The historical background of the Peking Opera "The Dragon and the Phoenix" is the Three Kingdoms period.
"The Dragon and the Phoenix" is based on the 54th episode of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms": Wu Guo Tai's Buddhist temple to see the bridegroom, and Liu Huang Shu's cave to renew their marriage. It is adapted from a combination of the original folded plays "The Beauty Plan", "The Temple of Ganlu", "Return to Jingzhou", and "The Swimming Pool of Reeds" by artists such as Mei Lanfang, Ma Lianliang, Qiu Shengrong, Yuan Shihai, and Ye Shenglan.
Sun Quan because Liu Bei occupied Jingzhou, repeated discussions not return, and Zhou Yu set up a beauty plan, falsely claiming that the sister Shangxiang promised to marry Liu Bei, want to swindle it across the river to stay in the quality of the exchange of Jingzhou, Zhuge Liang breaks it, so that Liu borrowed the father-in-law of Qiao Xuan Zhou Yu, said Sun Quan's mother, Wu, Wu in the Ganlu Temple blindfolded, making a fake into a real one.
After Liu Bei's marriage to Dongwu, Zhou Yu used the sound and color and palace to tie up Liu Bei, and Liu Bei did not want to go back to Jingzhou. Zhou Yu sends his generals to chase and intercept, but all of them are repelled by Mrs. Sun, Zhou Yu leads his troops to follow, Zhuge Liang has already prepared a boat to take Liu Bei out of danger, and Zhou Yu is defeated by Zhang Fei.
Development of Peking Opera
Peking Opera emerged in the Qing Dynasty period, compared to China's Qinqiang, Kunqiang, the local clappers, its development history can be said to be very short. However, although its history is short, but his status in China is very high, is the representative of China's theater, in the country and even the world is a great influence.
Since 1917, Peking Opera has seen a large number of outstanding actors and actresses, presenting a flourishing situation with a variety of genres, and has developed from maturity to its heyday, with Mei Lanfang and Yu Shuyan as the representatives of this period. 1927, Beijing's "Shun Tian Times" held a competition to select the most famous Peking Opera actresses and actresses. Mei Lanfang was honored as one of the "Four Famous Dancers" for his performance in "Tai Zhen Gaidian", Shang Xiaoyun for his performance in "Modenjia Nu", Cheng Yanqiu for his performance in "Legend of the Red Whiskers", and Xun Huisheng for her performance in "Dan Qing Quotes". The "Four Famous Dancers" are an important symbol of the heyday of Peking Opera.
They created their own distinctive artistic styles, forming the "Four Great Schools" of Mei Lanfang's solemnity and elegance, Shang Xiaoyun's playfulness, Cheng Yanqiu's deepness and elegance, and Xun Huisheng's delicacy and softness, and creating a pattern of Peking Opera that was dominated by the Dan.
Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Dragon and Phoenix