How to Read Chinese Drama

Patricia Sieber is associate professor of Chinese at Ohio State University. She is the author of Theaters of Desire: Authors, Readers, and the Reproduction of Early Chinese Song-Drama, 1300–2000 (2003).Regina S. Llamas is associate professor in the humanities at IE University, Spain. She is the translator of Top Graduate Zhang Xie: The Earliest Extant Chinese Southern Play (Columbia, 2021).

Another gem in Columbia’s How to Read Chinese Literature series. From comic obscenities to heartbreaking lyricism, the expressive language of Chinese drama runs the gamut, making it the hardest but most rewarding of all genres. Now we have the perfect guide for novices and experts alike.

• ContentsThematic ContentsPreface to the How to Read Chinese Literature SeriesA Note on How to Use This AnthologyChronology of Historical EventsSymbols, Abbreviations, and Typographical UsageIntroduction: The Cultural Significance of Chinese DramaPatricia Sieber and Regina LlamasPart I: Yuan and Ming Dynasties: Zaju Plays1. The Story of the Western Wing: Tale, Ballad, and PlayWilt L. Idema1.1 Yuan Zhen’s (779–831) “The Tale of Oriole”1.2 Story of the Western Wing in All Keys and Modes: “The Tale of Oriole” in Narrative Ballads1.3 *The Story of the Western Wing: Student Zhang and Oriole on Stage1.4 Controversies in the Ming and Qing Dynasties2. Purple Clouds, Wrong Career, and Tiger Head Plaque: Jurchen Foreigners in Early DramaStephen H. West2.1 Approaches to the Foreign2.2 Wrong Career and Purple Cloud: Jurchen Performers in the World of Entertainment2.3 The Tiger Head Plaque: Jurchen Performers in Their Native Lands3. The Pavilion for Praying to the Moon and The Injustice to Dou E: The Innovation of the Female LeadPatricia Sieber3.1 Guan Hanqing (ca. 1220–after 1279), Zhulian xiu (fl. 1270–1300), and the Acting Culture of Yuan Zaju Theater3.2 The Pavilion for Praying to the Moon: The Moral Suasion of Situational Ethics3.3 The Injustice to Dou E: The Disruptive Power of Filial Remonstration4. The Story of the Western Wing: Theater and the Printed ImagePatricia Sieber and Gillian Yanzhuang Zhang4.1 Image-Making Between Self-Expression and Commerce4.2 *The Story of the Western Wing: The Deluxe Edition (1499)—an App for Singing4.3 The Story of the Western Wing: The Glossed Edition (c. 1609)—an App for Role-Playing4.4 The Story of the Western Wing: The Exclusive Edition (1639–1640)—an App for Virtual Reality5. The Orphan of Zhao: The Meaning of Loyalty and FilialityShih-pe Wang5.1 Historical Background5.2 The Orphan of Zhao: How the Yuan Zaju Play Dramatizes the Story5.3 *The Orphan of Zhao, Wedge: The Confrontation between Good and Evil5.4 *The Orphan of Zhao, Act 1: How the Orphan Was Smuggled Out5.5 The Orphan of Zhao, Act 2: To Die or to Live On5.6 The Orphan of Zhao, Act 3: A Play Performed for the Eyes of the Villain5.7 The Orphan of Zhao, Acts 4 (and 5): Truth and Revenge5.8 The Orphan of Zhao: Twenty-First-Century Adaptations6. The Female Mulan Joins the Army in Place of Her Father: Gender and PerformanceShiamin Kwa6.1 Xu Wei (1521–1593) and His Quartet of Ming Zaju Plays6.2 Mulan: The Two-Act Structure6.3 *Mulan: Changing Clothes6.4 Mulan: Gentle Men6.5 Mulan: Happily Ever AfterPart II: Ming Dynasty and Early Qing Dynasty: Nanxi and Chuanqi Plays7. Top Graduate Zhang Xie and The Lute: Scholar, Family, and StateRegina Llamas7.1 Top Graduate and The Lute: Background7.2 Top Graduate and The Lute: The Prologues7.3 Top Graduate and The Lute: The Ungrateful Scholar7.4 *The Lute: The Husk Wife7.5 *Top Graduate and The Lute: Language and Comedy8. The Southern Story of the Western Wing: Traditional Kunqu Composition, Interpretation, and PerformanceJoseph S. C. Lam8.1 Storied Kunqu and Its Traditional Practitioners8.2 A Historical Account of Li Rihua’s Southern Western Wing8.3 “Reading Li Rihua’s “Happy Time” and “Twelve Shades” as Kunqu8.4 Li Rihua’s Composition of “Happy Time” and the Reactions It Elicited8.5 Performing “Twelve Shades”9. The Peony Pavilion: Emotions, Dreams, and SpectatorshipLing Hon Lam9.1 Under the Weather9.2 *Waking to Dreams9.3 In the Face of a Page10. Green Peony and The Swallow’s Letter: Drama and PoliticsYing Zhang10.1 New Dramas and Old Interpretive Techniques10.2 A Dramatist’s Dilemma10.3 Wu Bing, Ruan Dacheng, and the Factional Struggles in a New Political Culture10.4 Weaponizing Drama10.5 The Suspect Author10.6 Evidence of Insinuation10.7 Spontaneity in Theater11. A Much Desired Match: Playwriting, Stagecraft, and EntrepreneurshipS. E. Kile11.1 Li Yu: A Very Theatrical Entrepreneur11.2 Leisure Notes: Toward a Coherent, Up-to-Date, and Accessible Theatrical Experience11.3 How to Read an Opening Scene11.4 Love, Art, and Theater in a World Full of Frauds12. Peach Blossom Fan and Palace of Everlasting Life: History, Romance, and PerformanceMengjun Li and Guo Yingde12.1 Kong Shangren and Hong Sheng: Chuanqi Plays as Alternative History12.2 Peach Blossom Fan: “Talk about Love is Simply Pointless”12.3 Palace of Everlasting Life: “With New Lyrics, (This Play) Is All about Love”12.4 Peach Blossom Fan and Palace of Everlasting Life: Music as the Language of Love12.5 Peach Blossom Fanand Palace of Everlasting Life: Performance as Political Remonstration12.6 Peach Blossom Fanand Palace of Everlasting Life: Performance as Mediated HistoryPart III: Mid–Qing Dynasty: Zaju and Chuanqi Plays13. Song of Dragon Well and Other Court Plays: Stage Directions, Spectacle, and PanegyricsTian Yuan Tan13.1 Contextualizing Wang Wenzhi’s Court Drama13.2 Wang Wenzhi’s Authorship of Court Drama13.3 Texts and Functions of Wang Wenzhi’s Court Drama13.4 In Praise of the Occasion and His Majesty: Functionalities of Court Plays13.5 Pageantry, Formulaic Sequences, and Visual Spectacles13.6 Engagement through Literary Elements14. The Eight-Court Pearl: Performance Scripts and Political CultureAndrea S. Goldman14.1 Eight-Court Pearl: The Script14.2 Suzhou School History Plays and Other Textual Antecedents14.3 Violence as the Solution14.4 Who Were the Disaffected?Part IV: Ming, Qing, and Modern Eras: Ritual Plays15. Mulian Rescues His Mother: Play Structure, Ritual, and SoundscapesSai-shing Yung15.1 The Iconography of Hell15.2 Zheng Zhizhen’s Mulian Rescues His Mother: Exhortation to Goodness15.3 Exhortation: Structure and Plot15.4 Mulian Plays and Sonic Force in Performance15.5 The Soundscape of Exorcism16. The Story of Hua Guan Suo: Chantefable and Ritual PlaysAnne E. McLaren16.1 Genres16.2 TheChantefable The Story of Hua Guan Suo: Regionality16.3 The Story of Hua Guan Suo: Central Themes16.4 Origins and Historical Development16.5 Authorship16.6 Performative Aspects16.7 The Story of Hua Guan Suo: Example of a Prelude16.8 Chantefables and Plays: The Oath of the Brotherhood16.9 The Story of Hua Guan Suo: An Example of “Ten Beats to a Line”16.10 A Play of Exorcism from Guichi (Anhui Province), Twentieth Century16.11 Guan Suo Plays in Xiaotun Village, Chengjiang (Yunnan Province), Twentieth Century16.12 Combat SequencesAcknowledgmentsContributorsVisual ResourcesGlossary-Index* Excerpts from those plays are also featured, accompanied by modern Chinese translation and extensive annotation, in Guo Yingde, Wenbo Chang, Patricia Sieber, and Xiaohui Zhang, eds., How to Read Chinese Drama in Chinese: A Language Companion. New York: Columbia University Press (under advance agreement).