272 Beijing Opera Performers - Dou Yihu - Number 48

Dou Yihu

Beijing Opera - "Chessboard Mountain"

Dou Yihu with a green broken-flower face in Chessboard Mountain, based on Complete Story of the Western Expedition. Xue Dingshan, a Tang general, and his mother and younger sister, Jinlian, are on their way to Suoyang Pass. While crossing Chessboard Mountain, they are captured by Dou Yihu, chief of the mountain stockade, and his sister Xiantong. Cheng Yaojin, one of Dou's companions, urges the stockade chief to free the captives and surrender to the Tang, but Dou insists on marrying Xue Dingshan's sister first. Cheng pretends to agree to this, but secretly arranges a marriage between Xue Dingshan and Dou's sister Xiantong.

"Peking Opera Painted Faces" (Morning Glory Publishers - Beijing 1994) - by Zhao Menglin