Retrospective - Chinese Opera Masterpieces on Screen
The Legend of the White Snake
白蛇传 (Baishe zhuan) by FU Chaowu
China / 1980 / 148' / 35 mm / Color
Starring:LI Bingshu, LU Boping, FANG Xiaoya, SU Shengyi
Screenwriter: TIAN Han
Director of Photography: HUANG Shaofen, YU Shishan
Peking Opera
Background
The Legend of the White Snake is one of the most famous Chinese operas. It was adapted from the twenty-eighth chapter of the classic anthology by Jing Shi Tong Yan, which was written in 1624 under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) by the scholar FENG Menglong. The places referenced in the legend exist to this day.
The Legend of the White Snake has been performed in nearly all the different styles of Chinese opera, but that of the Peking (Beijing) opera is the most well-known. "The Four Great Dan Actors", the four greatest performers of the Beijing opera – MEI Lanfang, CHENG Yanqiu, SHANG Xiaoyun and XUN HUISHENG - have all starred in it.
The Film
The film is based on the opera The Story of the Golden Bowl (Jin No Ji) which was written by TIAN Han in 1947. In 1953, he adapted it for the screen adding the final plot intrigue where the Green Snake defeats the Goddess of the Tower and saves the White Snake. Writer, playwright and revolutionary from the very beginning, TIAN Han (1898-1968) is considered the founder of modern Chinese theatre.
TIAN Han breaks the traditional structure of the genre in which the man is the strong and the savior... In this film, it is the woman who saves the man, the maid who rescues the master from great danger and the White Snake and the Green Snake although witches are friendly and brave... The Legend of the White Snake turns the traditional conception of characters upside down. As well as a daring production with special effects and the use of a natural set, this film became one of the biggest successes of Chinese cinema, drawing in more than seven hundred million viewers at the time of its release in 1981.
Synopsis
The White Snake and the Green Snake – two witches form the mountain Emei – descend amongst humans desguised as two beautiful girls, Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing. By chance they meet the young Xu Xian on the lake of the West. Bai falls immediately in love with him and they quickly get married with the help of Xiaoqing. The evil Buddha Fahai, having learnt that Bai is in fact a snake, intervenes and imprisons Xu Xian in the Jinshan temple. Bai and Xiaoqing attempt to fight him but because Bai is pregnant and the Buddha Fai defeats them. Xu saves himself. After the birth of the child, Fahai imprisons Bai under the Leifeng pagaoda. Xiaoqing returns to save her friends. She finally achieves this after an epic fight against Fahai, during which the pagoda is destroyed. The pagoda has since been rebuilt and is still visible from the shores of the lake of the West at Hanghzhou.
FU Chaowu (1922-1992)
Director and screenwriter, FU Chaowu was born into a poor peasant family from Shandong. In 1939 he joined the Communist party. He graduated from the Luxux Academy in 1940. Between 1942 and 1949 he wrote for theatre. He became a director and began working for the Shanghai Film Studio in 1955. His most well known films include On the banks of the River Jinsha (Jinsha jiang pan, 1963), Family Affair (Jia ting wen ti, 1964) and The Legend of the White Snake.
Filmography
- FU Chaowu 傅超武 (1922-1992)
Director:
- Golden Late Autumn 金色的晚秋 (Jin se de wan qiu) (1983)
- La Légende du Serpent Blanc / The White Snake 白蛇传 (Bai she zhuan) (1980)
- They Have Family 蓝光闪过之后 (Lan guang shan guo zhi hou) (1979)
- Wo men you qin ren 我们有亲人 (1979)
- Uproot Eagle-Grave 平鹰坟 (Ping ying fen) (1978)
- In The Shipyaro 战船台 (Zhan chuan tai) (1975)
- The Fiery Years 火红的年代 (Huo hong de nian dai) (1974)
- Jia Ting Wen Ti 家庭问题 (1964)
- Along The Jinsha River 金沙江畔 (Jinsha jiang pan) (1963)
- Ji Mao Fei Shang Tian 鸡毛飞上天 (1961)
- Xiang Piao Wan Li 香飘万里 (1959)
- Qian Fang Lai Xin 前方来信 (1958)
- Happiness 幸福 (Xing Fu) (1957)
Screenwriter:
- The Harbor 海港 (Hai gang) (1972)
- Jia Ting Wen Ti 家庭问题 (1964)
- Along The Jinsha River 金沙江畔 (Jinsha jiang pan) (1963)
- Ji Mao Fei Shang Tian 鸡毛飞上天 (1961)
- Xiang Piao Wan Li 香飘万里 (1959)
- Qian Fang Lai Xin 前方来信 (1958)
- Tian Han 田汉 (1898-1968)
Screenwriter:
- La Légende du Serpent Blanc / The White Snake 白蛇传 (Bai she zhuan) (1980)
- Love Delective 情探 (Qing Tan) (1958)
- Three Women 丽人行 (Li ren xing) (1949)
- Anecdotes of An Actor 二百五小传 (Er bai wu xiao zhuan) (1949)
- Memories of the South 忆江南 (Yi Jiang Nan) (1947)
- The March of Youth 青年进行曲 (Qing nian jin xing qu) (1937)
- Paean 凯歌 (Kai ge) (1935)
- The Golden Times 黄金时代 (Huang jin shi dai) (1934)
- Existence of the Nation 民族生存 (Min zu sheng cun) (1933)
- A Face-to-Face Combat 肉搏 (Rou bo) (1933)
- The Light of Motheral Instinct 母性之光 (Mu xing zhi guang) (1933)
- Three Modern Ladies 三个摩登女性 (San ge mo deng nu xin) (1933)
- Duan Di Yu Yin 断笛余音 (1927)
- Dream By The Lake 湖边春梦 (Hu bian chun meng) (1927)
- Dao Min Jian Qu 到民间去 (1926)
Director:
- Existence of the Nation 民族生存 (Min zu sheng cun) (1933)
- Duan Di Yu Yin 断笛余音 (1927)
- Dao Min Jian Qu 到民间去 (1926)
- LI Bingshu 李炳淑 (1942-)
Role: Bai Suzhen
- La Légende du Serpent Blanc / The White Snake 白蛇传 (Bai she zhuan) (1980)
- The Chair On Trial 审椅子 (Shen yi zi) (1976)
- Long Jiang Song 龙江颂 (1972)