Writers › Writer / Poet

Tang Xianzu

Ming dramatist from Linchuan, banished for criticising the grand secretaries, who left office to write The Peony Pavilion and the other Four Dreams of Linchuan

Also known as Zi Yireng · Hao Ruoshi · Qingyuan Daoren

Tang Xianzu, courtesy name Yireng, styled Ruoshi and the Daoist of Qingyuan, came from Linchuan in Fuzhou, Jiangxi. Known young for his writing, he failed the metropolitan examination repeatedly after refusing to attach himself to the senior grand secretary Zhang Juzheng, and only passed in 1583; he then served in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices in Nanjing and in the Ministry of Rites. In 1591 his memorial attacking the grand secretary Shen Shixing and the censors got him banished as a jail warden at Xuwen in Guangdong, and he later became magistrate of Suichang in Zhejiang. In 1598 he gave up office, returned to Linchuan and finished The Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting) in his Yuming Hall; with The Purple Hairpin, The Southern Bough and The Handan Dream it makes up the Four Dreams of Linchuan. He died at home in 1616, the same year as Shakespeare. In chapter twenty-three of The Story of the Stone, Lin Daiyu is shaken on overhearing lines from The Peony Pavilion.

Life and times

  1. 1550 CEBornMing
  2. 1616 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Drama56
    1. The Peony PavilionMingTang Xianzu's Ming chuanqi drama: Du Liniang dies of longing and is restored to life by love
    2. The Peony Pavilion: The Interrupted DreamMing
    3. The Peony Pavilion: PrologueMing
    4. The Peony Pavilion: Expressing AmbitionsMing
    5. The Peony Pavilion: Instructing the DaughterMing
    6. +25 more
      1. The Peony Pavilion: A Pedant's LamentMing
      2. The Peony Pavilion: Engaging a TutorMing
      3. The Peony Pavilion: Melancholy GazingMing
      4. The Peony Pavilion: The SchoolroomMing
      5. The Peony Pavilion: Encouraging the FarmersMing
      6. The Peony Pavilion: Preparing the GardenMing
      7. The Peony Pavilion: A Mother's WarningMing
      8. The Peony Pavilion: Pursuing the DreamMing
      9. The Peony Pavilion: Parting VisitMing
      10. The Peony Pavilion: The PortraitMing
      11. The Peony Pavilion: The Spy of the InvadersMing
      12. The Peony Pavilion: Inquiring into the IllnessMing
      13. The Peony Pavilion: The Taoist NunMing
      14. The Peony Pavilion: DiagnosisMing
      15. The Peony Pavilion: The Bandit WifeMing
      16. The Peony Pavilion: KeeningMing
      17. The Peony Pavilion: Audience and EncounterMing
      18. The Peony Pavilion: A Traveller's LodgingMing
      19. The Peony Pavilion: Judgment in the UnderworldMing
      20. The Peony Pavilion: Finding the PortraitMing
      21. The Peony Pavilion: Remembering the DaughterMing
      22. The Peony Pavilion: Calling to the PortraitMing
      23. The Peony Pavilion: The Wandering SoulMing
      24. The Peony Pavilion: Union in the ShadesMing
      25. The Peony Pavilion: SuspicionMing
    7. Open all works→
  2. Literature · Sayings2
    1. Brilliant Purples and Lovely RedsMingIdiom from Tang Xianzu's The Peony Pavilion: a riot of blossoms, vivid abundance
    2. A Fine Hour and a Lovely SceneMingIdiom traced to Xie Lingyun and used in The Peony Pavilion: a fine hour and a lovely scene
  3. Literature · Prose1
    1. The Peony Pavilion: Author's Preface to The Peony PavilionMing
  4. Stage · Plays1
    1. The Peony PavilionMing, 1598Tang Xianzu's chuanqi drama of 1598, kept alive on the Kunqu stage through scenes such as The Interrupted Dream