The Pearl

Introduction

A Gan opera classic reworked by Shi Linghe and filmed as an opera film in 1958

The Pearl is a representative play of Gan opera, named with Zhang San Borrows Boots as typical of the form. The scholar Gao Wenju leaves for the examinations in the capital, and at the Yuhe Bridge he and his wife Wang Jinzhen split a pearl, each keeping one half as a token. Having come first in the examinations, he is forced by the chief minister Wen Ge to marry into his family, his letters home are forged, and Wang Jinzhen, cast off, travels to the capital to find him and suffers cruelly in the minister's house. With the help of an old servant and the half pearl she is reunited with her husband, and Judge Bao brings the wrong to light. The Shanghai Film Studio made the play into an opera film in 1958, which was shown across the country. The version in use comes from Shi Linghe, known as the father of Gan opera, who brought the Raohe and Xinhe troupes together as Gan opera in 1951 and also reworked The Return of the Soul and The Western Chamber; Nanchang University and the Jiangxi Gan Opera Theatre staged the play again in 2026 for the 120th anniversary of his birth.

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