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Scholar Dong and Madam Li
Written by Wang Renjie
Performed by Fujian Province Liyuan Experimental Theatre
The story of Scholar Dong and Madam Li is a tale of passion, lust, purity, tragedy, and humour. When the educated scholar was appointed to watch over Madam Li, he knew the task would be a challenge, but he could not imagine in what way. All his knowledge could tell him was that the madam had a way of making him apprehensive, bashful, and gratified.
Watch the musical courtship unfold here in scene four from Wang Renjie’s Chinese opera: Scholar Dong and Madam Li.
As translated by Josh Stenberg and excerpted in Ricepaper Magazine 19.2