The Peony Pavilion


The Peony Pavilion, also named The Return of Soul at the Peony Pavilion, is a romantic tragicomedy play written by dramatist Tang Xianzu in 1598. The plot was drawn from the short story Du Liniang Revives For Love and depicts a love story between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei that overcomes all odds. Tang's play diverges from the short story in that it integrates elements of the Ming dynasty, despite being set in the Southern Song.
The play was originally written for staging as Kunqu opera, one of the genres of traditional Chinese theatre arts. It was first performed in 1598 at the Pavilion of Prince Teng. Its author, Tang Xianzu, was one of the greatest dramatists and writers of the Ming dynasty, and The Peony Pavilion can be regarded as the most successful masterpiece of his life. It is also one of the dramas in Tang's famous collection Linchuan si meng, along with Zichai Ji, Nanke Ji and Handan Ji''. Both the play and its dramatist get a high reputation on Chinese and international stages, and the study of Tang Xianzu has become a popular subject today.
The play has a total of 55 scenes, which can run for more than 22 hours on stage.

Synopsis

The story is set in the last days of the Southern Song dynasty. The stage performances traditionally center on the romance between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei, although the original text also contained subplots pertaining to the falling Song dynasty's defense against the aggression of the Jin dynasty. The romantic theme goes along the following outline.
On a fine spring day, her maid persuades Miss Du Liniang, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a senior official, Du Bao, to take a stroll in the garden, where she falls asleep and has a dream. In that fateful dream, Liniang encounters a young scholar. Liu Mengmei's bold advances ignite a passionate love affair between the two that flourishes rapidly. A flower petal that drops on Liniang startles her from the romantic dream. However, Liniang cannot get the oneiric love affair out of her mind since and her lovesickness quickly wastes her away. Unable to recover from her fixation, Liniang dies shortly after.
The president of the underworld adjudicates that marriage between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei is predestined and Liniang ought to return to the earthly world. Liniang subsequently appears to Liu Mengmei, who now inhabits the garden where Du Liniang had her fatal dream, in his various dreams. Recognizing that Du Bao's deceased daughter is the girl who appears in his dreams, Liu agrees to exhume Liniang's body upon her request and bring her back to life. Liu Mengmei then visits Du Bao to inform him of his daughter's resurrection as well as their relationship. The disbelieving and furious Du Bao throws Liu Mengmei into prison for being a grave robber and an impostor.
The ending of the story follows the formula for many popular Chinese dramas. Liu Mengmei narrowly escapes death by torture thanks to the arrival of the results of the imperial examination in which Liu has proved himself to be of great talent and value. The emperor pardons and delivers rewards to all.
In the first scene, there is a four-sentence introductory speech succinctly summarizing the main storyline:

Scenes

There are total of fifty-five scenes in the play. This is the version translated by Zhang Guangqian. Scenes in boldface are those usually adapted/performed onstage.
1. The Prologue
4. The Pedant's Complaint
7. The Family School
10. A Surprising Dream
13. Setting Out
16. An Inquiry
19. A Female Bandit
22. En Route
25. Recalling the Daughter
28. Secret Rendezvous
31. War Preparations
34. The Prescription
37. The Shocked Pedant
40. The Humpback Espier
43. Defending Huai'an
46. Outwitting the Bandits
49. Lodging by River Huai
52. Searching for the Zhuangyuan
55. A Decreed Reunion
2. Ambitious Thoughts
5. Engaging a Tutor
8. Supervising Agriculture
11. King Warning
14. Drawing a Self-portrait
17. The Taoist Nun
20. Untimely Death
23. The Nether Judge
26. Admiring the Portrait
29. Suspicious Aroused
32. A Vow
35. Resurrection
38. Planning an Attack
41. Delayed for the Examination
44. Filial Concern
47. The End of the Siege
50. An Uninvited Guest
53. Under Torture

3. Disciplining the Daughter
6. A Dismal View
9. Clearing the Garden
12. Retracing the Dream
15. Invaders
18. The Diagnoses
21. Meeting the Envoy
24. Discovering the Portrait
27. The Wandering Soul
30. Interrupting the Amour
33. Confiding the Scheme
36. Abscondence of the Newlyweds
39. Reaching Lin'an
42. Transferring on Huai'an
45. The Two Defrauders
48. A Reunion with the Mother
51. The Proclamation of the Results
54. The Happy Tidings

Characters

There are around 160 characters in the play, with 30 main characters, including:
  • Du Liniang is a sixteen-year-old young lady, daughter of Du Bao. The play's female protagonist.
  • Liu Mengmei is a young scholar, Du Liniang's lover. The play's male protagonist.
  • Du Bao is a court official, father of Du Liniang.
  • Chunxiang is a maid to Du Liniang.
  • Chen Zuiliang is a Confucian follower, who failed imperial examinations for fifteen times in his life, and later became Du Liniang's tutor.
  • Sister Stone is the pivotal role in Du Liniang's revival and facilitates this young couple's happy union in the end.

    Performance productions

  • In 2012, an outdoor production of Metropolitan Museum galleries presented The Peony Pavilion in a compact seventy-minute version developed and directed by celebrated composer Tan Dun with choreography by Huang Doudou, one of China's most prominent dancers, in the Met's Astor Court, the courtyard modeled on a seventeenth-century garden.
  • In 2012, the China Arts & Entertainment Group, a creative enterprise under the administration of the Ministry of Culture for the People's Republic of China, announced the United States premiere of a new dance drama production of The Peony Pavilion by China Jinling Dance Company of Nanjing would be performed at the David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, for four performances in early January.
  • In June 2008, the Suzhou Kunqu Opera company performed The Peony Pavilion at Sadler's Wells, London, the UK premiere. It was presented in 3 parts on consecutive evenings, each lasting 3 hours, though still much shorter than the original 20 hours.
  • In May 2008, the National Ballet of China premièred a two-scene ballet adaptation of The Peony Pavilion in Beijing. This production was rewritten and directed by Li Liuyi, choreographed by Fei Bo, and the music was composed by Guo Wenjing. It also attended Lincoln Center Festival in 2008, at David H. Koch Theater, and Edinburgh International Festival in August 2011.
  • The Imperial Granary's production The Peony Pavilion in Beijing, directed by Kunqu Opera master Wang Shiyu and scenography by the renowned Lin Zhaohua, was a permanent residency show for about 5 years since its premiere in 2007.
  • In 2004, Pai Hsien-yung's youth edition of The Peony Pavilion aims to rejuvenate the traditional staging. Pai, a Chinese scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his colleagues - scholars and performers, some brought back from retirement - spent five months editing Tang's script. Working out of the Jiangsu Suzhou Kunqu Theater, the group condensed and adapted the original fifty-five scenes to twenty-seven scenes, and twenty hours of performance time to nine. Bai, who had chosen The Peony Pavilion because of its universal message of love, hoped that his rendition would attract youth to Kunqu. In fact, in its tour of China's top universities, the show was marketed as the Youth Edition of Peony Pavilion. According to Bai, the goal of this youth-oriented production was to "give new life to the art form, cultivate a new generation of Kunqu aficionados, and offer respect to playwright Tang and all the master artists that came before." His production of The Peony Pavilion was his way of doing so. Pai Hsien-yung has also used The Peony Pavilion as inspiration for a short story and a television script.
  • Recent adaptations of The Peony Pavilion and allusions in popular music have revived interest in Kunqu, an art form that had been in danger of disappearing into obscurity. In 2001, UNESCO proclaimed Kunqu as a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity," yet the secrets of that heritage were kept by only a few aging masters in even fewer schools and institutions.
  • In 1999, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts produced a 20-hour version of The Peony Pavilion, directed by Chen and starring Qian Yi as Du Liniang. This 20-hour version was perhaps the first full-length staging in 300 years. Lincoln Center's version toured extensively, including New York, Paris, Milan, Singapore, Caen, Charleston, Aarhus, Berlin, Perth, and Vienna.
  • In 1998, an experimental or “avant-garde” production of The Peony Pavilion composed by Tan Dun, directed by Peter Sellars, and performed by Kun Opera Troupe, premiered in Vienna and travelled to London, Roma, Paris, and Berkeley later. Also, a CD recording of this opera was released entitled "Bitter Love".

    Famous performers

  • Mei Lanfang, sometimes paired with Yu Zhenfei as Liu Mengmei, was famous for his sensitive portrayal of Du Liniang.
  • The most famous actress of recent years is likely Zhang Jiqing's traditional approach out of Nanjing's Jiangsu Province Kun Opera.
  • In Shanghai, Jennifer Hua Wenyi was very popular in the role and has played the role abroad several times.
  • For a particularly pleasant and graceful interpretation, one may refer to Zhang Zhihong 's performances in the 1990s.