Min Opera: The Story of the Red Skirt

The Chinese Opera Festival invites you to discover the varied forms of opera that were popular in Ancient China. The third event is dedicated to Min Opera with the play The Story of the Red Skirt. 

Summary: 

The scholar Wang Chenglong, an inveterate gambler, bets and loses all he has, including a red skirt belonging to his wife Liu. He then jumps into the Minjiang river, but is saved and brought far away to the capital Chang’an. His wife remains faithful to him while thinking he drown. For thirteen years, he raises their child and works hard to overcome these hard years. In the meantime, in Chang’an, Wang Chenglong marries into the Xu family. Later on, he is sent to Fuzhou for a commercial trip, during which he comes across his first wife. Their reunion creates a lot of conflicting feelings.

The Story of the Red Skirt (Hongqunji) has been for more than a century a classic of Min Opera (Minju), that is peculiar to the province of Fujian, located in front of Taïwan. The plot is inspired by true events that happened in Fuzhou during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The Min Opera belongs to Southern Theatres and has characteristic melodic tones.

Performed by the Minjiang Specialized National School

Main actors: CHEN Naichun, CHEN Hongxiang, WU Limin

For more information on other activities during the festival, visit the website of the Cultural Center of China.