Day 1 – 2013-02-02

After a long, long flight, my plane finally landed after midnight Beijing time. It took ca. half an hour or more to leave the terminal, because naturally the very last baggage showing up after many rounds was mine. My friend waited for me at the airport and delivered me in order to a city block near to Chongwenmen subway station, thus I spent the rest of the night in a not too fancy, but comfortable and safe apartment instead of a cardboard box.

In the morning we went to find some breakfast, but I refused to eat at McDonald’s or Pizza Hut. After a few U-turns we ended up in a Yoshinoya so my first breakfast in China happened to be Japanese, and accidentally I chose a menu with chicken soup…  My friend tried to stuff the pudding-like substance fluttering on the spoon into my mouth, but I resisted.

After stocking up a few essential foodstuffs (like sodium glutamate and eggs) in the fridge, we went to the theater in Qinglan Plaza because I wanted to see Song Haoyu and Suo Mingfang’s full edition Wulongyuan. The performance started at two o’clock in the afternoon, I couldn’t sleep much after the seventeen hours long trip.

My friend briefly introduced me to Song Haoyu, deposited me and left half an hour before the performance. Watching opera without purchasing a ticket is cost-efficient, yet somewhat inconvenient, since I spent the last thirty minutes with changing seats continuously.

I think the girl in the mirror was Song Haoyu’s girlfriend. Li Yang is on the right – civil hairstyles of painted face performers can be really unique.

Suo Mingfang was already wearing her stilts, so I couldn’t see actually how does it work.

Bertrand sent me a photo of a pair of embroidered satin shoes for bound feet, exhibited in the Musée national des arts de Paris – to be sincere, I find them scary. I hope this footwear won’t return to fashion with the imperial nostalgia…

“Chine trésors du quotidien” (Everyday Treasures from China) by grimaldiforum.com (2004), Qing Dynasty, end of 19th Century

I saw one of my weibo friends in the audience, later turned out he remembers me as well, but he didn’t know I’m foreigner. Because it wasn’t an over-advertised performance of a very popular play in a large theater, most spectators were real Beijing Opera fans, I had a feeling that the younger came to see these particular performers, and the older came to see this particular play.

Those who know me also know that I like this play very much. After stocktaking my favorites, I discovered certain similarities in the stories: Wulong Courtyard, Meilong Garrison (thanks Greg for the word), Lü Bu and Diaochan… each one has a trickygirl.

Concerning Wulongyuan, I’m more familiar with the Qi school version, and never saw the final part before. The appearance of Yan Xijiao’s ghost is a later addition to the original Water Margin story, and my impression is that this act is often left out, so naturally I was very curious.

While the Qi school Song Jiang is very forceful, the Ma school Song Jiang has a humorous side. Song Haoyu didn’t seem as dreadful as Zhou Xinfang in the classic old movie, better a mild-tempered man in despair who has no other option than to take back that letter by force.

The stage setup naturally was typical one table, two chairs-style. The full cast was: Suo Mingfang 索明芳 (huadan)、Song Haoyu 宋昊宇 (laosheng)、Li Yang 李扬 (hualian)、Zhang Dahuan 张大环 (laodan)、Bao Yan 包岩 (chou).

If I were Zhang Wenyuan, weren’t too reluctant to follow this miss either. (But I still think tiny feet are aesthetically unpleasing.)

This is the single shot of our friendly Liangshan redhead that worked out.

Highlight: Yan Xijiao has to learn soon that blackmailing is a dangerous business.

Song Jiang is unable to tolerate Xijiao’s  greediness any more. He signed the “divorce form”. Agreed that the girl can marry his secretary. Xijiao already took the gold from Song’s lost bag, yet she refuses to hand over the incriminating letter until she gets more. (I don’t think she ever was inclined to give it back.) No wonder she pays with her life.

After Haoyu “killed” her, Suo Mingfang was lying on her back. When she was supposed to leave the stage, two boys came and helped her – she couldn’t have managed to stand up alone in those stilts. (While writing this, I’m looking down at my yeti feet and feel very fortunate for being able to walk properly.)

And finally the ghost came out! Apparently I wasn’t the only one waiting for this part, I heard spectators whispering: “The ghost comes! The ghost comes!”

Suo Mingfang tiptoed through the stage in white and silver ghost costume, and lamented with a bitter face about her early and violent death. Yan Xijiao’s spirit visited her former lover in the library during the night – needless to say, Zhang Wenyuan was horrified. The ghost grabbed him by the neck with her shawl, and poor fellow ended up in Xijiao’s hands swaying from side to side.

My curtain call photo didn’t work out, but Xianwangzi‘s did:

On the very left is Song Haoyu who already changed clothes, the young man wearing designer eyeglasses on the very right is accompanist Lü Xunfu 吕勋福, jinghu player of the Beijing Jingju Theater.

After the performance spectators who had a ticket got a free table calendar, so there was a smaller tumult right at the exit that would have made an emergency situation difficult to handle, but I managed to make my way to the street and got home in twenty minutes. I ate some noodles, had a shower, wrote a few e-mails, then had a walk in slumberland.

to be cont.

I would like to share a clip that doesn’t pop up very often – a slightly symphonic The Orphan of the Zhaos excerpt from a concert in 2009, commemorating the works of Li Muliang (李慕良), famous jinghu player. Originally he was a disciple of Ma Lianliang, who suggested him to better learn playing jinghu instead laosheng role.

Li Muliang, his son Li Zulong and Ma Lianliang
Picture: YNET.com

Later he became the official accompanist of Yan Jupeng (言菊朋) (hopefully in this year I’ll finish the “Yan school in nutshell” article that sits in my Drafts folder :S, feel free to bug me about that), then Ma himself. Naturally he contributed the most to the art of Ma school, as Ma Lianliang’s “perfect partner.”

The excerpt in question is performed by Zhang Xuejin (张学津), the part from the story when Cheng Ying is painting the truth-exposing picture book for the Zhao orphan.
Have I ever posted the picture with Ma Lianliang and the young Zhang Xuejin? I can’t remember, so here it is:

And here is the video:

京剧《赵氏孤儿·观画》Zhaoshi Guer·Guan Hua (The Orphan of the Zhao Family – Looking at the Pictures)
 [DOWNLOAD] 47MB

Mission accomplished. Back to my Poirot DVD. :P

京剧《赵氏孤儿》Zhaoshi Guer (The Orphan of the Zhao Family)

Download:
CCTV: [01] [02] [03] [04] [05] [06] [07] [08] [09] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Act 1: 赵盾谏君 – Zhao Dun remonstrates with the king
Act 2: 刺客触槐 – The assassin commits suicide
Act 3: 闹朝扑犬 – The dog attacks Zhao Dun at the royal court
Act 4: 程婴报信 – Cheng Ying arrives with bad news
Act 5: 进宫盗孤 – Smuggling the baby out of the palace
Act 6: 韩朔盘门 – Han Shuo’s security check at the gate
Act 7: 定计救孤 – Determined to save the orphan
Act 8: 程婴献孤 – Cheng Ying offers the orphan
(19:30 – Ultimate brutality! The slaughtering of the infant is accompanied by baby crying sound effect. Made me shiver.)
Act 9: 班帅还朝 – The commander-in-chief returns to the court
Act 10: 进宫打婴 – Beating Cheng Ying in the palace
Act 11: 阴陵遇母 – Zhao Wu meets his mother
Act 12: 观画说破 – Looking at the pictures, the truth is exposed
Act 13: 报仇血冤 – Revenge!
(05:28 – Cheng Ying kicks the corpse of the evil Tu and laughs uncontrollably.)

Cast:
Cheng Ying: Mu Yu (穆雨), Gao Tong (高彤), Wang Peiyu (王珮瑜), Zhu Qiang (朱强)
Wei Jiang: Deng Muwei (邓沐玮)
Tu Angu: Huang Yanzhong (黄彦忠)
Zhao Dun: Tan Xiaozeng (谭孝曾)
Princess Zhuang Ji: Xue Yaping (薛亚萍)
Han Jue: Ye Jinyuan (叶金援)
Zhao Wu: Li Hongtu (李宏图)
Gongsun Chujiu: Ni Shengchun (倪胜春)
Pei Bao: Wang Bowen (王博文)
Jin Linggong: Huang Baixue (黄柏雪)
Zhao Shuo: Zhang Jin (张琎)
Bu Feng: Suo Mingfang (索明芳)

Result of watching:
- I appreciate Ma Lianliang even more.
- I still fail to grasp the spirit of Tan Fuying. *sigh*

Wednesday’s and today’s Chinese Opera News gave a great insight of the special performances mentioned in the previous post, also a preview of the acrobatic role contest discussed earlier.

I zipped the parts about the Ma Lianliang memorial series as a little treat for my fellow behind-the-scenes fans: [xiqucaifeng_20111126_28.rar] 180MB

I clipped out a 10 min. long part about tomorrow’s Zhaoshi Guer, it has a few dressing room and production snippets, also performers in the leading roles (young Ma school laosheng Mu Yu, actress Wang Peiyu and Zhang Junqiu’s prominent disciple, Xue Yaping) speak a little. I was a bit surprised when I heard Xue Yaping’s speaking voice.

Today’s edition starts with photos and a recording of Ma Lianliang, then Gao Tong, Zhu Qiang, Zhao Hua and Deng Muwei say a few words about Ma school. (Deng Muwei, who is a leading painted face actor himself, is talking about the connections of Ma school and his own school, Qiu pai. Note for myself: I have to figure out at least those few sentences because it seems interesting.)

Performers of the highlights stage, Mu Yu, Gao Tong and Zhu Qiang are speaking about their roles.
If you already checked out the final scene of Nine More Days and you have a good eyesight, you probably noticed that Gao Tong had an adhesive bandage on his left wrist. As suspected, Shang Wei‘s brave husband got injured during rehearsals by the painful looking torture device prop, that is explained in detail in this documentary.

The later part is about Zhaoshi Guer again, this time also featuring renowned xiaosheng actor Li Hongtu, who plays the title role of the Zhao orphan.

The puffy west under her costume helps Wang Peiyu to gain “man shoulders”.

As far as the wuxi competition is concerned, the program today was showing the board with the list of performances and contestants, thus answering my burning question whether it will be a Beijing-only contest or artists from other provinces are also invited.
It seems that the young talents of the Jingju Theater of Beijing will compete (First Troupe, Youth Troupe and Mei Lanfang Troupe), and the Jingju Theater of Hebei delegated its members to hold special performances.
The gender ratio is somewhat uneven: from 18 contestants only four are girls.

Performances celebrating Ma Lianliang’s 110′s birthday (mentioned here before) are finally online. You can check them out [HERE]. And links do work! Only the Zhaoshi Guer of Zhu Qiang and Wang Peiyu is missing, that will be aired on Saturday.

Some old classic Ma Lianliang movies were also re-uploaded (namely Gathering of Heroes and the 1949 series, spiced up with interviews), also a whole lot of “lip-synched” operas.

I am determined to spend this night with sleeping, so I started all downloads now and will update this post with the new videos and descriptions in the morning, so that we can enjoy them until a better version appears on p2p networks.
So, check back later!

…
Good morning. Here is the download link as promised.
 1.48GB

– 京剧《淮河营》 穆雨、陈俊杰、黄柏雪、黄彦忠
Huaihe Ying (Camp at Huai River) – Mu Yu, Chen Junjie, Huang Baixue, Huang Yanzhong

– 京剧《九更天》 高彤、韩巨明
Jiu Geng Tian (Nine More Days) – Gao Tong, Han Juming, Zhang Jin, Bao Yan

– 京剧《甘露寺》 朱强、杜镇杰、赵葆秀、邓沐伟、马小曼
Gan Lu Si (Ganlu Temple) – Zhu Qiang, Du Zhenjie, Zhao Baoxiu, Deng Muwei, Ma Xiaoman

– 京剧《借东风》Jie Dong Feng (Using the Eastern Wind)
Zhang Xuejin and his students: (from left to right) Mu Yu, Du Peng, Gao Tong, Zhang Xuejin, Zhu Qiang, Zhao Hua, Song Haoyu, Wang Jinzhong

– CCTV11 presenter Zhang Zhe interviews teacher Zhang Xuejin and Zhao Jingbo (head of National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts Jingju Institute)

Bertrand and I had a conversation lately about the (for Western thinking) incomprehensible logic that certain characters follow in Chinese opera. A frequent motif is the elderly man who sacrifices his own child to save someone else who’s not his relative.
In The Orphan of the Zhao Family, a baby, the last offspring of the Zhaos is awaiting execution. A loyal physician, Cheng Ying is exchanging his own infant with the Zhao baby to save the Zhao clan.
The same happens in Exchanging the Son at the Execution Ground,  the loyal Xu Ce is offering his own son as a substitute to rescue the last son of the Xue family.
In Abandoning the Son at the Mulberry Garden, an elderly man has to leave one child of the two behind on the road, thus he ties up his own son to a mulberry tree, and carries the son of his dead brother with him.

Nine More Days goes one more step further.

Summary:
Scholar Mi Jintu leaves his older brother, Jinguo and their old servant, Ma Yi behind to try his luck with the examinations in the capital. For the night, he lodges in an inn and has a dream of his brother, soaked in blood. He immediately returns home to see what happened.

It turns out that his sister-in-law, Mrs. Tao and their neighbor, Hou Huazui murdered Jinguo. When they see that Jintu returned, Hou Huazui kills his own wife, Mrs. Liu, chops off her head, dresses the body in the clothes of Mrs. Tao, and moves the corpse to Jintu’s doorway. He hides Mrs. Tao and the head of her wife and makes a false countercharge against Mi Jintu.

Jintu is arrested. The old servant, Ma Yi cries injustice. Jintu’s death sentence is suspended while the county magistrate, Yang Weiru is looking for the head of the victim. Ma Yi thinks if he offers a head for the corpse, he can save Mi Jintu. He kills his own daughter, cuts her head off and takes it to the magistrate, but it just convinces the judge of Mi Jintu’s guilt. Ma Yi murdered and mutilated his own daughter in vain.

Ma Yi appeals to a higher magistrate who investigates the case in detail. It takes nine days but finally Mi Jintu is rehabilitated.

However, skipping a step in the official system and appealing directly to a higher magistrate wasn’t a real carnival in feudal China. To prove that his complaint is not fake or insignificant, a commoner had to undergo a painful procedure to convince the high official that he had a good reason to bother him directly.

In order to get noticed at all, the civilian had to go to the headquarters of the high magistrate, and beat a gong under the window. Once he got inside, came the lever-knife test: is he brave enough to sustain the charges with a blade at his throat?

And it was just getting worse, in the next test he had to roll on the floor while clutching a nailed board to his chest. This explains the half-naked (and later bloody) Gao Tong in the final scene:

Brrr. A real tragedy.

On August 17-18, 2011 the Jingju Theater of Beijing was staging a series, Fufeng’s Beautiful Sound Heritage (扶风遗韵) in National Grand Theater, commemorating Ma Lianliang’s 110th birthday. It consisted of the whole edition of The Orphan of the Zhao Family (Zhaoshi Guer) and quintessential highlights from typical Ma school operas, also a course of lectures and an exhibition, displaying elegant laosheng stage costumes to pay respects to the great master.

Ma Lianliang's grandson introducing stage costume

The highlights were performed by three generations of Ma school; Mu Yu (introduced here) was performing from Huaihe River, Gao Tong from Ma Yi Jiu Zhu, Zhu Qiang and Du Zhenjie from Ganlu Temple.

Numerous guest stars were invited, like Zhao Baoxiu, Deng Muwei and Ma Lianliang’s daughter, Mei school actress Ma Xiaoman. Finally Ma Lianliang’s direct disciple, Zhang Xuejin was performing Summoning the Eastern Wind, together with Song Haoyu and Zhao Hua.

The Orphan of the Zhao Family performance also featured many well-known faces: Zhu Qiang, Mu Yu, Gao Tong, Wang Rongrong, Tan Xiaozeng, Deng Muwei, Li Hongtu and “little Donghuang” Wang Peiyu, who, though belonging to Yu school, was learning the role of Cheng Ying 10 years before, especially to pay respect to Ma Lianliang.

→ Short news video about the promo event [DOWNLOAD] 4MB

Mu Yu singing

Source: Sina Entertainment, tv.sohu.com

I definitely wanted to introduce Zhu Qiang here, and the photo below gave me the final push. Xue Bao from The Third Wife Is Teaching His Son was a role Ma Lianliang played often, and Zhu Qiang on this picture resembles him so much.

Hilarious photo of the unhappy son with a jiafa on his head. (Zhu Qiang, Wang Qianqian, Chi Xiaoqiu)

Summary:
Ming dynasty Confucian scholar Xue Guang is going on a business trip, leaving his wife, Mrs. Zhang, his two concubines, Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Wang, his son Xue Yi (born from Liu) and an old servant, Xue Bao at home.
In Zhenjiang, Xue Guang meets a person from his home village, and asking him to deliver 500 oz. silver to his family. “Unexpectedly” this man embezzles the money, and buries an empty coffin at a desolate area outside the town. Then he’s informing the Xue family about the sad news that Xue Guang is dead.
Later the family is gradually falling apart, Zhang and Liu are unable to endure the poor circumstances, and one after another remarry, leaving Xue Yi behind. The third wife, Wang Qun-e is deeply despises the other two, remains true to her oath and bears all the bitter hardships. She’s weaving cloth to make a living, and sharing her earnings with the old servant, Xue Bao, also she’s sending the son to school.
At the school his schoolmates make fun of Xue Yi since he has no mother. He furiously returns home and refuses to accept the third wife as his mother. Wang Qun-e is unable to restrain her anger, takes a knife and destroys her weaving. Fortunately Xue Bao is there to calm her down and convinces the child to go back to school and accept punishment for his offensive behaviour. Though when San Niang wants to beat up the son, Xue Bao is defending him and finally no domestic violence is done on the stage.
Xue Yi goes back to school and makes determined efforts to finish his studies. Later he and Xue Guang both win top marks in the imperial examinations. Father and son return home in honour and glory, and finally the whole family has a reunion.

In the next two videos Zhu Qiang and Chi Xiaoqiu sing the same excerpt, in formal wear in the first one and costumed in the second.

→ 京剧《三娘教子》San Niang Jiao Zi (How the Third Wife Was Teaching the Son)
 [DOWNLOAD1] · [DOWNLOAD2] 28MB, 29MB

Zhu Qiang (朱强), first-class Ma school laosheng was born in 1961, Shenyang, Liaoning.
In 1972 he joined Shenyang Beijing Opera Theater’s student team, and after graduating in 1977 he became a leading actor of the theatre.
He began to study the art of Ma school in 1987 from teacher Zhang Xuejin (张学津), son of Zhang Junqiu, and one year later continued his studies at The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts.
After graduation in 1990 he returned to Shenyang, then moved to the capital and was assigned to the Jingju Theater of Beijing Youth Troupe in 1994. Three years later he entered The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts again in the first session of the Talented Young Beijing Opera Performers class.

Zhu’s regular traditional plays are The Orphan of the Zhao Family, The Auspicious Dragon and Phoenix, List of Incorrupt Officials, Beating the Nephew to Sweep the Tombs and Qun-Jie-Hua¹, also he participated in a bunch of new plays, for example played the role of Emperor Qianlong in Prime Minister Liu Luoguo and Master Yu in Going to the West Gate.
He won awards at the Nationwide Middle-aged Beijing Opera Performers TV Competition in 1987 and 1991, outstanding performance award in the National Youth Beijing Opera Troupes Joint Performance of New Drama in 1992 and first prize in the National Competition of Outstanding Young Jingju Performers.
Zhu Qiang has a full and pure voice, and if you ask me he looks very handsome in costume.

→ 京剧《苏武牧羊》Su Wu Mu Yang (Su Wu Herding Sheep)
 [DOWNLOAD] 31MB

→ 京剧《甘露寺》Ganlusi (Ganlu Temple)；《淮河营》Huaihe Ying (Army at Huai River)
 [DOWNLOAD] 22MB

¹ An opera staged to commemorate the 90th birthday of famous Beijing opera artist Yuan Shihai (袁世海), following the storyline of Qun Ying Hui (Gathering of Heroes), Jie Dong Feng (Summoning the Eastern Wind) and Hua Rong Dao (The Huarong Path). Download a very pretty copy  [HERE] (1.23GB) with performers like Ye Shaolan, Jiang Qihu (as Zhou Yu), Shang Changrong, Yang Chi (as Cao Cao), Yu Kuizhi (as Lu Su), Meng Guanglu (as Huang Ge), Yuan Xiaohai, son of Yuan Shihai (as Guan Yu), Xi Zhonglu (as Zhao Yun) and so on. Zhu Qiang played the role of Kong Ming (Zhuge Liang).

You can buy (me :P) a CD of Yuan Shihai [HERE].

Photos and sources: china.com.cn, Mask9 – a literature and art guide, xikao.com

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.