Third Sister Yang Files a Lawsuit

Introduction

Cheng Zhaocai's Ping opera of 1919, drawn from a real case of 1918 and regarded as the form's first lasting classic

Third Sister Yang Files a Lawsuit is the best-known play of Cheng Zhaocai, the founder of Ping opera, and appeared in 1919. Cheng based it on a real event of 1918 in Luan County, now Luannan County in Hebei, in which a young woman pressed a lawsuit on behalf of her elder sister. He liked to follow up local news in his home district and turn it into new plays. Around 1910 performers led by Cheng had built the form on the duet lotus-flower songs of the Luanzhou area, and it took the name Ping opera in 1935. The play caused a sensation when it appeared and is regarded as the first lasting classic of the form, standing in the repertoire beside The Widow Ma Opens an Inn and Flowers as Matchmaker.