From which ancient opera was Drunkenness of the Imperial Lady adapted?

Drunk Imperial Lady, also known as Baihua Pavilion, originated from Drunk Yang Fei, a local opera in Qianlong period. The play was carefully carved, processed and polished by Mei Lanfang, a Peking Opera master, and it is one of the classic representative plays of Mei School.

The play mainly describes Yang Yuhuan's mentality of enjoying the love spring after drunkenness, and highlights Yang Yuhuan's tenderness for the emperor. In the 1950s, Mei Lanfang removed the dross and kept the essence. Starting with the emotional changes of the characters, she corrected her non-artistic tendency from the aesthetic point of view. It is said that this drama originated from Kunqu opera, and its lyrics structure can be seen, especially the opening four-tone tune is a treasure in Beijing opera.

Extended data:

This play mainly describes Yang Yuhuan's drunken enjoyment of his love for spring. In the 1950s, Mei Lanfang removed the dross and kept the essence. Starting with the emotional changes of the characters, she corrected her non-artistic tendency from the aesthetic point of view. In the play, Yang Yuhuan's drinking changed from covering her sleeves to drinking casually, while Mei Lanfang, with the change of her appearance and movements, showed the psychological change process of the imperial concubine who fell out of favor from inner depression and forbearance to self-control and drunkenness.

Heavy dancing is as easy as weightlifting, such as cupping, fish lying, drunken walking, fan dancing and other difficult dances, which stretch naturally, have smooth lines and beautiful rhythm. It's a pity that Mei Lanfang was over 60 years old and made some changes to the difficult movements, although he was very skilled in shooting the Beijing opera film Drunk Imperial concubine. Fortunately, there are successors of Mei School art, which makes the play always new.