Flowers as Matchmaker

Introduction

Written by Cheng Zhaocai from a Strange Tales story and filmed in 1963 with Xin Fengxia in the lead

Flowers as Matchmaker is the best-known comedy of pingju, written by Cheng Zhaocai around 1919 from a story in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Wang Junqing has secretly pledged himself to his cousin Li Yue'e and turns down Zhang Wuke, the match proposed by the go-between Mother Ruan, who then sends his cousin Jia Junying to meet Zhang Wuke in his place, and in the end two couples marry. The early text ended with one husband taking two wives; Chen Huaiping and Lü Ziying later revised it, adding the role of Jia Junying so that the play closes with two couples. In 1963 the Changchun Film Studio filmed it in an adaptation by Wu Zuguang, with Xin Fengxia and Zhao Lirong in the cast. Naming the Flowers, Sighing at the Mirror and Teasing the Bride are among its best-loved passages. In May 2024 the China Pingju Theatre premiered a new staging at the Beijing People's Theatre that draws on the film and on its 2013 revival.

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