role.

If already at the topic of passing down knowledge, here’s a little English readable.
→ Family business as usual (PDF) - 09/Jan/2008 edition of China Daily
Ye Shaolan is speaking about his father, his grandfather and the hardships of Beijing opera training.

→ 京剧《得意缘》De Yi Yuan (A Desirable Match)
 [part1.rar] [part2.rar] [part3.rar] 523MB
Directed by Ye Shaolan (叶少兰) and Liu Changyu (刘长瑜).

Cast:
Lu Kunjie (卢昆杰): Jin Xiquan (金喜全)
Di Yunluan (狄云鸾): Xiong Mingxia (熊明霞)
Mother Di: Jin Xihua (金锡华)
Lang Xiayu (郎霞玉): Zhou Baisui (周百穗)
Servant maid: Yu Wei (虞伟)
Di Longkang (狄龙康): Dong Hongsong (董洪松)
Lang Feibao (郎飞豹): Yang Donghu (杨东虎)
Lang Feihu (郎飞虎): Yu Hui (于辉)
Di’s wife: Yan Haiying (严海鹰)
Di Yingluan (狄英鸾): Ge Xiangru (葛香汝)

Summary:
Lu Kunjie from Shangdong, nephew of the Sichuan governor general falls on hard times and wanders in destitute, finally he becomes a traveling entertainer. In Hukou he marries Di Yunluan, the second daughter of the chivalrous bandit, Di Longkang. Later, when Lu finds out that his father-in-law is a bandit-chief, he decides to escape with his wife who is willing to accompany him. But it’s easier to enter the mountain stronghold then to go out… Man and wife try to break through the gate of the stockade, but they are continuously defeated by Yunluan’s kin. Finally they arrive to the main gate of the stronghold that is guarded by Yunluan’s paternal grandmother. Di Yunluan knows she’s no match for her granny, so entreats piteously for releasing them. Finally her granny lets them to go downhill and flee.

Romance of the West Chamber (lit. Record of the Western Chamber) is a typical Zhang school classic, a story of a love affair without parental approval, based on the writing of Wang Shifu. In its time and even hundreds of years later the book was blacklisted by prudes, claiming it encourages premarital sex. This resulted that the play has different versions with different endings: in the happy end, the young couple marries and they live happily ever after; in the bad ending they finally get separated and Zhang Gong never proposes.

Warning: Turn volume down before listening to this video, it’s too loud.

→ 京剧《西厢记》Xi Xiang Ji (Romance of the West Chamber)
 [part1.rar] | [part2.rar] | [part3.rar] | [part4.rar]
Tudou.com: [Part1] | [Part2]

Main cast:
Cui Yingying (崔莺莺): Zhao Xiujun (赵秀君)
Zhang Gong (张珙): Jin Xiquan (金喜全)
Zhang Gong (later): Ye Shaolan (叶少兰)
Mrs. Cui: Sun Liying (孙丽英)
Hong Niang (红娘): Liu Shuyun (刘淑云)

Summary:
During the Tang dynasty a young scholar, Zhang Gong from Luoyang is en route to the imperial examinations. While lodging for the night in a Buddhist monastery, he meets the daughter of an influential family, Cui Yingying, and they fall in love with each other at first sight.
A bandit, Sun Feihu and his soldiers surround the monastery to forcefully take Cui Yingying away. Her mother makes a promise that whoever saves them against Sun Feihu, will gain the hand of Yingying. Zhang Gong happens to know a military general Hui Ming, and in a letter he asks him to come. Hui Ming’s soldiers soon arrive and repel the enemy. Though Mrs. Cui  goes back on her word, and arranges the youths not as husband and wife, but as brother and sister. Both are shocked, of course.
Hong Niang (literally her name means matchmaker) takes up the task to bring the lovers together. Zhang Gong sends a letter with a poem to Yingying with Hong Niang, suggesting that he will jump over the walls at night, to meet Yingying. The young miss is blaming Zhang Gong with harassment, however in her reply letter she writes a similar poem with secret meaning, agreeing to meet Zhang Gong in the garden.
When Mrs. Cui finds out everything about the illicit love affair, she’s beating up Hong Niang, but she is blaming Mrs. Cui for breaking a promise. Yingying’s mother has no other option than arrange a marriage between her daughter and Zhang Gong, with the condition that the young man goes to the capital and passes the imperial examination test. The couple bids farewell to each other with the hope Zhang Gong will return in glory as soon as possible.