Introduction
Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng led his Great Shun rebel army to invade and sack the capital Beijing, leading to the suicide of Emperor Sung Zing. This is known as the Jiashen Incident, which led to the fall of the Ming dynasty. Just before that, Princess Cheung-ping was betrothed to Chow Sai-hin, the son of a high official. Sung Zing wanted to safeguard the imperial dignity and ordered everyone to commit suicide. Although Cheung-ping survived the catastrophe, she was separated from the prince consort. After some time, they reunited in a nunnery. They pretended to accept the arrangement of a wedding ceremony by the Qing emperor in exchange for a proper burial for Sung Zing and the release of the Ming crown prince. At the ceremony, Cheung-ping and Sai-hin exchanged their vows in the imperial garden of Yuehua Palace and then took poison under a camphor tree to express their loyalty to the Ming court.
The Floral Princess was originally a Kunqu opera written by Huang Xieqing in 1832 based on the Jiashen Incident. It was not until the 1950s that Tang Dik-sang, encouraged by Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin, re-arranged the play into a Cantonese opera libretto. Tang’s version highlighted the moral integrity of the princess and her consort, and portrayed the princess as a heroine, which is very different from Huang’s rendering of the characters according to historical records. Tang’s re-arrangement and the performance by Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin made the Floral Princess an immediate success, and the growing media industries at that time further boosted its popularity through records, movies and radio broadcasting.