Tang Xianzu, Du Liniang, and the Four Dreams of Linchuan
Du Liniang dreams of the scholar Liu Mengmei, dies of longing, and returns to life. Tang Xianzu’s other three “dreams” turn love, power, and ambition into different stories.
Tang Xianzu passed the metropolitan examination in 1583 at thirty-three and served at court, in Nanjing and as magistrate of Suichang in Zhejiang. In 1598 he gave up his office and went home to build a retreat called Yumintang in Linchuan, and gave the rest of his life to drama and literature. His four plays, the Purple Hairpin, the Peony Pavilion, The Story of Nanke and The Story of Handan, are all bound up with dreams, and together they are called the Four Dreams of Linchuan.
Du Liniang dreams of the scholar Liu Mengmei, dies of longing, and returns to life. Tang Xianzu’s other three “dreams” turn love, power, and ambition into different stories.