The Orphan of Zhao, or Orphan of the House Tcho (趙氏孤兒) is a Chinese play of the Yuan Dynasty, attributed to someone named Ji Junxiang (紀君祥), about whom almost nothing is known. Based on an episode in Shiji, the play has its full name The Great Revenge of the Orphan of Zhao Family (趙氏孤兒大報仇).
It is the first Chinese play known in Europe. Joseph Henri Marie de Prémare translated the play into French as Tchao-chi-cou-eulh, ou L'orphelin de la maison de Tchao, tragédie chinoise, which was collected in Jean Baptiste Du Halde's Description géographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l'empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinoise, published in 1735 (the play was published separately in 1755). Thomas Hatchett (active 1721-1741) published an adaptation of the play in English, "The Orphan of China" (1741) that changes the ending significantly so that the play conforms to classical conventions of the three unities. Voltaire was inspired to produce his own L'orphelin de la Chine (1755), which the Irish dramatist Arthur Murphy translated as The Orphan of China (1759). Stanislas Julien's translation, Tchao-chi-kou-eul, ou L’orphelin de la Chine: drame en prose et en vers, was published in 1834. The play was adapted by the Lincoln Center Theatre in 2003, with music by indie rocker Stephin Merritt. The 2010 film Sacrifice film by Chen Kaige is based on the play. [1]
The main story is that of a Zhao Emperor was betrayed by one of his officers. The new emperor thus sought to kill every one of the Zhao family, ending the old emperor's bloodline. The Zhao Emperor's wife was at the time pregnant, and gave the baby to her doctor to hide from the new emperor. The mother was killed but the baby escaped with the doctor. The new emperor then acknowledged of the Zhao baby's presence and sought to kill him. He forcefully took every one of the village's infants and declared that if nobody would confirm which baby is of the Zhao bloodline, that he would kill every one of the village's infants to ensure the death of the Zhao baby. The doctor sacrificed his own real son to the new emperor in order to save the royal bloodline, causing his own wife to go mad. As the Zhao baby grew, the doctor sent him to be raised next to the new emperor and eventually told him of the truth. The Zhao Orphan then killed the new emperor and completed his revenge, regaining the empire.