The Palace of Eternal Life

Introduction

Hong Sheng's chuanqi of fifty scenes, drawn from the Song of Everlasting Regret and Rain on the Paulownia Tree

The Palace of Eternal Life is a chuanqi play by the early Qing dramatist Hong Sheng, completed in 1688 in fifty scenes. Drawing on Bai Juyi's Song of Everlasting Regret, Chen Hong's prose tale and Bai Pu's zaju Rain on the Paulownia Tree, it follows Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Yang Yuhuan from their vow in the Palace of Eternal Life on the seventh night of the seventh month, through the crisis at Mawei, to their reunion in the moon palace. The Suzhou musician Xu Lingzhao helped Hong with the music, and the play was such a success that people all over Beijing sang its arias. Hong lost his place at the Imperial Academy in 1689 for staging it during a period of court mourning, yet in 1704 the textile commissioner Cao Yin invited him to Jiangning for a full performance lasting three days and nights. It counts among the four great classical dramas of China.

Parts

1. AlarmScene 24 of the fifty scenes of The Palace of Eternal Life
2. Burying the JadeScene 25 of The Palace of Eternal Life, straight after Alarm
3. Hearing the BellsCrossing the Sword Pass into Shu, the emperor hears the bells and mourns Yang Yuhuan
4. Weeping before the StatueThe emperor weeps before a sandalwood statue of Yang Yuhuan