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The Tale of the Lute (琵琶記 Pi Pa Ji)
by Gao Ming (高 明)
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"Pi pa ji (The tale of the lute) was written during the
late Yuan dynasty
by Gao Ming (circa 1305-59). It is a southern drama,
based on an
earlier story from the Song and Yuan, entitled Zhao zhen
nu Cai Erlang
(Chaste maiden Zhao and Cai Erlang), which recounts the
ups and downs of
the life of Eastern Han scholar Cai Yong (also known as
Cai Bojie) and
Zhao Wuniang. The biggest difference in this play from
the original
story is its happy ending. The original story ended with
Zhao Wuniang
being kicked by Cai's horse and Cai Bojie being struck
dead by a
thunderbolt in retribution for his betrayal. Gao Ming's
drama, in
contrast, ends with 'the union of the husband and wife,
who brought
honor to their family.' Zhao Wuniang is depicted as a
kind and pure,
selfless and responsible woman, and as an example of
loyalty and filial
piety. The script of the play is an elegant
interpretation of the plot, a
masterpiece that was well received in its day and was
considered by
later generations the "originator of southern drama." Gao
Ming, courtesy
name Zecheng, self-styled name Caigen Daoren, was a
native of Rui'an,
Zhejiang, who was a poet and playwright. The play was
printed at
Wanhuxuan, a publishing house in Jinling, in the 25th
year (1597) of the
Wanli era (1573-1620) of Ming, by Wang Guanghua, who was
originally
from Huizhou (present-day Shexian, Anhui). The
compilation of the work
was based on a Yuan edition as well as on various other
editions. It
contains 74 illustrations. The Wanli era of the Ming
dynasty was an
important period in the development of Chinese drama.
Southern dramas
with commentaries also flourished at that time. Among the
existing Ming
editions of Pi pa ji with a complete text, 16 are with
commentaries, of
which this copy is one example."
Archived from the Library of Congress
Date Published: 2022-07-30 03:55:33
Identifier: pipa-ji
Item Size: 83735005
Language: chi
Media Type: texts
# Topics
China
lute
play
pipa
# Collections
booksbylanguage_chinese
booksbylanguage
# Uploaded by
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