Yu Tang Chun

Introduction

A story first told by Feng Menglong in the late Ming; its earliest recorded staging dates from 1802

Yu Tang Chun, the professional name of its heroine Su San, is a play performed in Peking opera and many regional forms. The story first appears in the late Ming collection Stories to Caution the World by Feng Menglong, was turned into chuanqi plays in the late Ming and into a Kunqu play in the Qing. After the four great Anhui troupes came to Beijing it became a Peking opera classic, and the earliest surviving record of a performance is a staging by Lu Longguan of the Sanqing troupe in 1802. Peking opera used to perform single scenes such as the temple fair, the journey under escort and the joint trial, until Xun Huisheng added a beginning and an end and premiered a full version in Shanghai on 6 February 1926. Mei Lanfang learned the escort scene from his uncle Mei Yutian, after which it became a stand-alone piece, and all four great dan actors played Su San.