Love eterne and Ivy Ling Po

At last I found it on you tube. When I was a teenager, I loved Ivy Ling Po's huangmei opera movies. especially the Love Eterne.  (梁山伯与祝英台)This is the reason why I missed out on the 60's western music, i was never a fan of the Beatles then - I had my head deep in Chinese and Cantonese opera.

You tube URL for Love Eterne clip

This is the Chinese  Romeo and Juliet  - lots of cross dressing.  

A young 16 yr old girl, Zhu Yingtai, managed to convince her parents to send her to college at Hangzhou on the condition that she went in the guise of a man. Along her journey to the college, she met 17 yr old Liang Shanbo who was also attending the same school as her. They became sworn brothers and studied for 3 years together. Over this period of time, they formed a strong friendship. Yingtai gradually fell in love with Shanbo, who being a bookworm, never did discover what she was despite coming across a couple of oddities. When she was summoned home by her father, Yingtai revealed the truth to her headmaster's wife. Yingtai requested that she be the matchmaker for her and Shanbo and gave her a jade pendent as a token to be handed to Shanbo.

Shanbo walked with Yingtai for 18 miles to send off his sworn brother. She tried several times to hint to him her identity during the journey but to no avail despite insulting him twice in her exasperation with his denseness. Finally, she found a way and got his consent to matchmake him to her "twin sister". She exhorted him to seek out his fiance soon before they reluctantly took leave of each other at the pavilion where they first met. Upon returning to school, Shanbo was restless and could not concentrate on his studies in the absence of his sworn brother. Seeing this, the headmaster's wife told him about Yingtai, gave him the jade pendent and bade him to go propose to her.

The joy of the reunion of the two came to nought when Yingtai told Shanbo he was 3 months too late. Her father had already bethrothed her to the frivolous son of the powerful and wealthy Ma family. Shanbo, who was already ailing, was deeply grieved. He returned home and his health steadily deteriorated until he became seriously ill. Several days before her wedding day, he asked to see her again. When his servant returned instead with a token from her, it was the final blow. He sent his servant to Yingtai with a last gift and died. Yingtai was strickened with sorrow and forced her father to come to a compromise : to allow her to visit Shanbo's tomb on the way to her bethrothed's home or she would not marry. At the tomb, she swore her undying love for Shanbo and that if they could not be together in life, she would rather be with him in death. A tornado sprang up and an earthquake split the tomb in two whereupon Yingtai threw herself into it. The whipping winds covered the tomb with sand. When the winds died down, two butterflies were seen soon after, flitting away to the heavens.

                         (from wikipedia)
This story is also the inspiration for the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto. (First movement)
I wonder if this is so typical - Yingtai met her dream man because she wanted to study and she could only go in the guise of a male. Being a scholar is not suitable for a woman. But Shanbo (also played by a woman, Ling Po) had no clue and did not come to the rescue but was late, thus condemning them both to a tragic end. Definitely not macho.

To this day, I still go around humming huangmei tunes. I wonder when I was that age-it was easier to fall for women playing male parts. However, I guess theres always been cross dressing in chinese opera.