The Qing Ding Pearl

The Qing Ding Pearl is a Chinese play. It dates to the Song dynasty and is still performed in adapted forms in the Beijing Opera.
The play is known by other titles: Two sections of the main play are sometimes performed separately as The Fisherman's Revenge 漁夫恨 or A Fisherman Kills a Family also Collecting the Fishing Tax.

Plot

The play tells the story of Xiao En, a poor fisherman and his daughter who seeks bloody revenge after their livelihoods are taxed away by the overbearing Squire Ding. Squire Ding sends tax collectors and boxers to Xiao's fishing vessel but the fisherman refuses because the tax is illegal and the river had run dry. Therefore, there is no fish for him to be taxed on. Two swashbucklers named Li Jun and Ni Rong help Xiao En. The now bloodied Boxers escape and report to Squire Ding. For his transgression, Xiao is whipped. Angered, he and his daughter go to Squire Ding's residence – The Ding Mansion. They sneak in, his daughter wearing the Qing Ding Pearl to masquerade as a noble. Inside, the pair slays everyone inside.

Music

The play is a play.

History

The twentieth-century Chinese actor Mei Lanfang frequently performed the role of the fisherman's daughter to great acclaim.