Huangmeixi tragic opera in which Bai Suzhen, and her younger sister, Qingqing are centuries old snake spirits who have trained to take on human form for a thousand years. Suzhen takes the form of a young doctor and falls for Mr. Xu, a poor pharmacist who rescued her beaten snake form in a previous incarnation, and Qinqing her handmaiden and matchmaker. Although the medicine Suzhen makes has saved countless people, many monks insist that they are snakes and inherently evil, and try to make Xian escape them and become a monk himself. When he learns the truth with the posions from the Dragon Boat festival, he is literally scared to death. Suzhen, though pregnant, must then fly to the celestial mountains and battle for the flower that can restore him to life.—Scott Andrew Hutchins <[email protected]>