A Maid From Heaven
Life in the Heavenly Palace is dull and bleak.The Maid From Heaven (Seventh Fairy) is the seventh daughter of the Emperor of Heaven. Tired of her life in Heaven and admiring the boy-and-girl’s love on earth, she suddenly feels the irresistible urge to join the world below.With the sympathy and support of her six elder sisters, The Maid From Heaven (Seventh Fairy) defies the law of Heaven and descends upon the earth alone.It happens that a young man by the name of Tung Yung is recently bereft of his father. He is so poor that he cannot afford to bury the deceased parent. In order to obtain enough money for his father’s funeral, Tung Yung sells himself out as a slave to a rich man, Master Fu, for a period of three years.His touching filial piety moves the heart of The Maid From Heaven (Seventh Fairy) so much that the fairy transforms herself into a lovely country maid to meet Tung Yung on his way, pretending that she has lost her way in an outlandish country after failing to locate her relative.She requests him to give her a helping hand and in return for his kindness she hints that she is willing to marry him.Thinking that he can scarcely look after himself let alone support a family, Tung Yung politely turns her down.With the help of Earth God and by dint of her eloquence, she ultimately succeeds in persuading Tung Yung. In the presence of Earth God as their witness and an oak tree as their go-between, the two get married. They both go to Master Fu’s house for work.A stingy millionaire, Master Fu shows his displeasure when Tung Yung brings along his wife, thus increasing Master Fu’s burden of support.Realising the situation, The Maid From Heaven (Seventh Fairy) explains that she cannot only do the domestic chores but knows how to weave cloth.With a malicious intention to embarrass her, Master Fu lays down a condition : unless The Maid From Heaven (Seventh Fairy) can weave ten bolts of brocade in one night, Tung Yung shall work as his slave for six years instead of three years to redeem himself.Confident, The Maid From Heaven (Seventh Fairy) queries the master, “What if I can fulfill your condition in one night?”“Then I shall cut down Tung Yung’s years of redemption from three years to 100 days”, Master Fu replies firmly.“It’s a deal!” The Maid From Heaven accepts the condition and that night, she asks for help from her six elder sisters. All the sisters come down to earth and help her weave the ten bolts of brocade in two hours.What else can Master Fu do but to keep his promise?After 100 days of toil in Master Fu’s house, the couple regains their freedom and prepares to get underway for Tung Yung’s countryside, anticipating a free, pleasant married life.On their way home, Tung Yung discovers that his wife is pregnant. Overjoyed, he goes off foraging for food to feed her.The moment Tung Yung leaves her, an Envoy of the Emperor of Heaven arrives with four giant Buddhas to order The Maid From Heaven to return immediately to the Heavenly Palace.Unwilling to separate from Tung Yung, The Maid From Heaven defies the Emperor’s order. The Envoy leaves for the Heavenly Palace and returns with a second order from the Emperor – to dismember Tung Yung unless The Maid From Heaven returns to her father.When The Maid From Heaven is running from pillar to post, Tung Yung comes back with date-pears (Tsao Li in Chinese) which he has picked for his wife to eat.She hints at their inevitable separation by calling his attention to Tsao Li which in Chinese resembles the sound of “Early Separation”. Tung Yung does not catch her meaning. She cannot help but show him a poem on her fan from which Tung Yung learns to his astonishment that his wife is a transfiguration from a fairy, that The Emperor of Heaven is summoning her home and that their separation is inevitable. His heart aches with a wrench.At the painful moment of parting, The Emperor’s Envoy appears for the third time demanding the return of The Maid From Heaven. Tung Yung holds tight to her clothes but is knocked unconscious by the Heavenly army.Afraid that Tung Yung may be dismembered by Heaven’s will, The Maid From Heaven agrees to return to her father. Upon departure, she tearfully leaves words on the oak tree, promising to return to the shade under the oak tree when flowers blossom in the next spring. She will bring him the child and swears that though they are as far apart from each other as Heaven and Earth, she will never cease loving him.When Tung Yung comes to, the fairy is gone. Reading the words on the oak tree, Tung Yung can only look forlornly towards the Heaven with a pair of tearful eyes and a poor, broken heart
The Pearl Phoenix
Scholar Wen Pi-cheng visits Ching Hsiu Nunnery while en route to Nanyang and is captivated by Miss Huo who has come to worship with her mother. She drops a pearl phoenix hairpin which is picked up by Wen.Anxious to return it to her, Wen Pi-cheng adopts a false name and has himself sold to the Huo’s as a page.One day he is ordered to accompany the family to a birthday party. Miss Huo catches cold and had to stay home. Wen disappointed. While attending Madam Huo, Pi Cheng is told to return home with a basket of lotus and seeing Miss Huo. Pi Cheng places the pearl phoenix hairpin in the lotus before delivering it to her.Thinking Pi Cheng is only a page, Miss Huo is pleasantly surprised to learn he is in fact, a famous scholar from Loyang. She is so moved by his devotion that she lets him keep the pearl phoenix hairpin as an engagement present. She urges him to acquire still further honours by taking the forthcoming Imperial Examination at the capital. When Madam Huo returns home, he slips out the backdoor. But he faces yet another shock.Madam Huo has already promised to marry her daughter to a distant relative. She is actually Miss Huo’s stepmother. When Miss Huo refuses to obey her, Madam Huo threatens to rill her. In desperation, she sets fire to her boudoir and escapes with her maid Chiu Hua.Disguising themselves as boys, Miss Huo runs into Lord Liu. He likes her and insists on taking her as a “foster-son”.Failing to find Miss Huo’s body, Madam Huo now realizes she’s been fooled. She writes to the Magistrate of Loyang asking him to have Wen Pi-cheng arrested.Miss Huo’s literary talent soon earns her the high position of Roving Inspector. While on an inspection tour of Loyang, she is informed of the death of Wen Pi-cheng in prison. Fortunately, Warden Yang Hu had found a substitute for Wen Pi-cheng who was poisoned in his stead.When the Roving Inspector returns to the capital, she is told by her “foster-father” that Wen Pi-cheng has won the year’s top literary honours. The couple marry amid great joy.
The Three Smiles
Noted scholar Tang Pai-hu chances to meet lady-in-waiting Chiu-Hsiang at a temple and is captivated by her beauty. He resolves to enter Minister Hua’s residence, where the girl works. He succeeds in doing so, by disguising himself as a poor servant seeking employment.Tang is made tutor to the minister’s sons, Hua Wen and Hua Wu, and given the name Hua An. But Tang’s cousin Feng Yu-ying is the minister’s daughter-in-law and recognizes him. To his good fortune, instead of revealing his identity, she decides to help his courtship of the maidservant.Tang’s wooing proceeds smoothly, though the girl is understandably coy. Despite the fact that the Hua boys are also after Chiu Hsiang’s hand, he succeeds in persuading her to spend a night with him. Desperate, Hua Wen and Hua Wu waylay Lady Hua in the dark, thinking her to be Chiu Hsiang. They are severely reprimanded.Tang now enlists the support of his friend Chu Chi-shan. Chu suggests Tang trick Minister Hua into offering him a permanent position in his household, plus the choice of a wife from among the maids.The clever plan succeeds and Tang chooses Chiu Hsiang for his mate. He then politely declines the offer to remain and he and Chiu are immediately wed. That same night, the couple sneak out of the Hua household and make for Tang’s hometown.
Beyond The Great Wall
The Han Emperor Yuan Ti has such a large harem that he cannot meet all the inmates in it. He depends on the portraits of his wives to decide on the ones he would command to appear before him.The court painter Mao Yen-shou thus wields a strange power over the girls in the Emperor’s harem.Wang Chao-chun is selected for her beauty for the Emperor’s harem. But Mao Yen-shou demands one hundred taels of gold from her. When Wang Chao-chun refuses to pay the bribe, he with the connivance of the eunuch minister Shih Hsien, paints an ugly portrait of her.So for three long years, the Emperor has not summoned Wang Chao-chun, though she is the fairest of them all in his court. For three long years Wang Chao-chun pines away in the loneliness of the palace, cut off from the rest of the world. She can only lament her fate to the melancholy notes of her pipa.But one night while the Emperor is strolling in the garden of the palace, he was attracted by the melancholy notes of Wang Chao-chun’s pipa.Emperor Yuan Ti finds his way to Wang Chao-chun’s quarters. He is delighted at the beauty of Wang Chao-chun, who unaware of the presence of the Emperor softly cries to the sad notes of her pipa.Emperor Yuan Ti is touched by her tears. He is on the point of asking her, when another girl in the harem taking him for the court painter hands him a bribe of gold and begs him to be merciful towards her.Suspecting Mao Yen-shou. Emperor Yuan Ti orders the portrait of Wang Chao-chun to be brought before him, and finds it completely different from the actual person.Shih Hsien secretly advises Mao Yen-shou to flee the court and take refugee with the Huns.For Wang Chao-chun, her lonely days are over. She is the Emperor’s favorite and is always by the Emperor’s side.Among the nomadic tribes of the north, Mao Yen-shou seeks revenge on Wang Chao-chun. He presents a real portrait of Wang Chao-chun to the Khan of the Huns, claiming that Wang Chao-chun was a princess, whose hand the Han emperor has offered to him.The Khan is captivated by the beauty of Wang Chao-chun. He sends his emissaries with rich gifts to the Han court in acceptance of the offer.Emperor Yuan Ti is startled at the Khan’s emissaries. He sends them back and rejects all the gifts.The Khan, feeling slighted, raises an army against the Han empire. Emperor Yuan Ti is undecided whether to sue for peace or go to war, when Wang Chao-chun, to save her country from the ravages of war and thousands of innocent people from dying because of her, decides to go into exile to the wastelands of the north to become the wife of the Khan.Wang Chao-chun dons the garb of the nomadic tribe to prepare for her journey to cold and forbidding northern deserts.Clutching her pipa to her, Wang Chao-chun bids farewell to Yuan Ti and her country to journey beyond the Great Wall to the north.The Khan parades his best in greeting the Chinese beauty. Banquets are given but Wang Chao-chun is not happy. The Khan, however, comes to learn the tricks of Mao Yen-shou. He orders the prompt execution of Mao.The war is over. Chao-chun’s mission is accomplished. On the eve of her wedding to the Khan, she jumps into the river. The Khan tries in vain to save her.The Huns and the Chinese thus have come to respect Wang Chao-chun as a patriotic, chaste beauty.
Madam White Snake
Madam White Snake is a famous Chinese classical legend, which will remind the western viewer of the Lamia theme of John Keats’ poem. For this story tells of two snakes, one white and one green, which assumed human form during the days of the Mongol invasion of China, when the capital was removed to beautiful Hangchow. The snakes, now two beautiful women who take the names of Pak Su-cheng (Linda Lin Dai) and Ching-ching (Margaret Tu Chuan), arrive in Hangchow. Pak Su-cheng encounters a young man Hsu Hsien (Chao Lei) who, in a former life, had saved her life when she was a snake a thousand years ago. She recognises him and decides to reward him now by marrying him, with the aid of Ching-ching, acting as matchmaker.Of course, in this fay world of spirits, charms and magic, there are all sorts of difficulties, not the least being that of the beauties to conceal their real serpent identity.But when dangers threaten the happiness of the mortals and the spirits, the latter draw upon their supernatural powers, and eventually win out, but in a far happier world than this.The beautiful tale is unfolded with charm, and cannot fail to fascinate both the Chinese and the European members of the audience.
The Kingdom And The Beauty
The young emperor Cheng-te was at his studies, but his mind was not on his lessons. He was rapt in the song of a lady-in-wai-ting, singing beauties of the south.Chou Yung, commander of the Imperial Guards was leaving to visit his home town in the south, so the emperor decides to go along incognito.Brought up in the deep confines of the Imperial Palace, Cheng-te was enraptured with the scenic beauty of South China.One day the couple arrived at Mei Lung, a small country town. The townsfolks were in a gay holiday mood, giving thanks to the gods with gay celebrations.Packed in the crowds of happy revelers a shower of blossoms suddenly fell on the emperor. He caught one and looked up in time to see the fleeting smile of the lovely country girl who had strewn the flowers.He was captivated by that fleeting smile, and that night, back at the inn, his thoughts were on the girl. Early next morning, he strolled out of the inn and came upon a wine-shop.To his great joy, he found the girl of his dreams in the wine-shop. She was Li Feng, sister of the owner of wine-shop.It was love at first sight for the lovely girl and the handsome emperor. Their romance blossomed, and the days flew by. All too soon, the royal tutor Liang Chu, under the orders of the empress mother, found the emperor and asked him to return to his court.To her shock and amazement, Li Feng finds out that the man to whom she had given her love and herself was none other than the emperor. Cheng-te left with a promise that Li Feng would be his empress and that he would send for her.One long year dragged slowly by, Li Feng gave birth to a son. Tortured by the separation from her lover, and the gossip of the townsfolk, Li Feng fell ill.Ta Niu, the wine-shop attendant, worked his way north to see the emperor. Through the royal tutor, Liang Chu, the plight of Li Feng was brought to the attention of the emperor.Too late, the emperor sent for Li Feng. Her weak health could not stand the arduous journey north. She arrived just to die in the arms of the man she loved.
West Chamber
While visiting Pu Chiu Temple, scholar Chang Chun-jui is enchanted by the beauty of a young lady. The lady is named Tsui Ying-ying, daughter of the late Prime Minister. She is staying with her mother, brother and maid Hung Niang at the East Chamber. They are on route home to bury her father. A revolt led by Sun Fei-hu has forced them to stay till the trouble is over.Chun-jui manages to talk the Abbot into putting him up at the West Chamber. Chun-jui pleads again with the Abbot to let him attend a memorial service for the late minister on the excuse that he, too, wants to offer sacrifices to the souls of his deceased parents.As expected, Ying-ying follows her mother to the service. The ritual has just begun, when the party is frightened by battle cries of the rebels who have come to abduct Ying-ying for the leader Sun Fei-hu. Ying-ying in desperation, says she will marry anyone who routs the bandits. Surprisingly, Chun-jui responds to the call. He immediately sends a letter to General Tu Chueh for help. Next he persuades the rebels to withdraw for three days, as Ying-ying is still in mourning. He promises to help her over to Sun Fei-hu as soon as the memorial service is over.When the rebels are rooted, Madam Tsui throws a party in Chun-jui’s honour. Surprisingly, the old lady tells the scholar to treat Ying-ying as his sister.Hung Niang drops in to express to the disappointed young man her sympathy. The visit revives his hope. Chun-jui then asks the maid to deliver a letter to Ying-ying. Soon he gets a reply asking him to visit her at the East Chamber.On second thoughts Ying-ying decides to break her promise, as she is afraid that her meeting with him will stain the family’s honour. Broken-hearted, Chun-jui soon takes ill. But his troubles vanish when Ying-ying’s second letter tells him that she will meet him at the West Chamber. When the lady turns up as promised, Chun-jui is elated beyond description. The two spend the night together, thus fulfilling a dearly-cherished dream.Their romance is discovered by Madam Tsui as Hung Niang divulges the whole story under torture. Madam Tsui who broke her original promise, now realizes that there is nothing she can do to stop the lovers and reluctantly gives her consent to their marriage.
