183 Beijing Operas - Jia Gui - Number 190

Jia Gui

Beijing Opera - "Faman Temple"

Jia Gui with a comical eunuch face has a role in "Faman Temple," based on a popular story of the Ming dynasty. Liu Jin, the chief eunuch in the imperial palace, accompanies the empress dowager to the Faman Temple to burn incense. While there, he is approached by a girl called Song Qianjiao, who begs him to help clear a man wrongly accused of murder. Liu Jin gives the local magistrate three days to solve the case. During this time the real murderer is apprehended and the wrongly accused person is freed. Jia Gui is an attendant of Liu Lin's. The opera exposes his servility in the presence of his superior and his arrogance towards the ordinary people.