Peony Pavilion《牡丹亭》【by：Wei Chunrong, Wang Zhenyi, 魏春荣，王振义】

Peony Pavilion ,also entitled ,Annuals of Revival，was one of the“Four Dreams of Linchuan”.Its writer，Tang Xianzu(1550-1616)，styled Yi Reng and also known by his pseudonym Hai Ruo，was a native of Linchuan County of Jiangxi Province. He was the most successful writer of legendary tales. Peony Pavilion depicts the love story of Du Liniang，daughter of the satrap，and Liu Mengmei，a scholar. Du came down with illness and died because of her love which originated from her dream. After death，she was reunited with her beloved where- by they obtained their revival. The book reflects her immensely strong desire for free courtship and entire liberation of individuality. It stresses the huge force released by sincere love between men and women and claims the sweetness and legitimacy of love between men and women. It also condemns the feudal etiquettes that strangled human desire and individuality and scorns rationality by amplifying sensibility in an exaggerated way so as to indicate the ideology of using sensibility against sense. The writer's idea of “the heart over the mind” is lucidly and vividly articulated in the image of Du Linfang，which displays some new characteristics of the Ming Dynasty. Compared with Cui Yingying，she suffered more rigorous feudal bondages and，therefore，struggled more arduously As a result，her pursuit for love be-came more immense and persistent and her struggle more courageous and indomitable once she got awakened.More importantly，she herself was the embodiment of the desire for the emancipation of individuality. The plot of Peony Pavilion is illusionary and fantastic as Du Liniang，who risked her life in her pursuit for love，had undergone reality，reverie and death before her dream of ideal love finally came true. The drama displays both a distinctive romantic color and a strong idealistic touch. Peony Pavilion is generally recognized as an outstanding romantic tragicomedy in the history of Chinese theater. It is another landmark work following The West Chamber.