Golden Dragon and Mayfly: A Huaiju Play by Luo Huaizhen

In the Reform Period in China since the end of the Cultural Revolution, a good deal of innovation in indigenous Chinese theater (xiqu 戲曲) has come from local theatrical traditions. A prominent example is Wei Minglun 魏明倫 (1941–) and the plays he has written for Chuanju 川劇 (Sichuan opera). Perhaps less well known abroad, but equally of interest and importance, is the career of Luo Huaizhen 羅懷臻 (1956–), who began as a Huaiju 淮劇 (Huai opera) actor and went on to write plays first for Huaiju and then eventually for a wide range of Chinese theatrical traditions (in this he differs from Wei, who has remained with and still writes for the same theater company in Sichuan). After background information on Huaiju, Luo himself, and Golden Dragon and Mayfly (Jinlong yu Fuyou 金龍與蜉蝣), one of his more influential early plays, I offer a translation of the play itself.