Du Liniang, the heroine, is born beautiful and sentimental. When she reached the age of cardamom, it was the spring season in Seeds of Love, but she was imprisoned by feudal ethics at home and could not get freedom and love. Suddenly, one day, her satrap father Du Bao invited an old Confucian Chen Liangliang to give her a lecture. The pedantic old gentleman explained the "Guan Guan Ji Dove" in The Book of Songs for the first time, which touched Du Liniang's heart.
A few days later, Du Liniang came back from a spring outing in the back garden and fell asleep in bed when he was sleepy. After a while, a scholar came to ask her to write a poem with willow branches, and then carried her to the peony pavilion to have sex. When she woke up, she knew it was a dream of Conan. After that, she went to the Peony Pavilion for her dream, but she didn't see the scholar. She was very depressed.
Gradually, this yearning became a heart disease, and finally the medicine stone died. At this time, his father was promoted to Huaiyang's messenger of peace. Before he left, he buried his daughter under the plum tree in the backyard and built a "Meihua Temple", which was guarded by an old Taoist. After Du Liniang's death, the wandering soul came to the underworld. The judge asked her why she died, and found out in the marriage certificate that she had married Liu Mengmei, the new champion, and allowed her to return to the world.
At this time, Liu Mengmei, a scholar, went to Beijing to take the exam. On the way, she felt cold and sick, and lived in Meihua Temple. After recovering from his illness, he met Du Liniang's wandering soul in buddhist nun, and they married and lived together.
Soon, the matter was discovered by the old Taoist priest, and Liu Mengmei revealed her affair. She secretly asked someone to dig Du Liniang's grave, and Du Liniang was able to see the light of day and come back to life. They immediately became real lovers and came to Kyoto together. Liu Mengmei passed the examination of Jinshi.
After the exam, Liu Mengmei came to Huaiyang and was questioned and interrogated by Du Fu when she found Du Fu. Liu Mengmei claimed to be Du Fu's son-in-law, and Du Fu was furious. She thought the Confucian scholar was talking in his sleep, because his daughter died three years ago, and now how can she be resurrected? Besides, she heard that her daughter Du Liniang's grave was excavated by the Confucian scholar, so she sentenced him to death.
At the trial, the court sent someone to accompany Liu Mengmei's family to Du Fu and reported that Liu Mengmei had won the first prize. Liu Mengmei was able to get away, but the governor still didn't believe that his daughter would be resurrected, and he suspected that the champion Lang was also a demon, so he wrote a script for the emperor to judge. The emperor called Du Liniang to court and found that he was a real person in front of the "mirror".
So a decree was issued that fathers, sons and husbands should get to know each other and try to get married first. In this way, a marriage story of life and death and resurrection ended in a happy ending.
This play is one of the outstanding works in the history of China opera. Together with Cui Yingying's The Romance of the West Chamber, Dou E's Imprisonment and The Palace of Eternal Life (The Romance of the West Chamber, Peach Blossom Fan and The Palace of Eternal Life by Cui Yingying), it is called the four classical dramas in China.
Extended data:
style
"Peony Pavilion" is adapted from the legendary "Away from the Soul" in the Tang Dynasty. It exposes darkness, justifies reason with emotion, has a profound and moving story, is romantic and has a beautiful tune. The characters are lifelike and the description is delicate; Language is between depth and elegance.
Literary standpoint
Peony Pavilion, Purple Hairpin, Conan and Handan are also called Linchuan Four Dreams.
The Peony Pavilion is Tang Xianzu's most famous play, which has reached the highest level of his creation in both thought and art. When it was published, it surpassed another ancient love novel, The West Chamber. According to records, the Peony Pavilion was published and passed down from generation to generation.
As soon as the play was staged in the late Ming Dynasty, it was welcomed by the public, especially the repressed women. It is recorded that a young girl was deeply moved after watching her play, so that she "died of regret". An actress in Hangzhou was emotional when she performed a play "Seeking Dreams" and died on the stage.
Session version
There are 55 peony pavilions in the original work, from titles and words to gardens, dreams, marriage, terror and the last round of eviction. After the reform of modern Kunqu Opera, it was adapted into twelve plays, including Going to the Park, Dreaming, Seeking Dreams, Leaving the Soul, Judging Ghosts, Receiving Paintings, Calling Paintings, Living in Seclusion, Ghost Vow, Coming Back to Life and Getting Married.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia-peony pavilion