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In forty plus years of filmmaking, Shaw Brothers auteur Li Han Hsiang left an indelible stamp on Hong Kong cinema, most notably with his elegant period pieces. His Huangmei operas from the 1950s and 1960s represent a timeless genre, aesthetic, and atmosphere that resonate today as much as they did fifty years ago. Li’s 1958 Huangmei opera classic Diau Charn not only broke box office records with receipts of over HKD300,000, it also triumphed at the 5th Asia Pacific Film Festival, winning five awards including Best Director and Best Actress. The critical and commercial success of Diau Charn opened the door for a string of Huangmei opera films, including Li’s subsequent classics The Kingdom and The Beauty (1959), Yang Kwai Fei (1962), Empress Wu (1963), and of course The Love Eterne (1963). Based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Diau Charn is a sublime retelling of a familiar tale with iconic actress Linda Lin Dai (Lam Doi) in the titular role of Diau Charn, one of the four storied beauties of ancient China.

During the waning years of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the Yellow Turban Revolution breaks out, leading to a series of external and internal revolts that shatter the royal family’s power and usher in the rule of tyrannical warlord Dong Zhuo (Lo Wei). Dong eventually relocates to capital city Chang’an with puppet emperor Xian, leaving Luoyang in a blaze of fire that burns for three months. Displaced and orphaned by the pillage, young girl Hong Chang (Lin Dai) also leaves Luoyang, ending up in Chang’an where she is taken in as daughter by court official Wang Yun (Yeung Chi Hing) and renamed Diau Charn. Plotting to end Dong’s tyrannical reign, Wang brings the beautiful Diau Charn to the inner courts. She becomes concubine to Dong and lover to Wang’s son Lu Bu (Chao Lei), manipulating their infatuation with her to their own demise.

One of the great Chinese screen sirens of the 1950s and 1960s, Lin Dai starred in many other classic opera and musical films including Les Belles (1961), Madame White Snake (1962), and Li Han Hsiang’s Wang Zhao Jun (1964) and The Kingdom and The Beauty. Lin Dai’s silver screen career was tragically short cut in July 1964 when she committed suicide at the age of 29, sealing her tragic heroine image in cinematic memory..
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