''Fangcaoxin'' (芳草心 "Fangfang, heart of grass") is a 1983

Chinese-language western-style opera Chinese contemporary classical opera () is a Chinese-language musical art form drawing on western opera traditions - distinct from modern developments of traditional Chinese opera. One of the first western-style operas was '' The White Haired Gir ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

, and 1986 film. It was filmed as ''Fangcaoxin'' in 1986, and appears listed in some sources by an English title "The Passion and the Love." The geju was based on the play ''Zhenqing jiayi'' (《真情假意》) by Ping Danhe which was in the repertoire of the Frontline Song and Dance Troupe (前线歌舞团). The original play was collectively edited, with a new libretto by Xiang Tong (向彤) and He Zhaohua (何兆华) and then set to music by Wang Zujie (王祖皆 b.1949) and Zhang Zhuoya (张卓娅). It had its first performance in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

in 1983 by the Frontline Song and Dance Troupe. The most famous excerpt is the aria ''xiao cao'' (《小草》 "little grass").

Plot

The plot concerns twin sisters Yunyun (媛媛) and Fangfang (芳芳) and their love for the engineer Yu Gang (于刚). Yu Gang is blinded in an accident and his girlfriend Yunyun deserts him, her twin sister Fangfang takes over the job of caring for Yu Gang letting him believe she is his sister. When Yu Gang's eyesight recovers Fangfang withdraws, and Yunyun returns to reclaim him, but her conscience drives her to admit the truth at their wedding. The

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

is still on the

repertoire Repertory or repertoire () is the list or set of works a person or company is accustomed to performing. Whether the English or French spelling is used has no bearing, but it was the French word, with an accent on the first e, , that first took ho ...

of the Shanghai Opera House.

References

Chinese western-style operas Operas 1983 operas Operas based on plays {{opera-stub