Introduction of Lai Mirror Story

Chen Sanwu Niang (陳三五娘), also known as Lai Mirror Story (荔镜记), is one of the traditional dramas often staged in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong and the Minnan region of Fujian. The Chiu Chow movie "The Story of Lai Mirror" is based on the Chiu Chow opera "Chen San Wu Niang". The story is about Chen San, a native of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, who sends his brother and sister-in-law to Guangnan to take up their posts and passes through Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, where he meets and falls in love with Huang Wuniang, a woman from a rich family, at a lantern festival. Huang's father, who is greedy for money and love of power, promises Wuniang a marriage to a rich man, Lin Da, and Wuniang is dissatisfied with the marriage and feels sad. Chen came to Chaozhou in disguise as a mirror grinder and entered Huang's house, where Wuniang showed her love with lychees and handkerchiefs in the embroidery building. When Chen was sharpening the mirror, he broke it on purpose and sold himself into slavery on the pretext of compensating for the mirror. After Lin Daqiang married Wuniang, Chen San and Wuniang got help from the maid Yichun and eloped back to Quanzhou.