The author of "Wutong Rain" is Bai Pu.
"Wu Tong Yu", the full name is "Tang Ming Huang Autumn Night with Wu Tong Rain", is a Han Chinese opera and one of the top ten classical tragedies in China. Bai Pu's representative work of Zaju. It is based on the "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Chen Hong of the Tang Dynasty, and the poem "When the sycamore leaves fall in the autumn rain" in Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow". The play tells the story of Tang Ming Emperor Li Longji and Yang Guifei.
The plot is: Youzhou Jiedu envoy Pi will behead An Lushan when he misses the opportunity and send him to the capital. Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty favored her more, and An Sui had an affair with Concubine Yang. Because of his discord with Yang Guozhong, he was appointed as Fan Yang's military envoy. An Lushan rebelled, and the Ming Emperor fled Chang'an to Shu in haste. When they arrived at Mawei Station, the army stopped moving forward, and they asked the soldiers to kill Yang Guozhong's brother and sister. Emperor Ming had no choice but to order his concubine to hang herself in the Buddhist hall.
Later Li Longji returned to Chang'an and hung a statue of the imperial concubine in the West Palace, facing each other day and night. One night, we met each other in a dream, and woke up to the sound of rain in the parasol trees, recalling the past, which made me even more melancholy. The whole play has a well-organized structure and rich poetic flavor.
Creative background
The events between Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty and Concubine Yang are recorded in both the old and new "Book of Tang". There are also many poems, unofficial histories, notes, novels and compositions from the Tang Dynasty and after the Tang Dynasty, such as "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty, "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Chen Hong, "Seventeen Things About the Ming Dynasty" by Li Deyu, "Seventeen Events of the Ming Dynasty" by Zheng Chu "Miscellaneous Records of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty" written by Hui Hui; etc.; "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao" written by Wang Renyu in the Five Dynasties.
"Yang Taizhen's Biography", a notebook novel on the history of music in the Song and Jin Dynasties, "Green Window News: Yang Guifei's Private Security in Lushan", "The Ming Emperor Loves Flower Nu Jiegu", "Yang Guifei" edited by Huangdu Fengyue "Talk" such as "Dancing in Neon Clothes", the play "Ma Jian Yang Fei", Jinyuan version of "Xi'erhui", "Striking the Wutong", etc.
All these provided a rich historical and cultural foundation for Bai Pu's creation of "Wutong Rain" drama. The title of the play "Tang Minghuang's Autumn Night with Wutong Rain" comes from the poem "Autumn Rain with Wutong Leaves Falling" in Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow".
Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia - Wutong Rain on the Autumn Night of Tang Minghuang