16. Yuan Drama
When people talk about Chinese literature, they often mention
three literary forms and their three golden ages: Tang poetry, Song
ci, and Yuan qu.
Yuan qu refers to two different types of writing: sanqu and za-
ju. The former, like ci, is a form of poetry. There are fixed tunes, and
poets compose words for them. Its language is generally more coll0-
quial than that of cl. In styleit is more direct, more passionate and
more forceful.
The rise of sanqu was connected with the new political and so-
cial conditions in North China. Border tribes including the Khitan, the
Nfizhen and the Mongols moved into North China, bringing with
them their music played on horseback. When this music was merged
with the passionate songs of Hebei and Liaodong, sanqu was born. So
sanqu came from the or&nary people; only later did poets write in
this form. That was why it was looked down upon by scholars
first, and not many sanqu compositions were left behind. Today only
about 4,000 of them can be found in various anthologies. The number
is much smaller than the nearly 50, 000 Tang poems and 20, 000
Song ci that have been collected.
Among the best-known sanqu compositions is "Autumn
Thoughts"by Ma Zhiyuan:
A withered vine, an old tree, and a dazed crow;
A small bridge, a flowing stream, and a cottage;
An ancient road, a west wind, and a lean horse.
The sun setting in the west,
And a man with a broken heart in the remotest place.
This song is mainly made up of a series of nouns and their modifiers.
Together they present a picture of a lonely, sad traveller in a desolate
strange place far from home, not knowing what is waiting for him and
not sure of his own future.
Sanqu is different from but connected with zaju, which means
drama. Sanqu can be read and sung, but cannot be acted. Zaju is
written for the stage; it is complete with a plot, dialogues, songs and
stage directions. The songs in zaju are in the form of sanqu.
During the Yuan period zaju, or drama, prospered. There were
about 100 dramatists who wrote about 500 plays, but most of them
were unfortunately lost long ago.
There were several factors that made it possible for drama to de-
velop in this period. Cities grew as a result of the growth of handi-
crafts and commerce, and people living in cities needed recreation and
amusements. It was then possible for singers, story-tellers, actors and
actresses to make a living. Scholars and writers who had frowned up-
on drama were then interested in it, and began to write it, because
they wanted to use it as a weapon for attacking the rule they hated.
Besides, in the early period of the Yuan dynasty, civil service exami-
nations were stopped, and Hah scholars were no longer able to get
government posts, as they were discriminated against. They had to
live as and among the ordinary people, and therefore they had a good
understanding of the ordinary people's life and feelings, which gave
them rich material for their plays.
The first Yuan dramatist that should be mentioned is Guan Han-
qing. He lived in the 13th century; the dates of his birth and death are
uncertain. A native of Dadu(now Beijing), he worked there as a doc-
tor, but was known for the many plays he wrote. His works include
tragedies, comedies and historical plays. Some of them describe the
life of the people of his day;others are based on historical events. All
of them sing praises of the oppressed or expose the evils of the ruling
classes. The characters in his plays are all very vivid, convincing and
impressive, and they reveal their personalities in dramatic conflicts.
The Injustice Suffered by Dou E may be his best-known
tragedy. When she is seven years old, Dou E is given by her father to
an old woman to be her son's child bride. Ten years later, they are
married. Shortly afterwards the young man dies and Dou E becomes a
widow. She stays with her mother-in-law, hoping to live a peaceful
life with her. An evil man called Zhang wants to get hold of Dou E,
and is rejected by the young woman. When the mother-in-law falls
ill, Zhang prepares some poison, intending to kill the old woman.
However, the poison is eaten by Zhang's father by mistake, and the
old man dies at once. Then Zhang says to Dou E that he will charge
her with the murder of his father if she still refuses to marry him. As
she has seen through him, she would rather go to court with him than
marry him. Contrary to her expectations, the governor who tries their
case is a corrupt official and convicts her without any reason or evi-
dence. He sentences her to death, and this good young woman is
killed. But her ghost continues to fight against injustice. When her fa-
ther comes to the region as a high-ranking official, her ghost appears
in his dream and tells him the truth of the case. He then examines
the case, corrects the wrong verdict, and punishes the evil Zhang and
the governor.
The play praises Dou E's fighting spirit and exposes and con-
demns the dark society and unjust legal system. In many of his plays
Guan Hanqing gives truthful pictures of the people's sufferings under
Yuan rule. Realism in his plays is intense and powerful.
A little later than and as famous as Guan was the dramatist
Wang Shifu. He also lived in Dadu and wrote many palys. The one
that made him known in later ages was Romance of the Western
Chamber, which is based on "Life of Yingying, "a short story written
by the Tang poet Yuan Zhen.
Yingying is a beautiful young woman staying with her mother,
Madame Cui, in a temple. A young scholar named Zhang happens to
be living in the same temple. He helps to protect Yingying and her
mother from an attack by a group of disorderly soldiers. To show her
gratitude to the scholar, Madame Cui promises to marry her daughter
to him. But soon she goes back on her word, saying that Yingying
has been engaged to a high-ranking official's son. With the help of
Hongniang, Yingying's maid, the young lady and the scholar secretly
meet and spend a lot of happy time together. When Madame Cui
hears about this, she has to give her consent to their marriage, but she
insists that Zhang should first pass the civil service examinations and
get a government post. Zhang successfully does these two things, and
the two lovers are finally united.
There are beautiful songs in this play, as in many others. The
one sung by Yingying on the day Zhang leaves for the capital is very
popular:
Blue clouds in the sky,
Yellow flowers on the ground,
The west wind is blowing hard,
And the northern wild geese are flying southward.
What in the morning has dyed
The frosty trees red, as if they were drunk ?
It must be the tears of those who are to part.
It is clear that the dramatist sympathizes with Zhang and Ying-
ying, who dare to defy feudal traditions and have the courage to fall
in love With each other without their parents' permission. On the
other hand, he makes Madame Cui appear foolish and insincere in try-
ing to defend old customs.
There are many other famous plays, such as Autumn in the Han
Palace by Ma Zhiyuan, Qiannii's Soul Goes Wandering by Zheng
Guangzu, and Over the Wall and on the Horse by Bai Pu.
Several Yuan plays were translated into European languages in
the 18th and 19th centuries. One of them, The Orphan of the Zhao
Family by Ji Junxiang, attracted great attention in Europe. It tells an
ancient story of revenge. One cruel man in power has killed all the
descendants and relatives of his enemy, except one child. To protect
him many loyal people sacrifice themselves. The child is saved and
takes revenge on the crueJ man when be grows up. The play was first
translated into French in 1734, and then into other languages.
Voltaire, the well-known French writer, historian and philosopher of
the 18th century, was deeply moved by the play. He adapted it and
changed its name to The Orphan of China. In 1758 the play was
performed on the stage in Paris. In the preface to the play Voltaire
wrote that the play showed that reason and intellect would eventually
overcome ignorance and barbarity.
The rise of Yuan drama was about 300 years earlier than the
time of Shakespeare and other English dramatists. It may be called
the second of the three peaks in the history of drama in the world: an-
cient Greek and Roman drama, Yuan drama, and English drama of
the age of Shakespeare.