Tang Xianzu
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Archaeologists have found the tomb of China’s Shakespeare
Archaeologists working in southeastern China said this week they have identified the tomb of Tang Xianzu, a renowned late 16th-century playwright who is often dubbed the country’s Shakespeare. Known for his defiance of nobles in the Ming dynasty, Tang specialized in exploring the triumph of humanity over hierarchy and authority through works like The Peony Pavilion, which depicted a poor scholar’s love for a noblewoman. In the 55-scene drama, Tang portrays the struggles of a relationship imbued with supernatural power—a young woman is brought back to life by the handsome scholar she had fallen in love with in a dream. The woman’s father, a nobleman, accuses the scholar of being a grave robber (link in Chinese) and has him imprisoned. Fortunately, in a theme that must still resonate today, the scholar is pardoned after securing excellent results in an imperial examination. Tang died at the age of 66 in 1616, the same year that saw the death of English playwright William Shakespeare, and was buried in his hometown in China’s Jiangxi province. The Jiangxi cultural relics and archaeology department embarked on the excavation of the Tang family graveyard in May. Experts from the institute identified Tang’s tomb through the gravestones and the top stone on the sarcophagus, both of which had carvings that referred to Tang’s nickname—Mr. Yuming. (Tang titled his study “Yuming Hall.” Yuming is also the name of a camellia flower with snow-white blossoms and evergreen leaves that symbolizes integrity in Chinese culture.) The institute has so far identified a total of 42 tombs, including those from Tang’s first and second wives. Tang’s tomb suffered devastating destruction in the Cultural Revolution, a decade long political movement that began in 1966 and plunged the country into a chaos during which many historic sites were ransacked. As a result, not a single bone or relic was found in the tomb, said (link in Chinese) Wang Shanghai, who led the archaeology project. Tang’s works are still beloved by many. In August last year, the 400th anniversary of both Shakespeare and Tang’s deaths, a local art group from China’s southeastern Fujian province adapted The Peony Pavilion and made it into a musical (link in Chinese). China’s president Xi Jinping also described Tang as “Shakespeare of the East” during a state visit to the UK in 2015.
From China with love: Tang Xianzu was the Shakespeare of the Orient
In his 400th anniversary year, Shakespeare is still rightly celebrated as a great wordsmith and playwright. But he was not the only great master of dramatic writing to die in 1616, and he is certainly not the only writer to have left a lasting impact on theatre. While less known worldwide, Tang Xianzu is considered China’s greatest playwright and is highly revered in that country of ancient literary and dramatic traditions. With the aim of exploring the common ground between these two masters, a series of productions from China and the UK are to be performed over the coming months to celebrate their lives and literary legacies. Tang was born in 1550 in Linchuan, Jiangxi province, and pursued a low-key career as an official until, in 1598 and aged 49, he retired to focus on writing. Unlike Shakespeare’s substantial body of plays, poems and sonnets, Tang wrote only four major plays: The Purple Hairpin, The Peony Pavilion, A Dream under a Southern Bough, and Dream of Handan. The latter three are constructed around a dream narrative, a device through which Tang unlocks the emotional dimension of human desires and ambitions, and explores human nature beyond the social and political constraints of the feudal system of the time. It is a similar dream motif that we find in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Peony Pavilion is considered Tang’s masterpiece. Over 55 scenes it explores the passions of young Du Liniang, daughter of Du Bao, the governor of Nan'an. After dreaming of a young scholar she meets in a peony pavilion, Du Liniang suddenly falls ill. Before dying, she leaves a self-portrait of herself and a poem with her maid, with orders to hide these under a stone by the plum tree at Taihu Lake. Three years later, a scholar named Liu Mengmei dreams of Du Liniang. In his dream, he and Du Liniang fall madly in love. It is the strength of this love that helps Liu Mengmei to revive Du Liniang from the grave. After confronting Du Liniang’s father, the couple marry and live a long and happy life. The distinctive aspect of The Peony Pavilion is Du Liniang’s life and death. The fact that a female heroine in a society dominated by moral obligations and a strict hierarchical order can pursue and accomplish her true love – defying even death – is no small matter. Echoing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with its theme of forbidden and endangered love, instead Tang’s play does not end in tragedy but with a message of hope that celebrates true love over death and the constraints imposed by society. In Tang’s championing of qing (emotion) over discipline, and humanity over hierarchy and authority, we find common ground with Shakespeare. As is found in Shakespeare’s iconic characters such as Hamlet, Tang’s Du Lingnian is heroine of a great story in which she not only surmounts the challenges of her time, but in doing so creates a tale to survive the test of time. An eastern renaissance Tang lived towards the end of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and, similarly to Shakespeare, his success rode the wave of a renaissance in theatre as an artistic practice. As in Shakespeare’s England, it became hugely popular in China, too. Mainstream theatrical audiences started to populate open public spaces, and theatre as a popular form of entertainment found its place outside palaces and the gentrified circles of the literati. However, unlike in Shakespeare’s times, there was hardly any mixing of the gentry and rich with commoners at theatrical events. During this time, the way in which play-texts were enjoyed, circulated and performed changed. Initially, Chinese drama had an emphasis on poetic language and a refined literary style, and were circulated as manuscripts to be read as if they were novels. They were seldom, if ever, performed. However, from the mid-16th century, kunqu opera, a form of musical drama, spread from southern China to become a symbol of Chinese culture. While comparable to Western opera in terms of narrative and structure, kunqudiffers in its physicality. Drawing from the Kunshan (near Suzhou, in modern Jiangsu Province) musical tradition combining northern tunes and southern music, kunqu opera encompassed poetic language, music, dance movements and precisely coded gestures. Tang’s work arrived in the midst of this tension between formal poetic refinement and operatic, musical forms of theatre, and was at the centre of these theatrical debates. By the arrival of the Qing dynasty, a play-text was considered as a structure for music and singing, but Tang maintained that poetry and emotion were at the heart of his drama, and he was very critical when his work was adapted in order to suit the operatic style of the day. However, differences aside, Tang’s work benefitted greatly from the popularity of adaptations, and his play-texts are considered kunquclassics. While Tang and Shakespeare lived a world away from each other, they share in common the humanity of their drama, their iconic, heroic figures, their love for language and poetic lyricism, a lasting popularity – and the anniversary during which we still celebrate them.
Tang Xianzu international theater exchange program pays tribute to literary classics
To the unfamiliar eye, Chinese opera is often seen as the marriage between sharp speech and overstated mime. The thought understates the lack of appreciation of Chinese culture and good storytelling as often the same literary style that brought the world the love and lust tale of Romeo and Juliet brought the eastern world the passionate tale of Liu Mengmei and Du Liniang’s love through, and even after, death. Through its poetic language and tone, florid music, coded dance movements and euphemistic gestures, the surviving forms of Chinese opera flourish in the world stage of theater and drama through the works of Tang Xianzu (1550 – 1616), a Chinese playwright of the Ming Dynasty. Academically considered to be William Shakespeare’s contemporary, he wrote over 2,000 poems and essays, of which he is best known for four plays – The Purple Hairpin, Record of the Southern Bough, Record of Handan and The Peony Pavilion. The Peony Pavilion is generally considered to be Xianzu’s greatest masterpiece. Akin to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, The Peony Pavilion’s star-crossed lovers Liu Mengmei and Du Liniang’s romance is bound to condemnation and social rejection. Their powerful displays of love, however, impress their gods even in the afterlife. Xianzu’s stories, which have entertained fellow countrymen around its unique folklore, nowadays delight audiences from around the world in his hometown of Fuzhou, China. In an exemplary international showmanship of cultural exchange, the city of Fuzhou, in cooperation with the UK government, announced the third annual Tang Xianzu International Theater Arts Exchange program honoring the Chinese playwright, Shakespeare and other literary masters whose legacies transcend the test of time. From September 28 through late October, the series of programs will pay tribute to some of Tang Xianzu’s most notable plays as well as set the stage for world-renowned theater and performing troupes, including, most notably, the Tchaikovsky Ballet Theater. During a press conference in Beijing, Xiao Yi, vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Political Consultative Conference and secretary of the Fuzhou Municipal CPC Party Committee, stated : “By organizing the Tang Xianzu International Theatre Exchange Month, Fuzhou aims to promote excellent traditional culture, tell Chinese stories in a more engaging manner and carry out Chinese and foreign cultural exchanges and cooperation to bring domestic and global attention to Tang Xianzu, Fuzhou, Jiangxi and Chinese culture, thus increasing Chinese culture’s presence and influence.” Fuzhou’s recognition for its quintessential theater and historical achievements are anything but novel. The event, and its city, has drawn international acclaim and recognition for being not only a theater and opera stage but also a land infused with oriental creative undertakings of physical, vocal and pictographic art. The rich repertoire of acrobatics, distinct vocals and performances are even now attracting some of the greatest dramatists of the world. The international community looks to Fuzhou for a China beyond its Belt and Road future and into its “Dream and Drama” culture. “This year’s exchange month aims to organize an innovative, diverse, dynamic and classic event” added Zhang Hongxing, mayor of Fuzhou City. The event also honors modern-day China and its amicable ambitions to build up international relations through shared literature and culture. As part of the growing relationship between China and Europe under President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, the national initiative to promote each region and its individualistic art form is already proving successful. The city of Fuzhou has seen a great jump in visitors since the program’s conception two years ago. In the last year alone, it boasted over 100,000 research and study visits and accommodated over 283 train trips through just two routes. Wu Zhongqiong, deputy governor of the People’s Government of Jiangxi Province, comments that while the boost is great for the city, it’s “green and sustainable” approach to its growth are also a main objective of the city. Fuzhou, nationally acclaimed as China’s “City of Plays,” is home to more than just Tang Xianzu’s Chinese drama masterpieces, it is also the birthplace of some of China’s most notable politicians, scientists and inventors. To the likes of Cervantes and Shakespeare, whose plays are also being represented and featured throughout the program, their playwriting caliber is best portrayed in the lasting impact their respective plays have had over 400 years after their death. Tang Xianzu’s artful form of storytelling and deliverance from tragedy mark him to be in league with the greatest.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 Tang Xianzu was a poet first of all, and then an ideologist and dramatist.
2 Tang Xianzu, like Shakespare, has written many great plays.Why don’t we call him Shakespare of China?
3 Tang Xianzu was a poet first of all, and then an ideologist and dramatist.
4 Tang Xianzu was a poet first of all, and then an ideologist and dramatist.
5 Tang Xianzu, like Shakespare, has written many great plays.Why don’t we call him Shakespare of China?
6 Tang Xianzu, a playwright of Ming Dynasty in 16th Century, was the coeval of Shakespeare of Britain.
7 Tang Xianzu, a playwright of Ming Dynasty in 16th Century, was the coeval of Shakespeare of Britain.
8 Tang Xianzu, a playwright of Ming Dynasty in 16th Century, was the coeval of Shakespeare of Britain.
9 Tang Xianzu, like Shakespare, has written many great plays.Why don’t we call him Shakespare of China?
10 Tang Xianzu, a playwright of Ming Dynasty in 16th Century, was the coeval of Shakespeare of Britain.
11 Tang Xianzu was a poet first of all, and then an ideologist and dramatist.
12 Tang Xianzu, a playwright of Ming Dynasty in 16th Century, was the coeval of Shakespeare of Britain.
13 Tang Xianzu, like Shakespare, has written many great plays.Why don’t we call him Shakespare of China?
14 Tang Xianzu, like Shakespare, has written many great plays.Why don’t we call him Shakespare of China?
15 Tang Xianzu was a poet first of all, and then an ideologist and dramatist.
16 While less known worldwide, Tang Xianzu is considered China's greatest playwright
17 2016 marked 400 years since the death of England's bard William Shakespeare and Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu (1550-1616).
18 Joint performances of two classic plays of British playwright William Shakespeare and Chinese counterpart Tang Xianzu were staged in Beijing