[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc4W0bnI068[/youtube]
Somebody once told me bluntly that only old folks are supposed to appreciate Cantonese opera.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPlML5ZpJ8I[/youtube]
Warning: Don't ever read the "rough translation" unless you're at least 16 years old.
Rough translation of "The Peony Pavilion: The Rendezvous"...
Guy: The Moon Goddess has descended. She is fiddling with her scarlet sash, fiddling with her scarlet sash. She has lost her way in the rain because of the fog obstructing the Moon. She is standing on the wrong doorstep now.
Ghost: I have been living among willows. Wind and frost have been tormenting me. I don't even have a single tile over my head.
Guy: I have no interest in investigating your background, but since you have shown up in the middle of the night, I'm sorry that there isn't any tea for you, I have no intention to drug you with medicated tea... Here's a lantern for you, take it and return to your home in peace.
Ghost: I sigh that my life is but a flower trapped in fog. I, Du Liniang, am weeping now because I'm a lone soul without any family. I have no home to return to.
Guy: How can any woman possibly be homeless? Oh, I understand now. Dear Immortal, perhaps you have fallen in love with my good looks, therefore you showed up so furtively on my doorstep. It's a pity that I'm merely a poor student, merely a poor student... You must have made a mistake.
Ghost: You're wrong. We had already met each other in a dream of mine. I rushed down to your home tonight even though it was so late at night that the Moon had already risen. I admire your charisma; I love your charisma; I wept under the Moon when I feared that I couldn't meet you. I have been living among willows, tormented by fog and rain. I'm a flower who understands humans, waiting for a butterfly to understand me.
Guy: Aiyah, so strange, can you speak more clearly please? Why are you sobbing non-stop now so abruptly? Miss, you are so elegant even as you sob, I think that you're sad that your youth won't last long, I sense that a romance will be budding soon. Miss, are you recently widowed?
Ghost: No. I'm an unmarried flower, I'm still a virgin. I have lived secluded in my room all my life, I haven't married yet.
Guy: Since you're an immortal, an unmarried immortal, I count myself fortunate that I have the opportunity to meet you. But now, I'm frightened as I think, I think as I'm frightened... Where should we meet? Should we meet under the plantain tree?
Ghost: Don't be frightened, don't be frightened. Did you remember offering your prayers at a shrine once? The wind was scattering flowers then, I had always intended to meet you, so in Buddha's presence, I manipulated the wind into blowing a portrait of myself towards you. You picked that portrait up. Is there any difference between my portrait and my real self?
Guy: No difference.
Ghost: I have grown thin.
Guy: You're as beautiful as a flower. Both your portrait and you are equally lovely.
Ghost: But the incense at the shrine, the incense at the shrine, it had clouded my jade-like beauty and ruined my appearance, cheapening my portrait's value.
Guy: Let us dream together... My bed's curtains are embroidered with Mandarin ducks.
Ghost: But I'm frightened that my icy flesh will chill you, causing you to fear me.
Guy: Don't be frightened, don't be frightened.
Ghost: But I'm frightened, but I'm frightened. I heard the clock chime twice, it's already the Second Hour.
Guy: If you worry that the Moon will shine onto this perfumed quilt, then shut the windows and ignore the Moon. Hahahahaha!
(Note: I might be wrong, but I think that the Second Hour refers to 1am-3am.)