The Girl Washing Silk

Introduction

The Girl Washing Silk is a chuanqi play in forty-five scenes by Liang Chenyu of Kunshan, written in the Ming, which uses the rivalry of the states of Wu and Yue in the Spring and Autumn period to reflect on rise and fall. It opens with Fan Li and Xi Shi pledging their love by a stream with a length of washed silk, follows King Goujian of Yue as he bides his time and sends Xi Shi to the Wu court, and ends with Fan Li and Xi Shi sailing away on the Five Lakes. When Wei Liangfu reformed the Kunshan style it was still sung only in concert, and Liang was the first to write a play for it, making this the first stage success of the refined water-mill singing. Arias such as Entrusting the Son and Boating on the Lake became popular songs, and the play laid the ground for Kunqu's long rule over the stage.