183 Beijing Operas - Boy Attendant - Number 134

Boy Attendant

Beijing Opera - "Theft of the Silver Flask"

Boy Attendant with the clown face plays a part on the opera "Theft of the Silver Flask," adapted from a story in "The Book of Thrillers, Second Impression." This book was compiled by Ling Menchu, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty. It contains a collection of folk tales the author had picked up from time to time and rewritten in the form of a storyteller's scripts. Theft of the Silver Flask is also called Fingered Citrons. It tells about a Song empress who is taken ill and needs the fingered citrons grown in the state of Jin (Jurchen). An official called Zhou Bida is sent to buy them, but as Jin and Song are not on friendly terms, the official is detained by a Jin general. Late, Zhou Huiying and two other Song generals attack Jin. They rescue Zhou Bida and bring back the citrons.