In Bianliang, the bustling, scholar-teeming Eastern Capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, a young girl, LI Qingzhao, appears out of nowhere, cutting a striking figure. Her verses are clear and elegant, putting countless young talents to shame. At the Lantern Festival, LI Qingzhao and ZHAO Mingcheng meet and fall in love at first sight, regretting they had not met earlier. That’s a perfect match, yet the sorrow of parting is unbearable. After the Jingkang Incident, both officials and people go into exile, with everybody plunged into an abyss of misery. Filled with grief and indignation, LI Qingzhao meditates on the past and mourns the present by the Wujiang River, with her patriotic feeling surging forth.
As an official, ZHAO Mingcheng is mortified beyond words. He falls critically ill and passes away. In the deep autumn, the Jiangnan region is devastated. LI Qingzhao is on her southward journey escorting the bronze and stone inscriptions. When feeling lonely and forlorn, she meets ZHANG Ruzhou, who covets her bronze and stone inscriptions, and she is unfortunately deceived by him. Her hopes for a happy life shattered by violence, LI Qingzhao suddenly awakens. She rises up in desperate struggle and fights back by filing a lawsuit. Looking back on all her life, LI Qingzhao rises from the ashes. She compiles the Records of Bronze and Stone Inscriptions to carry forward the cultural heritage.
After rain, the sky clears where clouds break, looking like jade, even prettier than jade. The greens should be thick and the reds thin, yet the begonia remains as ever. Over a thousand years later, LI Qingzhao still stands head and shoulders above others. The Song Dynasties’ poetic circles are full of starlight, and among them, LI Qingzhao, the greatest talented woman of all time, outshines all men. Her style is a school of its own, with her standing as a great master.
Presenter: Shanghai Media Group
Performed by Shanghai Dance Theatre Co., Ltd.
Executive Presenter: FANG Shizhong
Chief Executive Producer: SONG Jiongming
Chief Planner: WANG Jian’er
Chief Managing Producer: MA Chenpin
Managing Producer/Art Supervisor: WANG Yan
Credits
Managing Producer/Art Supervisor: WANG Yan
Chief Choreographer: ZHANG Disha
Chief Choreographer: LIU Xiaohe
Playwright/Planner: YU Rongjun
Composer: GUO Haowei
Set Designer: HU Yanjun
Light Media/Lighting Designer: XIAO Lihe
Costume Designer: YANG Donglin
Hair Style Designer: JIA Lei
Video Projection Designer: 3000LM Lab
Deputy Stage Director: HOU Tengfei
Photographer: WANG Xufeng
Graphic Designer: LIU Xianlin
Literary Consultant: YANG Xun
Literary Consultant: ZHAO Huijun
Literary Editor: WEI Rui
Prologue
Startled Gulls and Egrets to the tune of Like a Dream
In the late Northern Song Dynasty, a young girl, LI Qingzhao, appears out of nowhere in Bianliang, the eastern capital. She is artless, bold and unrestrained. Having her words at hand, she writes every poem of highest quality. Her verses are clear and elegant, with countless young scholars put to shame, even lost in wonder. The boat was paddled with force, startling a pool of gulls and egrets.
Act I
Lantern Festival to the tune of Eternal Union
It is hard to forget those prosperous days in Bianjing, when most women have free time for an outing, and they especially like to go out on lunar January 15th. At the Lantern Festival, there is a bustling scene everywhere. Clothes smell nice and hair on the temples looks beautiful, with the whole nation joining in the jubilation. Amidst the dazzling lights, ZHAO Mingcheng, a young man, meets LI Qingzhao by chance. They fall in love at first sight, as if a thousand years had passed in one glance, wanting to speak but holding back.
Mutual Love to the tune of Rouged Lips
She runs away with a shy look, and then leans against the door, looking back, pretending to smell green plums. Qingzhao and Mingcheng are enamoured with each other, as hot as fire. All the noise gives way to silence, while every word turns into an innermost feeling. With endless love for each other, the couple holds hands to reach old age together. Willow buds and plum blossoms foretell the advent of spring.
In a Dream to the tune of Telling Innermost Feeling
Silent everywhere, the moon is unwilling to leave, and the green curtain hangs low. On the wedding night, the happily married couple shares great tenderness with each other. All is quiet at dead of night before dawn. Two red candles are burning, shining upon mutual affection.
Gambling on Books to the tune of Green Jade Table
In the Hall of Return, their home in Qingzhou, the couple is lost in conjugal bliss. After marriage, ZHAO Mingcheng is passionate about bronze and stone inscriptions, while LI Qingzhao, knowledgeable, writes like an angel. In their peaceful life, they gamble on books and pour tea. They even compile the Studies on Bronze and Stone Inscriptions together. If the love for each other goes on as ever, why need they stay together day and night? Lovesick feeling is difficult to express, and dreams are hard to rely on. The best way is to return home.
Officialdom to the tune of Yuan Wang Sun
Benefiting from his ancestral heritage, ZHAO Mingcheng is bent on serving as an official. In the capital, there is no end to the frolics on the Bianhe River, with people living in luxury there all day long. The couple is often apart, and the sorrow of parting is hard to bear. The water birds on the beach don’t look back, either, as if hating it that people left too early. Fluting stops, yet where is he? Another year has passed, but why does he have the heart to leave me alone? The war breaks out soon after the Jingkang Incident. However, the government, extravagant and incompetent, is powerless to resist the invader. ZHAO Mingcheng cannot but abandon the city and flee in panic.
Southward Journey to the tune of Nan Ge Zi
The surging river flows eastward silently. LI Qingzhao stands by the Wujiang River, looking at the vast horizon, filled with grief and indignation. Meditating on the past and mourning the present, she writes a timeless masterpiece, with her patriotic feeling surging forth, reverberating throughout the universe. Be man of men while you’re alive, and be soul of souls even if you’re dead! Think of XIANG Yu, who would not survive, his men whose blood for him was shed!
Act II
Farewell to the tune of Xing Xiang Zi
Greatly abashed by LI Qingzhao’s lofty patriotism, ZHAO Mingcheng falls critically ill and passes away. Before death, he entrusts all the bronze and stone inscriptions to her care. Are the Cowherd and Weaving Maid still separated from each other? It’s sunny now, but rainy then, and windy later. The most fearsome thing is the sorrow of parting, so that many words are finally not taken out of the mouth for fear of sadness.
Search to the tune of Slow, Slow Song
Seeing the people in great misery everywhere, LI Qingzhao, who is drifting from place to place after her husband’s death, gains a very lonely feeling and a strong sense of loss. Attacked again and again by the pain of leaving her homeland, the grief of losing her husband and the asperity of widowhood, she still refuses to abandon her hope. So she keeps moving southward with the bronze and stone inscriptions and antiques under her protection. “I look for what I miss, I know not what it is, I feel so sad, so drear, so lonely, without cheer.”
Meeting a Scoundrel to the tune of Wu Ling Chun
Being all alone, LI Qingzhao trudges forward with difficulty. So helpless, she meets ZHANG Ruzhou, an official. Thought to be a gift from God, a spiritual haven, he is, unexpectedly, just a thief that covets her inscriptions and family property. The things are still there, but the person is no longer the same. Everything is over, tears come before words.
Breaking the Cocoon to the tune of Zhe Gu Tian
Country in turmoil, she is bullied again. LI Qingzhao is unwilling to struggle bitterly in violence. In the face of rumours, harsh rules and rotten rituals, she rises from desperation and breaks the cocoon, transformed into a butterfly of great integrity. It needs no light green or light red; it is naturally the finest among flowers.
Indictment to the tune of Chou Nu Er
A gust of wind arrives with rain in the evening, washing away scorching heat. Disappointed and annoyed, LI Qingzhao finally awakens, resolutely filing a lawsuit against ZHANG Ruzhou. She would rather go to jail than stay married to him. Drums beaten, urging her forward, lashing at ZHANG Ruzhou, who already shows himself in his true colours, and even fully exposing the mediocre, corrupt officials.
Awakening to the tune of Yu Jia Ao
Facing the disintegrated country and hardships of life, LI Qingzhao, already exhausted, is still concerned about her country and compatriots. Thus, she continues to write with thoughts pouring out like a fountain, just as the begonia remains the same. She wishes to devote her blood and sweat to the rivers and mountains, to sprinkle a handful of earth on the East Mountain. She hates it that she cannot go into battle to keep the nation safe. As a strong wind is rising, she would ride the wind and fly high like the great roc. Don’t stop, Wind! Please blow my skiff to the three fairy isles!
Cultural Inheritance to the tune of Man Ting Fang
LI Qingzhao decides to compile the Studies on Bronze and Stone Inscriptions, so as to re-present the culture of bronze and stone inscriptions for the inheritance of the Chinese culture. Suddenly, she seems to see ZHAO Mingcheng walking slowly to her. The couple reconciles, as if a lifetime had passed. How hard it is! She also seems to see her graceful, lively young self, her brave, persistent middle-aged self, and her calm, magnanimous elderly self. The current state of mind is no longer the same as before. After all, how could it ever compare to the past?
Epilogue
Great Song Poetess to the tune of Lang Tao Sha
After rain, the sky clears where clouds break – that is the colour of LI Qingzhao. Looking like jade, even prettier than jade – that is the character of LI Qingzhao. A thousand years later, LI Qingzhao still stands head and shoulders above others. Ladies compose poems as if scattering petals in a romantic atmosphere. The Song Dynasties’ poetic circles are full of starlight, yet among scholar-officials, there is the greatest talented woman of all time, who is LI Qingzhao. She outshines all men. Her style is a school of its own, with her standing as a great master.
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