That the Peking Opera survives at all during five decades of upheaval is rather astonishing apparently its royalist and bourgeois origins are balanced against its long history as a Chinese cultural tradition, so that even the Red Chinese accept it in all of its anachronistic glory. Dieyi is resentful and jealous, but during long years of hard times Juxian stands heroically by both men. Dieyi, a homosexual, feels great love for Xiaolou, but the 'king' doesn't share his feelings, and eventually marries the beautiful prostitute Juxian, played by China's leading actress, Gong Li. Their personal relationship is equally unsettled. But they are politically unsophisticated, and Dieyi in particular makes unwise decisions during the Japanese occupation, leading to later charges of collaborating with the enemy. Under the stage names of Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi), the two actors become wildly popular with Peking audiences.

Throughout their lives they will be locked into these roles onstage, while their personal relationship somehow survives the upheavals of World War II, the communist takeover of China and the Cultural Revolution. We meet the delicate young Douzi ( Leslie Cheung), who is assigned to the transvestite role of the concubine in a famous traditional opera, and the more masculine Shitou ( Zhang Fengyi), who will play the king. The physical and mental hardships are barely endurable, but they produce, after years, classical performers who are exquisitely trained for their roles.

The film opens on a setting worthy of Dickens, as two young orphan boys are inducted into the Peking Opera's harsh, perfectionist training academy.

Soon young peking opera