The Unicorn Purse

A wealthy family in Deng-Zhou was marrying off the daughter, Xue Xianglin. To protect the daughter's life, the parents prepared a lot of properties for her. A local tradition was to have a large purse, called "unicorn-trapping purse", to accompany the bride, wishing that she would have powerful and promising sons. Miss Xue was in a sad mood for she would leave her mother soon. And the mother filled the purse with jewels to make her daughter happy.

When a sedan chair was carrying the bride to her husband's home, it suddenly began to rain. The team went to the nearby Chun-Qiu Pagoda to avoid the rain. Miss Xue heard sobbing from the other bride, Zhao Shou-zhen, at the pagoda. Miss Zhao was sad for her poverty and hard life in the future. Sitting in the sedan chair, Miss Xue wanted to help the poor girl. She gave Miss Zhao her only purse without leaving her name.

Li Shiji (1933-), a native of Meixian, Guangdong. She has had an ardent love for Beijing opera since childhood. She offered herself as a pupil of Cheng Yanqiu after the latter had personally taught her how to perform in Empress He Reviles at the Court. She was also instructed by Zhu Chuanming, Wang Youqing, Zhao Tongshan and Tao Yuzhi. In 1952 she moved to Beijing and 3 years later she joined the Beijing Opera Troupe of Beijing and became a long-term co-performer of Ma Lianliang, Tan Fuying and Qiu Shengrong. With a bright and vigorous voice, her singing features a perfect combination of strength and gentleness and is good at expressing complex emotions. She is highly creative in the arrangement of tunes and in the use of voice on the basis of the Cheng style performing art. Her repertoire includes Tears in the Wild Mountain, the Unicorn Purse, Snow in Midsummer, the Story of Su San, and Chen Sanliang Appeals at Court. She has made her contribution to the development of the Cheng style heritage.