Posted 2018/10/24
Tang Xianzu (1550-1616), a famous drama artist of the Ming Dynasty of China, possessed an important position in the domestic and world literary history and is praised as "Shakespeare of the East". As he was born in Linchuan of Jiangxi Province, his four representative works are also called "Linchuan Four Dreams". Among his works, Peony Pavilion is the most well-known.
Tang Xianzu was poor in his whole life, but he left a rich fortune for China's drama. His works such as Tale of Purple Hairpin, Tale of Nank
e, Peony Pavilion and Tale of Handan are not only popular in China, but also have been spread to many other countries, such as England, Japan, German and Russia, and are regarded as a treasure of the world drama art. In addition, his monograph Temple Notation of Qingyuan Rabbi as the Drama God in Yihuang County is an important literature on the discussion of drama performance in the history of Chinese drama, playing a role as the pioneer to the study of director. Meanwhile, Tang Xianzu was also a great poet and his poetry anthologies have been handed down.
Peony Pavilion, the representative work of Tang Xianzu, is also the representative work taking love as the subject matter in Kunqu opera. It is a legendary story describing a pair of young people who died for love and relived from love. It was very popular and many people were moved and infatuated with it just after its publication. It is said that quite a few girls were moved by and died for the tragic story in history. In Peony Pavilion, not only the story is affecting and the plot is romantic, but also the wording is very graceful. Some librettos, for example, are still very popular today. So, the work enjoys a rather high artistic level.
