The Secret Pledge from Empress Xiaozhuang
Christie Wing-sum To as Dorgon
Wang Kit-ching as Empress Xiaozhuang

Chastising the Princess
Doris Kwan as Guo Ai
Lam Tsz-ching as Princess Junrui

The Reconciliation from The Warrior’s Marriage
Ng Lap-hei as Hua Yunlong
Fei Fenger as Princess Yinping

Kneeling by the Pond from The Lioness Roars
Yuen Sin-ting as Chen Jichang
Chan Kei-ting as Liu Yu’e
Ng Kwok-wa as Su Dongpo

The Secret Pledge from Empress Xiaozhuang

Da Yu’er is dubbed ‘the number one beauty’ among the Mongolians and Jurchens.  She meets Dorgon, the fourteenth son of Khan Nurhaci, on the mound.  It is love at first sight for both, but it is a love that is not to be.  Dorgon’s half-brother, Hong Taiji, aims to take the throne of the khanate on the death of their father.  He forces the Royal Concubine – Dorgon’s mother – to be buried with Nurhaci’s remains.  Then Yu’er is told that Dorgon has died on an expedition.  So she marries Hong Taiji as one of his many wives.  On their wedding day, Dorgon returns, and is obviously injured.  Now Yu’er sees through Hong Taiji as a cold and heartless man who has no love for his family.  She visits Dorgon at night, and gives him a cut strand of her hair as a pledge of her love.  On the political front, courtier Fan Wencheng proposes a scheme to Hong Taiji that frames Yuan Chonghuan, a General of the Ming court, resulting in Yuan’s death.  As a result, the Ming regime loses Jinzhou to the Jins.  Dorgon wins in the battle against the Ming army and seizes the imperial jade seal, which he brings back as he returns victorious to Hong Taiji’s court.  Unfortunately, Hooge, Hong Taiji’s son, lies to his father that Dorgon is harbouring treacherous plans to seize the khanate and the seal is proof.  Yu’er presents the jade seal just in time to clear Dorgon of his charge.  Another crisis is overcome.  On Hong Taiji’s sudden death, all the princes fight to be the new khan, with Dorgon and Hooge being the fiercest contenders.  Daisan, Hong Taiji’s brother, proposes to Empress Jerjer to resolve the situation by putting Yu’er’s five-year-old son, Fulin, on the throne.  Out of love for Yu’er and for the future of the Jin line, Dorgon helps Fulin to ascend the throne as the first emperor of Qing, while he himself becomes the regent.  Yu’er becomes Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, mother of Emperor Shunzhi.  The life story of Yu’er seems to follow the fortune as told by the lama monk she met on the grassland when she was very young.  As for her love with Dorgon, the two have faced many vicissitudes along the way, but their feelings have remained true always.

Christie Wing-sum To as Dorgon

Wang Kit-ching as Empress Xiaozhuang

Chastising the Princess

Tang dynasty General Guo Ziyi was made Lord of Fenyang for putting down the An Lushan Rebellion.  His son, Guo Ai, marries Princess Junrui.  Though a loving couple, the Princess’s over-pampered behaviour leads to a family dispute: on the double celebration of the birthdays of Guo Ziyi and his wife, the Princess refuses to attend the banquet at the Guo Residence, on grounds that he is beneath her as a subject.  Guo Ai sits through the banquet amidst the prickly teasing of his family members and gets drunk.  He returns to the palace and has a heated quarrel with his wife.  At the rage of the moment, he slaps her.  The Princess goes to her royal parents and tearfully relates the whole incident, which leads to dire consequences.

Doris Kwan as Guo Ai

Lam Tsz-ching as Princess Junrui

The Reconciliation from The Warrior’s Marriage

Hua Yunlong is on a mission to go to Wuchang to win the hand of Princess Yinping, daughter of Chen Youliang.  He adopts a false name and succeeds in marrying her.  At his persuasion, Yinping agrees to merge the two armies and put them under his command.  This leads to the demise of her father at the battle of Lishan.  Upon learning the terrible news, she leads her army to besiege the fortress where Yunlong stations.  Not without guilt and remorse, Yunlong comes out of the fortress gate to surrender to her.  The Princess struggles with her mixed emotions for her husband, vows to kill him to avenge her father.

Ng Lap-hei as Hua Yunlong

Fei Fenger as Princess Yinping

Kneeling by the Pond from The Lioness Roars

The story takes place during Song dynasty.  Chen Jichang is a Prefect.  He lives in fear of his wife, Liu Yu’e, who is so prone to jealousy that she always goes into a rampage.  Jichang feels the shame of being unable to stand up to her as a man.  Now on this day, his friend Su Dongpo sends him an invitation to go together to enjoy the plum blossoms in the snow.  But in fact, Dongpo has arranged the company of the courtesan, Qincao, because he thinks that Jichang should not allow his wife to dominate their domestic life.  Jichang is immediately enamoured of Qincao because of her beauty.  She tells him that she is willing to be his concubine, so Jichang presents her with a jade medallion as a pledge.  When he returns home, Yu’e holds off her anger to observe Jichang.  When he dances attention on her, she gets suspicious and goes into a rage.  She questions him the whereabouts of the jade medallion, and Jichang cannot give a clear answer.  Yu’e calls him a liar, cudgels his calf, and makes him kneel by the pond for the whole night as a punishment.

Yuen Sin-ting as Chen Jichang

Chan Kei-ting as Liu Yu’e

Ng Kwok-wa as Su Dongpo

Performed in Cantonese with Chinese subtitle.

Information provided by the arts group.

English translation provided by KCL Language Consultancy Limited.

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