The Flower Princess

Introduction

The Flower Princess is a Cantonese opera that Tang Disheng wrote for the Sin Fung Ming troupe, adapting a Kunqu play of the same name by the Qing dramatist Huang Xieqing. It was the troupe's fourth production and opened at the Lee Theatre in Hong Kong on 7 June 1957, moving to a theatre in Kowloon on 24 June. Yam Kim-fai played Zhou Shixian and Pak Suet-sin played Princess Changping, with Leung Sing-po and Ching Chi-pak in the cast. The 1957 production had six scenes, while the version in common use today has eight. The best-known scene, The Fragrant Death, sets its singing to the Cantonese tune Autumn Thoughts at the Dressing Table, and a film with the same two leads followed in 1959.