French audiences touched by Chinese opera

In Europe, the French are enjoying a lesson in the rich and varied styles of traditional Chinese opera at a festival in Paris. They're enchanted by the arias and touched by the stories within the operas.

The Injustice to Dou'E was the third performance at the ongoing Chinese Operas Festival in Paris. It's a classic from Ganju Opera, a regional genre exclusive to east China's Jiangxi Province. The show struck a chord among the French audiences.

An audience member said, "I'm very happy to watch this wonderful performance and to get some insight about traditional Chinese operas. The female protagonist has done an excellent performance. It's so evident."

"I like this show very much. The story is so touching that is appreciable to all. It tells a Chinese story, but we can find many similar stories in other cultures," said an audience member.

The Injustice to Dou'E is one of the masterpieces of the Yuan Dynasty dramatist Guan Hanqing. It was adapted from one of the ten great tragedies in classical Chinese drama.

In the opera a girl named Dou E catches the eye of a local tyrant who wishes to marry her. Upon refusing him, Dou E is falsely charged with murder and sentenced to death. At her execution, she proclaims her innocence, saying that snow will fall in midsummer and the region will be hit by drought for three years in succession.

All these phenomena occur exactly as she foretells. Three years later, her father comes back as judge and conducts a re-trial of this case and clears Dou E of the false charge.