China's mainland and Taiwan have jointly produced a cartoon
based on a Chinese Romeo and Juliet-type story and given Western
names to the legendary lovers who had been on the lips of Chinese
from generation to generation.
In the cartoon version of Butterfly Lovers, the hero
Liang Shanbo is called "Leon", and his lover Zhu Yingtai "Jo".
The cartoon, a joint product of Shanghai Animated Film Studio
and a leading Taiwanese filmmaker, made debut on the mainland
Friday and will be staged worldwide to entertain Chinese-speaking
audience.
Filmmakers in Shanghai said they had used state-of-the-art
technologies in the production and referred to Disney techniques to
highlight its comic effect.
The cartoon, dubbed by noted Taiwanese stars, has retained the
original plot of the story but with a faster rhythm to cater to the
interests of young viewers.
The
Butterfly Lovers dates back to the Eastern Jin
Dynasty, more than 1,600 years ago and has been handed down from
generation to generation in forms of fairy tales, novels, operas,
ballets, symphonies, TV plays and films. It has gained a growing
fame in the form of violin concerto performed by leading violinist
Yu Lina in 1959.
Dubbed "Chinese Romeo and Juliet" by late Premier Zhou Enlai,
the butterfly lovers' story tells of how a local magistrate had
fallen in love with a plutocrat's daughter and how they had been
separated by the feudal hierarchy before they both died and turned
into eternal butterflies.
China is applying to inscribe the classic as a masterpiece of
oral and intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
?
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2004)
?
