Rain on the Wutong Tree has as its
subject the abiding love of the 8th century Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty for "Precious Consort" Yang (Yang Guifei, 719-756). In Chinese culture, Yang Guifei is known as one of the "Four Beauties of Ancient China" (with Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, and Diaochan). The emperor loves Yang Guifei so much that he ends up neglecting the affairs of state.
The result of that is the bloody revolt of An Lushan, starting in the winter of 755, and Emperor Xuanzong and his court have to flee from the capital Chang'an south to Chengdu in mountainous Sichuan. On the way, the emperor's soldiers demand that he put Yang Guifei to death because they see her and her family (who all occupied high posts in the government thanks to her being favored by the emperor) as the cause of the rebellion. The emperor has to capitulate and reluctantly orders her death by strangulation. After the rebellion has been quelled and he has returned to the capital, the ghost of Yang Guifei appears during a rainy night to the emperor, who still harbors strong feelings of love for her.
[Painting of Hosoda Eishi titled "The Chinese beauty Yang Guifei". Early 19th c.]
This tragic love drama, with a basis in history, was inspired by the poem "Song of Unending Sorrow" (Changhenge) by Bai Juyi, one of the most popular poems in all Chinese
literature. The poem was also well-known in Japan, and certainly to Murasaki
Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji, who used the motif of the infatuation of an emperor for a concubine in her novel. By the way, the story of
Yang Guifei was so popular in Japan that Sennyuji Temple in Kyoto even
has a Kannon statue that is said to have been modeled on Yang Guifei
("Yokihi Kannon" - read my post on Sennyuji). Numerous Japanese painters, both in the Edo period and in modern times, were inspired by her story. In addition, Yang Guifei
was the subject of a beautiful film by Mizoguchi Kenji in 1955.
Originally, Yang Yuhuan ("Jade Bracelet," as she was initially called) had been the secondary wife to one of the emperor's eighteen sons. In 733, fourteen-year-old Yang Yuhuan had married Li Mao, the Prince of Shou and the son of Emperor Xuanzong and Consort Wu. She thus carried the title of Princess of Shou. But Consort Wu died in 737, and Emperor Xuanzong was greatly saddened by her death. At that time, Princess Yang came to the attention of the several decades older Emperor - he observed her as she was taking a bath at the hot springs of Huaqing Palace - and he decided to take her as his consort. As she was already the wife of his son, the emperor arranged that she temporarily became a Taoist nun in order to prevent the criticism that he was stealing the consort of his own son. Yang Yuhuan stayed briefly as a Taoist nun in the palace itself, before being made an Imperial Consort. Under her new title "Guifei," Precious Consort," the highest rank for imperial consorts at that time, she soon became the favorite consort of the Emperor.
The family members of Yang Guifei all received high posts, and eventually a distant cousin, Yang Guozhong, was elevated to the status of Prime Minister. Many stories were told of the extravagance of the emperor's love. Whenever Consort Yang rode a horse, the top eunuch Gao Lishi would attend her. 700 laborers were conscripted to sew fabrics for her. Officials and generals flattered her by offering her exquisite tributes. Lychee was a favorite fruit of Yang Guifei, and the emperor had the fruit, which was only grown in southern China, delivered to the capital by the imperial courier's fast horses, whose riders would take shifts day and night in a Pony Express-like manner.
Someone else who was favored by the emperor was An Lushan, the military governor who later would rebel. He was of Sogdian and Göktürk origin, therefore his true name was probably close to "An Rokshan." An was welcomed into the palace and the emperor had him honor Consort Yang as his mother. In early 751, Consort Yang, in order to please Emperor Xuanzong, had an extra-large infant wrapping made, and wrapped the obese An in it, causing much laughter among the ladies in waiting and eunuchs. When Emperor Xuanzong asked what was going on, Consort Yang's attendants joked that Consort Yang gave birth three days before and was washing her baby Lushan. Emperor Xuanzong was amused by the comic situation and bestowed rewards on both Consort Yang and An. Later, there were rumors that An Lushan and Consort Yang had an affair, but Emperor Xuanzong discounted these.
The above are some historical tidbits as background to the play. Here is the plot of the play:
Frontier general An Lushan has lost an important battle (normally this would be cause for the death penalty), but is sent to the capital to be dealt with by Emperor Xuanzong himself. He on the contrary so impresses the Emperor that he is pardoned and made the adopted son of Yang Guifei. Only counsel from Lady Yang's nephew, the powerful Yang Guozhong, prevents the Emperor from making An a high-ranking minister. An is then sent as military governor to a frontier command, where nursing his resentment (and being secretly in love with Yang Guifei) he decides to rebel. On the Lovers' Festival (the festival of the "Weaving Maiden and Buffalo Boy," see my post about this festival in Japan), the seventh day of the seventh month, the Emperor and Yang Guifei celebrate their eternal love beneath a wutong tree (Firmiana simplex, an ornamental tree commonly known as the "Chinese parasol tree"). The next day she dances beneath the wutong tree to entertain the emperor, but in the midst of their joy, news comes of An's rebellion. The Emperor and his court are forced to flee to Sichuan. En route, at Mawei Slope, his guards mutiny, blaming the influence of the Yangs for their plight, and force the emperor to have Yang Guifei killed by strangulation. This sad parting in death shows the limits of the imperial prerogative.
The rebellion is crushed with much time and effort, and the Crown Prince is placed on the imperial throne as Emperor Suzong. Read the poetry of Du Fu for the impressions of someone who experienced it all. But the dynasty would never regain its former glory even though it survived for another century and a half. As the years went by, the reign of Xuanzong, the "Bright Emperor" (Minghuang) was increasingly glamorized by this tragic love story.
Xuanzong returns as a broken man to the capital, living in lonely retirement in the Western gardens of the palace. He yearns all the time for Lady Yang and hopes to be reunited with her. One night, he dreams that she invites him to a tryst, but he is awakened by the sound of rain on the leaves of the wutong tree outside. The mournful dripping sound, which reminds him of their love vows and her dancing for him, leaves him sleepless all night.
The high literary qualities of the play's well-crafted poetry and the many onomatopoeic tours de force (especially in the description of the various kinds of rain at the end) have delighted generations of readers.
Although the play is in the first place a celebration of love, it is also a warning against the dangerous distraction from public duty by private pleasure - a common topic in Chinese literature.
[Yang Guifei by Rosetsu]
Bai Pu (1226-1307) came from an elite background and received a fine education, although he also lived through the traumatic period of the fall of the Jin Dynasty to the Mongols. He was raised as the foster son of the poet Yuan
Haowen, who was also responsible for his literary training. Unfortunately, only two of the 15 plays attributed to Bai Pu have survived. Rain on the Wutong Tree, to which Bai
Pu owes his fame, is not the only play from the Yuan era about the love drama of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. The titles of four pieces are known, but these have all been lost. Some plays from the next Ming dynasty did survive, but the only one that really deserves mention is Hong Sheng's The Palace of Eternal Life (1646-1704), a chuanqi play belonging to the Southern stage consisting of 50 acts. In Hong Sheng's version, the love between the Tang Emperor and Yang Guifei is not marred by any hint of infidelity of the latter, and she is portrayed more positively. The play also has a happy ending, for the two lovers are reunited in heaven.
I have read Rain on the Wutong Tree in the translation by Stephen West and Wilt Idema (Monks, Bandits, Lovers and Immortals, Eleven Early Chinese Plays. Hackett 2010)
Illustrations from Wikimedia Commons
Greatest Plays of All Time