Chen Shimei

Chén Shìmĕi (simplified Chinese: 陈世美; traditional Chinese: 陳世美) is a Chinese opera character and a byword in China for a heartless and unfaithful man.

Chen Shimei

Chen Shimei is a byword of men who betrayed their love in China. The vast performances in Chinese operas spread the story of Chen Shimei widely through China.

History

The controversy of the origin

It is believed by some people in modern era that Chen Shimei in traditional operas comes from Hubei or Hunan province. According to the Junzhou Record – Chapter of Winners of the Imperial Examination, in 1655, the List of Dacheng Shi of 1655 Division, Chen Niangu served as Intendant of Sishi Circuit of Guizhou, official of Surveillance Commission, and Associate Minister of Ministry of Revenue. Moreover, according to Dictionary of Historical Features in Hubei Province (published by Hubei People’s Publishing in 1984), Chen Shimei was an official of Qing Dynasty. His old name was Niangu, and alternative name was Shumei. He was born in a family with officials in Junzhou (Jun county in Hubei province, now named Danjiangkou city). In the early Qing Dynasty, he studied in Beijing and won the Imperial Examination in 1651. In the beginning he became a county magistrate of a place in Hebei province. Later due to the recognition of the Emperor Kangxi, he was promoted to Intendant of Sishi Circuit of Guizhou, official of Surveillance Commission, and Associate Minister of Ministry of Revenue.

When he was in office in Guizhou, his fellow villagers and classmates turned to him to seek for official vacancies. He received several times and persuaded them to study hard to win the Imperial Examination. Later because so many fellows turning to him made it difficult for him to receive, he asked his general housekeeper to refuse all of them. His classmate Hu Mengdie who lived at Qinjia Hillside at the countryside of Junzhou used to financially support Chen before they took the Imperial Examination. He decided to get back on Chen when he was refused several times by Chen’s general housekeeper. He slandered Chen and made up a story that Chen was ungrateful to leave his wife and kill his children for promotion and money. He then wrote the story into an opera and named it “Qin Xianglian”. The opera was performed in Shanxi, Henan, etc. It was said that at the end of Qing Dynasty, when an opera troupe from Henan came to Junzhou to perform this show, one of the posterity of Chen watched it and got so angry that he spitted blood on the spot. Chen Shimei’s grandson of the eighth generation organized the whole family to smash the suitcases of the troupe on the spot and beat several actors to death and injury, forcing the performance to stop.

Most people do not believe this story is true, but in Danjiangkou city (former name was Junzhou), residents with the surname of Chen always take this story seriously. They believe the opera is wrong about the good man and therefore, are indignant, not allowing the opera of Chen Shimei to be performed in Jun county. Since 1980, the Folklore Workshop of Hubei Province has been conducting widely the work of collecting and organizing folk literatures. Local people cried for the redress of wrong for Chen Shimei and gradually published their thoughts by articles. Hence, Chen Shimei’s grievance has been widely spread in the country and overseas and drawn more and more studies and attentions of folklore scholars and relevant departments.

The old man Delun Tong from Danjiangkou city spent decades to solve the myth of Chen Shimei. He believes that Chen Shimei actually existed in the history. According to the local folk legend and the epigraph about Chen Shimei that was found in Danjiangkou city in 1992, Chen Shimei was an honest and upright official, who was uncorrupted and always aware of the public condition. The personality of despising the poor and curry favouring with the rich and the behavior of killing wife and children were intruded on him by those who were jealous of hime. Thenfore, in Jun county, there is a common saying, “Chen Shimei won’t be performed at Beimen street, and Qin Xianglian won’t be performed at Qinjia Mansion”.

However, “Illustrated Edition of Bao Zheng’s Trials of A Hundred Legal Cases” (“Bao Zheng’s Cases” 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.

Chinese Opera

The story of Beijing opera “Chen Shimei’s Beheading Case”：

In Song Dynasty, Chen Shimei won the Number One Scholar and became the son-in-law of the Emperor. However, when his original wife Qin Xianglian came to the capital to look for him with their children, Chen Shimei not only claimed not knowing them, but ordered his bodyguard Han Qi to kill them. However, when Qin Xianglian cried and told the truth, Han Qi could not kill them but kill himself in Sanguantang. Qin Xianglian went to Bao Zheng to sue Chen Shimei. Bao Zheng then made a plan to trigger Chen come and confront with Qin. Chen took himself as the Emperor’s relative for granted and refused to tell the truth. When Bao Zheng was going to behead him, the Queen Mother and the Princess came to stop him. But Bao Zheng ignored it and beheaded Chen Shimei.

After the foundation of PRC, Changchun Film Studio produced colourful opera film “Qin Xianglian” in 1964 to preserve the stage craft of Beijing opera performing artists such as Junqiu Zhang, Lianliang Ma, Duokui Li and Shengrong Qiu.

References

Bao Zheng

Bao Zheng’s cases

Source

1.“A Hundred Legal Cases of Bao Zheng’s Cases”, Chapter 26, ‘Qing Xianglian’s Revial from the Death’

External links

"China National Peking Opera Company". http://www.cnpoc.cn/en/jumuinfo.asp?NID=249. Retrieved August 15, 2010.