THE FLOWER PRINCESS (Dae Neui Fa or Dinühua in Mandarin) has become the most renowned Cantonese Opera since its 1957 premier in Hong Kong. The opera is a serious political drama played out between the Han and non-Han following the fall of the Ming dynasty, and the plot pits romantic love against the lofty Confucian ideals of social hierarchy and moral rectitude. This is the first complete English translation of the opera, featuring text, song titles, speech types, and choreographic and stage setting. It also contains a foreword by Pak Suet Sin (Bai Xuexian), the celebrated Cantonese Opera actress who created the role of the Princess in the original production.

"Bell Yung, Sonia Ng, and Katherine Carlitz, have brought forth a gem of Cantonese literature in their scintillating English translation of The Flower Princess. The text is accompanied by a substantial introduction which not only explains in clear language the musicological and dramaturgical qualities of the performance, but also situates this play on a Ming loyalist theme within the tradition of Cantonese Opera in particular and in the history of Chinese theater more generally.

Nonetheless, the most memorable feature of the volume as a whole is the tragic, yet transcendent, story of the star-crossed couple. It is a tale fraught with love and loyalty, piety and pathos, one which anyone who reads will not easily forget."

── VICTOR H. MAIR, University of Pennsylvania

"With this highly readable translation of Tong Dik Sang's most famous opera, The Flower Princess, Professor Bell Yung and his collaborators have introduced Cantonese Opera, and one of its most beloved playwrights, to the English-speaking world. By including tune titles and all staging instructions in their translation, they capture both the lyricism and performance conventions of Cantonese Opera, which are further explained in an informative introduction."

── CATHERINE SWATEK, The University of British Columbia