Passion for strange tales of potent pop

I don't consider myself a pop fan, yet I've fallen in love with three pop songs, each of them downloaded millions of times online. They struck a chord with me because they all celebrate tragic love stories of ancient China. The lyrics are based on classical poetry and the tunes, although bristling with contemporary sound additives, carry distinctive Chinese features.

Chrysanthemum Platform (Juhua Tai) is the best known of the three. Songwriter and singer Jay Chou composed the song for the film Curse of the Golden Flowers, although he made a better job of the song than of his portrayal of the prince trying to defend his mother, the queen (Gong Li).

The court struggles depicted in the film are to many reminiscent of Hamlet, but the song has an eminently traditional Chinese theme: As the wife sits in a red chamber gazing at the moon, her husband fights for his life on the battlefield; neither knows whether they will ever see the other again.