A young 16 yr old girl, Zhu Yingtai, managed to convince her parents to send her to college at Hangzhou on the condition that she dressed as a man. On her journey, she met 17 yr old Liang Shanbo who was also attending the same school as her. They became sworn brothers and studied for 3 years together. Over this period of time, they formed a strong friendship. Yingtai fell in love with Shanbo, who being a bookworm, never did discover what she was despite coming across a couple of oddities. When she was summoned home by her father, Yingtai revealed the truth to her teacher's wife. Yingtai requested that she be the matchmaker for her and Shanbo and gave her a jade pendent as a token to be handed to Shanbo.
Shanbo walked with Yingtai for 18 miles to send off his sworn brother. Yingtai tried several times to hint to him her identity during the journey but to no avail despite insulting him twice in her exasperation with his denseness. Returning to school, Shanbo was restless and could not concentrate on his studies in the absence of his sworn brother. Seeing this, the teacher's wife told him about Yingtai, gave him the jade pendent and bade him to go propose to Yingtai.
The joy of the reunion of the two came to nought when Yingtai told Shanbo he was too late. Her father had bethrothed her to the frivolous son of the powerful and wealthy Ma family. Shanbo, who was not in good health, was deeply grieved. He returned home and became seriously ill. Several days before her wedding day, he sent his servant to Yingtai with a last gift and died. Yingtai was strickened with sorrow and forced her father to come to a compromise : to allow her to visit Shanbo's tomb on the way to her bethrothed's home or she would not marry. At the tomb, she swore her undying love for Shanbo and that if they could not be together in life, she would rather be with him in death. A tornado sprang up and an earthquake split the tomb in two whereupon Yingtai threw herself into it. The whipping winds soon covered the tomb with sand. Two butterflies were seen soon after, flitting away to the heavens.
The story of Liang Shanbo yu Zhu Yingtai is a folk legend set during the period of the Jin Dynasty. There had been various film and tv renditions but the Shaw Brothers version, directed by Li Han-hsiang, is the only adaptation that remained popular up to this day. It was a huge smash hit in Taiwan, breaking all the records at the box office, becoming the longest grossing film at that time. The songs and lyrics left an indelible impression on the audience in E & SE Asia.
This film remains the best representative of the Huangmei Opera genre.
