The Drunken Concubine

Introduction

Grown from a Qianlong-era local play and polished by Mei Lanfang into a signature work of the Mei school

The Drunken Concubine, also called The Hundred Flowers Pavilion, is a Peking opera that grew out of a local huabu play of the Qianlong reign. Yang Yuhuan waits in the pavilion for Emperor Xuanzong, who has promised to dine with her, only to learn that he has gone to another consort; hurt and angry, she has the eunuchs Gao Lishi and Pei Lishi keep refilling her cup until she is drunk, and returns to her palace in low spirits. Polished by Mei Lanfang, it became one of the classics of the Mei school and was filmed in colour in 1955 for The Stage Art of Mei Lanfang. In 2002 Mei Baojiu and others built the large symphonic Peking opera The Great Tang Consort on it, and in 2007 an excerpt flew aboard Chang'e 1, China's first lunar probe.