The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu takes place in Dayu County, Jiangxi Province, China.
In the 19th year of Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, Tang Xianzu of Xinmao wrote a poem called "On Assistant Ministers and Kechen Shu". Emperor Zhu Yijun was furious and demoted him to Xuwen County as a minor official. Tang Xianzu passed through Meiling for the first time via Dayu (today's Dayu County); half a year later, Tang Xianzu was promoted to Suichang, Zhejiang Province, and passed through Meiling again via Dayu.
Tang Xianzu stayed in Dayu for a period of time. In chatting with local literati, Tang Xianzu learned about the history and humanistic environment of Dayu, and learned about Shao Hongyuan who was exiled to Nan'an in "Yi Jian Zhi" After the death of the girl, she turned into a ghost and went to the local Baoji Temple to explain her love affair with the relegated official Taiwei's grandson Baoyi Lang. This is a popular story among the people, including the story of "Du Liniang's Admiration and Resurrection".
He interspersed and blended these folk tales, stories recorded in ancient books, and stories in scripts, and the framework of a dramatic story "Du Liniang's Resurrection at the Peony Pavilion" gradually formed in his mind, until he resigned and returned. Later he wrote the drama "The Peony Pavilion".
Extended information
Theme of the work "The Peony Pavilion":
In "The Peony Pavilion", Du Liniang, the daughter of the prefect who is depressed both physically and mentally, falls into a dream while visiting the garden. The elegant scholar Liu Mengmei met and became happy. After waking up from the dream, Du Liniang was melancholy and uneasy. She "didn't know the origin of love" and became lovesick. Her illness was difficult to recover and she eventually died. Three years later, the person in Du Liniang's dream, Liu Mengmei, came across a self-painted portrait of a beautiful woman. Liniang also returned to the world as a wandering soul, looking for the marriage in her dream.
With the help of others, Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei finally broke through many barriers to love, came back to life, and finally got married. In this legendary work, Tang Xianzu depicts the touching life-and-death love between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei. This passionate interpretation of love all represents Tang Xianzu's philosophical thinking on life and love and his experience of the world. Du Liniang, who died deeply, became the embodiment of the ideal of love in Tang Xianzu's works.
Dajiang.com - The relationship between Tang Xianzu's "The Peony Pavilion" and southern Jiangxi: The Peony Pavilion is about Dayu