Farewell My Concubine: Chinese text online somewhere?

[Zeppa]

I went to see the Peking Opera Farewell my Concubine in London last Saturday (also saw Warrior Women of Yang) and I've been watching the film. I also own the book with DVD called 'Watching the movie and learning Chinese'. That book contains the text of the film, I believe, and more detailed material on part of it.

 

But is there anywhere online I could download a digital version of the text of the film, or even of the text of the opera? Otherwise I can scan the book I have, which takes a bit longer.

 

 

[skylee]

How about the novel based on which the film was made?

http://m.baidu.com/from=844b/bd_page_type=1/ssid=0/uid=0/pu=usm%400%2Csz%401320_1001%2Cta%40iphone_2_5.0_3_537/baiduid=B2298B16D08A2E6441DD30A14FA18E45/w=0_10_%E6%9D%8E%E7%A2%A7%E8%8F%AF+%E9%9C%B8%E7%8E%8B%E5%88%A5%E5%A7%AC+%E5%B0%8F%E8%AA%AA+%E4%B8%8B%E8%BC%89/t=iphone/l=3/tc?ref=www_iphone&lid=17899386999237754869&order=4&vit=osres&tj=www_normal_4_0_10_title&m=8&srd=1&cltj=cloud_title&dict=30&title=%E9%9C%B8%E7%8E%8B%E5%88%AB%E5%A7%AC%28%E6%9D%8E%E7%A2%A7%E5%8D%8E%29_%E6%A2%A6%E8%BF%9C%E4%B9%A6%E5%9F%8E&sec=8135&di=7f3250bc561fd5e1&bdenc=1&tch=124.162.202.953.1.767&nsrc=IlPT2AEptyoA_yixCFOxXnANedT62v3IEQGG_yFBQG0b95qshbWxBd2uJ7HNLHmOZpPPxnWAewoDla

[Zeppa]

Thanks very much, Skylee. I knew of the novel, but it is probably too much for me at the moment. But I will have a look at it.

 

I wonder if there are DVDs of Peking opera / jingju, kunqu. There must be, but my Chinese is not good enough to find them. But I think there are older threads if I search this forum.

[eslang]

霸王别姬（京剧剧本）

作者:京剧剧本

http://www.juben108.com/xiqu_23743_1/

 

Peking Opera Farewell my Concubine

[Michaelyus]

Awesome website!

 

@OP: slightly OT, but I hugely envy you.

[Zeppa]

Thanks, eslang.

 

Michaelyus, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. You so often read in novels about these 'plays', troupes of players in Dream of the Red Chamber must be the same kind of thing. I had heard but had to see it to believe it that they have no problem with you taking photographs. I did some close-ups of the concubine's and king's hands and then I realized when I was looking at the beginning of the film why the little boy's sixth finger had to be chopped off before he could be taken as a future actor.

[TheBigZaboon]

@Zeppa

 

You have indicated "on-line" as your choice, but would a complete transcript of the movie in book form be acceptable? There is a book published in Japan that has the complete script of the movie in Chinese on one page, and a translation in Japanese on the opposite page. You could ignore the Japanese and utilize the Chinese. I don't remember, but I don't think there is any pinyin.

 

The book is long out of print, but is available second-hand for between 5000 and 7500 Japanese yen depending on the condition of the copy. I am willing to break a long-standing rule of mine to never get involved in people trying to buy books on China and Chinese from Japan, and help you get one.  Your latest post on the photographs you took and my feelings about this movie prompted me to speak up.

 

You can try to buy it through Amazon.co.jp in English, but there are translations in Japanese, DVDs, and fan books you have to wade through to find out what you want:

 

http://www.amazon.co.jp/中華電影的中国語-さらば、わが愛-覇王別姫―中国語・日本語対訳シナリオ集-陳-凱歌/dp/4873761735/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448507649&sr=1-2-fkmr1&keywords=%E3%81%95%E3%82%89%E3%81%B0%E3%82%8F%E3%81%8C%E3%81%82%E3%81%84%E3%80%80%EF%BC%88%E6%9C%AC%EF%BC%89

 

should bring you to the proper page.

 

From there you can try to purchase it second-hand. If you have trouble, pm me and we can work something out.

 

TBZ

[eslang]

But is there anywhere online I could download a digital version of the text of the film,

Both English and Chinese subtitles for the film (1993)

霸王别姬 霸王别姬 (1993)

 

Just copy and paste 覇王別姫 into search 搜索字幕 :

http://www.zimuku.net/search?ad=1&q=%E9%9C%B8%E7%8E%8B%E5%88%AB%E5%A7%AC

http://subhd.com/search/%E9%9C%B8%E7%8E%8B%E5%88%AB%E5%A7%AC <--- Other versions are available in traditional characters as well.

or even of the text of the opera?

The link has been posted as above in post #4.

 

The subtitles srt file (transcript without timecode) is attached.

Simply open it with Notepad.

 

Copy and paste the text (less than 500 characters)

http://www.purpleculture.net/chinese-pinyin-converter/

 

Choose Pinyin with tone mark or Zhuyin fuhao.

Then click on Convert button.

Farewell My Concubine 1993.srt

[Zeppa]

@TheBigZaboon: thanks very much for your wishing tohelp me, but as I said I probably already have it in book form, in the book plus DVD 'Watching the Movie and Learning Chinese'. I want to save myself the effort of scanning and converting.

 

@eslang: thanks very much, I will try it. I have converted .srt files before.

[Zeppa]

@eslang: yes, I did download the opera text after your first post. I just haven't got round to looking at it more closely.

[Zeppa]

That worked well with opening srt file in Notepad. I didn't know Notepad (only use Windows on a virtual machine) but I downloaded it. Thanks, useful in future too.

[TheBigZaboon]

@Zeppa,

My pleasure...

The first page of each book in the series 'Watching the movie and learning Chinese' mentions that from a 90 minute-plus movie, they have selected the most representative scenes to help you enjoy the movie and learn useful phrases. So that book doesn't come close to giving you the entire script of the movie. That said, unless you want to study the entire movie for reasons of your own, there's plenty there to keep you busy.

But if you really want a complete copy, my offer still stands. Because I have let the cat out of the bag as how to obtain an accurate copy, the few copies available at reasonable prices may disappear. You never know.

In any case, the offer is still open at any time.

TBZ

[Zeppa]

I know that's what they say, but when I look at the book it appears that the whole text is there from page 52 on. I can't swear to it, of course, but it looks as if they home in on some parts first and attach the whole lot afterwards.

Is the attached text file I made from the srt files abridged?

 

I would be happy to ask you to help me get the Japanese book if you think it's closer to the film than the srt subtitles, but I have the impression as far as I've listened that it's complete.

 

 

farewellmyconc film.txt

[TheBigZaboon]

@Zeppa,

Pages 52 to 87 represent about 35 pages. My recollection of the book I have used was of a book of about 300 pages. Divided by 2 to account for the Japanese translation would mean a script of 100 pages, at least.

I would have to risk divorce by trying to dig the book out of the closet it's buried in, but on the back cover of your text book, it mentions two versions of the movie are included on the DVD, 'a complete version for appreciation and a re-edited version for use in the classroom.' I think the transcript provided is for the classroom version.

There is nothing wrong with the version provided, I just don't think it's complete. But right now, I can't quote you chapter and verse to prove it.

The on-line versions referenced by eslang are probably more complete than what is provided by the textbook, and if so, you're good to go. You wouldn't need the Japanese book.

I bought my copy because the Japanese bi-lingual version is from the premiere Japanese high-brow movie magazine that provides full transcripts and accurate translations of foreign movies for people who really love movies, and has done so for 40 or 50 years. It was more reliable than fan subs. As I read Japanese, and the people I would be talking to about the movie were Japanese, the book was a godsend.

I only made the offer because I was so impressed by this movie when I saw it, and was equally moved by a comment skylee made a number of years ago when Leslie Cheung committed suicide. The similarities to the plot of the movie made an impression on me, too.

Please don't feel I'm pressuring you to buy the book. It's just that some of the offers don't ship overseas, and if you didn't know that the sale might not go through. So I thought I'd open my big mouth to stick my foot in.

In any case, the offer still stands.

TBZ

[Zeppa]

@TBZ

No, I don't think you're pressurizing me. You think this book is what I need and the other is not enough.

 

The trouble is, my Chinese is not very good so I want to read in the Pleco document reader, which lets me look things up quickly. I have only read the first scene but it seems complete.

 

I saw the film ages ago and I started watching it on the DVD from this book. I think I had the full version because it appears to be nearly 3 hours long, and I watched about an hour. I don't think there is that much dialogue, certainly not 300 pages of it. Maybe the novel? The first bit is identical in the subtitles file and in the book, except that the book shows you who's talking, which is useful if you don't know the film.

 

I am the first person to buy books, I have masses, and this book sounds really interesting. But I am not going to read it if it is the same as what I already have here. I don't want to make you dig out your copy to check, but I did attach the srt file converted to text, and if anyone else is interested, they can say if that is too short.As for whether the printed text from page 52 on is abridged, I will see that in due course.

 

Yes, it was certainly moving that Leslie Cheung committed suicide. If my Chinese were better, I could read more.