Wang Shifu

Also known as Ming Dexin

Roles: Writer / Poet

Wang Shifu, whose given name was Dexin, came from Dadu, the Yuan capital, and almost nothing else is known of his life. Zhong Sicheng's Register of Ghosts (Lugui bu) lists him among the deceased senior playwrights, after Guan Hanqing, with fourteen zaju plays, of which three survive complete and two in fragments. His best-known work, The Story of the Western Wing (Xixiang ji), draws on Yuan Zhen's Tang tale of Yingying and the Jin-dynasty ballad version by Master Dong, and tells the courtship of Student Zhang and Cui Yingying in five parts and twenty-one acts, far beyond the usual four acts of a zaju. In an elegy added to the Register in the early Ming, Jia Zhongming wrote that among all plays old and new the Western Wing took first place. Zhu Quan's Formulary of Correct Rhymes compared Wang's lyrics to a beauty among flowers, and in the early Qing Jin Shengtan published an annotated edition as the sixth of his books of genius.

Life and times

c. 1260 CEBornSong Yuan
1260Flourishing of Yuan Drama (Zaju)Took partYuan qu was the period's flourishing dramatic art, encompassing sanqu songs and zaju drama and later distinguished as a northern tradition from southern forms.
c. 1336 CEDied

Works

Literature · Drama38
1. Romance of the Western ChamberYuanWang Shifu's five-part Yuan zaju of Zhang Gong and Cui Yingying, united with Hongniang's help
2. Lichun HallYuanWang Shifu's other surviving zaju: a Jin chancellor's quarrel, exile, recall and reconciliation
3. Romance of the Western Chamber: Farewell at the PavilionYuan
4. Romance of the Western Chamber: Zhang Junrui Disrupts the Buddhist ServiceYuan
5. Romance of the Western Chamber: Wedge: Madame Cui Arrives at the MonasteryYuan
6. +25 more
7. Open all works→
Literature · Sayings6
1. So Joyful as to Forget All CaresYuanIdiom in Wang Shifu's Hall of Beautiful Spring: a demoted minister fishing in carefree joy
2. Beauty That Downs Geese and Sinks FishYuanIdiom from the Zhuangzi, used in Wang Shifu's play Lichun Hall for a dazzling beauty
3. Blue-Cloud Skies Above the Long Pavilion FarewellYuanFamous line from Wang Shifu's Romance of the Western Chamber: an autumn sky at a farewell
4. Frosted Woods Dyed Red by the Tears of PartingYuanFamous line from Wang Shifu's Western Chamber: autumn woods reddened by parting tears
5. Frosted Woods Flushed as If with WineYuanFamous line from The Western Chamber: autumn woods reddened by the tears of parting
6. +1 more
  1. Yellow Chrysanthemums Carpet the GroundYuanFamous line from The Western Chamber: a ground of yellow flowers framing a lovers' parting
Stage · Plays1
1. Romance of the Western ChamberYuan dynasty (by Wang Shifu)Wang Shifu's Yuan zaju in five parts and twenty-one acts, telling how Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying come to marry

Life and times

Works

Connections