Introduction to the youth version of Peony Pavilion

"The Peony Pavilion" was written by Tang Xianzu of the Ming Dynasty. Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) was a Chinese dramatist and writer in the Ming Dynasty. The meaning of the word is still, and the name is Hairuo. He signed himself as a Taoist from Qingyuan, and was also known as the master of Yumingtang. In his later years, he was also known as Ruoshi and Yuweng. He was a Han nationality and a native of Linchuan, Jiangxi (now Fuzhou, Jiangxi). In 1583 AD (the eleventh year of Wanli), he became a Jinshi.

He is as famous a dramatist as Guan Hanqing and Wang Shifu in the history of Chinese literature, and plays an important role in the history of Chinese and world literature. He wrote the legendary "Peony Pavilion", "Handan Ji", "Nanke Ji" and "Purple Hairpin Ji", collectively known as "Four Dreams in Yumingtang". "The Peony Pavilion" is one of the masterpieces of the Ming Dynasty playwright Tang Xianzu. It was published in 55 episodes and describes the love story of Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei. Together with "The Story of Purple Hairpin", "The Story of Nanke" and "The Story of Handan", it is also known as the "Four Dreams of Linchuan". This play was originally called "The Resurrection" and was created in 1598.

The plot is: Du Bao, the prefect of Nan'an during the Southern Song Dynasty, had only one daughter, named Liniang. She was sixteen years old and had not yet been betrothed. In order to make his daughter a model among girls who are educated and sensible, Du Bao hired Chen Zuiliang, an old scholar who was already sixty years old, for her. Because Chen Shang's "The Book of Songs·Guan Ju" aroused Liniang's emotions. Chunxiang, the maid who accompanied the reading, accidentally discovered the garden behind Du Mansion and led Liniang to secretly visit the garden. Liniang, who had been trapped in the boudoir for a long time, was inspired by the beautiful spring scenery and felt like visiting spring. After Liniang returned to the house, she suddenly had a dream. She dreamed of a scholar holding a willow branch and asking her to compose a poem. Later, the scholar carried her to the Peony Pavilion, where she fell in love with her into a cloud of joy. After Liniang woke up, she felt sleepy. The next day she went to the garden to look for dreams. Disappointed and lovesick, he is described as losing weight day by day. One day, I looked in the mirror and saw how thin I had become. I asked Chunxiang to bring me some paintings and plain silk, painted my spring face, and wrote a poem on it. She told Chunxiang about the dream mirror and asked Chunxiang to have the painting framed by a framer. When Du Bao and his wife heard that their daughter was seriously ill, they quickly asked Chen Zuiliang to take medicine and asked Aunt Shi to recite sutras, but none of them worked. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Liniang passed away. Before his death, he asked Chunxiang to put Chunxiang in a rosewood box and hide her under the rocks of Taihu Mountain in the garden. He also asked her mother to bury her under the plum tree next to the peony pavilion in the garden. At this time, Li Quan, the thief king who had surrendered to the Jin Kingdom, led his troops to surround Huai and Yang. The imperial court promoted Du Bao to be the appeasement envoy to Huai and Yang, and he set off immediately. Du Bao had no choice but to bury his daughter in a hurry, built a plum blossom nunnery to worship Liniang, and asked Taoist Sister Shi and Chen Zuiliang to take care of her. Du Bao took his wife and Chunxiang to Huai'an. Due to the military crisis, Du Bao asked his wife and Chunxiang to take a boat back to Lin'an on the way. Liu Mengmei, a scholar in Guangzhou Prefecture, formerly Liu Chunqing, one day dreamed of a woman standing under a plum tree in a garden. He said that she was married to him, so she changed her name to Liu Mengmei. Liu Mengmei went to Lin'an to take the exam, and Ruth came to the aid of Miao Shunbin, a treasure minister. When he arrived in Nan'an, Liu Bing stayed at Meihua Temple. When Willow's disease was getting better, I went to the garden by chance. I happened to pick up Liniang's box of spring beauty by the Taihu Lake stone. I returned to the study, hung the spring beauty in front of my bed, and burned incense every night to pray. Liniang stayed in the underworld for three years. When the King of Hell sent a ghost, he found that Liniang had not yet expired and ordered her to go home by herself. Liniang's ghost swam to Plum Blossom Temple and met Yagyu Sheng praying for his true face. Liniang was greatly moved and had a happy meeting with Yagyu Sheng, claiming to be the daughter of her western neighbor. The two of them talked and laughed every night, which alarmed Taoist Sister Shi. One night, the two of them were chatting and joking, but they were interrupted by Taoist Sister Shi who suddenly came. The next night, Liniang had no choice but to tell Yagyu Sheng the truth and asked Yagyu Sheng to dig the grave and open the coffin within three days. Liu Sheng had no choice but to tell Aunt Shi the truth and ask for her help. The next day, they dug the grave and opened the coffin to bring Liniang back to life. The Taoist nun was afraid that the affair between Liu Sheng and Du Liniang would be discovered, so she hired a boat that night and the three of them went to Lin'an together. Chen Zuiliang discovered that Liniang's tomb had been stolen and hurried to Yangzhou to tell Du Nuan. Chen Zuiliang was captured by the rebels before he arrived in Huai'an. Li Quan heard that Chen Zuiliang was the Du family's private school teacher, and that Du Bao also had his wife and Chunxiang, so he followed his wife's plan and lied that he had killed Mrs. Du and Chunxiang. Chunxiang, and then let Chen Zuiliang go. Chen went to Huai'an to meet Du Bao, and immediately the young lady's grave was stolen. Du Bao was informed about the murder of the old lady and Chunxiang. Du Bao was in great mourning after hearing this. Later, Du Bao reluctantly revised two letters and asked Chen Zuiliang to give them to Li Quan and Li's wife. He granted him an official position and paid him money, and he surrendered Li Quan and laid siege to Huai'an. Liniang and the others arrived in Lin'an and stayed by the Qiantang River. By the time Liu Sheng learned about the exam, the exam time had passed. Thanks to the examiner being Miao Shunbin, they were able to make up the exam. At this time, due to the war in Huai and Yang, the imperial court postponed the release of the results. Liniang asked Liu Sheng to go to Yangzhou to visit her parents first. Not long after Liu Sheng left, the old lady and Chunxiang from Lin'an met Liniang and Taoist Sister Shi as they were looking for a place to stay late at night. Liu Sheng arrived in Yangzhou and heard that Du was in Huai'an, so he went to Huai'an to see Du Bao. Du Bao thought that his daughter was dead, so why did he have a son-in-law? He accused Yagyu of false charges and had him taken to Lin'an to await trial. Du Bao returned to Lin'an and was promoted to prime minister due to his military merits, and Chen Zuiliang was promoted to Huangmen's official. At this time, under the rankings, Liu won the first prize, but Liu could not be found everywhere. It turns out that Liu Zheng was beaten by Du Bao because Liniang's beauty was found on Liu's body, and Du Bao thought Liu was a tomb robber. At this time, after Miao Shunbin heard about it, he rushed to Du Mansion and rescued Liu Sheng. Miao told Du Bao that Liu Sheng had won the first prize. When Du Zheng was angry, Chen Zuiliang came and said that the lady was indeed alive again and Liu Sheng was his son-in-law. Du thought it was a matter of ghosts and demons, and asked the emperor to get rid of it. Chen told the emperor about this, and the emperor asked the prime minister, the lady, Yagyu, and the old lady to come and testify. In the Jinluan Palace, everyone came together. The emperor looked in the mirror to see if there was any shadow, and concluded that Liniang was indeed alive. Du Bao insisted that Liniang and the old lady were transformed by ghosts. Later, the emperor ruled that they should recognize each other as father and daughter, and as husband and wife.

Liniang persuaded Liu Sheng to recognize his father-in-law Du Bao, and the whole family was reunited. There is now a photocopy of the Ming Taichang Zhu-ink edition of "The First Collection of Ancient Chinese Opera Series".