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The Story of the Lute is a rare blossom in the garden of Chinese classical opera. It encapsulates the sterling qualities of the Chinese people, and resonates with life and unique national characteristics.

The heroine, the beautiful and faithful Zhao Wuniang, is given in marriage to the strikingly handsome Cai Bojie, one of the outstanding scholars of his time. The couple are blissfully happy, until Cai's father insists that he sit for the imperial examination to choose officials, and the newlyweds are forced to make a tearful parting.

In the capital, Cai becomes the talk of the town when he comes top of the list in the examination. Coming to the notice of Prime Minister Niu, the latter compels him to marry his daughter, and keeps him in the capital for six years. All this time Cai is pining for his true bride.

Meanwhile, Zhao Wuniang boldly takes over the burden of household affairs. Unfortunately the region is stricken by a severe drought, and during successive years of famine she has to pawn all her jewelry to keep alive, until she is reduced to eating the chaff in the fields. The hardship proves too much for her parents-in-law, who perish one after the other. Zhao Wuniang, as the idiom has it, "sold her hair to buy a coffin" and "carried earth for the grave mound in her skirt" to give the old couple a decent burial. She then set off for the capital to seek her husband, carrying portraits of her parents-in-law and suffering every kind of hardship as she begged her way long the road. Her wifely devotion to her husband and her filial piety towards her parents-in-law, as well as her constant and faithful character moves the heart of the prime minister's daughter. In the end all three settle down as a family, and move back to Cai's hometown, where they live in faithfulness and harmony, and are held in great esteem.

This story still lives today in the hearts of the broad masses of the Chinese people, because of its intricate plots, unaffected language, lively characterization, and , above all, for its brilliant portrayal of Zhao Wuniang. It is a touching drama of model artistry adorning the gallery of Chinese literature. Because of its outstanding artistic attraction, The Story of the Lute has been promoted as the par excellence example of Southern Opera. As such it has had a wide-ranging and profound influence on the creation of this genre, especially The Story of the Bramble Hairpin, which dates from the early Ming Dynasty, and most of the works of Li Yu and Zhu Suchen of the end of the Ming and beginning of the Qing dynasties, all of which approach The Story of the Lute in artistic style. The Story of the Lute was introduced to the outside world in 1841, when it was translated into French, making it one of the first Chinese opera works to be translated into a forting language.