183 Beijing Operas - Chong Gongdao - Number 198

Chong Gongdao

Beijing Opera - "Escorting the Woman Prisoner"

Chong Gongdao with an old clown face is the leading character in "Escorting the Woman Prisoner," adapted from a story in "General Sayings to Warn the World." Chong Gongdao, an old prison guard and a kindhearted man, is given the task of escorting a woman prisoner to Taiyuan to be retried. Learning of the prisoner's bitter experiences, he does his best to console her on the way. Eventually he adopts her as his daughter. The opera is actually an act in the opera "Yutang Chun" (see Mask 191 for that story), and the prisoner is the prostitute Yutang Chun, wrongly accused of murder. The court in Taiyuan absolves her of the crime.