On the Wall and on Horseback

Introduction

Bai Pu's Yuan zaju, sung throughout by Li Qianjin, on a meeting over a wall and seven years of hidden marriage

On the Wall and on Horseback, in full Pei Shaojun on the Wall and on Horseback, is a Yuan zaju by Bai Pu and one of the four great Yuan love plays, with The Moon Pavilion, The Western Chamber and The Soul of Qiannü Leaves Her Body. It has four acts and no prologue, and the lead female, as Li Qianjin, sings throughout, while the male lead Pei Shaojun mostly speaks. Sent by his father to Luoyang to buy flowers, Pei Shaojun trades poems with Li Qianjin over her garden wall, meets her that night and elopes with her to Chang'an, where she lives hidden in the back garden of his family home for seven years and bears a son and a daughter. When Minister Pei finds out he forces his son to write a divorce, and Li Qianjin goes back to Luoyang until Pei Shaojun, now an official, comes to reclaim her and his parents apologise. Bai Juyi first told the story as a warning to young women not to give themselves lightly, but Bai Pu turned it into a love play that breaks the old constraints and ends happily.

Parts

1. Act OneSent to Luoyang to buy flowers, Pei Shaojun trades poems with Li Qianjin over a garden wall
2. Act TwoTheir night meeting is discovered by the old nurse, who lets them go
3. Act ThreeSeven years on, Minister Pei finds them out and forces his son to write a divorce
4. Act FourNow an official, Pei Shaojun comes to Luoyang to reclaim his wife, and after apologies they are reunited