The Tang Xianzu Memorial Hall in Fuzhou is a comprehensive cultural venue built to commemorate Tang Xianzu, one of the world’s hundred great cultural figures and a master of Ming‑dynasty drama in China. It is also one of Jiangxi Province’s ten major memorial halls dedicated to historical luminaries.

Tang Xianzu’s Story | The Ups and Downs of Officialdom: A Dream in Handan

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Tang Xianzu Memorial Hall Official Account

Time:

2024-04-19

The vicissitudes of officialdom, a dream in Handan.

Jade Ming Dream

Everyone has surely heard of the idiom “a beautiful dream of millet,” and many people even know the story behind it.
It is an idiom. According to its explanation, “huangliang meimeng” (a beautiful dream of millet) refers to an illusory, unattainable dream, originating from the story “The Pillow of Dreams.” Remember: “huangliang meimeng.”
From “The Pillow Book.” “The Pillow Book” served as the source material for the final of the “Four Dreams of Linchuan,” namely “The Dream of Handan.” The twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign.
(1601), the year when Tang Xianzu was fifty-two, he drew inspiration from Shen Jiji’s legendary tale “The Pillow of Dreams” to compose “Handan.”
“Record.” Perhaps the purpose of Tang Xianzu in writing this play was to remind the world that all things are fraught with suffering and ultimately illusory, and that only attaining immortality is truly real. Between the lines,
It is evident that Tang Xianzu harbored profound disillusionment with the real world and yearned for transcendence beyond it.

The entire series tells a story like this:

Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals, had long intended to guide a certain person to the gates of Mount Penglai to serve as the flower-sweeping messenger. That day, as he crossed Dongting Lake and arrived at Yueyang Tower, he found no one there.
Kedu then headed once more toward the northwest. As he walked, he suddenly saw a wisp of ethereal aura rising from the region of Handan, and alighted at the head of Zhaozhou Bridge. It turned out that there was a scholar standing at the bridge’s entrance,
Approaching thirty, he was a native of Shandong. From childhood he devoted himself to study, mastering the classics and historical texts; yet time and again his examinations proved unsuccessful. On this day, riding a donkey and wandering idly, he arrived at a small roadside inn by the bridge to rest. Lü Dongbin saw Lu…
He had an extraordinary countenance, exuding an air of otherworldliness, and sensing that this man was worthy of cultivation, he deliberately entered the shop to strike up a casual conversation with Lu Sheng. At that moment, the shopboy was busy cooking yellow millet rice for them.

They spoke of fame and success with deep emotion, exclaiming that “a true man should achieve great deeds and establish a lasting name—serve as a general or an official, dine at a grand banquet, listen to the finest music, and see his clan flourish.”
“Only then can one be said to have attained true satisfaction.” At this moment, Lu Sheng began to feel drowsy, so Lü Dongbin presented him with a porcelain pillow. Lu Sheng noticed that the pillow was hollow at both ends; peering inside, he saw a faint glow—there…
The hole grew larger and larger, and Lu Sheng leapt into the pillow.

Suddenly, he saw a broad official road ahead; not far along stood a high wall painted in red and pink, with the courtyard gate wide open. As he stepped inside and was strolling idly, two servants seized him.
At that moment, a young lady stepped forward—her surname was Cui and she was still unmarried—and asked Lu Sheng whether this unauthorized entry into a private residence should be treated as an official matter or a private one. An official matter would mean having him sent to Qinghe.
At the county yamen, the official’s private respite was none other than taking a son-in-law into his household. Thus, Lu Sheng and the young lady sealed their union for a hundred years.

Not long after the couple married, the imperial examination season began, and the young lady urged Lu Sheng to pursue an official career. Lu Sheng, believing himself repeatedly unsuccessful in the exams, was reluctant to go; yet, at his wife’s urging…
He passed the imperial examination and, as expected, ranked first among the candidates, being appointed Hanlin Scholar and concurrently in charge of drafting imperial edicts. The examiner, Yuwen Rong, grew angry because Lu Sheng had not bribed him, and moreover, he believed that Lu Sheng…
Arrogant and refusing to regard himself as a mentor, he was single-minded in seeking an opportunity to take revenge on Lu Sheng.

Taking advantage of his position as imperial censor, Lu Sheng secretly drafted an edict bestowing a title upon his own wife; this act was reported by Yuwen Rong. Lu Sheng was subsequently demoted and appointed as the prefect of Shanzhou.
In the province, they chiseled stone to build roads and excavate canals, leaving the couple with no choice but to set out. Shanzhou lay beyond Mount Huayin, where the three-hundred-li official road was nothing but stubborn rock. Grain transport proved arduous, and the canal‑building project…
It was also extremely arduous. Lu Sheng, employing the methods of burning with fire and dousing with vinegar, swiftly cleared the river channel. He then submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting an audience to enjoy the scenery. The emperor, accompanied by ministers such as Yuwen Rong, …
Accompanied by his entourage, he traveled by boat throughout the journey, spared the toil of overland travel. Moreover, Lu Sheng had governed Shanzhou with great skill, and the emperor was greatly pleased, commending him for his meritorious efforts in excavating the canal.

At this moment, an urgent report from the frontier arrived: the Tubo had crossed the Great Wall. Yuwen Rong once again recommended Lu Sheng to take command of the army, hoping he would perish on the battlefield. Lu Sheng was then appointed Censor-in-Chief.
He concurrently served as the Military Governor of Hexi and held the seal of the Grand Marshal of the Western Expedition. Lu Sheng arrived in Hexi and learned that the Tubo king’s court boasted two formidable figures—one a civil official, the other a military commander; the civil official was none other than Prime Minister Xina Luo.
Resourceful and ingenious. Lu Sheng employed a divide-and-conquer strategy, causing the Tibetan king to suspect his chancellor of plotting rebellion and have Xina Luo put to death. Seizing the opportunity, Lu Sheng led his troops into battle, defeated the military commander Re Longmang, and drove…
The army marched a thousand li to the foot of the Tianshan Mountains and shot down the lone wild goose that had carried Reilongmang’s message to Yanzu. Upon seeing that it was indeed a letter from Reilongmang, pleading with Lu Sheng to spare his life, he then…
He inscribed his achievements on stone in the Tianshan Mountains and, having triumphantly led his troops back, returned.

Upon receiving the victorious report, the Emperor elevated Lu Sheng to the title of Marquis of Dingxi and appointed him as both Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince and Minister of War, with concurrent authority to deliberate on matters of state. At that very moment, Yuwen Rong secretly submitted a memorial accusing Lu Sheng of privately…
The general of the Tubo, seeking to plot treason, was condemned by the emperor, who ordered Lu Sheng’s head to be severed in the public square of Yunyang. The Cui clan, accompanied by their eight sons, went to the Meridian Gate to plead their case, and the emperor granted clemency to Lu Sheng.
Though he did not die, Lu Sheng was nonetheless banished to the Ghost Gate of Guangnan.

Lu Sheng endured countless hardships to reach the Gates of Hell, only to nearly be slain by the Household Officer. Cui Shi was cast into the Machine Workshop as a female laborer, and her eight sons were likewise banished from the capital.
The city. Three years later, with the frontier secure, the Tibetan kingdom submitted to the Tang dynasty and sent attendants from sixteen Western barbarian states to pay homage. The Tibetan envoy was none other than the son of Rilong Mang; upon learning that Lu Sheng was the one…
The letter carried by the wild goose, bearing a grievance, prompted the son to present the matter clearly before the Tang emperor. Just then, the emperor happened to see Cui’s reply‑poem brocade and came to understand Lu Sheng’s…
In a fit of anger, he immediately ordered Yuwen Rong to be beheaded, summoned Lu Sheng back to the capital, and bestowed upon him the title of Duke of Zhao, with a fief of five thousand households. He also elevated him to the rank of Grand Tutor and Senior Minister of State. The Cui clan was ennobled as Lady of Zhao, and his sons were likewise…
High-ranking officials have been arrested.

Lu Sheng served as chancellor for more than twenty years, by then already in his eighties. Indulging in worldly pleasures, he fell ill; though he had attained the height of fame and honor, he ultimately passed away. Cui’s weeping…
The sounds and the pounding startled Lu Sheng; when he awoke, the millet rice in his dream was still uncooked. Only then did Lu Sheng realize that everything that had just transpired had been but a fleeting dream. Lü Dongbin told him,
Those sons were all transformed from the chickens and dogs in the shop, and Lady Cui was turned from that donkey. At this point, Lu Sheng suddenly came to his senses and followed Lü Dongbin to the Penglai Immortal Mountains to become the keeper of the Peach Blossom Garden.
The flower-sweeping messenger has departed.

Upon finishing “The Tale of Handan,” one cannot help but sigh: “Life is like a dream; all is but fleeting splendor.”

Having finished reading the “Four Dreams of Linchuan,” one cannot tell how many are lost in dreams and how many remain awake…