Old Korean love story in Chinese style

（People's Daily Online） 13:08, September 18, 2012

Students from Confucius Institute in South Korea put the adapted version of traditional love story Legend of Chun Hyang on China's stage on Sept. 15, 2012. Though born and raised in South Korea, the actors speak the lines in fluent Chinese. A number of the newest catchwords are prefect used in the play's lines and well received by Chinese audience. (Photo/BFSU)

By Chen Lidan, People's Daily Online

Students from Confucius Institute in South Korea put the adapted version of traditional love story Legend of Chun Hyang on China's stage in Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) on Sept. 15, 2012, as people of China and South Korea just celebrated the 20th anniversary of their friendship in August.

The Legend of Chun Hyang tells a love story across class boundaries taking place between Chun-hyang and Mong-ryong.

Chun-hyang is a household name in South Korea. She was the daughter of a female entertainer, or Kisaeng, which was considered as low class in ancient Korea. With a sharp contrast to Chun-hyang, Mong-ryong was from the highest class. Despite of suffering a number of pains caused by their huge difference in social status, Chun-hyang and Mong-ryong had a happy ending at last.

Actors are now studying in the Confucius Institute set in South Korea's Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS). Though born and raised in South Korea, the actors spoke the lines in fluent Chinese. A number of the newest catchwords were prefect used in the play's lines and well received by Chinese audience.

HUFS's Confucius Institute was launched in October 2009 and jointly run with BFSU. The new version of the old love story was an innovative form of Chinese language teaching for HUFS, in which students learnt the native and up-to-date Chinese language.