272 Beijing Opera Performers - Ji Liao - Number 94

Ji Liao

Beijing Opera - "The Dagger in the Fish"

JI Liao with an old yellow three-tile face, one of the leading characters in "The Dagger in the Fish, adapted from an episode in "History if the Eastern Zhou." Ji Liao a cruel and ambitious man, dethroned his nephew, Ji Guang (King Helu, 514-496 BC). He became king by dethroning his nephew and this nephew later hired an assassin to kill him. In the list-opera Ji Guang, to regain his throne, invites his uncle to a banquet and hires an assassin named Zhuan Zhu to murder him. The assassin, posing as a cook, serves fish with a dagger concealed in it. Setting the fish before the king, he pulls out the dagger and stabs the king to death.