Two Stage Sisters

A runaway tongyangxi, Zhu Chunhua, hides with an itinerant Yue Opera troupe in a Shaoxing village. The troupe's head A’Xin wants to send her away, but the teacher Xing recognizes her potential and takes her in as a disciple. Xing trains Chunhua as a performer, offering a path through art amid limited female agency.

Chunhua signs a deal with the troupe and partners with Yuehong, Xing’s daughter who performs as a xiaosheng. Chunhua performs the dan role while Yuehong continues as the leading xiaosheng, forging a close artistic alliance. Their collaboration marks a turning point in their lives and in the troupe’s dynamics.

Chunhua and Yuehong form a sworn sisterhood within the troupe, presenting unity against the oppressive social norms surrounding them. Their alliance becomes a symbol of potential resistance for female artists under patriarchal expectations. The dynamic sets the tone for later conflicts with the state and society.

The two performers are arrested by Kuomintang police after they refuse the advances of a rich landlord Ni. The crackdown reveals the regime’s collusion with feudal elites and exposes how ordinary women can become pawns in political power plays. The arrest marks the first major intrusion of politics into their lives.

Ni, a provincial landlord, privately invites Chunhua and Yuehong to sing at his house. Yuehong rejects his advances, signaling a clear stance against the feudal patron’s entitlement. Soon after, Kuomintang cops seize Yuehong during a performance, escalating the troupe’s peril.

Chunhua is arrested and tied to a pillar for days as public humiliation, while Yuehong faces a similar crackdown. The punishment illustrates how female performers could be publicly punished to deter dissent. Their resilience begins to be tested by state oppression.

Xing and A’Xin manage to secure the sisters’ release by bribing Kuomintang officers. The act exposes the entangled relationships between performance troupes, state power, and corruption. The sisters’ freedom comes at the price of ongoing oppression from the regime.

As the Second Sino-Japanese War unfolds, Chunhua, Yuehong, and the troupe endure severe hardships that mirror China’s broader instability. They navigate scarcity, censorship, and shifting political tides while keeping their art alive. The troupe’s resilience becomes a narrative throughline for national struggle.

In 1941, Teacher Xing dies of an illness, and A’Xin sells Chunhua and Yuehong to Tang, a Shanghai opera theater manager, on a three-year contract. The sale exemplifies the commodification of female artists under capitalism. The sisters’ future becomes bound to a commercial elite who will shape their careers.

Chunhua and Yuehong rapidly become Tang’s marquee performers, eclipsing his aging star Shang Shuihua. Their ascent highlights the commodification of art and the shifting power dynamics within the Shanghai opera scene. Yuehong, in particular, grows more attracted to wealth and status.

Three years pass and the two sisters become renowned in the city, with Yuehong increasingly focused on wealth and status. Chunhua remains grounded and politically conscious, watching Yuehong drift from their original ideals. The divide foreshadows the looming clashes over art and ideology.

Yuehong agrees to Tang’s proposal to marry, secretly hoping for security and status. Chunhua distrusts Tang, and she withholds support, aware that Tang already has a wife who is kept as a mistress. The rift deepens their divergent paths.

Witnessing Shang Shuihua’s suicide jolts Chunhua into political awareness, prompting her to ally with communist journalist Jiang Bo. Jiang Bo advises her to become progressive and to educate others about truth and falsehood. Chunhua begins producing progressive operas, including Lu Xun’s The New Year Sacrifice, which the regime soon bans.

The Kuomintang regime pressures to ruin Chunhua’s reputation. A’Xin files a lawsuit, and Tang coerces Yuehong to testify against Chunhua. In a crucial courtroom moment, Yuehong faints, undermining the case and highlighting the personal and political stakes involved.

The film ends in 1950, with Chunhua preparing to perform The White-Haired Girl for country folks in Zhejiang, while Tang has fled to Taiwan and Yuehong is left in Shaoxing. The two share a tearful reunion near a quay, with Yuehong pledging to walk the ‘correct’ path and Chunhua dedicating herself to revolutionary operas, cementing art’s role in socialist nation-building.