China's most famous love comedy, The Story of the Western Wing (also called "Romance of the Western Chamber"), by Wang Shifu, has not only been continuously performed to the present day, it was also highly popular in book form and in pre-modern times went through more than a hundred editions (the oldest printing that has been preserved is from 1498). It is the story of a young couple, the brilliant student Zhang Gong and a beautiful young woman Cui Yingying ("Oriole"), who passionately fall in love at first sight - but their desire to be happily united in marriage is repeatedly thwarted. Innumerable young men and women in the patriarchal society of traditional China must have recognized themselves in these two protagonists. The play even acquired the name of being a lover's bible. Due to scenes that unambiguously described Zhang Gong and Cui Yingying fulfilling their love outside of the bond of marriage, it was also heavily criticized as "licentious" by champions of strict morality,
[Scenes from The Story of the Western Wing, by Qiu Ying(ca. 1494-1552)]
The zaju comedy dominated the stage in northern China from the middle of the 13th c. until well into the 15th c. Wang Shifu wrote his play as a cycle of five zaju plays (something of which no contemporary example exists), and quickly achieved great success. In the same period, in the part of China below the Huai River, another dramatic genre that employed southern tunes developed; this came to be known as chuanqi. Chuanqi (with various types of southern music) was the most important dramatic genre in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Chuanqi plays were much longer than zaju plays, running to 20 or more acts and in English translation to 250 or 300 pages. But as The Story of the Western Wing consisted of a set of five zaju plays, in 21 acts, it was easy to convert it into a chuanqi play for further performance. The story remained the same, only the music was different.
The plot is as follows:
Zhang Gong, a young scholar (caizi), and Cui Yingying, the beautiful daughter (jiaren) of a chief minister, first meet in a Buddhist monastery where Yingying and her mother have stopped to rest while escorting the coffin of Yingying's father to their native town. Zhang immediately falls in love with Yingying, but is prevented from expressing his feelings as Yingying is under her mother's watchful eye. The most he can do is express his love in a poem read aloud behind the wall of the courtyard in which Yingying is lodging.
However, word of Yingying's beauty soon reaches Sun the Flying Tiger, a local bandit. He dispatches ruffians to surround the monastery, in the hope of forcing her to become his consort. Yingying's mother agrees that whoever drives the bandits away can have Yingying's hand in marriage, so Zhang contacts his boyhood friend General Du, who is stationed not far away. The general subdues the bandits, and it seems that Zhang Gong and Cui Yingying are set to be married.
However, Yingying's mother begins to regret her promise to Zhang, and takes back her word, with the excuse that Yingying is already betrothed to the son of another high official. The two young lovers are greatly disappointed, and begin to pine away from unfulfilled love. Fortunately, Yingying's feisty maid, Hongniang ("Crimson"), takes pity on them, and ingeniously arranges to bring them together in a secret union. When Yingying's mother discovers what her daughter has done, she reluctantly consents to a formal marriage on one condition: Zhang must travel to the capital and first pass the civil service examination. To the joy of the young lovers, Zhang proves to be a brilliant scholar, and is appointed to high office. The story thus ends on a happy note, as the two are finally married.
The original story was first told in a short tale (Yingyingzhuan, or "The Story of Yingying") written in literary Chinese by Yuan Zhen during the Tang dynasty. This original version differs from the later play in that Zhang Gong ultimately breaks from Yingying, and does not ask for her hand in marriage. And between the short story and the play stands a long ballad written around the year 1200, The Story of the Western Wing in All Keys and Modes, by Dong Jieyuan, in which the lovers elope at the end.
[Cui Yingying and Hongniang, from a 2016 Yue opera performance]
The Romance of the Western Chamber is China's most popular love story. It is still actively performed on the stage, for example in such forms as Kun Opera and Beijing Opera. In the 20th c., playwright Tian Han made a version for the modern (spoken) theater. It also inspired various musicals and films. Over the centuries, the role of the resourceful maidservant Hongniang has increased in importance - as the indispensable matchmaker finally turning into a main character. In China, just as in Europe (Moliere, Goldoni etc.) quick-witted and clever maidservants were very popular.
The play also influenced other literary works, such as China's greatest novel, The Dream of the Red Chamber, as well as another famous play, The Peony Pavilion. In a well-known episode in chapter 23 of The Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu are shown reading the play together. At first, Lin Daiyu is surprised to find Jia Baoyu is reading the play because in the Qing dynasty, the play was considered as immoral. Baoyu tries to hide the book, but when he gives it to Lin Daiyu, she is so possessed by it that she can't stop reading.
The popular love story also inspired artists working in such diverse media as painting, printmaking (the 1640 color prints by Min Qiji are famous), and the decoration of porcelain, folding fans, screens, lanterns, and so on... to a comic book version in modern times. A popular scene in illustrations was that of Yingying burning incense in the garden.
[From Min Qiji's multi-colored woodblock print album the scene
"Zhang Junrui’s nocturnal music-making"]
About the author, Wang Shifu, nothing is known, except that he lived in Dadu (now Beijing) during the second half of the 13th c. Two more plays from his hand have come down to us, but these have attracted little attention. Wang seems to have been a professional playwright working for the commercial stage in the capital.
The first translation in a European language was made in 1872-1880 by the French Sinologist Stanislas Julien as Si-siang-ki, ou l'Histoire du pavillon d'Occident.
A (very free) German translation by Vincenz Hundhausen appeared in 1926 as Das Westzimmer: Ein chinesisches Singspiel aus d. 13. Jahrhundert.
The first English translation appeared in 1936 as The West Chamber, translated by Henry H. Hart.
All the above translations were based on the bowdlerized version (missing the fifth play) made by Jin Shengtan in the 17th c., and not on an authentic edition of the play. Jin Shengtan's "revision" was however very popular in China during the Qing dynasty.
The first complete translation was The Romance of the Western Chamber (1935) by S.I. Hsiung.
The first authentic translation, based on the 1498 edition of the play, was made in 1995 by West and Idema. This is a scholarly edition with a long and thorough introduction, but it is also a very lively and readable translation, which is warmly recommended (see below).
I have read The Story of the Western Wing in the translation by Stephen West and Wilt Idema (California University Press, 1995).
Illustrations from Wikimedia Commons
Greatest Plays of All Time