Legend of the White Snake -Beijing Opera DVD

This performance (full-length) is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of China Peking Opera Theatre.

Product: Peking Opera Bai She Zhuan
Starring: Diao Li, Song Xiaochuan
Performed by the Second Troupe of China National Peking Opera Company
Published by Beijing Culture & Art Audio-Visual Publishing House, 2005
Media: 2 DVD
Language: Chinese
Subtitle: Chinese
ISBN: 7883012258
ISRC: CN-C02-05-0009-0/V.J8

The Legend of White Snake, the White Snake

Madame White Snake, Legend of the White Snake, is a Chinese legend, which existed as oral traditions before any written compilation of the Ming Dynasty. It has since become a major subject of several Chinese opera, films, and TV series.
The story tells of a young scholar, Xu Xian, who falls in love with a beautiful woman Bai Suzhen, unaware that she is a white snake which has taken on human form. A Taoist monk Fa Hai intervenes in order to save the scholar's soul and casts the white snake into a deep well at the Leifeng Pagoda.
The Story is set in the Southern Song Dynasty. Over the centuries the story has evolved from horror story to romance with the scholar and the white snake-woman genuinely in love with one another. An added character is a green snake Xiao Qing who has also been turned into a woman and serves as the white snake-woman's companion and confidante. Bai and Xu got married, opened a medicine shop and lived happily at the West Lake in Hangzhou. When the town was struck by a plague and it was soon on the verge of becoming extinct, Bai and Qing obtained the magical herb needed to help the population. But a sorcerer called Fa Hai believes it is the disaster that demons bring about and tries to eliminate Bai and Qing. On the fifth day of the fifth month, the Dragon Boat Festival is held. It is said the day that demons revert to their true selves. Xu Xian falls for Fa Hai's tricks and fuddles his wife with realgar wine. Drunken Bai shows her true self, scaring Xian literally to death! Bai retrieves the herbal medicine and brings Xian back to life. Later Bai gets pregnant, but Xu Xian falls for Fa Hai's tricks yet again and goes to the Golden Mount Temple. Having battled with Fa Hai, Bai and Qing meet Xu at the Broken Bridge of the West Lake, and Bei tells her husband the truth about her origin and her difficulties after giving birth to a son. Xian is heart-touched and kindly accepts her. The lovers are united.
The plot of White Snake is full of magic: snakes turning themselves into women, monsters, battles among heavenly creatures and demons, and so on. Magic, history, myth, and legend in the opera meld nicely into potent overarching themselves like love and power.

京剧《白蛇传》（窦晓璇 饰 白素贞， 张淑景 饰 小青）

商品名称：京剧《白蛇传》
领衔主演：刁丽、宋小川
演出：中国京剧院二团
出版社：北京文化艺术音像出版社，2005
介质：DVD
碟数：2
字幕：中文 
ISBN：7883012258
ISRC：CN-C02-05-0009-0/V.J8
 
本剧为中国京剧院建院五十周年经典剧目展演之精品剧目。
 
剧情介绍
在峨嵋山经过千年修炼的两蛇仙，来到人间的西湖，化作美丽的少女白娘子和青儿。她们在雨中遇到青年许仙，白娘子与许仙萌生爱情，结为夫妇。和尚法海认为此乃妖孽为害，遂蛊惑许仙于端阳节以雄黄酒灌醉妻子。白娘子醉后显露蛇形，吓死许仙。白娘子醒后惊痛不止，舍生忘死去仙山盗回仙草，救活许仙。不料许仙病后初愈，又被法海诱上金山寺。白娘子和青蛇赶到，法海却不准许仙出来相见。白娘子无奈，与青儿调动水族，水漫金山。法海请来神将护法助战，白娘子因临近产期，身体不支节节败退，幸赖众水族护送．始得杀出重围。白娘子又到西湖断桥，追怀往事，伤心至极。此时，许仙已感后一海赶来相会，青儿气恼，举剑欲斩，善良的白娘子急拦，以深沉的柔情说明了真相和苦衷，并劝小青宽恕许仙，使许仙大为感动，夫妻和解，重整家园。

Tags: Beijing Opera, Bai She Zhuan