The story of Pan Chin-lien as presented here in the Kunqu production is adapted from several Chinese classical works, notably the classic novel The Water Margin of the 16th century Ming Dynasty. During the last century, various regional theaters in China have presented the play in different formats with minor alterations in the details of the story. The images of the two protagonists, Wu Song and Pan Chin-lien, have undergone a transformation indicative of the moral concepts and sensibilities of the time. In some of the productions at the turn of the century, Wu Song was portrayed as a hero with the laudable virtues of loyalty, integrity, and valor, whereas Pan Chin-lien has received much more sympathetic treatment from modern playwrights such as Ou-yang Yu-Chien. In his version, Pan Chin-lien rises to the stature of a tragic heroine; she is not merely a victim and adulteress. She asserts herself as a full-blooded person with passions and courage and expresses her secret love for her brother-in-law (also her executioner) in the face of death. Some productions staged in the mid-Sixties ended the play with Pan chin-lien’s suicide.