The Story of the Western Wing
西廂記
CONTENTS
You can find modules that analyze various adaptations of The Western Wing at the links below. To get a sense of the main themes and historical import of the original The Western Wing, please consult the "General Background" below.- The Story of the Western Wing 西廂記 (1640)
- "Beyond Text: Objects in Pictures and Pictures on Objects," a module on Min Qiji's 閔齊伋 1640 album of woodblock illustrations.
- The Western Wing 西厢 (~1920s)
- "Peeking into Miniature Worlds," a module on Republican period cigarette cards.
- The Romance of the Western Chamber 西厢記 (1927)
- "Focusing the Gaze," a module on the 1927 silent film adaptation.
- The Western Wing 西廂記 (1940)
- "Zhou Xuan’s Hongniang, the Intermedial Songstress," a module on the 1940 musical film adaptation.
- The Western Wing 西厢记 (1958)
- "How to Make the Poetic Voice Audible in a Silent Medium", a module on the late 1950s lianhuanhua (narrative comic).
- The Story of the Western Wing 西廂記 (1965)
- "The Importance of Hongniang," a module on the 1965 Shaw Brothers Huangmei opera film.
- Crimson 红娘 (1976)
- "Crimson’s Vocal Imitation of Other Characters," a module on the 1976 PRC Beijing opera film.
- Hongniang (a.k.a. Soubrette) 红娘 (1999)
- "Hongniang’s Melodramatic Homecoming," a module on the 1999 PRC narrative film adaptation.
- The Story of the Western Wing 西厢记 (2011)
- "Striking a Balance Between Propriety and Playfulness," a module on a 2011 Shaoxing/Yue opera stage recording.
GENERAL BACKGROUND
The Story of the Western Wing (Xixiang ji 西廂記) is the most widely circulated love story in Yuan, Ming and Qing China (thirteenth through early twentieth centuries). The story had originated as a prose tale about a young scholar’s youthful indiscretion, but as the work moved into the realm of popular genres (ballad, various forms of drama and the like) and into the world of material culture (porcelain, woodblock prints among others) (see HTRCD, chaps. 1, 4, 8), not only was the plot substantially modified, but the imaginative world represented by its characters shifted as well.
In its prose version “The Story of Yingying” (also known as “The Tale of Oriole”, “Yingying zhuan” 鶯鶯傳), the story centers around a student by the name of Zhang (張), who, unlike his sexually savvy peers, prides himself on his virginity, while professing that he is not insensitive to female charms. The narrative motor of the story is Zhang’s fall from the self-righteous heights of his abstinence and his eventual redemption from the pull of his infatuation with a young gentry woman, Cui Yingying (崔鶯鶯, also known as Oriole). Though closely guarded by her mother, Madam Cui, at the Monastery of Universal Salvation (Pujiusi 普救寺) where they are temporarily staying, Zhang succeeds in enticing Yingying to come to his chambers to make love, not least thanks to the offices of maid servant Hongniang (also known as Crimson, 紅娘). From its inception, the affair is overshadowed by the near-certain prospect that he will eventually abandon her. As Yingying puts it in a love letter she sends to him after his second departure for his studies in the capital, “Since I suffer the shame of having offered myself to you, I may no longer serve you openly as a wife” (Owen, Anthology, 546). Informed by the elite idea that beautiful women typically had a ruinous influence on men in power (alternately described as “state topplers” 傾國傾城 or “demonically bewitching beauties” 尤物), all of Zhang’s friends, with whom he shares Yingying’s letter, commend him for his decision to separate from her; moreover, far from keeping the affair private, they promptly turn the matter into grist for publicly circulated poetry about the romantic encounter. Both Yingying and Zhang eventually get married to other people, but the story hints at some unfinished business between the two of them. When Zhang passes through the town where Yingying resides, he asks her husband for a meeting on account of the fact that he and Yingying are distant maternal cousins. Her husband agrees, but she refuses to see Zhang, but when she learns that Zhang is deeply disturbed by her rejection, she writes a love poem, once again professing her undying love for him. The story ends on a note of moral judgment in favor of Zhang’s abandonment: “People at the time generally accepted that Zhang was someone who knew how to amend his errors” (Owen, Anthology, 549). However, later ages were far less sanguine that Student Zhang had made the right choice and instead turned the half-triumphalist, half-melancholy tale of ghosting and revenge poetry into a romantic comedy instead.
In the Yuan zaju comedy, both of the younger characters are cast as sympathetic characters on more or less equal footing with each other as they become the prototype for a new narrative formula, namely that of “talented scholar” and “literate beauty” (caizi jiaren 才子佳人) stories. Importantly, the two lovers (cast as dan 旦 and mo 末 respectively) are no longer at odds with one another, but instead, the story pits them against the stern matriarch, the widowed Madam Cui. The two of them meet accidentally at the Monastery of Universal Salvation and are instantly smitten with one another (see Fig. 1). When bandit Sun Feihu 孫飛虎 gets wind of Yingying’s presence at the monastery and threatens to abduct her, Yingying, anticipating Zhang’s resourcefulness, convinces her mother to offer her hand in marriage to whoever can save the day. Sure enough, Student Zhang writes a letter requesting assistance from his friend General White Horse 白馬將軍, who promptly arrives and subdues the bandit siege. At this crucial juncture, Madam Cai reneges on her marriage promise, fearing that the uncredentialed Student Zhang is not a worthy match for her illustrious family. Thus as in many other plays of this period, it is the crass social opportunism of the older generation that gets in the way of authentic feelings between young lovers. In a song-based recap of the key episodes of the play, the figure of Yingying put this conundrum as follows:
If it were not for Master Zhang knowing a lot of people, then how could our whole family have been saved from disaster?
If you are indebted to someone, it is appropriate to return the favor!
But contrary to all expectations, I was made to acknowledge him [merely] as an elder brother [instead of a fiancé/husband]
Mother, you are too calculating!
I am afraid I am a mere pawn!
Without any ifs ands or buts, you separated the two “sole mates.”
若不是張解元識人多，
怎生救咱全家禍?
你則合有恩便報，
倒教我拜做哥哥。
母親你忒慮過，
怕我陪錢貨，
眼睜睜把比目魚分破。(Guan, “Cui Zhang shiliu shi,” 736-737)
The other major plot modifications concern the character of the maid servant Hongniang 紅娘 (also known as Crimson). What had been suggested in the prose tale—namely the maid’s role as confidante, counselor, messenger, protector, commentator—is developed to the point where she becomes coeval in importance with the two lovers. Across the twenty acts, all three of these characters assume the role of lead singers (dan 旦 and mo 末 respectively). A song-based summary of the story capped its final song with the following description of the genesis of the love match:
One who acted flirtatiously had a steadfast ambition (e.g., Student Zhang),
one who displayed her allure had a steadfast intention (e.g., Cui Yingying),
and one who matched the wind and the moon had a steadfast heart (e.g., Hongniang).
一個賣風流的志堅，
一個逞嬌姿的意堅，
一個調風月的心堅。(Guan, “Cui Zhang shiliu shi,” 739)
At the level of the story, Hongniang’s resourcefulness is at the heart of the single most consequential plot change, that is, the switch from the tale’s sad to the play’s happy ending. At the same time, insofar as the play version of The Western Wing channels multiple points of view through the perspective of the different lead singers, Hongniang, as the most mobile character within the play, is the perfect vehicle to broker access to all the characters’ experiences and sensibilities.
Contrary to what one might expect with the adoption of a monogamous marriage system in the Chinese-speaking world in the twentieth century, many of the modern adaptations discussed below continue to feature Hongniang as the focal point of narrative attention and interest.
WORKS CONSULTED: CLICK TO EXPAND/COLLAPSE
Owen, Stephen, trans. “Ying-ying’s Story,” in Stephen Owen, ed. and trans., An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911, 540-549. New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Guan Hanqing 關漢卿. “Cui Zhang shiliu shi” 崔張十六事 (Sixteen Episodes in the Story of Cui and Zhang). In Guan Hanqing quanji jiaozhu 關漢卿全集校注 (The Annotated Complete Works of Guan Hanqing), edited by Wang Xueqi 王學奇, 735-746. Shijiazhuang: Hebei jiaoyu chubanshe, 1990.