The Red Plum Blossoms

Introduction

A Ming chuanqi by Zhou Chaojun about Pei Yu and Li Huiniang

The Red Plum Blossoms, also titled Hongmei Hua, is a chuanqi drama by Zhou Chaojun of the Wanli years of the Ming; the surviving text has two volumes and thirty-four scenes. It is set at the end of the Southern Song. The scholar Pei Yu tours West Lake, where Li Huiniang, a concubine of the chief minister Jia Sidao, voices her admiration for him, and Jia has her killed on returning home. Pei meets Lu Zhaorong while picking plum blossom, and the red plum brings them together; when Jia holds Pei captive, Li Huiniang's ghost meets him in secret, leads him out of danger and confronts Jia to his face. In the end Jia is impeached, and Pei sits the examinations and marries Lu Zhaorong. Li Huiniang appears in only six scenes, centred on Boating on the Lake, The Concubine's Death, The Secret Meeting, Escape from Peril and The Ghost Argues, and Yuan Yuling's Jianxiao Ge recast of The Ghost Argues is much praised. Later plays such as the Qing Hongmei Ge, the Cantonese opera The Reincarnation of Red Plum, the Kunqu Li Huiniang and the Qinqiang Touring West Lake all grew from it.

Parts

1. Boating on the LakeScene 2, where Pei Yu meets Li Huiniang on the lake
2. The Concubine's DeathScene 4, where Jia Sidao kills Li Huiniang
3. The Secret MeetingScene 13, where Li Huiniang's ghost meets Pei
4. Escape from PerilScene 16, where Li Huiniang leads Pei out of danger
5. The Ghost ArguesScene 17, where Li Huiniang confronts Jia Sidao