It epitomizes the phobia-haunted Chinese society, where one is ever fearing replacement by others and is determined to vie fiercely with whoever threatens one’s position, so much so that one’s is content only with the destruction of the perceived foe. Each and every character in the opera proceeds with the assurance that justice is on his/her side. HON Seon was praised as the “soldier transcendent” and the “god of war”. He was a renowned combat tactician in ancient China, winning every battle! Without HON Seon, perhaps the "Overlord of Co" (Pinyin Chu) would not have gone so far as to part his concubine and throat-cut himself, nor would LAU B**g have created a dynasty of prosperity. Once the Hon (Pinyin Han) dynasty had been securely established, were HON Seon’s days counted? That was a case of injustice over two millennia old. It would not be possible to dig out all the facts, let alone redress the injustice. This story on stage, inevitably a mixture of facts and fiction, traces HON Seon’s footprints in the last 24 hours of his life. When the two met face to face, would the “god of death” give the “god of war” a way out?
