The Peach Blossom Fan
The Peach Blossom Fan (Chinese: 桃花扇; pinyin: Táohuā shàn; Wade–Giles: T'ao-hua shan; Jyutping: Tou4faa1 sin3) is a musical play and historical drama in 44 scenes that was completed in 1699 by the early Qing dynasty playwright Kong Shangren after more than 10 years of effort.
[3] The play recounts the death of the Ming dynasty through the love story of its two main characters, young scholar Hou Fangyu (侯方域) and a famous Geji named Li Xiangjun.
[10] So during his three-year stay in the south, where the story took place, Kong got acquainted with Ming loyalists like Mao Xiang (冒襄), Deng Hanyi (鄧漢儀), Xu Shuxue (許漱雪), Zong Yuanding (宗元鼎), She Chacun (社茶村) and masters of art like Shitao, Gong Xian, and Cha Shibiao (查士標).
He also visited historical sites such as Plum Blossom Mountain (梅花岭), Qin Huai River (秦淮河), Swallow Rock (燕子磯), Imperial Palace, and the Mausoleum of the Ming Emperor (明孝陵).
Plot-wise, "The Peach Blossom Fan" is set in the Restoration Society, when the Ming Dynasty sought to bring changes as there had been rampant corruption.
An analysis of this work suggests that "The Bleach of the Blossom Fan" exposes the rot of official corruption, cowardly choices, and even outright callousness of those in authority, such as the Ming Dynasty.
[12] In the late Ming dynasty, the reformist Donglin movement reinstituted the "Restoration Society" (C: 復社, P: fùshè, W: fu-she) in Nanjing to fight corrupt officials.
Because he lacks military provisions, the commander of Wuchang Zuo Liangyu intends to move his army south to Nanjing, which terrifies the court.
Hou Fangyu writes a letter to discourage Zuo from moving, but is slandered by Ruan for betraying the country, forcing him to find shelter with Shi Kefa in Yangzhou.
Ruan and Ma Shiying, the local governor of Fengyang (鳳陽督撫), crowns the Prince of Fu (福王) Zhu Yousong as new Emperor and changes the title of the reign into Hongguang 弘光.
Jin Fu, author of Chinese Theatre, wrote that the fan and poem symbolize the integrity and determination of Li Xiangjun.
However, the internal conflicts among four generals, who are in charge of strategic posts in north of the Yangtze River, are fierce, and Shi Kefa himself could not retrieve the defeat.
When they are telling their affection, Zhang Yaoxing, a Taoist master, criticized them for the affair, asking "How laughable to cling to your amorous desires when the world has been turned upside down?
[15] Cyril Birch, who collaborated on a University of California Press translation of The Peach Blossom Fan, wrote that "There can be no happy ending, given the historical authenticity of the action".
Birch wrote that the Hou Fangyu-Fragrant Princess love affair "is brilliantly integrated with the more weighty matter of the plot" and that the martial scenes "perfectly reflect the unhappy progress of the Ming cause and depict in vivid terms the gallant but ultimately futile loyalty or generals like Huang Te-kung and Shih-K'o-fa.
[18] The "comic" (P: chou, W: ch'ou) role type controls Liu Jingting, Cai Yisuo, Zhen Tuoniang, and several attendants and servants.
[19] Birch wrote that the audience is "led to a deep respect for Hou Fang-yü, Liu Ching-t'ing, and Shih K'o-fa, as in their different ways they follow their doomed ideals.
He states that The Peach Blossom Fan "employs the emotions entailed by separation and union, to depict feelings about rise and fall."
(T: 借離合之情，寫興亡之感,[...], S: 借离合之情，写兴亡之感,[...])[20] Hou Fangyu (C: 侯方域, P: Hóu Fāngyù, W: Hou Fang-yü), a young scholar of distinction Chen Zhenhui (Ch'en Chen-hui), fellow member of the Revival Club Wu Yingji (Wu Ying-chi), fellow member of the Revival Club Liu Jingting (C: 柳敬亭, P: Liǔ Jìngtíng, W: Liu Ching-t'ing), a veteran minstrel of renown Li Zhenli (Li Chen-li), proprietress of an elegant house of pleasure and foster mother of the heroine Yang Wencong (Yang Wen-ts'ung), painter, poet, and official Li Xiangjun, a Gējì and the heroine.
[23] Ruan Dacheng (T: 阮大鋮, S: 阮大铖, P: Ruǎn Dàchéng, W: Juan Ta-ch'eng), corrupt politician, dramatist and poet Ding Jizhi (Ting Chi-chih), poet-musician Shen Gongxian (Shen Kung-hsien), poet-musician Zhang Yanzhu (Chang Yen-chu), poet-musician Bian Yujing (Pien Yü-ching), professional singing-girl Kou Baimen (K'ou Pai-men), professional singing-girl Zheng Tuoniang (Cheng T'o-niang), professional singing-girl General Zuo Liangyu (C: 左良玉, P: Zuǒ Liángyù, W: Tso Liang-yü), commander of the Wu Chang garrison General Shi Kefa (C: 史可法, P: Shǐ Kéfǎ, W: Shih K'o-fa), President of the Board of War at Nanjing Ma Shiying (T: 馬士英, S: 马士英, P: Mǎ Shìyīng, W: Ma Shih-ying), Governor of Feng Yang and Grand Secretary General Yuan Jixian (Yüan Chih-hsien) General Huang Degong (Huang Te-kung) Emperor Hong Guang (Emperor Hung-kuang) General Liu Zeqing (Liu Tse-ch'ing) General Gao Jie (Kao Chieh) General Liu Liangzuo (Liu Liang-tso) Lan Ying (T: 藍 瑛, S: 蓝 瑛, P: Lán Yīng, W: Lan Ying), a famous painter Cai Yisuo (C: 蔡益所, P: Cài Yìsuǒ, W: Ts'ai Yi-so), a Nanjing bookseller Zhang Wei (T: 张 薇, S: 张 薇, P: Zhāng Wēi, W: Chang Wei) or Zhang the Taoist (T: 張瑤星, S: 张瑶星, P: Zhāng yáoxīng), former commander of the Imperial Guard in Beijing Huang Shu (Huang Shu), Inspector General Tian Xiong (T'ien Hsiung), adjutant to General Huang Degong Han Zanzhou (Hsu Ch'ing-chün),[citation needed] a magistrate's runner Cyril Birch wrote that "The world of The Peach Blossom Fan is that late-Ming world of gross corruption, of callousness and cowardice and the breakdown of a long-cherished order.
[24] In the next year, General Li Muan set up a therical troupe called Jin Dou to perform the play, which gained huge fame immediately.
[28] In 1937, when World War II broke out, the famous Chinese playwright Ouyang Yuqian altered the ending of the play into "Having cut his hair, Hou surrendered to the Qing dynasty and served its royal court",[where?]
[citation needed] In 1964, playwright Mei Qian (梅阡) and Sun Jing (孫敬), using Ou's ending, put the drama into a movie script, starring famous actress Wang Danfeng and actor Feng Zhe.
"[33] He further wrote: "With the refined strictness of its structure, the magnificence of its style, and the depth of its sentiments, I would venture that Kong Shangren's Peach Blossom Fan surpasses the works of all epochs!
[35] Harold Acton, who co-wrote an English translation, stated that The Peach Blossom Fan is a "highly poetic chronicle play" that is "a vivid evocation of the downfall of the Ming dynasty" that "deserves to be better known to students of Chinese literature and history.
"[30] Dylan Suher of the literary magazine Asymptote described The Peach Blossom Fan as "The greatest masterpiece of the literature of political disappointment", and the play contains "some of the most elegant Chinese ever written—a density of poetic expression that rivals Shakespeare's.
Kevin J. Wetmore reviewing the Edward Mast adapted and Chen Shi-Zheng directed version for Theatre Journal, describes it as "a powerfully moving, brilliantly theatrical, and playfully entertaining production.
