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• 1 2025-04-29T17:41:22+00:00 The Peony Pavilion
  牡丹亭 (1986) 47 Opera Film plain 2025-05-21T01:48:46+00:00

  Kunqu Opera Film

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  LINK TO THE FILM

  • The film with Chinese subtitles (simplified) on YouTube.
  

  INFORMATION

  • Title: The Peony Pavilion 牡丹亭
  • Year: 1986
  • Theatrical Style: Kunqu 昆曲
  • Director: Fang Ying 方荧
  • Original Script: Tang Xianzu 汤显祖
  • Screenwriter: Hu Ji 胡忌
  • Producer: Nanjing Film Studio 南京电影制片厂
  • Cast: Zhang Jiqing 张继青 (as Du Liniang), Wang Hengkai 王亨恺  (as Liu Mengmei), Xu Hua 徐华 (as Chunxiang), Wang Weijian  王维艰 (as Madam Du)
  • Language: modified Mandarin adapted for Kunqu

  INTRODUCTION    

  The 1980s were a decade of reclaiming traditional culture following the systematic dismantling of many forms of traditional opera during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). In that period, in the wake of concerted campaigns designed to eradicate the “Four Olds” (sijiu 四旧, “old ideas, culture, customs, and habits”), Kunqu performance was officially banned and as a result the transmission of Kunqu techniques fell into decline. Instead, Mao Zedong’s 毛泽东 (1893-1976) wife Jiang Qing 江青 (1914-1991) championed eight “revolutionary model operas” (geming yangbang xi 革命样板戏) that saturated public life and became the sole form of entertainment. However, in 1976, after Jiang was arrested as part of the infamous Gang of Four (Siren bang 四人帮) followed by the death of Chairman Mao Zedong, new cultural policies began to take hold. Many local cultural bureaus sought to instigate a revival of diverse theatrical styles in an effort to preserve them as a precious and distinctive cultural heritage. 
  
  Ironically, the 1980s renaissance of traditional Chinese theater had been initiated in the waning years of the Cultural Revolution, though it initially unfolded in secret. Sun Yisen 孙以森, a former employee of China National Radio (Zhongyang renmin guangbo diantai 中央人民广播电台), recounted in a 2010 interview how a secret announcement in 1975 ordered the recording of traditional Chinese plays that were officially branded as “counterrevolutionary.” Even more ironically, the announcement was made under the direction of Jiang Qing, the architect behind the campaign to limit the official theatrical repertoire to eight model operas. Sun explained that the official reason for recording the plays was said to be “the preservation of cultural heritage with the intent of criticizing it,” but he and others got wind of the fact that these secret recordings were meant to cheer up an ailing Mao Zedong (see CTC “Story of Western Wing,” module 1976).
  
  By 1981, traditional Chinese theater reappeared in public across China, with older actors trained before the onset of the Cultural Revolution taking the lead to revive their respective arts. Daniel S.P. Yang discusses official initiatives to “heal the damage” of the Cultural Revolution after a field research trip to China in 1981, writing that “for several years the government has been launching a major campaign to extract acting secrets from old performers” (Yang 1981: 93). Yang even mentions attending a Kunqu festival in Suzhou celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the 1921 founding of the Kunju Chuanxisuo 昆剧传习所, the Academy for the Teaching and Preservation of Kunqu Theater. On that occasion, many Kunqu masters were in attendance, including Zhang Jiqing, who performed one of her signature scenes, “Pursuing the Dream” (“Xunmeng” 寻梦) from The Peony Pavilion (93). However, Yang also writes about Kunqu and Beijing Opera’s dwindling audiences and theater companies’ resulting fears of liquidation due to low attendance and competition from other forms of media (100). In the wake of economic reforms launched in the late 1970s, traditional Chinese theater was on a difficult road to recovery. Interest was burgeoning among younger performers, but troupes also faced new economic pressures.
  
  The 1986 film production of The Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting 牡丹亭) exemplifies the efforts to rekindle the transmission of the art of Kunqu. As with many of China’s traditional art forms, Kunqu actors and actresses are known based on the “generation” with whom they received formal training. Each generation adopts a particular Chinese character with an auspicious or symbolic meaning that the actors and actresses include in their names. This character in turn identifies them as a member of the art’s lineage. The first generation of Kunqu performers to receive training after the fall of the Qing Dynasty was the so-called “Chuanzibei” generation (chuanzibei 传字辈, lit. the generation with the character “to transmit” in their name). Fifty-five students who were recruited to learn Kunqu at the Kunju Chuanxisuo Academy made up this famous cohort. This group of performers, whose theaters, costumes and props were destroyed during the Japanese invasion of China during the 1930s, would go on to become the teachers of subsequent classes of students, including the "Jizibei" generation (jizibei 继字辈, lit. the generation with the character “to continue” in their name). This cohort graduated in 1960, a few years before the start of the Cultural Revolution. 
  
  Zhang Jiqing 张继青 (1939-2022), a Kunqu actress of the "Jizibei" generation, stars as the film’s main female lead, Du Liniang 杜丽娘. At the age of fourteen, Zhang had joined the Min Feng Suzhou Opera Troupe (Min feng su jutuan 民锋苏剧团), which was later renamed the Jiangsu Province Suzhou Kunqu Opera Troupe (Jiangsu sheng sukun jutuan 江苏省苏昆剧团). There she began learning local Suzhou and Kunqu opera under the tutelage of teachers of the famed "Chuanzibei" generation. Among them, Yao Chuanxiang 姚传芗 (1912-1996), a famous male performer of female leads (nandan 男旦), who had studied with the masters at the Kunju Chuanxisuo Academy in the 1920s, taught Zhang how to perform “Pursuing the Dream” as well as other scenes from The Peony Pavilion. He passed on details as minute as how and when to direct a simple gaze or to execute a hand movement, all in the pursuit of bringing the character’s vivid emotions to life. Zhang would later come to be known as Zhang Sanmeng 张三梦 (Zhang Three Dreams), referring to her mastery of three famous dream scenes, including “The Interrupted Dream” ("Jingmeng" 惊梦) and “Pursuing the Dream” from The Peony Pavilion.
  
  The medium of film allowed for Zhang’s renditions of classic as well as innovative scenes to be immortalized in a format that was widely accessible and could be replayed for theatrical training. In addition, the film itself also enabled Kunqu’s dissemination to a broader public, releasing the art form from its reputation as catering only to a small audience of connoisseurs (Song 2012). Indeed, the characters chuan and ji that are found in the names of Yao Chuanxiang and Zhang Jiqing and reflect their connection with the "Chuanzibei" and "Jizibei" generations, mean “to transmit” and “to continue,” reflecting the hope that Kunqu will remain a cherished part of Chinese cultural practice for generations to come. Furthermore, inheriting and teaching Kunqu includes not only the songs that are sung or the costumes that are worn, but also the subtle but significant gestures and choreographed movements that distinguished Kunqu among China’s theatrical arts for nearly two centuries and continue to mesmerize audiences today. Zhang’s desire to pass on her art is also reflected in her participation in Yip Siu Hing’s masterful One Hundred Kunqu Scenes Explained by Master Performers (Kunqu baizhong dashi shuoxi 昆曲百种大师说戏, 2010). During each of her lectures, she explains and performs the stage movements that she learned from her teachers and the emotional depths that each one embodies, ensuring that this often overlooked but indispensable feature of Kunqu continues to thrive among future generations of performers. It is this aspect of Zhang's artistry that this module will explore in greater detail.

  PLOT SUMMARY 

  The 1986 movie features four scenes of The Peony Pavilion that the Jiangsu Province Suzhou and Kunqu Opera Troupe had passed down or reintroduced, including the “The Interrupted Dream” and “Pursuing the Dream” as well as “The Portrait” ("Xie zhen" 写真) and “The Soul’s Departure” ("Lihun" 离魂) (originally known as “Keening” ["Naoshang" 闹殇]). The first two had been passed down since the founding of the troupe in the 1950s, but the latter two were only added to the troupe’s repertoire in the 1980s. The movie begins with a scene between Du Liniang and Chunxiang 春香, her maid, showcasing the former’s intense melancholy brought about by the constraints on her freedom. This sorrow turns into excitement when Chunxiang calls Liniang to the garden, whose spring colors and unfamiliar openness ignite a spark of passion in the cloistered Liniang. After Liniang returns to her chamber, the contrast between the vibrant garden and the somber walls of her quarters intensifies the despair that she felt before. As she reflects on her predicament, she falls asleep at her table and dreams about meeting Liu Mengmei 柳梦梅 in the garden, a young scholar and a symbol of her longing to escape seclusion. However, her mother Madam Du wakes her from her dream and admonishes her for sleeping during the day (“The Interrupted Dream”). Liniang becomes emotionally consumed in her dream, which leads her back to the garden in search of the joy that she experienced when she previously met Mengmei in her dream among the myriad flowers and trees. Again, this youthful excitement turns into a commensurate dejection as she realizes that the object of her dream has eluded her in real life. Liniang falls into a deep despair that sets the mood for the remainder of the play (“Pursuing the Dream”). 
  
  Du Liniang even paints a portrait of herself after seeing her “thin” and “frail” face in the mirror for fear that she would leave the world without an image of beauty to leave behind. The youthful hopefulness that once emanated from her character is, however, preserved, as she inscribes a poem on the portrait predicting the young scholar’s family name to be either Liu 柳or Mei 梅, reflecting how she perceives him to be not a figment of her imagination but rather a real person (“The Portrait”). Nevertheless, Liniang’s depression worsens. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, she bids adieu to her mother with a last show of filial piety and asks to be buried beneath the plum tree in the garden. Before her death, she utters the line, “May the moon, once set, rise again and the burnt-out lamp glow red,” a change from the libretto’s original line “How can the moon, once set, rise again…” The difference of these three characters in the Chinese lyrics shifts the tone of Liniang’s last moments from one of sorrow and powerlessness to one of hope and determination, demonstrating strength amid the prevailing melancholy (“The Soul’s Departure”). 

  THEME: Expressing Du Liniang’s Sorrow with Kunqu’s Gestic Theatricality

  The Peony Pavilion’s constantly fluctuating emotional atmosphere produces particularly melancholic and sorrowful scenes, reflecting Du Liniang’s desire to escape from the constraints of traditional Confucian society. In non-operatic feature films, grief and lament are often portrayed with dramatic or affecting music and cinematic techniques that amplify the emotional impact of a scene. However, a dramatic shift in melody or rhythm to demonstrate sadness or happiness is absent from Kunqu, and acting on stage does not permit the camera’s shot to determine the viewer’s focus. Then, how do the stylistic features of Kunqu, such as the words and stage movements, convey Liniang’s sorrow in the play? The following video clips, arranged in the order in which they appear, contain segments from “The Interrupted Dream”, “Pursuing the Dream”, and “The Soul’s Departure.” They all highlight how Zhang Jiqing portrays Liniang’s varied and complex emotions through the graceful and delicate movements (or “gesture-dances” in Joseph Lam’s words) that reflect Kunqu’s connection with the Jiangnan region.

  Scene 1: Du Liniang's Return from the Garden

  Having just returned from the garden, Du Liniang has now had a taste of freedom. The excursion prompts a deep reflection of how societal conditions have deprived her of the ability to pursue her own happiness. While she sings of a “turbulent heart” that accommodates her newfound thoughts of love, she slowly turns from side to side while sitting at her table, demonstrating the countless emotions that render her heart so tumultuous as well as her dissatisfaction over what she has been denied. She then slowly stands up, momentarily sits back down, and rises again to move to the front of the table, where she spins her “water sleeves” (shuixiu 水袖, long, exaggerated sleeves that resemble the flow of water when projected). During the next few lines, she laments the prospect of arranged marriage and condemns it as disingenuous. Such disdain is evident when she brings her hands together to convey the idea of arranged marriage, then releases her sleeves to condemn how it forces her to “throw” her youth away. As she makes her way around the front of the table, she again spins or releases her sleeves multiple times to express her intense agitation. She eventually returns to her chair and sits down slowly, letting her hands, which are raised in front of her chest, fall to her side, and letting her sleeves drop with a sigh full of hopelessness, while singing that only Heaven will listen to her lamentations. 
   
  
  

  Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes

  Chinese Subtitles	CTC Translation
  [Du Liniang sits alone at her table, thinking about the garden that she just returned from]
  杜丽娘：沒乱里春情难遣，蓦地里怀人幽怨。	Du Liniang: From a turbulent heart these springtime thoughts of love will not be banished – O with what sadness comes this secret discontent!
  杜丽娘：则为俺生小婵娟，拣名门一例、一例里神仙眷。	Du Liniang: I was a pretty child, and so of equal eminence must the family be truly immortals, no less to receive me in marriage.
  杜丽娘：甚良缘，把青春拋的远！	Du Liniang: But for what grand alliance is this springtime of my youth so cast away?
  杜丽娘：俺的睡情谁见？则索因循腼腆。	Du Liniang: What eyes may light upon my sleeping form? My only course this coy delaying.
  杜丽娘：想幽梦谁边，和春光暗流转？	Du Liniang: But in secret dreams by whose side do I lie? Shadowed against spring’s glory I twist and turn.
  杜丽娘：迁延，这衷怀那处言！淹煎，泼残生，除问天！	Du Liniang: Lingering where to reveal my true desires! Suffering, this wasting, where but to Heaven shall my lament be made! (Birch tr., The Peony Pavilion, 46-47)

  Scene 2: Du Liniang Pursues Her Dream

  Adamant about reclaiming the unprecedented joy that she experienced during her interrupted dream, Du Liniang secretly returns to the garden to “pursue” her reveries, hence the name of the scene, “Pursuing the Dream.” The pleasant reminiscences of the events of her dream turn to grief and despair when she lays her eyes upon the plum tree. As she notices this large tree in the garden, she takes a small step back as if struck by something, then she moves forward and seems to reach for the tree, pleading for it to listen to her suffering. The immediate contrast is also evident in Zhang Jiqing’s eyes and speed of movement: she suddenly gazes up with a hopeless gaze and then moves more slowly. In addition, the instruments stop playing, creating a moment of silence and reflection as Liniang contemplates her lonely future without the young scholar of whom she dreamt. 
  
  Liniang’s reaction to the “beautiful” plum tree is to express her wish to be buried with it after her death, which already foreshadows the ending of “The Soul’s Departure.” Hence, something as “beautiful” as the tree turns into a symbol of grief. Since Liniang is unable to find what she actually desires, even the tree’s ephemeral beauty is nothing but a reminder of the empty space in her heart that she cannot fill.
  
  As she sings of her wish for people to live and die at will, she dramatically spins her sleeves and throws them on both of her shoulders. In her lecture on this scene, Zhang explains that Yao Chuanxiang taught her this movement to convey Liniang’s dissatisfaction with her fate and more broadly to criticize pre-modern “feudal” Chinese society as a whole (Dashi shuoxi, vol. I, 365). Indeed, with her arms crossed and her long sleeves draped over her shoulders, Liniang seems to be shielding herself from the societal oppression that weighs down on her, while also recognizing that she is alone with her frustration and discontent. 
  
  At the end of this clip, a hint of crying becomes evident in the singer’s voice as she briskly walks in a circle, only stopping to gaze at the tree, underneath which she desires to spend eternity. Her quick initial movement is juxtaposed with her pause and her slow approach to the tree. The former expresses a last denunciation of life’s misery while the latter represents a calm yearning for eternal peace. 
   
  
  

  Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes

  Chinese Subtitles	CTC Translation
  [Du Liniang observes the plum tree in the garden]
  杜丽娘：呀，无人之处，忽然大梅树一株，可爱人也。	Du Liniang: In a place where no one comes, suddenly I find a great flowering plum, beautiful with its thick clusters of fruit. How beautiful!
  杜丽娘：我丽娘死后，得葬于此，幸矣。	Du Liniang: I should count it a great good fortune to be buried here beside it when I die.
  杜丽娘：偶然间心似缱，梅树边。	Du Liniang: My heart is strangely drawn to this plum’s side.
  杜丽娘：似这般花花草草由人恋，生生死死随人愿，便酸酸楚楚无人怨。	Du Liniang: Just as we please ourselves which flower and herb we must love, ah, could we only live or die at will, then who would moan for bitter pain?
  杜丽娘：待打併香魂一片，阴雨梅天。啊呀人兒吓，守的个梅根相见。	Du Liniang: Let me commit my fragrant spirit, though the rains be dank and drear, to keep company with this plum’s roots. (Birch tr., The Peony Pavilion, 60-61)

  Scene 3: Du Liniang's Last Mid-Autumn Festival

  
  This sequence takes place during the last act of the movie, “The Soul’s Departure.” The atmosphere is dark and somber in direct contrast to the vernal brightness of the three previous acts. Instead of a large window in the wall that gives way to natural light and lush vegetation, there is only an empty background that fades into the distance. Du Liniang, who is still struck by illness, asks Chunxiang what night it is, to which Chunxiang responds that the Mid-Autumn Festival has arrived. Observing the moon, Chunxiang remarks that it is surrounded by a light fog and a sprinkling of rain. 
  
  Liniang’s song in this sequence contains numerous references to Chinese folk beliefs in relation to the moon, referring to the full moon in the sky as the “ice-toad” and mentioning Chang E 嫦娥, who, according to some legends, ascended to the moon after drinking an elixir of immortality. The “jade pestle” refers to the tool that the mythical jade rabbit on the moon uses to pound herbs to produce the elixir. 
  
  Just as Liniang uses the word wen 问 to voice her grievance to Heaven in the “Interrupted Dream” excerpt, she again uses the term to ask the moon where it is, as she cannot spot the bright orb that is supposed to light up the night sky. As she sings, Chunxiang supports her raised arm, alluding to her weakness after so many months of fruitless longing. Liniang drapes her sleeve over Chunxiang’s shoulder as they slowly make their way across the stage, which not only demonstrates their strong bond, but also highlights how Chunxiang is the only one to whom Liniang can voice her melancholy. Liniang spares a moment to complain about her parents’ misunderstanding of her needs, singing about “spirits” and “demons” to refer to her parents’ visits to Daoist and Buddhist deities to pray for her healing in a futile effort to ease her sorrow. Like her mockery of arranged marriage in “The Interrupted Dream,” here she “mocks” her parents’ ignorance of her desires. Instead of approaching her to ask for the root of her suffering, they burn incense for spirits and Bodhisattvas in the hope that these beings may intervene on her behalf. 
  
  As she sings about the “new pain” that has entered her heart, she brings her hand to her chest as if to ease the pain before setting her arm on the table and releasing her long water sleeve to the ground as a silent cry of hopelessness. The sleeve flows from the table to the floor, appearing to weep with a river of tears expressing Liniang’s irrevocable state of despair. 
   
  
  

  Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes

  Chinese Subtitles	CTC Translation
  [Du Liniang makes a somber remark about the moon to Chunxiang]
  杜丽娘：海天悠，问冰蟾何处涌。	Du Liniang: Where does the ice-toad moon swim in this sea of sky?
  杜丽娘：看，玉杵秋空，凭谁窃药把嫦娥奉？	Du Liniang: The jade pestle stands in an autumn blankness – who now will steal herbs to offer Chang E?
  杜丽娘：甚西风吹梦无踪！	Du Liniang: What western wind has “scattered all traces of dreams”?
  杜丽娘：人去难逢，须不是神挑鬼弄。	Du Liniang: [People], once gone, are hard to find again, surely the tricks of spirits or demons have deceived me.
  杜丽娘：在眉峯，心坎里別是一般疼痛。	Du Liniang: Vanishing from the brow, a new pain enters in the heart below. (Birch tr., The Peony Pavilion, 99)

  CONCLUSION

  Like most forms of Chinese theater, Kunqu recounts famous stories and their emotional nuances with a multitude of storytelling devices including singing, speaking, props, and costumes. Yet, unlike Peking Opera, which dominated China from the late Qing Dynasty through much of the twentieth century, Kunqu remains true to its Jiangnan origins through its preservation of subtle gestures that not only supplement the poetic vocals, but also serve as powerful expressions of emotion on their own. As a tale of youthful love entangled in the repressive Confucian ideals of premodern China, the film version of Peony Pavilion showcases the ability of a simple turn of the head or a rapid release of the water sleeves to convey the full range of human emotion, from misery and grief to excitement and joy. Zhang Jiqing’s cinematic rendering remains a testament to Kunqu’s popularity through the ages as well as its turbulent journey to define a new age of traditional Chinese theater.

  WORKS CONSULTED: CLICK TO EXPAND/COLLAPSE

  Chen, Lang 陈朗. “Suzhou budi shi’eryong – Ji Kunqu chuanxisuo chengli liushi zhounian jinian huodong” 苏州捕笛十二咏 – 记昆曲传习所成立六十周年纪念活动 (Remembering the Activities Commemorating the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Establishment of the Kunqu Chuanxisuo in Suzhou). Renmin xiju (1982).

  Lam, Joseph S. C. Kunqu: A Classical Opera of Twenty-First-Century China. Hong Kong University Press, 2023.

  Sun, Yisen 孙以森. “Wo wei Mao Zedong lu diwang jiangxiang caizi jiaren xi” 我为毛泽东录帝王将相才子佳人戏 [I Recorded Feudal Scholar-Beauty Romances for Mao Zedong], Zhongguo xinwen zhoukan, 2010, https://www.wenxuecity.com/blog/201107/37995/25381.html. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

  Song, Jie 宋洁. “Mudanting de dianying chuanbo” «牡丹亭»的电影传播 (A Study of The Peony Pavilion’s Dissemination Through Film). Master’s thesis, Lanzhou University. 2012.

  Tang, Xianzu 汤显祖. The Peony Pavilion: Mudan ting. 2nd edition. Trans. Cyril Birch. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002.

  Wu, Gang 吴钢. “Zhang Jiqing de di’er wanfan Xunmeng” 张继青的第二碗饭 «寻梦» (Zhang Jiqing’s Second Livelihood via “Pursuing the Dream”). Zhongguo xiju, 2020: 77-78.

  Yang, Daniel S. P. “Theatre in Post-Cultural Revolution China: A Report Based on Field Research in the Fall and Winter of 1981.” Asian Theatre Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 1984, pp. 90–103. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1124368. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

  Zhang Jiqing 张继青. “Mudanting: Jingmeng” 牡丹亭：惊梦 (“The Interrupted Dream” in The Peony Pavilion). In Kunqu baizhong, Dashi shuoxi 昆曲百种大师说戏 (One Hundred Pieces of Kunqu, Master Performers Talk about Their Scenes), 343-354. Changsha, China: Hunan dianzi yinxiang chuban she, 2010. Text and DVD.

  ---. “Mudanting: Xunmeng” 牡丹亭：寻梦 (“Pursuing the Dream” in The Peony Pavilion). In Kunqu baizhong, Dashi shuoxi 昆曲百种大师说戏 (One Hundred Pieces of Kunqu, Master Performers Talk about Their Scenes), 355-366. Changsha, China: Hunan dianzi yinxiang chuban she, 2010. Text and DVD.

  ---. “Mudanting: Lihun” 牡丹亭：离魂 (“The Soul’s Departure” in The Peony Pavilion). In Kunqu baizhong, Dashi shuoxi 昆曲百种大师说戏 (One Hundred Pieces of Kunqu, Master Performers Talk about Their Scenes), 159-173. Changsha, China: Hunan dianzi yinxiang chuban she, 2010. Text and DVD.

  AUTHOR

  Jason Wang