272 Beijing Opera Performers - Pu Dayong - Number 161

Pu Dayong

Beijing Opera - "Nine-Dragon Cup"

Pu Dayong with a red broken-flower face is a minor player in "Nine-Dragon Cup," an list-opera adapted from a story in "Honorable Peng's Casebook." a novel of the late Qing. It tells how an official called Peng Peng, revered as the Honorable Peng, checked and solved difficult cases during his inspection tours and how a host of men of chivalry helped him fight local despots. In the list-opera Emperor Kangxi's nine dragon cup has been stolen and the emperor orders Huang Santai to solve the case. Huang Santai gives a big banquet, the secret purpose of which is to try to find out who stole the cup. Many greenwood heroes are invited. During the banquet, one of Huang's men deliberately brags about Huang's courage and skill. This incites Yang Xiangwu, one of the greenwood heroes present, to start bragging about his own exploits. Unaware of the trap, he boasts how he entered the palace and stole the emperor's precious cup.