"Li San'niang", also known as "The Tale of the Rabbit" or "Reunion by the Well", started off with Li San'niang, the daughter of Squire Li, who married her poor cousin Liu Zhiyuan, and was tortured by her sister-in-law Madam Diao (in Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe's version, the latter role was change to Li's step-mother) after Squire Li's death. Frustrated with Madam Diao's behaviour, Liu Zhiyuan decided to enlist himself in the army, hoping to return in glory so as to provide San'niang with a better life. However, not long after Liu Zhiyuan's departure, San'niang was thrown into the milling hut by Diao, and it was in there that San'niang gave birth to a son. The heartless Diao refused to give San'niang a pair of scissors, causing the latter to bite off the umbilical cord of her newborn son with her teeth, hence her son was named Liu Yaoqi (literally meaning biting off the umbilical cord). That wasn't the end of San'niang's ordeal: before she was well enough again, Diao decided to marry her off so that San'niang will get none of Squire Li's inheritance. San'niang refused to remarry and ran away from home. Being too weak to go to the military camp Zhiyuan was in, she entrusted her son to her brother to be carried to Zhiyuan. However, the brother died soon after reaching the camp, and Zhiyuan could not find out from his brother-in-law where San'niang was putting up at. Eighteen years had passed, and Zhiyuan had married his god-sister Yue Xiuying because he saw that Yaoqi needed a motherly figure in place of San'niang. One day, Yaoqi was out hunting when he saw a rabbit and gave chase. The rabbit disappeared by a well and Yaoqi saw San'niang instead. Seeing how bad state San'niang was in, the curious Yaoqi asked San'niang about her family background, and was shocked when San'niang mentioned Liu Zhiyuan as her husband. With doubts in his mind, Yaoqi went home and asked his father and the truth about his identity came to light. Li San'niang was finally reunited with her family, and at the same time, Madam Diao, who had misused her inherited fortune, became a poor beggar roaming around in the streets. The virtuous San'niang forgave Diao despite of her shortcomings, much to the shame of the latter.
That is what the typical impression of Li San'niang is, but some fans of Teochew opera may have another totally different opinion of her: a vicious woman who tried to murder her family members. This is how she is portrayed instead in Teochew opera "Liu Yaoqi Succeeds the Throne". In this supposedly sequel to the above-mentioned story, Liu Zhiyuan became the Emperor but was soon murdered by Li San'niang who had wanted the throne all to herself. As if the murder of her husband was not enough, she even planned to kill her only son Yaoqi. Fortunately, Yaoqi escaped and was saved by his subject Guo Wei. Subsequently, after building up a strong military force, Yaoqi returned to the palace, had Li San'niang beheaded and had his foster mother Yue Xiuying promoted to the rank of Empress Dowager.
Looking at these two shows, it is totally absurd that a role can be portrayed in such opposing characteristics. No doubt a person can change in terms of character over time, but such drastic change is very unrealistic, and furthermore the sequel made little, if not no attempt to justify why the change in Li San'niang character. So, how is the actual Li San'niang like?
Looking at historical records, Li San'niang is neither the pathetic tortured soul in "Li San'niang", nor the ruthless power-hungry witch of "Liu Yaoqi Succeeds the Throne". However, her real background is highlighted subtly in both shows.
Li San'niang was born in a farming family during the Five Dynasties period, whereas Liu Zhiyuan, who was older than the former by 20 years, was a horse slave. Liu proposed his intention to marry Li to her father but was rejected, so he resorted to abducting her with the help of his friends. Not long after, Li gave birth to a son, and Liu, after serving the army for a period of time, became a Duke. As the wife of the Duke, she was praised for being a virtuous and thoughtful assistant to Liu when on one occasion, Liu had wanted to impose heavy tax due to the shortages of funds for the military but Li opposed, and instead forked out all the jewelries she had to be used for military usage. This move greatly impressed everyone and not long after Liu subsequently founded the later Han dynasty, and Li was made the Empress. The later Han dynasty did not last for long as Liu died the following year, and their only son, Liu Chengyou (not Liu Yaoqi), was not a capable Emperor, thus causing Guo Wei, the relative of Li, to rebel against the court and soon established the Northern Zhou dynasty. As Li had once opposed Chengyou from killing Guo Wei, she was spared from death and was instead still made the Empress Dowager. San'niang lived on as the Empress Dowager for a few more years before passing away at the age of 42.
"Li San'niang" was adapted from a Southern Play classic from Ming dynasty named "Liu Zhiyuan and the Legend of the Rabbit". The legend of Li San'niang was twisted as such most likely to enhance the virtue of Li San'niang, so as to "educate" how a woman of virtue should behave like. Probably too, that this show was inspired by a Yuan dynasty opera "Xue Ren'gui Returns in Glamour" as well. In this show, Lady Liu, the wife of Tang general Xue Ren'gui, endured the hardship of living alone in a broken hut for years while waiting for her husband to return from war. Another informal source which I remembered quite clearly, was a tale of a middle-aged woman who was so poor that she couldn't afford funeral fees to bury her late husband and hence had to sell off her new-born son to a rich Squire. The greedy Squire wanted her to work in his household too as a servant too, but she was not to acknowledge the baby as her son. Out of desperation, this lady agreed. Eighteen years later, this son met his birth mother by a well after giving chase to a rabbit. Curious about her identity, this young man asked her about her identity, and not knowing that this young man was in fact her son, she went on to speak about how she lost her only son. This young man was shocked that the account of the lady's lost son matched his own background, and after much investigation, he realised that this lady was actual his mother and quickly went back to acknowledge her. Judging from this folktale, it could jolly well be that this folktale had somehow fused together with the actual story of Li San'niang at some point in time.
"Liu Yaoqi Succeeds the Throne", on the other hand, is a more contemporary piece of work which I believe exist only in Teochew opera. I have no idea what the intention of the playwright is in writing this opera, but I believe it is a total deviation from history and is a defamation of the real Empress Li. It is a direct consequence of an artistic individual who abused his artistic integrity to write anything he/ she wish without a conscience,
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