Appreciation of a Fine Work | The Utmost Truth and Beauty of “The Peony Pavilion”

“Love arises without knowing whence, yet it grows deep and unwavering.”

The living may die, and the dead may live.

Those who are born cannot die, and those who die cannot be brought back to life,

“None of them is the height of emotion.”

This is the inscription that Tang Xianzu penned for the preface to The Peony Pavilion.

The plot of this timeless classic can be summarized as follows:

During the Southern Song period, Du Baoyu, the prefect of Nan’an, had a daughter named Du Liniang.

On a private outing to the garden, I was moved by the sights.

After growing weary, she secretly met the scholar Liu Mengmei from Lingnan in her dreams,

In a dream, the two meet and fall in love beneath the peony pavilion.

At the moment she awoke, Li-niang realized it had been a dream.

From then on, she fell ill and never recovered, eventually dying of unrequited love.


 

Three years later, Yagyū set out for the capital to take the imperial examinations,

He took lodging at the Daoist temple where Li Niang was buried.

Within the garden, I came upon Du Liniang’s posthumous self-portrait, and my heart was deeply moved.

And at this very moment, Du Liniang’s spirit once again meets with Liu Sheng in the underworld,

Liu Sheng is deeply attached to Li Niang; risking his life, he exhumes her grave and opens her coffin.

Du Liniang was brought back to life,

The two sealed a bond that would last a hundred years and journeyed together to Lin’an.

Du Bao was appointed chancellor but refused to acknowledge the marriage.

In the end, it was only resolved when the matter was brought before the imperial throne.

Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei, the two lovers, finally became husband and wife.

My favorite is “The Peony Pavilion.” “The Garden Tour” act

Every year, as late spring draws to a close, I find myself inexplicably recalling that woman trapped in the garden.



Du Liniang first enters the garden,

Before my eyes unfolded a vibrant, blossoming landscape of myriad hues.

The brilliance of red, the vividness of purple,

The yellow is delicately beautiful, while the pink, white, and pale green hues carry a touch of shyness.

She couldn’t help but let out an exclamation—

“Unless one visits the garden, how could one know spring is so enchanting!”

The instant I pushed open the garden gate,

What Du Liniang sees is

“All the vibrant hues and fragrant blossoms have bloomed in profusion, yet all this is consigned to broken wells and crumbling walls.”

What Du Liniang beheld was not only splendor and romantic charm,

I have also seen desolation and decline,

She has seen both life and death.

And this, in fact, is the very essence of life: the interweaving of beauty and sorrow.

For humans,

Flowers are nature’s “beauty,” rich in meaning.

Flowers symbolize spring, youth, and also one’s aspirations.