Dramatists and Scripts – Sequel І

As Chinese theater art is a folk art, most scripts express ordinary people's ideals and wishes, as well as their pursuit of happiness. During the centuries of development of Chinese theater, a number of great dramatists appeared, such as Guan Hanqing, Wang Shifu, Tang Xianzu, Hong Sheng, Kong Shangren and Tian Han. Many of these dramatists knew at first-hand the hard and miserable lives the ordinary people led, and expressed the feelings of the common folk through their works.

Guan Hanqing and his Doueyuan (Snow in Midsummer): Guan Hanqing (1210-1300) was the leading zaju dramatist of the Yuan Dynasty. He was an accomplished chess player, singer, dancer and musician, as well as a poet. He was also well acquainted with folk vernacular and arts. He turned out 65 -zaju, or which 18 have been preserved, including his best-known one, Snow in Midsummer. It is a tragic story which castigates the cruelty and corruption of feudal society. The orphan girl Dou E is sold to the Cai family to be brought up to marry their son. Soon after the wedding, her husband dies, and Dou E and her mother-in-law, who is a widow, are bullied by a local hoodlum, Zhang the Mule, and his father. When the two women refuse to marry them, Zhang the Mule tries to poison Dou E's mother-in-law, but poisons his own Father by mistake. Zhang then puts the blame on Dou E, and by means of1ies and bribery gets the muddle-headed local prefect to torture Dou E. The girl finally confesses to the crime to save her mother-in-law. Facing death, Dou E cries out, "The lives of the poor, though virtuous, are short, while the evil enjoy prosperous and long lives. This is a terrible injustice. Even Heaven and Earth bully the weak and fear the strong! The earth cannot tell good from evil, and Heaven has wronged an innocent person!" In this powerful play, Guan Hanqing condemned not only the evils of contemporary society, but also Heaven and Earth, which symbolized the imperial powcr in ancient China.

Wang Shifu and his Xixiangji (Romance of the Western Chamber): Wang Shifu of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) was the author of a number of outstanding zaju dramas, and a contemporary of Guan Hanqing. Documents of' the time describe him as an eccentric scholar who was familiar with the life of prostitutes. His works center on the theme of romantic love. Of the 14 plays he composed, only three are extant, the most celebrated of which is Romance of the Western Chamber. It is the story of the love between a young scholar named Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying, the daughter of an illustrious family. The story challenges the feudal concepts of social status and the patriarchal clan system, and champions the cause of love conquering all.