Inscription poem:

The article is wonderful, unexpected, angry, and the mind is flying,

Going to heaven and earth, coming and going from ancient times to modern times, being born and dying, knowing everything.

Dreams are born out of emotion, because dreams become plays, I don't know what to do. It may not be true,

people who are not dreaming are not necessarily dreaming, and there is no difference between people and Nanke.

Chun Yu is not awake, heartless and affectionate, and the ants in the country of Huai have their own deep feelings,

Chun Yu is awake, affectionate and heartless. When the truth comes, the void is not bad.

Truth is love, and love is true. Everyone in this two plays, East and West, lived in the same era and both died in 1616, a full 4 years ago.

There are indeed many similarities between them. For example, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1594, and Tang Xianzu wrote Peony Pavilion in 1598, all of which are stories about young women's "love death". For another example, we praise Tang Xianzu's "feeling" and "nature"; And what Shakespeare praised Goethe for is that "no one is more natural than him."

It is interesting to note that for the younger generation of China people, Shakespeare is a more familiar name than Tang Xianzu-even though they grew up in China. There are far more people who know Juliet than Du Liniang. We can casually say Hamlet's famous words, but we don't necessarily know the name of Lu Sheng in Handan.

For many of us, Tang Xianzu is a stranger. Among them, there is the influence of commercial culture and the gap of cultural inheritance.

Portrait of Tang Xianzu displayed in the National Museum of China (courtesy of Nie Ming)

I feel this emotion because I was born in the 198s, and I was familiar with the stories of Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice in my childhood. It was not until he grew up and formed a world outlook that he really came into contact with Tang Xianzu. My experience with my peers tells me that I am not a special case.

actually, Tang Xianzu is not the only one who is strange to us. For those who grew up in the era of globalization, all the traditional "East" is unfamiliar. Especially, in the Internet environment, the margins between "East" and "West" are melting away day by day.

interestingly, when we look back at Tang Xianzu after studying various western theories, we will feel that he is modern. For example, his "dreams", his "feelings" and his "sadness". His "life and death follow people's wishes".

It turns out that flowers are blooming everywhere, and it seems that they are all paid for broken wells and ruins. It's a beautiful day, and it's a pleasure for anyone. As time goes by, as beautiful as a flower. The beautiful scenery should be seen by everyone.

dreams

dreams are born of feelings, and plays are born of dreams

The story of Peony Pavilion begins with dreams. The daughter of the satrap loves to step on the spring sun. It happened in spring, and when the young lady entered the garden, she saw colorful flowers blooming everywhere, feeling that she was beautiful, but "no one saw the benefits of three spring." Then you have a dream. I met a scholar in my dream, and it was his third marriage. Returning from the garden, I was depressed and died of emotional injury. Later, it turned into a soul, continued the unfinished love affair with the scholar, and finally revived and married. Is "Du Liniang's desire to revive the soul".

"Four Dreams of Linchuan" are all about dreams. Where did dreams come from? In Fu Gan Yi Lu, Tang Xianzu talked about Nanke Ji and Handan Ji: "Dreams come from feelings, and plays come from dreams." "Dream" is the path and "emotion" is the center. In The Story of the Purple Hairpin, the role of dreams is relatively simple, while the other three books, the meaning of dreams, are of great significance.

Tang Xianzu's problem is: how to give "love" absolute value without destroying the balance between society and self? So, he created a "dream".

In The Peony Pavilion, "dream" is a created free time and space. In this space, Du Liniang's actions can be divorced from ordinary manners and laws, and will not be criticized by the society. After he died of lust, the flower god begged the judge to forgive Du Liniang's ghost, so he argued: "This female prisoner is a sin in a dream, like a small wind fading the moon."

"the love in the dream, why not be true? Are there few people in dreams in the world? You will be married by recommending a pillow mat, and those who are kept secret by hanging the crown will all be in ruins. " Although Tang Xianzu declared so clearly that The Peony Pavilion is not a drama of talented people and beautiful women, most of the stage performances in the past 4 years still regard it as a love drama of talented people and beautiful women. At most, it only takes love as a spear, resists the secular world and pursues freedom of marriage.

There is a famous passage in "The Peony Pavilion Inscription": "I don't know what happened, but if I go deep, the living can die, and if I die, I can live. Those who are born but can't die, and those who die but can't be resurrected, are not emotional. " Women in the world, such as Du Liniang, who died of love and were born of love, can only be called "lovers" and are people who are most affectionate.

In the dream, Du Liniang, who is "out of the soul", is out of the body. Xia Zhiqing said: "Li Niang's dream is a timeless world, in which love is the only truth." This soul wandering in a dream has a passion and is not bound by time, life and death. The eternity of love also exists in the time and space of this dream. Once it is normalized and has a substantial form, eternity will be unsustainable.

beyond dreams, time still has absolute control. Du Fu and Liu at the back of the opera are just an ordinary couple. The woman trusts her husband and daughter, and the man hopes to be promoted in his career. Tang Xianzu said that Du Nv Li Niang, who is the most affectionate, was taken back by time at the moment when she came out of her dream and came back to life.

Compared with The Peony Pavilion and The Story of the Purple Hairpin, the attitudes towards love in The Story of Nanke and The Story of Handan have changed, from "seeking" to "letting go". Xia Zhiqing, an American scholar, explained this difference with the change of Tang Xianzu's concept of time. In his view, in the last two plays, Tang Xianzu looked at people's situation from the perspective of "eternity" and found the lack of love and other people's value. The so-called eternity, that is, endless time, is powerless in the face of infinity.

The Story of Nanke was adapted from Li Gongzuo's Biography of Nanke Taishou. It's about an official named Chunyuba, who is addicted to drinking and dreaming. In the dream, Chunyu Ba was invited to the ant country, married Princess Yaofang and became the county chief of Nanke. He manages well, refuses the enemy's merits, and is quite talented. However, after his wife died, Chunyu Ba was framed by the minister, calling him an "alien" and persuading him to return to the world. After waking up, Chunyuba searched for the location of Huai 'an, only to find that it was just a small ant nest under the locust tree in the courtyard. His wife gave him a gold hairpin and a gold box, but he woke up in an instant with a locust branch and a locust clip.

However, unlike Zhuang Zhou and Ji Kang, Tang Xianzu always has "feelings" to express, to join the WTO and to participate in history. He studied the history of the Song Dynasty and once thought about writing biographies of historical figures in the Ming Dynasty, but he was awakened by "strange monks" (perhaps Taoist monks) and stopped thinking.

In Answering Lv Yusheng, he wrote: "Suddenly, a strange monk spat at his brother, saying: Yan, Xu (rank), Gao (arch), Zhang (home), Chen's dead are also decorated with pens, such as gathering dust with a broom. It is better to have an author because of the human world. " The monk's words made Tang Xianzu wake up like a dream. Finally, there was no "dead man" and he began to create operas. Tang Yan said that opera can "create heaven, earth, ghosts, gods, a thousand ways for people, and save thousands of changes from ancient times to modern times." This concept is fully displayed in the "Linchuan Four Dreams".

"Linchuan Four Dreams" are all based on the stories of Tang and Song Dynasties. However, Tang Xianzu modernized it. The "four dreams" are true and illusory, both ancient and present. They all have a romantic and magical appearance, but they are all realistic and true. On the surface, Tang Xianzu is writing dreams and talking about romantic affairs, but underneath, he is expressing his anger and his unfinished ideals and pursuits.

In Answer to Li Naishi, Tang Xianzu believes: "There are four kinds of ci writers (Linchuan Four Dreams), which are the skills of children in Lane. People know their happiness, but they don't know their sadness. "

In Tang Xianzu's time, people have already realized that "Four Dreams" is an angry work, and the drama entrusts the author's grief and indignation. Wang Jide said in Qu Lv that Tang Xianzu's words were "biting". Uncle Zang Jin said: "The legend of Linchuan is a word that hurts the world, and now scholars are often involved in current affairs." Pan Zhiheng watched the performance of "Peony Pavilion", "I feel the love of Du and Liu, and it is a good history to serve Tang Gong". In other words, in the legend, Tang showed the courage of historians.

interestingly, every play of "Four Dreams in Linchuan" contains descriptions of war. Handan Ji describes the drinking-dragon struggle between Tang Dynasty and Tubo. Nan Ke Ji wrote about the war between Dahuai Anguo and Tanluo. The story of Purple Hairpin is written in the war between the big Hexi and the small Hexi and Tubo. Even the Peony Pavilion, which people remember with boundless romance, is inevitably involved in a war between the Southern Song Dynasty and Daikin. Moreover, the emergence of this war is not to promote the love line between the hero and heroine. It can also be seen that the "love" that Tang wants to express is far from what men and women can say.

In The Story of Nan Ke, the scholar of Nan Ke sang: "Make rural conventions, make elegant songs, and respect five rounds of people and four subjects. I learn from him, and he will ponder. " If this is the case, Tang Xianzu once practiced it when he was an official. He presided over "Guisheng Academy" in Xuwenman Township and established "Xiangpu Academy" in Suichang, which achieved some results, but it was not the solution in the end.

Tang Xianzu ruled Suichang for five years, eliminating bad politics, eliminating tiger troubles, educating young people, and saying things with words. Before his arrival, Suichang also "had a business trip during the day, dreaming of stealing police". Soup is both rigid and soft for the official. Sometimes it is highly effective, "strangling more than a dozen robbers"; Sometimes human feelings are extremely important, and prisoners can be released to go home on New Year's Eve and watch the lanterns in the Lantern Festival. When he left Suichang, the local officials kept him and built a shrine to commemorate him. Looking up the Suichang County Records, among the 22 officials who were sacrificed in the "Mingguan Temple", Tang Xianzu was the most prestigious one. Many stories described in Peony Pavilion and Nanke Ji are exactly Tang Xianzu's own experiences.

In The Peony Pavilion, Du Bao, the father of Du Liniang, was appointed as the prefect of Qingle Township in Nan 'an Prefecture. The Qingle Township under its governance is just like the fairyland in Wu Lingren written by Tao Yuanming: "The mountains are clear, the water is clear, people walk on the shady roads, and spring clouds are everywhere. Officials are also clear, officials are also clear, villagers have nothing to do in court, and agricultural songs are three or two. " In the moonlight, there are no barking yellow flowers. After the rain, some people plow the green fields, and every village plants Sang Ma in the rain. Farmers, shepherds, mulberry pickers and tea pickers all sang and danced, laughing and laughing.

These scenes of Qingming and joy also appear in the Book of Nanke. In "The Wind Ballad", Nanke County, which was governed by Chunyuba, was described: "It's more than perfection, and it's prosperity." The people of Nanke sang "The Song of Filial Piety", which is a political blueprint that Tang Xianzu failed to practice: "The levy is thin, the rice is plentiful, the officials and the people are easy to get along with the scenery, and the old people are drunk and the belly is full."

when we contact the social reality at this time, we will smell bitter meaning in a piece of singing and singing on the stage. During Wanli period, taxes were the heaviest. In the twenty-fourth year of Wanli (1596), the government began to levy tax mines, and eunuchs served as mine tax inspectors all over the world. "The three assistants are embarrassed, and the people are not happy." There are many gold and silver mines in Suichang, which can't cope with the coming tax inspector, and it is also one of the important reasons why Tang Xianzu abandoned his official position.

Tang Xianzu knew that his ideal could not be realized, so he resigned and went home, retiring and returning to the field. However, in the face of devastation, it is always difficult to find a solution, so the political ideal and improvement practice are experimented in the legend of traditional Chinese opera with literature as a tool. This is a resistance to reality and an encouragement to later generations. In "Showing Zhao Tenghou", Tang Xianzu wrote: "I'll dip my clothes and drive away from here. When you come later, you should be aware of it. "

This is a farewell message written by Tang Xianzu to his official career.

Love

"I know that my hobby is natural all my life"

Wang Siren, a contemporary of Tang, commented on "Four Dreams in Linchuan" and said, "Handan is a fairy; Nan Ke, Buddha also; "Purple hairpin", chivalrous; "Peony Pavilion" is also emotional. " Wang Siren also said in this narrative that among the "four dreams", "the best thing is Peony". He commented on the purpose of the intentional expression, "If a scholar thinks that love is unreasonable, death is not enough to enjoy." Thus, Wang Siren is well aware of Tang Xianzu.

Tang's philosophy is, in a word, sentimental. Tang Xianzu is not a philosopher and has no special philosophical works. His philosophical thoughts are embodied in drama works, letters and miscellaneous works.

Compared with the love between men and women, Tang Xianzu's "love" is much deeper and richer. Interestingly, when western scholars talk about Tang's "love", they use the more modern word "love". Xia Zhiqing said "four dreams" and thought that in the first "two dreams", Tang Xianzu was relatively indifferent to the concepts of time and eternity. Therefore, the protagonist can integrate into time, concentrate on love, and forget time in the ecstasy of love. What westerners call "love" is the love between men and women, which is not exactly the same concept as what we call "love" in our tradition.

Wang Guowei said that the Song and Yuan operas were "only natural". You can also look at Tang Xianzu on loan. As soon as "The Garden" appeared in "The Peony Pavilion", Chunxiang, the servant girl, praised the lady's clothes and said, "It's well interspersed today". Du Liniang, however, was ungrateful and replied, "I know that my hobby is natural all my life." This sentence is used to describe Tang Xianzu's "love", but it is just right.

human nature, which Tang Xianzu called "pure heart" or "straight heart". He believes that people can reach the highest level of life if they can act with "straight heart". "Straight heart is Dojo. Taoist people become Taoist, and all of all of my heart. "

true feelings are true feelings if you don't go against your heart, don't be sentimental, don't whitewash, don't hide, and conform to the nature of human nature. Hungry people get food, thirsty people get drink, sick people get medical treatment, and sleepy people get married, which means doing what they want. Its essence is nothing more than a "true" word, which is a "pure heart". Keats said, "Truth is beauty, and beauty is truth." Here in the soup, "truth is love, and love is truth". Talking about "love" without "truth" is a theory of skeleton. Love in a dream may not be true; People outside the dream are not necessarily in the dream. What is the difference between human ants? Nanke is no different.

The relationship between "emotion" and "reason" has been an important issue discussed by Neo-Confucianism since the Song Dynasty. In Neo-Confucianism, "emotion" appears as the opposite of "reason", which is in "pure goodness" and "justice"; Love is "evil" and "human desire". "Reason" should control "emotion", "preserve justice and destroy human desires". In other words, what is not in "reason" should not exist, and it is necessary to "do what people want and restore justice." Tang Xianzu is different. He retorted: "There must be nothing in the first cloud, and there must be evil in the place where you know?" Those who say "there must be nothing in reason" and "there must be nothing" know that "there must be love" is real?

Peach Blossom Fan Biography, a Peach Blossom Fan painted in Qing Dynasty by Jianbaidao people. Depicting the scene in which Li Xiangjun sang the newly-learned lyric "Peony Pavilion" to Mr. Su Kunsheng, madam Li Zhenli and Yang Longyou for appreciation

Compared with the "true feelings" of "being faithful to one's heart", Tang Xianzu is more keen on the natural expression of "the best feelings", which is also obvious in "The Story of Nanke". Chun Yu-ba's dream is all because of "infatuation", and there are feelings and desires in it. After awakening, Chunyuba looked back on his dream life.