This new opera won a TV Golden Bell Award and was chosen as one of the Top Ten Performance Arts at the First Tai-Hsin Arts Awards. The story of Si-ma Mao judging historical figures of the Three Kingdoms was recorded in early books. For example, in A New Version of Complete Stories on the Three Kingdoms published in the Yuan Dynasty, one can find the story of Si-ma Zhung serving as judge in the nether region. But the story in Complete Stories of the Three Kingdoms is a minor tale that merely provides a mythical beginning for the Three Kingdoms. In the Ming Dynasty, the story of “Si-ma Mao Passing Judgments in Hell” was compiled in Yushi Mingyan, a huaben xiaoshuo, actually a collection of short stories. Though the structure remained the same as it was in earlier times, additional figures from the Three Kingdoms were involved, and the main focus of the story became some consolation to a scholar’s grievance instead of the entanglement of different historical figures in the Three Kingdoms. This story was later adapted into operas, such as The Big Turning Wheel by Xu Shi-Qi, and Angry Si-ma Rebuking Yama in His Dream by Ji Yung-Ren. Most operas took the theme of the scholar’s grievance over their frustration for not being known, with some criticism of their contemporary situations.
However, Journey through Hell was a serious revision of the original story. Instead of focusing on the scholar’s grievance and searching for personal fulfillment in life, it deals with the concepts of the transmigration of the soul and the natural order of the universe. Such themes had been taken up before, but most operas with such themes tend to be overly philosophical and didactic and become boring on stage--an indication that they were written to be read, not to be performed. Journey through Hell, on the other hand, was written by experienced playwrights across the strait and the story was expanded to cover three generations instead of the original two. With wonderful writing skills, the playwrights link past and present historical figures who were not related to each other. From the wrath and grievance of the heroes in the beginning of the Han Dynasty to the entanglement of gratitude and resentment of the heroes at the end of the Han Dynasty, to the regret concerning the memories in Jinling, their lives echo each other through reincarnation. The main plot line is mixed with old plot that has been revised, and they are combined in a perfect manner, each the foil of the other. Clever twists of the plot and the amazing ending of the transmigration of souls, together with the debate between the two Yamas, reveal the meaning of life and the way of heaven. The story may seem absurd, but it points to the truth that transcends time and space.
