Yue Opera — Dream of the Red Chamber 粤剧–红楼梦~ Chinese Movies&TV

Today let’s take a brief introduction of a famous Chinese movie named “Dream of the Red Chamber”.The Yue Opera film Dream of the Red Chamber(1962) was based on the main plot of classical Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin. This film co-starred renowned Yue Opera performing artists Wang Wenjuan and Xu Yulan. Film artist Zhu Shilin acted as the art director, and Zhong Min and Wu Chen as stage directors. During the ten years between 1978 and 1988, the film adopted over 12 billion audience. It is also the film most screened, copied and watched in Chinese history.

The story begins with the mother-less child, Lin Daiyu – whose beauty and intelligence surpasses all – moving into her grandmother’s family, the Jia Family, in the capital. There, she meets Jia Baoyu, her mother’s nephew and the heir of the Jia family. Baoyu was born with a jade tablet and is spoiled by his grandmother. He often spends his time with his female cousins and maids instead of being in his studies. One of the cousins he hangs around with is Xue Baochai. As the story goes on, Baoyu and Daiyu fall in love with each other, but Daiyu is not very well-liked by the family, and instead, the family members favor Baochai. Finally, Baochai marries Baoyu due to the machinations of his aunt Wang Xifeng. When she learns the news, Daiyu becomes heartbroken and has a breakdown. She burns all her poems that she has written before and dies in sadness. Baoyu discovers the deception on the wedding night, and is thrown into despair. He leaves home and becomes a monk after mourning Daiyu’s death.

This is a Yue Opera film of stage art. The actors and actresses in this film are dressed handsomely and their singing are very soft and emotional, which give full play to the charm of the original work. The audience will be deeply impressed by its artistic power.

红楼梦Hónglóumèng：a famous classical movie in China.
粤剧Yuèjù：also called Cantonese opera, is a local opera of the Han nationality.
贾宝玉Jiǎ Bǎoyù：a major character in Dream of the Red Chamber.