Professor Wai-Yee Li introduces Guan Hanqing – one of China's most-revered playwrights – and the classic play that inspired Snow in Midsummer. Snow in Midsummer is based on a 13th-century play, The Injustice Done to Dou E (also called The Injustice to Dou E That Moved Heaven and Earth) by Guan Hanqing (c.1224-1330). The play is a fine example of Yuan drama, the first great flowering of drama in the Chinese tradition. The Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) was founded by the Mongols (including Kublai Khan and his grandfather Genghis) who replaced Jurchen rule in northern China in 1234, conquered the Song dynasty in Southern China in 1276, and ruled until 1368. DOU E’S STORY Guan Hanqing’s play follows the story of Dou Duanyun, daughter to an impoverished scholar who sells her as a child bride to Woman Cai. Cai renames her Dou E. Married at 17 to Cai’s son, who dies shortly after, she remains a dutiful daughter-in-law, even as Cai falls into the clutches of the duplicitous Old Zhang and his son Zhang Lu. A botched plot by Zhang Lu to murder Cai and marry Dou E ends with the accidental murder of Old Zhang instead. Zhang Lu accuses Dou E of the crime, and she confesses under torture in order to spare her mother-in-law from being implicated. Dou E is sentenced to decapitation. The title of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s reworking, Snow in Midsummer, reflects the classical drama’s central scene. As Dou E faces death at the execution ground, she asks for a long strip of white silk to be hung at the flagpole. She vows that three signs will prove her innocence. The first: her blood will fly up and stain the white silk instead of falling to the ground. The second: snow will fall, despite it being midsummer, and cover her corpse. The third and final sign is that drought will plague the land for three years. All these predictions come to pass. Three years later, Dou E’s ghost appears to her father, who clears her name and punishes the guilty. The prototype of Dou E’s story is a Han dynasty account (c.1st century BCE) about a young widow who is wrongfully accused of murdering her mother-in-law. Failing to convince the young woman to remarry and wishing to free her of the burden of caring for her, the mother-in-law hanged herself. The young widow is accused of murder and executed. The land then suffers a drought for three years, and rain comes only after the new governor exonerates her and propitiates her spirit with sacrifices. A FLOURISHING FORM By turn lyrical and earthy (even vulgar), sentimental and ironic, Yuan drama was a vital part of the culture of performance and entertainment in the 13th and 14th centuries. These plays, called ‘zaju’ (literally, ‘mixed performance’ or ‘miscellaneous performance’) in Chinese, combine sung arias, declaimed verses, doggerels, dialogues, mime, jokes and acrobatic feats. The basic component of each act in ‘zaju’ is the song suite, in which one actor sings throughout. The lead singer is the emotional focus of the play; the arias plumb lyrical depths, explore conflicting thoughts and feelings, and allow narratives to unfold. The adversary to the lead singer is the comic (‘jing’), a villainous character often given to farcical routines, meaning that evil is never momentous. The dialogues are secondary and probably improvised. According to extant sources, we know the names of about 200 playwrights and the titles of about 737 plays. The number that actually existed must have been larger; as late as the mid-16th century, the poet and playwright Li Kaixian (1502-1568) noted 1,750 zaju. We now have 207 extant Yuan plays, of which 45 exist as fragments. Many of these plays are preserved in later redactions and include changes by editors from the 15th to the early 17th century. We have only 30 zaju in original Yuan editions. Why was drama and theatre so prolific during this period of history? Many argue that Han Chinese literati, denied the opportunity for advancement under the discriminatory Mongol rule, vented their frustration by turning to playwriting. Some members of the elite probably did feel deprived and humiliated under the Mongol system, but did this cause them to turn to drama as the means for self-realisation? The connection is possible but not provable. Perhaps much more immediate is the symbiosis between literate men writing plays and the flourishing urban culture in the 13th and 14th centuries. ACTOR, SONGWRITER, PLAYWRIGHT Guan Hanqing was firmly ensconced in this culture. He formed friendships with actors and other playwrights, and is said to have ‘applied powder and paint to his face’ and acted on stage. He is credited with no less than 68 plays, of which 18 have survived in whole, and three in fragments (although in some cases the attribution has been debated). Guan was also the acknowledged master of songs. One particularly famous song has helped shaped his image as the ironic, playful and defiant habitué of theatres and ‘pleasure quarters’: ‘I am the resounding bronze bean that cannot be steamed to mush, boiled to pulp, hammered to submission, fried to explosion.’ He will stop going down the road of ‘mist and flowers’ (i.e. wanton pleasures) only if Yama, the king of hell, personally summons him and drags him down with the help of gods and demons. Guan Hanqing is honoured, among other things, for championing the downtrodden. Tian Han’s (1898-1968) play, Guan Hanqing (1958), written under Communist rule, dramatises how Guan criticises social ills and expresses his rebellion by writing The Injustice Done to Dou E. However, it is doubtful that his play was driven by such an emphatic critique of flaws in the sociopolitical system: the focus is more on Dou E’s personal suffering. What is unmistakeable, though, is Dou E’s oppositional spirit – and such strength of character is evident in many of Guan’s heroines, be they proud courtesans, headstrong ingénues, savvy commoners, cunning maids, determined wives or selfless mothers. Instead of dwelling on Dou E’s victimhood, Guan Hanqing emphasises Dou E’s agency as she challenges her mother-in-law, denounces the villains, curses official corruption, and questions cosmic justice by calling on heaven and earth. Her forcefulness tests the limits of conventional morality, even as she exemplifies orthodox principles like filial piety.

Northern China was under the dominance of the Mongol warlike nomad-civilization from c. 1215 onwards, and the whole country came under Mongol rule in 1279. During this new dynasty, the Yuan (Yüan), the Chinese themselves became despised in their own country. Lowest was the status of the inhabitants of the regions south of the Yangzi River, although the region had been both economically and culturally very important. The institution of imperial examinations for scholar-officials, so crucial for the administration and cultural life of the empire, was abolished. Thus the scholar officials could no longer participate in the country’s affairs. In former times the Confucian literati formed the elite, but now they were regarded as one class lower than prostitutes and only a grade higher than beggars. The foundation of Chinese society was shaking. Yuan zaju Many of the frustrated scholar-officials focused their energy on the arts. The theatrical styles shaped in the Song dynasty became extremely popular. Through the theatre one was able to explore matters common to all: the cruelty of the conquerors, the tragedies of the war, the separation of families or lovers etc. While reflecting the collective sentiments, theatre was able to serve as a form of passive resistance Censorship was, however, merciless. In order to avoid the death penalty, which was the result of any kind of direct criticism, the writers turned for their material to old stories from the country’s long history or to popular legends and to early, simple plays. The underlying message was, however, clear to their audiences. The scholar-writers of the Yuan dynasty created high-quality dramatic literature, which is still regarded as classic and is still performed in various later styles. They are shorter than the earlier zaju plays. They usually consist of four acts and sometimes kinds of “prologues” or “interludes”, which, however, form an integral part of the whole. More role categories were employed by the Yuan dramas than the earlier zaju and nanxi traditions. They include MO, OR MALE CHARACTERS zhengmo (cheng-mo), singing male lead fumo (fu-mo), supporting male character xiaomo (hsiao-mo), young man chongmo (ch’hung-mo), a kind of narrator or a master of ceremonies DAN (TAN), OR FEMALE ROLES zhengdan (cheng-tan), singing female lead fudan, waidan, tiedan (fu-tan, wai-tan, ti’eh-tan), supporting female characters laodan (lao-tan), old female character xiaodan (hsiao-tan), young woman huadan (hua-tan), coquette female character chadan (ch’a-tan), intriguer OTHERS jing (ching), evil or comic characters za (tsa), supporting minor characters, such as servants, crooks or children An early 14th century temple mural shows a troupe of actors from the Yuan period. The stage has a silken back curtain and the actors wear handsome costumes reflecting their social status. The costumes are, however, not as pompous as the later Peking Opera costumes. The mural also depicts musicians among the actors, a flautist and a percussionist with his clappers. Yuan zaju play scripts The names of about a hundred Yuan dramatists have come down to us, and the titles of seven hundred plays are known. The flourish of Yuan drama centred mainly in North China and the then capital, Beijing. The Yuan plays were written to be sung and acted. The language used was mainly the vernacular of its day but the sung “arias” employed sophisticated lyrics. 171 complete Yuan dramas are known today. The northern zaju was the style in which these four-act dramas were performed. The music also presented the Yuan zaju style, which unfortunately is lost. At the beginning, one of the supporting characters explained the plot to the audience, after which the leading actors appeared. Only the leading actors sang. Singing, acting, mime and drama merged together, forming an operatic whole. The most famous of the Yuan dramatists were “The Four Yuan-Period Masters”, Guan Hanqing (Kuan Han-ch’ing), Ma Zhiyan (Ma Chih-yüan), Bai Pu (Pai P’u), and Zheng Guangzun (Cheng Kuan-tsun). The earliest of them, Guan Hanqing, is regarded as the “Father of Chinese Dramatic Literature”. Another important Yuan period dramatist was Wang Shifu (Wang Shih-fu), who wrote the famous Romance of the Western Chamber, Xixiang ji (Hsi-hsiang chi). Guang Hanqing or the “Father of Chinese Dramatic Literature” often portrayed in his crime stories, as did also other Yuan dramatists, mistreated prostitutes and beauties in distress. One of the most famous plays of this genre is Guan Hanqing’s Dou E yuan (Tou Eh yüan), The Injustice Experienced by Dou E or Snow in Midsummer. Dou E. A kun-style reconstruction of 13th century play, Dou E yuan or Snow in Midsummer. Most of the Yuan dramatists came, as mentioned, from the class of the scholar-officials. Bai Pu (1226–1306) was a son of an impoverished civil servant family. His best-known play is Wutong yu (Wu-t’ung yü) or Rain on the Pawlonia Tree. It tells the tragic story of the love of the Tang emperor Ming Huang and his concubine Yang Guifei amid the political intrigues and power play while the Tang dynasty was nearing its end. Besides historical stories, stories about the supernatural also often served as the material on which the Yuan dramas were based. One example of an early Taoist-inspired ghost opera is Qiannü lihun (Ch’ian-nü li-hun) or Ciannun sielu irtoaa ruumiista (synopsis). It was written by Zheng Guangzun (1280–1330) and is based on a story from the Tang period. Yuan dramatis could explore several story genres. Ma Zhiyuan is famous for his Taoist themes, but his well-known play Hangong qiu (Han-kung ch’iu) or Autumn in Han Palace, is based on an ancient, tragic love story with patriotic overtones (synopsis). It has been one of the most beloved Yuan dramas.

A leading dramatist of the Yuan dynasty, who worked out of the capital Dadu (present-day Peking), but little biographical data on him exists. A playwright of the Northern Drama, he is credited with more than 64 plays, of which some 15 have survived complete. His most famous work is Dou E yuan [Injustice to Dou E]. Apart from his literary career, he was also said to have been a theatrical manager and sometime actor. Works available in English: Selected Plays of Guan Hanqing (Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang). Shanghai: New Art and Literature Publishing House, 1958; Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1958. Studies and Biographies: Jerome P. Seaton, A critical study of Kuan Han-ch'ing: the man and his works. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI, 1985. Chen-ooi Hsieh Chin, Evolution of the theme of Tou O yüan. S.l.: S.n., 1974. Chung-wen Shih, Injustice to Tou O (Tou O yüan); a study and translation. Cambridge (Eng): University Press, 1972.