With innovative stage designs, top of the line lighting and modern video equipment, this classical Peking Opera stage just got set of new features such as modern choreography, acrobatics and martial arts,. The plot is essentially an adaptation of the Song dynasty folktale from Chinese mythology entitled "Madame White Snake." It has since become a major subject of several Chinese opera, films and TV series. Today, the Legend of the White Snake continues and is showing at the Minorities Cultural Palace theater every night.

The Legend of the White Snake is a famous Chinese legend, which existed according to Chinese mythology and was passed down by oral tradition before any written play existed. At its most basic, the story tells of a young scholar who falls in love with a beautiful woman, unaware that she is a white snake who has taken on human form. A monk intervenes in order to save the scholar's soul and casts the white snake into a deep well at the Leifeng Pagoda.

Over the centuries the story has evolved from a horror story to a romance, with the scholar and the white snake-woman genuinely in love with one another, but such a relationship is forbidden by the laws of Heaven. There have also been variations on the telling of the story: like the scholar adopting the white snake as a pet while still a schoolboy; or himself being banished from Heaven and becoming a mere human on Earth.

One character that has been added to this rendition is a green snake who has also been turned into a woman and serves as the white snake-woman's soul sister and confidante. Stop in on a weekday evening with a relative to see how this rendition plays out.

Theatre: Minorities Cultural Palace Theater.

Address : 49 Fuxingmen Nei Street, Xicheng District.

Show Time : Closed.

Phone : 86-10-66088077.

Ticket Price : RMB180/p.p - 580/p.p.