Much of the action "The Procious Lotus Lantern" (Pao Lien Teng) is understood to have taken' place before the play begins, A. native of Kiangsi, Liu Yen-chang, lad a son, Ch'éng-hsiong, whose mother had died. Later this man took to wife, Wang Kuei-ying, who bare a son, Chin-er. The two half brothers were the bast of com-anion, never being seen apart, just aa a person and his shadow are inseparable. Tt was while at school one day that the boy's became involved in a dispute, in the course of which Ch'éng-hsiang accidentally Killed the son of Chen-tstan, a very. powerful and corrupt official. When. the boys wetursed home weeping and. told their father, Liu Yen-chang was terrified, because if the unfortunate boy had come from any other family, the Intter mright have been appeised by adequate reparation; but the cruel and vondietive Chen-tehan would surely destroy the whole family if the guilty son were not. given up immediately. Tt is at this point that the drama' begins,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.