Each season, the Teatro Real offers a series of activities parallel to its regular programming in collaboration with various institutions. Within this framework, and on the occasion of the Teatro Real premiere of Charles-François Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, Casa Asia is organizing a conference dedicated to one of the most emblematic love stories in Chinese culture: that of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, known as The Butterfly Lovers.
This moving legend tells the story of Zhu Yingtai, a young woman who disguises herself as a man to gain access to education, thus defying the restrictions imposed on women of her time, and her tragic romance with Liang Shanbo. Often considered the Chinese equivalent of Romeo and Juliet, this legend explores the profound tension between individual desire, destiny, and established social structures.
Beyond its romantic dimension, the story centrally addresses themes such as freedom, sacrifice, and the struggle against convention, as the protagonists represent emotional and moral resistance against a restrictive social order. In this sense, the lovers’ final transformation into butterflies symbolizes ultimate liberation and the conquest of absolute freedom beyond social and human limitations.
The lecture will explore the cultural, symbolic, and artistic value of this legend within its historical contexts, its presence in the performing arts, literature, music, and film, and its current relevance as a universal metaphor.
Presented by:
Carmen Bedoya, Programming Coordinator of the Casa Asia Center-Madrid
Participant:
Andreas Janousch, Director of the Confucius Institute of Madrid and Professor of Chinese History and Religion at the Center for East Asian Studies of the Autonomous University of Madrid
Date: Wednesday, May 27, 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. CEST
Free admission with prior registration.
Organized by: Casa Asia and the Teatro Real
Venue: Casa Asia Centre-Madrid, Calle Mayor, 69, Madrid
