The Ghost Seizes Zhang Sanlang

Introduction

A classic of Sichuan yangqin balladry in which Yan Poxi's ghost comes back at midnight for Zhang Wenyuan

The Ghost Seizes Zhang Sanlang is a traditional play spun from the world of the Water Margin, though the novel itself has no such episode. Yan Poxi, killed by Song Jiang, returns as a ghost at midnight to claim her lover Zhang Wenyuan and take him with her to the underworld. The story is staged in Peking opera, Qinqiang, Kunqu and Cantonese wooden-fish ballads, and in Sichuan yangqin it is a classic that the master Li Decai and his pupil Xu Shu sang together in the 1950s and 1960s. Sichuan yangqin, also called Sichuan qinshu, is sung to the hammered dulcimer and was traditionally shared by five performers covering the five role types. Popular around Chengdu, Luzhou and Zigong, it entered the second national intangible heritage list in 2008.