In addition to heightening the affect of dramatized martial spectacles, swordplay was often central to the plots of plays and operas, one example being the Peking Opera The Conqueror Bids Farewell to His Favorite Concubine. It tells of Xiang Yu, a main contender for the throne after the death of the Qin emperor in 206 BC. After being defeated and driven out of his native State of Chu, Xiang Yu urges his concubine Yu Ji tojoin him in drowning his sorrows, but devotion to her lord drives Yu Ji to enact a strategy of ultimate self-sacrifice. She performs a sword dance (choreographed by the great Peking Opera master Me Lanfang) that ends in her slaying herself. Yu Ji thus frees Xiang Yu from this final fetter hindering him from an all out attempt to recover his kingdom.
