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edict pardoning Shimei, Bao Zheng was left with no choice but to obey. Lamenting that justice would not be served, he offered
Xianglian some money and planned to resign from office. Xianglian refused the gift, crying so hard about how the officials were shielding each other that she fainted. Ordering his subordinates to help Xianglian, Bao Zheng indignantly resolved to proceed with the execution in spite of the edict. When the Empress Dowager pointed out that the penalty for defying an imperial edict was also death, Bao Zheng took off his
625:. Chen Shimei was married to Qin Xianglian (秦香蓮), who took care of him, his parents, and their children so Chen Shimei had time to study. When the time for the examinations came, Shimei went to the capital to take them, leaving Xianglian and their children behind. He did not return. In the meantime, a famine hit the country and killed their parents. With nothing left in the countryside, Xianglian and the children traveled to the capital to look for Shimei.
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children. This put Shimei in a bind when
Xianglian came to the capital to look for him. Still, aware that his position was in danger plus that he had lied to the Emperor to marry the princess, Shimei not only claimed to not know Xianglian and their children, but also secretly ordered his bodyguard Han Qi (韩琪) to murder them.
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Instead, Shimei again denied knowing
Xianglian. When Shimei denied sending an assassin to kill Xianglian as well, Xianglian proved that Shimei was lying by showing the court Han Qi's sword. Bao Zheng convicted Shimei for attempted murder and for lying to the Emperor, the punishment for which was death.
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government official Chen Shumei (陳熟美), whose wife was Qin
Xianglian (秦馨蓮). Like Bao Zheng, Chen was an upright official who eventually became an enemy of other corrupted officials. These officials created two fictitious husband-and-wife characters based on the couple by changing the middle Chinese
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When the princess heard of the impending execution, she was aggrieved that Shimei had lied to her, but also did not want to become a widow. Therefore, she went with her mother, the
Empress Dowager, to pressure Bao Zheng to stop the execution. Bao Zheng refused. However, when the Emperor issued an
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to force Shimei to recognize her. Bao Zheng sent a subordinate to Shimei and
Xianglian's hometown, verifying Xianglian's story. He then planned to have Xianglian confront Shimei in court, and tried to give Shimei another chance to recognize Xianglian as his first wife, for their children's sake.
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Han Qi cornered
Xianglian outside the capital. However, when Xianglian begged Han Qi to raise her children after her death, Han Qi could not bring himself to kill them. Caught between his conscience and duty, Han Qi committed suicide in Sanguantang (三官堂). After burying Han Qi, Xianglian then
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and had been awarded an official post as a result. The
Emperor favored him, and offered to marry his sister to Shimei. Although Shimei was already married, he coveted wealth and power; he kept his previous marriage a secret and married the princess, hoping to forget about Xianglian and their
581:
528:’s Trials of A Hundred Legal Cases” (增像包龙图判百家公案), “Bao Zheng’s Cases” (包公案) in short, published in 1595 had already had the story of Chen Shimei whose children's names were as the same as they are in the traditional opera.
557:(包龍圖判百家公案), Story 26, "Lady Qin's Ghost Return to Exile Shimei" (秦氏還魂配世美). In this version, she was killed by Chen's assassins, but her ghost sought justice with "Dragon-Design Bao" or
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and declared that Shimei should be executed first before himself. Shimei was executed. Afterwards, peasants throughout the country gave Bao Zheng the honorific "Justice Bao" (包青天).
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460:. Chen Shimei betrayed Qin Xianglian by marrying another woman, and tried to kill her to cover up his past. This fictional couple are also popular in legends.
561:. The story most familiar to modern people no longer contained superstition, and instead had Chen's assassin Han Qi (韓琪) commit suicide to let Qin escape.
657:, Changchun Film Studio (長春電影製片廠) produced the colorful opera film “Qin Xianglian” in 1964 to preserve the stagecraft of Beijing opera performers such as
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781:“A Hundred Legal Cases of Bao Zheng’s Cases”, Chapter 26, ‘Qing Xianglian’s Revial from the Death’
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during a banquet attended by Chen. (Bottom) The exact same scene from the 1594 copy of the novel
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era into their fictitious story to slander and smear Chen Shumei and his wife Qin
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In the Song
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The character was based on the historical court records of the
822:"The Magic Lotus Lantern" and Other Tales from the Han Chinese
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Legal Cases of A Hundred Families Judged by Dragon-Design Bao
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Legal Cases of A Hundred Families Judged by Dragon-Design Bao
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Legal Cases of A Hundred Families Judged by Dragon-Design Bao
806:"full length video of this opera with background in English"
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characters of their real names and brought Bao Zheng of the
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The story of Beijing opera “ Mei’s Beheading Case” (铡美案)：
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for a heartless and unfaithful man. He was married to
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162:In-universe information
82:In-universe information
820:Yuan, Haiwang (2006).
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456:, also translated as
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826:Libraries Unlimited
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683:Justice Pao
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607:(包龍圖判百家公案).
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302:Chén Shìměi
226:Chen Shimei
202:Nationality
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678:Leanne Liu
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759:(1958).
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545:Lady Qin
212:Hometown
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54:In this
37:In this
690:Hao Lei
520:player.
464:History
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722:(2011)
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686:(1993)
674:(1964)
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271:美
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243:陳
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