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The Dream of Kunqu Opera Artists

China’s most rebellious love scene

The Peony Pavilion

Introduction to “The Peony Pavilion”



“The Story of the Peony Pavilion” (commonly referred to as “The Peony Pavilion,” also known as “The Dream of Reincarnation” or “The Dream of the Peony Pavilion”)
It is one of the representative works of the Ming‑dynasty dramatist Tang Xianzu. The play is among the most outstanding achievements in the history of Chinese opera, and with…
“The Romance of the Western Chamber,” “The Injustice to Dou E,” and “The Palace of Eternal Life” are collectively known as China’s four great classical dramas. The play is renowned for its elegant and refined literary style.
Elegant, with a graceful and refined style.



The heroine, Du Liniang, is blessed with natural beauty and a tender, sensitive heart. At the age of youthful bloom, she is just beginning to awaken to love.
Yet she was shackled by the feudal proprieties of her family, unable to attain freedom or love. One day, her father, who served as a high-ranking prefect, Du…
Bao hired an elderly Confucian scholar, Chen Zuilang, to instruct her. This pedantic old gentleman, for the first time, began to expound on the “Guan Guan” passage from the Book of Songs.
“The mandarin duck,” that is, it stirred the threads of love in Du Liniang’s heart.

A few days later, Du Liniang returned from a spring stroll in the back garden and, overcome with weariness, fell fast asleep on her bed. Before long, she saw a young scholar holding a willow branch.
He invited her to compose a poem, then carried her to the Peony Pavilion and consummated their love. Only when she awoke did she realize it had all been but a fleeting dream.
After that, she once again set out in search of her dreams to the Peony Pavilion, yet she did not see the young scholar, and her heart was filled with deep sorrow. Gradually, this longing turned into an ache that gnawed at her very soul.
In the end, with no remedy to be found, she died. At that time, her father had been promoted to Pacification Commissioner of Huaiyang; before departing, he buried his daughter beneath a plum tree in the back garden.
And a “Plum Blossom Hermitage” was built, entrusted to an elderly Daoist nun for its care. After Du Liniang’s death, her wandering spirit descended to the Underworld, where the Judge inquired and ascertained her…
As for the truth of her fate, it was ascertained that, in the marriage register, she had been betrothed to the newly crowned zhuangyuan, Liu Mengmei; accordingly, she was permitted to return to the mortal world.


 

At this time, the scholar Liu Mengmei set out for the capital to take the imperial examinations. Along the way, he caught a cold and, falling ill, took refuge at the Plum Blossom Nunnery. After recovering, he remained there and encountered Du Liniang.
The wandering spirits met, and the two lovers lived together as husband and wife, inseparable and devoted. Before long, this affair was discovered by the aged Daoist nun, and Liu Meng…
Mei confided in her about their secret affair and, in a private meeting, persuaded someone to exhume Du Liniang’s tomb. Thus, Du Liniang was able to see the light of day once more and was restored to life as before. The two…
The two were then duly married and, together, made their way to Kyoto, where Liu Mengmei took the imperial examination for the jinshi degree.
 

After the examination, Liu Mengmei arrived in Huaiyang. When he went to the Du residence, he was questioned and interrogated by Governor Du. Liu Mengmei claimed to be the Du family’s son-in-law, and Governor Du…
Fu Nu was beside himself with rage, convinced that the Confucian scholar was merely spouting nonsense—his daughter had died three years ago; how could she possibly have been revived now? Moreover, he listened…
It was said that the tomb of his daughter, Du Liniang, had been unearthed by this Confucian scholar, and for that reason he was sentenced to beheading. As the interrogation was underway and the accused was being flogged, the imperial court dispatched an envoy accompanied by Liu Meng.
Mei’s family went to the Du residence to inform them that Liu Mengmei had won the zhuangyuan. Only then was Liu Mengmei able to escape, yet Governor Du still refused to believe the woman.
The boy would be resurrected, and they even suspected that the top scholar was a spirit as well. So they drafted an imperial memorial to seek the emperor’s judgment. The emperor summoned Du Liniang to the court,
Before the “Demon‑Exposing Mirror,” it was duly verified that they were indeed flesh and blood. Accordingly, an imperial edict was issued, ordering father and son, as well as husband and wife, to acknowledge one another and return home to take their vows. Thus began a new chapter of life.
And so, the tale of a love bond that dies only to be reborn once more concludes with a grand happy ending.
 

Creative Background

In the twenty-eighth year of the Wanli era (1598), Tang Xianzu resigned from office and returned to his hometown, retiring to the countryside in Linchuan County, Jiangxi. That year…
He is 49 years old. In his life, he has heard and witnessed the love stories of many young men and women, and these experiences have stirred his creativity.
As a sentiment. Not long after returning home, he began writing “The Peony Pavilion.”

In the early Ming dynasty, owing to differences in local languages, customs, and traditional music, the chuanqi drama can be said to have been a vibrant arena where various vocal styles vied with one another.
It encompassed a vast array of local vocal styles, each with its own distinct character. By the mid-Ming period, the four most popular vocal schools within the Southern Opera were…
They are: the “Haiyan Style,” the “Yuyao Style,” the “Yiyang Style,” and the “Kunshan Style.” During the Jiajing and Longqing reigns, Wei Liangfu was regarded as their representative.
A group of opera musicians undertook a successful and comprehensive refinement of the Kunshan style, making significant advances in aspects such as rhythmic patterns, melodic modes, and other musical parameters.
In terms of melody, accompaniment, and the application of tonal rhythm and tonal patterns, he reorganized and systematized the Kunshan style, thereby establishing a…
It developed a fresh, elegant vocal style, then called the 'Shuimo Tune' and the 'Lengban Qu.' The Peony Pavilion, for its part, adopted the Haiyan tune.
It is written on the basis of the Yihuang tune, which evolved from it. “The Peony Pavilion” was adapted from the Ming‑dynasty novel “Du Liniang’s Love and Resurrection.”
Done.

Character image

Du Liniang


A 16-year-old girl, she is the only daughter of Du Bao, the prefect of Nan’an in Jiangxi during the early Southern Song dynasty, and has been cherished by her parents since childhood.
She was born with a face as beautiful as the moon and a charm beyond compare; in her temperament, she combines gentle elegance and unwavering perseverance with a tender, yielding side.
A side of her marked by deep-seated melancholy, sensitive emotions, and a devoted, heartfelt love. She meets the Lingnan scholar Liu Mengmei in a dream, and upon awakening…
Longing has turned into an illness. The fragrant beauty withers and the jade form crumbles; later, amidst Liu Mengmei, the Taoist Nun Shi, Judge Hu, the Peony Fairy, and other spirits…
With his help, she was restored to life and, after enduring countless trials alongside the Yagyū clan, they finally became a couple. Though she remained secluded in her boudoir,
Imbued with the teachings of feudal propriety, he nonetheless harbored deep within him a consciousness of rebellion against traditional rites and laws, as well as a sense of the harsh realities of the present.
A genuine spirit of resistance, with an inner fire burning to break free from the feudal confines, shatter the shackles of Neo-Confucianism, and pursue the liberation of individuality,
A fervent yearning for a beautiful love. She died because of love, and was reborn through it—she is both a victim of the feudal era…
A tragic figure stifled in life, yet endowed with a romantic existence reimagined by art.


Liu Mengmei