Faculty of Design

Material Art & Design

Jenny Su

The Butterfly Lovers

"Lightning suddenly split Liang Shanbo's grave apart and without any hesitation, Zhu Yingtai jumped in. Swallowed by the earth, two silver butterflies emerged from the grave as the skies cleared. At last, their spirits were free."

“Zhu Yingtai, the only daughter of the Zhu family, was a young woman who had her heart set on attending school in a time when it was discouraged for women to pursue education. Convincing her family to study at an academy disguised as a man, she meets a scholar named Liang Shanbo, and the two immediately feel an affinity for each other. They attend school together for the next three years as best friends and sworn “brothers” as she falls in love with him. However, before Zhu can confess her real identity, she returns home at the urgent request of her family and tells Liang to visit her, so he can meet her “sister” whom she wants to matchmake with him. When Liang comes to visit, he finally discovers that Zhu is a woman. Overjoyed by the reunion and reveal, they express their love for each other. Liang even proposes to marry her, but their happiness is short-lived as they find out Zhu has already been promised to marry another man. Heartbroken, Liang returns home and falls ill, eventually succumbing to his illness right before Zhu’s marriage. On her wedding day, Zhu passes by his grave during a storm and stops to pay her respects. As she grieves his death, lightning suddenly falls from the sky and splits his grave open. Without any hesitation, she jumps in and the earth swallows her up. As the skies clear, their spirits in the form of two butterflies emerge from the grave and fly away, free, and never to part again.This story is often told in the form of opera, therefore the mask not only represents Zhu’s disguise at the school but is also representative of stylized opera makeup. The mask melts away, made from fused wires, with bezel set topaz and dangling pearls acting as tears, and two reticulated butterflies metamorphose, ready to flutter away together.”