Dance of Separation: the gift bearers enter dramatically and we see Yingtai struggling to get away. In the midst of all this, Zhu Gongyuan and his wife play forceful roles in making her succumb. Yingtai struggles but to no avail. The dancers carry her away, and almost immediately returns, now dressed in black, and begin to crowd Shanbo. Their oppression overpowers him and he is finally left alone – crushed and broken on the ground.
The music has changed and we see him in a pool of light, surrounded by darkness. He tries to get up and the effort makes him cough painfully. He struggles with a handkerchief from his jacket to cover his mouth… with a heave and a spasm of pain… there is blood on the handkerchief.
The theme music is heard again, very sad and very slow. And in the half darkness, we can see Yingtai dancing slowly with another man who wears a mask. But her dance is that of a spiritless being, turned and twisted this way and that way. Sometimes there is resistance, a flicker of emotion but this immediately subsides behind the mask of emptiness. At one point, she faces Liang Shanbo and reaches out to him but is snatched away. The man lifts her above his head, triumphant but she looks lifeless! They leave. And Liang Shanbo, having seen all this, slowly gets up, coughs, and struggles away out of sight. We hear the dying wail of the violin as the light fades away.
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