Tale of the Lychee Mirror
Tân Saⁿ and Gō͘-niû (Chinese: 陳三五娘; pinyin: Chen San Wuniang; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân-saⁿ-Gō͘-niû) is a Taiwanese opera about a love folktale. It came from a script titled Tale of the Lychee Mirror (荔鏡記, Nāi-kèng-kì).
History
Tân Saⁿ Gō͘-niû is a story started in Ming dynasty. The author of it is unknown. This story is widely spread in Minnan-speaking areas, mainly the south part of Fujian, Chaozhou (a city in Guangdong Province), the southeast of Asia and Taiwan. It is one of the top four Taiwanese operas.
Story
Tân Saⁿ (Tan) is a scholar who is native to Quanzhou, Fujian Province. When he sent his brother and sister in law to Guangnan, he stopped in Chaozhou. During the Lantern Festival, Tan met N̂g Gō͘-niû (Ng) by chance and fell in love with each other. Lim, a local rich man's son, also saw Ng in the lantern show, and he was shocked by Ng's beauty. So Lim asked for a blind date and sent a lot of bride-price to Ng's house, because he wanted to marry Ng. Ng's father was greedy so he promised Lim's proposal. Ng did not want to follow his father's decision but she had to, so she fell into deep sorrow.
In June, Ng went to the embroidered house accompanied by her maidservant, Ang. At that time, Tan returned to Chaozhou seeking Ng. They recognized each other in the long distance and were filled with all kinds of emotions. Ng threw her handkerchief with lychee to Tan to show her own feeling. Tan was very excited and then he came up with an idea to go to Ng's house to see her again.
Several days after, Ng disguised as a person brokes the treasure mirror on purpose. So he could sell himself to Ng's family as a servant to compensate the mirror. Ng guessed Tan's motive so she was very happy but worried. She could not deny the marriage with Lim and stay with Tan forever.
A year later, Tan still could not know what Ng's mind exactly. He was so disappointed that he decided to return to Quanzhou. Ang asked the reasons then she sent a letter written by Tan to Ng. After reading his letter, Ng was very moved and met Tan alone. They loved each other deeply and decided to stay with each other no matter how hard the difficulties were. Lim could not wait to marry Ng, so he asked Ng to marry him within three days. Tan and Ng had nothing to do but escaped from Chaozhou to Quanzhou.
References
- Yang Fuling (2002). 臺灣歌仔戲史 [The History of Taiwan Opera]. Taichung: 晨星出版有限. ISBN 957455290X.
- Chen San and Wu Niang, the movie in 1957, directed by Yang Xiao Zhong in Chinese Mainland.
- Chen San and Wu Niang, the TV play in 1981, an opera of Yang Li Hua's Taiwan Opera, directed by Zhao Shi Yao in Taiwan, China.
- Li Zhuo Jun (Ming Dynasty). Li Jing Zhuan.