The Butterfly Lovers: The Legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai: Four Versions with Related Texts

The late-imperial legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the Butterfly Lovers—a story as central to Chinese culture as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is to Western culture—also relates a tale of two lovers help apart by social strictures. To audiences of the many Chinese ballads, plays, and films based on the story, the tragic ending offers proof that equality and happiness can only be achieved in a China freed from the traditional family system.

This volume offers translations of the earli...