Tang Xianzu

1550-1616

Playwright

Sources

Government Official. The foremost dramatist of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Tang Xianzu was a native of Linchuan in Jiangxi Province. Though he was recognized early for his prodigious learning, for many years he was not allowed to become a jinshi (presented scholar) because he refused to make friends with the son of Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng and criticized the emperor and the government. When he was thirty-four, he was finally made a jinshi and subsequently served in several low-level posts. The people under his administration loved him for his liberal and compassionate policies. Angry at the heavy taxation imposed on the people, Tang quit government service at the age of forty-eight and spent the rest of his life in seclusion.

Influential Playwright. During his final years, Tang wrote The Purple Flute, The Purple Hairpin (a revision of The Purple Flute] , The Peony Pavilion, The Dream ofNanke, and The Dream of Handan —known collectively as the “Four Dreams of Linchuan.” The themes of these plays were the four major elements in Chinese culture and society: chivalry, love, Buddhism, and Daoism. Except for The Peony Pavilion —which is known as his masterpiece— Tang’s plays are based on tales from the time of the Tang dynasty (618-907). Tang never established a school or literary movement, but the many playwrights who admired and imitated his writing style were called the “School of Linchuan.”

Sources

Huang Zhigang, Tang Xianzu biannian pingzhuan (Beijing: Chinese Drama Press, 1992).

Wilt Idema and Stephen West, Chinese Theater 1100-1450: A Source Book (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1982).

Li Zhenyu, Tang Xianzu (Shenyang, China: Spring Wind Literature and Arts Press, 1999).