Flower-Burying Song - 紅樓夢
My post last week about Saiunkoku Monogatari inspired me to go looking up my favourite classical Chinese novel 紅樓夢 (Dream of the Red Chamber) again and to my surprise I found the 36-episode drama adaptation created by China Central Television in the ’80s was available for order on DVD with English subtitles! This is something I’ve been scouring Chinese DVD stores to find for the last 8 years, although I’d sort of given up a few years back when it seemed hopeless. I don’t speak Chinese so I had the hardest time figuring out what TV versions existed, and young store clerks would usually look at me funny anyway and ask “why would you want that old opera that my grandma watches?”. However, once I had an older clerk in Metrotown take an interest and dig out a cassette tape for me of the music from the 1986 CCTV version which I found extremely beautiful and haunting - especially Daiyu’s Flower-Burying Song. Which is why I’m so happy and relieved I’ve FINALLY ordered this same version on DVD! Can’t wait for it to get here, yo. Here’s a clip from it.
