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.
A Fine Article to Share | In the Peony Pavilion, who can outshine Mayday? Kunqu Opera—she!
Author:
Source:
Tang Xianzu Memorial Hall Official Account
Time:
2024-05-06
The twelve months of 2024
A renowned opera master will guide you through each one—
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the China Theatre Award—Plum Blossom Performance Award (China Theatre Plum Blossom Award), Zheng Fangfang, Shen Tiemei, Cai Zhefei, Zeng Xiaomin, Shan Wen, Yang Xiayun,
Opera performers including Lou Sheng, Li Shujian, Han Zaifen, Yu Weigang, Zhang Xinyue, Hao Shichao, and Qi Aiyun were invited to shoot a New Year-themed opera spread for Harper’s Bazaar magazine.
Kunqu Opera “The Peony Pavilion”
Dan Wen plays Du Liniang.
Shan Wen, winner of the 29th Plum Blossom Award, is a professor at Nanjing University of the Arts and specializes in the roles of gui-men dan and zheng dan in Kunqu opera.
In this scene, Du Liniang, prompted and accompanied by her maid Chunxiang, ventures for the first time into the garden behind her family’s residence.
In the “Jing Meng” scene, the celebrated aria “Zao Luo Pao” goes: “How splendidly purple and crimson bloom in profusion—yet all this is consigned to broken wells and crumbling walls. What can one do with such fine days and beautiful sights? And who, pray tell, holds the joyous pleasures of life within their courtyard?”
The lyrics are elegant and splendid, gracefully swaying and richly varied; they express admiration for the springtime’s splendor, lament the fleeting passage of time, juxtapose light and shadow in the scenery, and even convey a sense of self‑pity and inner anguish, all suffused with a poignant, melancholy beauty.
A Short Screen Version of a Selection from the Kunqu Opera “The Peony Pavilion”
The Kunqu opera “The Peony Pavilion” is one of the “Four Dreams of Linchuan” penned by Tang Xianzu during the Ming dynasty; the other three are “The Jade Hairpin,” “The Story of the Southern Branch,” and “The Tale of Handan.”
Since Tang Xianzu was a native of Linchuan in Jiangxi and his study was named “Yumingtang,” the four plays are collectively known as the “Four Dreams of Linchuan” or the “Four Dreams of Yumingtang.”
The Kunqu opera “The Peony Pavilion” has been staged in various versions, including single-act, two‑act, and full‑length productions. The individual scenes of the one‑act version include “A Stroll in the Garden,” “A Dream Awakened,” “In Search of a Dream,” “Portrait,” and “The Departing Soul.”
“Picking Up the Painting,” “Calling the Painting,” and “Secret Union and Oath in the Underworld” essentially encompass the finest selections from Kunqu opera’s short scenes.
Du Bao, the prefect of Nan’an, was displeased that his daughter, Du Liniang, spent her days idly sleeping, so he hired a tutor to discipline her. While listening to the tutor expound on the “Guan Ju” chapter of the Book of Songs, Du Liniang’s heart was stirred.
Du Liniang strolls through the back garden and, beholding its vibrant spring splendor, cannot help but lament that she has spent her youth in vain. Before she knows it, she falls asleep in the garden; in her dream, a young scholar approaches, bearing a half‑branch of drooping willow, and invites her to compose a poem using the willow branch as her muse.
When the golden breeze and the jade dew meet, the two of them share love beneath the lakes and mountains, by the rocky shore.
Upon awakening, Du Liniang often recalled the joy of her dream; yet the constraints of feudal propriety weighed upon her, leaving her growing ever more wan and frail.
Soon, Du Liniang passed away, her beauty fading like jade; she was buried beneath a plum tree, and her self-portrait was concealed beneath a Taihu rock.
Three years later, the scholar Liu Mengmei set out for Lin’an to take the imperial examinations, hoping to meet the woman of his dreams.
Meanwhile, Du Liniang’s father had long since been promoted and, before departing, had built a Plum Blossom Nunnery in the back garden.
In the underworld, Du Liniang had been trapped for three years, with no one to send her back. After consulting the marriage register, the magistrate discovered that she and Liu Mengmei still shared a destined bond, and so he ordered her spirit to return to the mortal realm.
Liu Mengmei, having fallen ill along the way, took lodging at the Plum Blossom Nunnery—once the back garden of the Du residence—and beneath a Taihu rock he discovered a portrait. The figure in the painting seemed strangely familiar, as if it were none other than the woman from his dreams.
Du Liniang’s ghostly spirit once again wanders through the back garden, when suddenly she hears a mournful voice. In that person’s chamber hangs her own self-portrait. Du Liniang encounters Liu Sheng once more, and the two share another passionate encounter, their union as harmonious as the sound of a zither and a se.
Though the two were deeply in love, Du Liniang, as a ghost, could only meet with Liu Mengmei at night. Du Liniang told Liu Mengmei that she was, in fact, the woman depicted in the painting.
But now he is but a wisp of a ghost. Yet Liu Mengmei takes no offense; instead, he proposes marriage to Du Liniang.
With the Daoist nun’s assistance, Liu Mengmei unearthed Du Liniang’s coffin, and she was brought back to life.
On April 13, 2019, Shan Wen clinched the top spot in the 29th China Theatre Plum Blossom Awards for her portrayal of Du Liniang in Zhang Jiqing’s version of “The Peony Pavilion.”
Shan Wen and her esteemed teacher Zhang Jiqing
She also took the top spot at the Plum Blossom Awards. Over the course of thirty-five years, behind the honors lies a sustaining force — the ceaseless transmission of Chinese opera. Shan Wen’s mentor, Mr. Zhang Jiqing, has decades of stage experience…
It poured over Shan Wen like a sweet spring, sparing her many detours on her artistic path. This kind of legacy is not merely a shortcut; it is both a transmission of the wisdom of those who came before and an expression of hope for future innovation.
She selected twelve female characters and, through her dual perspective—both as a storyteller and as a modern woman—narrates their stories. She hopes that, through these vibrant and diverse women’s tales,
It guides readers step by step in appreciating the charm of Kunqu Opera, revealing that it not only embodies traditional aesthetics but also continues to innovate and evolve.
She is keenly aware that, as a practitioner of Kunqu opera, preserving and passing on this art form is an inescapable responsibility. Her efforts are aimed at ensuring that Kunqu opera shines brightly on the world stage.
To enable more people to learn about and appreciate China’s national treasure‑level art.
“On my journey of artistic training, I will pass down from generation to generation what my teachers taught me and how I learned. Kunqu Opera is our national treasure—China’s art, and also a heritage of the world.”
“We will shoulder this great responsibility, forge ahead with a long-term vision, and live up to our mission.”
Kunqu Opera, also known as Kunqiang, Kunshanqiang, or Kunju, emerged in the late Yuan and early Ming periods as a new vocal‑style opera genre that developed from Nanxi theater in the Kunshan region, blending local music, dance, and language.
In the early Ming period, the “Kunshan Style” emerged in the Kunshan region; during the Jiajing era, it underwent reform at the hands of Wei Liangfu and others.
The Kunshan style drew on the strengths of Northern tunes as well as those of the Haiyan and Yiyang schools, giving rise to the graceful, delicate, flowing, and lingering “Shuimo” vocal style; by this point, Kunqu opera had essentially taken its definitive form.
Liang Chenyu adapted the legendary play “The Story of Washing Silk” into a Kunqu opera, thereby bringing Kunqu—formerly used primarily for a cappella singing—into the realm of theatrical performance and further expanding its influence.
During the Wanli era, Kunqu opera gradually spread from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions to all parts of the country. The more than one hundred years from the early Tianqi period of the Ming dynasty to the late Kangxi period of the Qing dynasty constituted a time of vigorous flourishing for Kunqu opera.
After the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty, Kunqu opera gradually declined. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the art of Kunqu has experienced a turning point.
The state has successively established seven professional Kunqu opera troupes with independent organizational structures. At present, Kunqu opera is primarily performed by these professional ensembles.
Performance activities are mainly concentrated in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Hunan, and other regions.
Kunqu is a highly cultivated art form, and during the Ming and Qing dynasties, many playwrights who devoted themselves to composing Kunqu operas achieved remarkable literary accomplishments.
“The Lute Song,” “The Peony Pavilion,” “The Palace of Eternal Life,” “The Record of the Phoenix’s Cry,” “The Jade Hairpin,” “The Red Pear,”
“Shuihu Ji,” “Lan Ke Shan,” and “Shi Wu Guan” are all representative Kunqu operas; among them, the first three have surviving gongche notations that either preserve the complete score or come very close to it.
After the mid-Qing period, Kunqu opera was performed primarily in the form of zhezi xi, and to this day more than four hundred such excerpts have been preserved.
New Kunqu opera productions include “The Reminiscences of the Southern Tang,” “The Story of the Puppet,” “Sima Xiangru,” and “Ban Zhao,” among others.
Through long-standing stage practice, Kunqu opera has attained a high level of artistic achievement, with its performance techniques—song, dance, mime, and dialogue—integrated to a remarkable degree.
With the comprehensive development of the performing arts, the roles and categories in Kunqu opera have become increasingly specialized, with principal roles including laosheng, xiaosheng, dan, tie, laodan, wai, mo, jing, fu, and chou.
The various roles in performance have developed distinct conventions and techniques, exerting a significant influence on the formation and evolution of Peking Opera and other regional opera genres.
Kunqu opera music features elegant and graceful melodies, and its vocal techniques are both refined and masterful.
The widespread use of the zengban, the articulation style that emphasizes the head, body, and tail of each character, and the graceful, lingering artistic style have endowed Kunqu opera music with…
It achieves an artistic effect of “graceful elegance and charming allure, with a lingering resonance that lingers in the listener’s heart.”
Kunqu opera boasts a long history and exerts a broad, far-reaching influence; it is both the quintessence of traditional culture and a paragon of theatrical performance.
Kunqu opera is an art form of exquisite refinement and profound depth.
Due to its unique cultural value, Kunqu Opera was inscribed in 2001 on UNESCO’s first list of “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”
The curtain falls,
Guests come and go in the audience,
As if entranced.
The figure on the stage still stands firm, steadfast.
Bringing forth one splendid scene after another of Chinese opera,
It has been sung through the ages, under the bright, vast moon.
Submissions welcome: 363036353@qq.com
Copyright © Tang Xianzu Memorial Hall of Fuzhou City (Fuzhou Tang Xianzu Culture and Art Center) Technical Support:China Enterprise Dynamics-Nanchangvertical strokeSEO
