"Silang Visits His Mother" (四郎探母) 1/2 [English subtitles]

My amateur translation. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks to operabeijing.com for the original video.
"Silang Visits His Mother" was written some time during the Qing Dynasty, though the name of its author has been lost. It is one of many fictional works based on the historical Yang family and is probably one of the most popular pieces within the jingju repertoire.
Random notes on the translation:
-I went for clarity more than accuracy in many places. For this and other reasons, there is a great deal that has been lost in translation, but it would take a long time to explain why this is so. (一言难尽哪!)
-"A golden well, a locked suotong tree" - The image being alluded to here is the walled courtyard of a noble family. In the old days, the very wealthy often had in their courtyards a well with gold ornamentation around its rim.
-"四郎/Silang" literally means something like "fourth young man" and is an older way of referring to a fourth son. Thus, "Silang Visits His Mother" = "The Fourth Son Visits His Mother".
-Yang Yanhui's surname, 杨/Yang, is composed of the radicals 木+易 in the traditional writing system, which become "Mu Yi" when read as characters. A clever, slightly literary pseudonym.
-The characters often use honorific personal pronouns. Yanhui, for instance, often refers to himself as "本宫/bengong", a word which would identify its speaker as royalty. These pronouns have no equivalent in English, so I've made do with "I" and "me".
-The princess calls Yanhui "驸马/fuma", which I usually translate as "husband". "Fuma" was actually the title reserved for the husband of the princess and is often translated as "Prince Consort"; "consort", though, has some negative connotations in the modern day.
-"North" with a capital N is my compromise-translation of "番邦/fanbang", which is an ancient term for a foreign country, with the connotation that that foreign country is somewhat barbaric. I didn't use "barbaric", as some translators do, because I didn't want to make it sound like Yanhui was trying to insult Tiejing.
-Familial relationships are very important within Chinese culture and this is reflected in the Chinese language. Within this play, the various different words for one's female parent (娘，母，高堂，and 萱, as well as 娘亲，老娘亲，母亲，老母亲，母后 and 慈颜), have all been squashed into "mother" or "aged mother". Additionally, there are separate words for "brother", "older brother" and "younger brother", all of which I've only translated as "brother".
-"mansions of Chu and towers of Qin" - a wonderful euphemism for, you guessed it, brothels.
-"li" -- a traditional Chinese unit of distance; something like half a kilometer.
-"chi" -- another traditional Chinese unit of length; something like a third of a meter.
-"lingjian" -- an official token of command; literally an "arrow token" since they were originally shaped like arrows. I kept "lingjian" to avoid confusion, the prop in this production being non-arrow shaped.
- The two 丑/clown roles are sometimes acknowledged as 国舅/Guojiu. 国舅 means "Uncle of the Nation" and was a title reserved specifically for the empress' brothers.
-"the lamp wick is sparkling" - an old superstition.
- This is a condensed and slightly bowdlerized version of the original play. Four scenes have been cut from the original, as well as the part of Yanhui's first wife. Yes, he had a wife before marrying Tiejing.
-"dingdai" -- a hat ornament worn by government officials. A historical inaccuracy; these appeared in the Qing Dynasty, but were actually not used during the time in which "Silang" is set.
-"She's added two more!" -- I actually have no idea what the original Chinese means here; my translation is a stab in the dark.
-"Have I turned into a sow?" - A pun; the word for "princess" sounds like the word for "female pig", though with a different tonal pronunciation.
-"Your servants kowtow to you" - 奴才/nucai, which I've translated as "servants", really means something more like "slave". Only in the sense that the 奴才 was subject to another's will, though. China never had the sort of chattel slavery that America did, which is why I avoided "slave" and its English connotations.
-"Brushing a grasshopper..." - I have absolutely no idea what this means. I'm pretty sure it's a pun or proverb, or something, but I cannot make any sense of it.
-"A camel..." -- another pun/proverb I do not understand.
-Huge chunks of this play rhyme pleasingly, which is not something I could translate, unfortunately !

[@georgeeroes256]

Silang Visits His MotherFrom 10th to 12th Century, there were two political states in China. One is called Liao, ruled by a minority group in northeast China. The other is called Song, ruled by the Han majority. Liao intruded Song from time to time. The two states had been at war for a long time.In the Song state, there was a family of Yang serving as senior military officials. All family members, father, mother and their eight sons, were adept in martial arts skill.One day, Liao invited the Song Emperor for a peace talk. Song didn't know whether it was a trick or not. So they sent Yang family's eldest son to disguise as the Song emperor to go for the talk, guided by the other seven sons. On the way, there were ambushed by the Liao troop. Three sons died and the fourth son, Silang, was captured. He didn't tell Liao troop his true identity.Silang then lived in the Liao territory. He was a handsome guy with excellent martial art skills. The Liao empress liked him very much and betrothed her daughter to him. He and the princess loved each other and later they had a son. Nobody in the Liao knew that Silang was the son of the Yang family that served for the Song state.The war continued between the two states. Fifteen years later, Liao state carried out a military operation on a large scale. Silang, the princess and the Liao empress all went to war along with other Liao troops. The Song state sent Silang's brother, the sixth son of the Yang family, as commander-in-chief of the Song troops.Hearing that his mother and brother came, Silang wanted to see them. But he couldn't pass the strategic pass unless he got the arrow from Liao empress. Silang worried but he couldn't tell anyone about his situation. The princess saw that he was upset all the time, so she asked why. Silang then told her his true identity. He asked the princess to help him get the arrow so that he could see his mother. The princess agreed to do so but she was concerned Silang wouldn't return. Silang promised to be back overnight.So the princess took her son to see the Liao empress. She pinched the baby and the baby cried. Not knowing what happened, the Liao empress came to care for her grandson. The princess took the chance to say that her son wanted to have the arrow to play with. The empress was fond of her grandson very much, so she took out the arrow and asked the princess to give it back the next day.

[@emanuelfrancisco5628]

Watching from Brazil, 2021. Is my first contact with Chinese opera and I loved. Beautiful culture and great work of art.

[@GamesXanimeX3]

Pensei que só eu assistia às óperas chinesas lol eu prefiro mais as yueju e kunqu por que as vezes os instrumentos da de pequim me machucam

[@collegestudent3066]

6:50-12:56 Xipi manban: 4/4 19:45-20:47 xipi daoban: backs turned to audience 47:50-49:05 kuaiban: 1/4 fast metter

[@beatrizkarwai6763]

whats does this mean?

[@markboudreau1410]

Thank you SO much for this, very entertaining! English subs are so difficult to find for Opera. Is this about "THE" Yang family renowned in history?👍🙏❤️

[@scottbushey8516]

THANK YOU for translating and posting this! I love chinese opera but have such a hard time finding subs.

[@Ali-sc4yn]

Thank you so much for translating and posting these !!!!!

[@paohsiiwang5508]

經典傳世之作

[@andreas_kyburz]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@sallyisadinosaur5111]

This was such a fun watch!

[@gsong9706]

It's a good show. There is an error in the translation, "Meng Taihou" (蒙太后） actually means "thank empress", the empress is Xiao (surname) or Liao(dynasty), not Meng

[@wis2142]

Not only do the last words of many stanzas of the libretto rhyme in sound, but also in tone. This not a particular great feat; because it is a feature of opera, be it Beijing or Guangdong. Chinese poetry has even more complex patterns of rhyme & rhythm. Once a person is conversational, the rhymes will become obvious.

[@francescalawson2229]

Could someone please tell me where the aria called "Jiao Xiao Fan" is found in this performance? Thank you in advance.

[@yifeiyu4196]

It's at 52:43.

[@francescalawson2229]

Thank you!!

[@geden1729]

When Traci Lords hacks your KZbin account.

[@Wrenches_3071]

Pls add Chinese subtitles

[@chp763]

9:37

[@simonlebaey6765]

Bravo singing part

[@KrispyKrome]

47:53 Every time I listen to this i think of Mickey Mouse

[@swananthtoo]

56:31, 47:50

[@buyannemekhchimeddorj]

Hahaha... these women!

[@nganvu6099]

Mẹ nó! Lại còn quảng cáo nữa chứ!