The Peony Pavilion: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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{{quote|''"Love is of source unknown, yet it grows ever deeper. The living may die of it, by its power the dead live again. Love is not love at its fullest if one who lives is unwilling to die for it, or if it cannot restore to life one who has died. And must love that comes in dream necessarily be unreal? For there is no lack of dream lovers in this world. Only for those whose love must be fulfilled on the pillow, and for whom affection deepens only after retirement from office, is it an entirely corporeal matter.''|Preface to ''The Peony Pavilion''}}
{{quote|''"Love is of source unknown, yet it grows ever deeper. The living may die of it, by its power the dead live again. Love is not love at its fullest if one who lives is unwilling to die for it, or if it cannot restore to life one who has died. And must love that comes in dream necessarily be unreal? For there is no lack of dream lovers in this world. Only for those whose love must be fulfilled on the pillow, and for whom affection deepens only after retirement from office, is it an entirely corporeal matter.''|Preface to ''The Peony Pavilion''}}


Tang Xianzu's kunqu opera ''The Peony Pavilion'', or 牡丹亭 (Mǔdāntíng), was Ming-dynasty China's answer to ''[[Romeo and Juliet (Theatre)|Romeo and Juliet]]''. A lyrical celebration of romance that premiered in 1598, it ignited the Chinese equivalent of the Romantic movement-- the cult of ''qing'', or sensibility. It also spawned an outpouring of [[Fan Art]], [[Fan Fiction]], and [[Fan Wank]] in the form of readers' commentaries, making these behaviors [[Older Than Steam]]. Crazed [[Fan Girl|Fan Girls]] were said to offer themselves up to Tang on a regular basis, while the odd [[Fan Boy]] busied himself painting miniatures of the play's [[Perverse Sexual Lust|winsome young heroine]] to sell for cheap.
Tang Xianzu's kunqu opera ''The Peony Pavilion'', or 牡丹亭 (Mǔdāntíng), was Ming-dynasty China's answer to ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. A lyrical celebration of romance that premiered in 1598, it ignited the Chinese equivalent of the Romantic movement-- the cult of ''qing'', or sensibility. It also spawned an outpouring of [[Fan Art]], [[Fan Fiction]], and [[Fan Wank]] in the form of readers' commentaries, making these behaviors [[Older Than Steam]]. Crazed [[Fan Girl|Fan Girls]] were said to offer themselves up to Tang on a regular basis, while the odd [[Fan Boy]] busied himself painting miniatures of the play's [[Perverse Sexual Lust|winsome young heroine]] to sell for cheap.


Budding ingenue Du Liniang ditches her lessons one day to take a nap in the garden. Asleep, she meets dashing scholar Liu Mengmei, who romances her in her dreams. Long after she wakes up, Liniang continues to obsess over her dream and begins to waste away from literal lovesickness. She dies, but not before leaving behind a portrait of herself at the height of her beauty.
Budding ingenue Du Liniang ditches her lessons one day to take a nap in the garden. Asleep, she meets dashing scholar Liu Mengmei, who romances her in her dreams. Long after she wakes up, Liniang continues to obsess over her dream and begins to waste away from literal lovesickness. She dies, but not before leaving behind a portrait of herself at the height of her beauty.


Liu Mengmei shows up in her old haunt, the flower garden, looking for the beautiful maiden he fell in love with once in a dream. He takes up residence in the shrine dedicated to his unknown lover's memory and pores over her self-portrait each night with [[Too Dumb to Live|no clue who the subject is]]. Meanwhile, Liniang descends to the underworld, where a sympathetic judge decides she deserves one last shot at love.
Liu Mengmei shows up in her old haunt, the flower garden, looking for the beautiful maiden he fell in love with once in a dream. He takes up residence in the shrine dedicated to his unknown lover's memory and pores over her self-portrait each night with [[Too Dumb to Live|no clue who the subject is]]. Meanwhile, Liniang descends to the underworld, where a sympathetic judge decides she deserves one last shot at love.

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{{tropelist}}
=== ''The Peony Pavilion'' contains examples of: ===
* [[Agent Scully]]: Liniang's father Du Bao.
* [[Agent Scully]]: Liniang's father Du Bao.
* [[Agent Mulder]]: Daoist nun and shrine-keeper Sister Stone.
* [[Agent Mulder]]: Daoist nun and shrine-keeper Sister Stone.
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* [[Celestial Bureaucracy]]: Okays Liniang's return to the world of the living so she can get her man.
* [[Celestial Bureaucracy]]: Okays Liniang's return to the world of the living so she can get her man.
* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: Liniang's tutor assigns her a bunch of love poems from the ''Book of Songs'' for her moral instruction, making her even more dreamy and lovelorn.
* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: Liniang's tutor assigns her a bunch of love poems from the ''Book of Songs'' for her moral instruction, making her even more dreamy and lovelorn.
* [[Death By Sex]]
* [[Death by Sex]]
* [[Erotic Dream]]
* [[Erotic Dream]]
* [[The Fair Folk]]: The Flower Spirit who watches over the lovebirds when they first consummate their affair. Liniang also gets mistaken for one when she shows up in ghostly form.
* [[The Fair Folk]]: The Flower Spirit who watches over the lovebirds when they first consummate their affair. Liniang also gets mistaken for one when she shows up in ghostly form.
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* [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: Liniang's father Du Bao.
* [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: Liniang's father Du Bao.
* [[Flower Motifs]]
* [[Flower Motifs]]
* [[Gentleman and A Scholar]]: Liu Mengmei. Also playwright Tang Xianzu himself.
* [[Gentleman and a Scholar]]: Liu Mengmei. Also playwright Tang Xianzu himself.
* [[Good People Have Good Sex]]
* [[Good People Have Good Sex]]
* [[Happily Ever After]]
* [[Happily Ever After]]
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* [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic]]: It's a kunqu opera-- allusions all over the place.
* [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic]]: It's a kunqu opera-- allusions all over the place.
* [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]: The Chinese version, li (rationality) verses qing (sensibility).
* [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]: The Chinese version, li (rationality) verses qing (sensibility).
* [[Shout Out]]: To the ''Analects'', and other classical texts.
* [[Shout-Out]]: To the ''Analects'', and other classical texts.
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: Way towards the idealistic end.
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: Way towards the idealistic end.
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: To ''Romance of the Western Chamber''.
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: To ''Romance of the Western Chamber''.
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[[Category:Poetry]]
[[Category:Poetry]]
[[Category:The Peony Pavilion]]
[[Category:The Peony Pavilion]]
[[Category:Theatre]]
[[Category:Theatrical Productions]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peony Pavilion, The}}
[[Category:Classic Theatre]]

Latest revision as of 23:09, 8 April 2017
"Love is of source unknown, yet it grows ever deeper. The living may die of it, by its power the dead live again. Love is not love at its fullest if one who lives is unwilling to die for it, or if it cannot restore to life one who has died. And must love that comes in dream necessarily be unreal? For there is no lack of dream lovers in this world. Only for those whose love must be fulfilled on the pillow, and for whom affection deepens only after retirement from office, is it an entirely corporeal matter.
—Preface to The Peony Pavilion

Tang Xianzu's kunqu opera The Peony Pavilion, or 牡丹亭 (Mǔdāntíng), was Ming-dynasty China's answer to Romeo and Juliet. A lyrical celebration of romance that premiered in 1598, it ignited the Chinese equivalent of the Romantic movement-- the cult of qing, or sensibility. It also spawned an outpouring of Fan Art, Fan Fiction, and Fan Wank in the form of readers' commentaries, making these behaviors Older Than Steam. Crazed Fan Girls were said to offer themselves up to Tang on a regular basis, while the odd Fan Boy busied himself painting miniatures of the play's winsome young heroine to sell for cheap.

Budding ingenue Du Liniang ditches her lessons one day to take a nap in the garden. Asleep, she meets dashing scholar Liu Mengmei, who romances her in her dreams. Long after she wakes up, Liniang continues to obsess over her dream and begins to waste away from literal lovesickness. She dies, but not before leaving behind a portrait of herself at the height of her beauty.

Liu Mengmei shows up in her old haunt, the flower garden, looking for the beautiful maiden he fell in love with once in a dream. He takes up residence in the shrine dedicated to his unknown lover's memory and pores over her self-portrait each night with no clue who the subject is. Meanwhile, Liniang descends to the underworld, where a sympathetic judge decides she deserves one last shot at love.

Tropes used in The Peony Pavilion include:
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