The Hegemon-King Bids His Lady Farewell

Common card · No. 481135

The Hegemon-King Bids His Lady Farewell (Chinese: 霸王别姬; pinyin: Bà Wáng Bié Jī), also known as Farewell My Concubine, is a traditional Peking opera. It was initially performed by Yang Xiaolou and Shang Xiaoyun in 1918 in Beijing. Though usually associated with Peking opera, it is also performed in other genres such as Cantonese opera. The story prototype of Farewell My Concubine (霸王別姬) draws primarily from several traditional sources: Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian (史記, Shiji), specifically the Annals of Xiang Yu (史記·項羽本紀); Zhen Wei’s Ming‑dynasty historical novel Romance of the Western Han (西漢演義); and Shen Cai’s Ming‑dynasty Kunqu chuanqi play The Tale of a Thousand Gold (千金記). The opera tells the story of Xiang Yu, the self-styled "Hegemon-King of Western Chu" (西楚霸王) who battled for the unification of China with Liu Bang, the eventual founder of the Han dynasty. In the play, Xiang Yu is surrounded by Liu Bang's forces and on the verge of total defeat, so he calls forth his...

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