What is the story of the Peking Opera "The Three Mothers Teach Their Children"?

The story:

In the Ming Dynasty, Xue Guang, a Confucian scholar, went to Zhenjiang for business. He had a wife, Zhang, and concubines, Liu and Wang. Liu gave birth to a son, nicknamed Yiguo. He also had an old servant, Xue Bao. When Xue Guang was in Zhenjiang, he happened to meet a fellow villager who offered him 500 taels of platinum and asked him to bring it home.

Unexpectedly, the fellow villagers swallowed the white gold, purchased an empty coffin, parked in the middle of the countryside, thinking that Xue Guang had passed away, and returned to his hometown to tell Zhang's family, who bawled their eyes out, and the fellow villagers allowed Xue Bao to be buried. Later, the family gradually decline, Zhang's, Liu's dislike of poverty, has remarried.

The third wife, Wang, and Xuebao worked hard to raise Yigo and sent him to the school to weave cloth for a living. When Yigo was ridiculed by his classmates as a motherless child, he went home in anger and refused to recognize Sanniang as his mother, and was so angry that Sanniang cut off the cloth immediately to show her determination. Fortunately, Xuebao was able to persuade her, and the mother and son began to make up.

Guang's business in Zhenjiang was in decline, and he became an official in the Ministry of Military Affairs. Ten years later Xue Yi gold list, the new scholar. Father and son recognize the family reunion. At this time, Xue Yi's aunt and mother-in-law and abandoned their own families to recognize their husbands and sons of the scholar, Sanniang advised Zhang to go home to take care of her husband, and advised Liu to go home to take care of her husband and a few years old children

. She also told them: "If you want to taste the sweet melon, plant it yourself; if you want to taste the bitter melon, plant it yourself". This is a reflection of the ancient saying: a gentleman is open and honest, but a villain is always on his own. A touching true story.

Originally:

Ming Dynasty, Confucian Xue Guang, to Zhenjiang business. The family had a wife Zhang, concubine Liu, Wang. Liu had a son, nicknamed Yiguo. The family also had an old servant, Xue Bao. In Zhenjiang, Xue Guang met a fellow villager and entrusted him with 500 taels of platinum to bring home. Unexpectedly, the person swallowed the white gold, purchased an empty coffin, parked in the middle of the countryside, thought Xue Guang casket, back to the township to report to the Zhang's, etc., the room bawling, so that Xue Bao returned to the casket for burial.

After the decline of the family, Zhang, Liu can not tolerate poverty, has remarried. Wang, the third wife, y despised, vowed to work hard with Xuebao to raise Yiguo and send him to school, while she was weaving cloth for the sake of the chestnuts. Yigo was ridiculed by his classmates as a motherless child in the school, so he went home in anger and refused to recognize Sanniang as his mother.

Fortunately, Xue Bao tried his best to persuade her, and the mother and son were reconciled. Xue Guang's business in Zhenjiang is failing, and he has been a minister in the Ministry of Military Affairs since then. A decade later, Xue Yi was awarded the new certificate of honor.

Father and son recognize the reunion of a family, return home. At this time, Xue Yi's aunt, mother-in-law and abandoned their own home to recognize her husband and the scholar son, Sanniang advised Zhang to go home to take care of his old partner, advised Liu to go home to take care of his old partner and a few years old child. And told them: want to taste the sweet melon their own plant, self-planted bitter melon their own taste.

Origin: From "The Three Niangs Teach Their Children" by Li Yu, an opera writer and novelist of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Expanded Information:

Author's Biography:

Li Yu (1611-1680), first known as Xian Xian (仙仙) was a writer who taught his children to grow. He was a literary scholar, dramatist, theater theorist, and aesthetician in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Smart since childhood, and long excelled in ancient words and phrases. Chongzheng ten years (1637), admitted to the Ziang, Jinhua Province, as a government student. After entering the Qing Dynasty, he had no intention of pursuing a career, but was engaged in writing and directing theater performances.

In the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651), 41-year-old Li Yu moved to Hangzhou, and then moved to Jinling, where he built the "Mustard Seed Garden", and opened a bookstore, compiled and engraved books, and made friends with dignitaries and celebrities in the literary world. In the 16th year of the Kangxi period (1677), he returned to Hangzhou and built the "Layer Garden" at the foot of Yunju Mountain in Hangzhou.

Li Yu, known as "Li Shilang" (李十郎), had set up his own theater troupe and performed all over the world, thus accumulating a wealth of experience in creating and performing operas, and proposing a relatively perfect system of theater theories, and was regarded as "the originator of Chinese theater theories" and "the founder of the world's theater".

He was known as "the originator of Chinese theater theory", "the world's master of comedy" and "Shakespeare of the Orient", and was listed as one of the world's cultural celebrities, as well as an advocate of leisure culture and a pioneer of the cultural industry.

Life is rich in writings, his treatise on opera "Idle Affair" words and songs department, to the structure, word picking, phonetics, bing since, section translation, pattern of six aspects of the literature of opera, to the selection of the play, variations, granting the song, teaching since, off the set of the five aspects of the performance of opera, on the theory of the ancient Chinese opera, there is a greater enrichment and development. In addition to the theory of opera, there are also contents on diet, construction and gardening.

He also wrote "The Ten Kinds of Songs of Kasa Weng" (including "Kite Mistakes"), "Silent Opera" (also known as "Lianchengbi"), "The Twelve Floors", and "The Words of Kasa Weng's Family", etc.**** More than five million words. He also criticized the Three Kingdoms, rewrote the Golden Lotus, and advocated the compilation of the Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual, etc. He was a rare artistic genius in the history of Chinese culture.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Li Yu