Yong Opera (Ningbo)<br>The Ningbo Opera "Dian Qi", adapted from Mr. Rou Shi's novel "Mother as a Slave", has dominated almost all drama competitions' top awards over the past 15 years. This film version has also been the first to bring this opera to the big screen. The story is about a leather dealer's wife, who is pawned into the family of a Xiu Cai (certified scholar) as a slave to carry on his family's legacy and is forced to endure the pain of being separated from her own son. When the wife gives birth to an heir for the scholar, she is expelled by the scholar's family and again suffers the pain of being separated from her other son. The story is based on the conflict between the wife's longing for her two children and the impossibility of their reunion, and thus criticizes the corrupt system through the tragic fate of women who are "pawned" in the corrupt society.