French musical
Notre Dame de Paris staged in Beijing and Shanghai. |
AS
the curtain lifted on the year 2003, two classic love stories
were staged in China: the Peking Opera The West Chamber
and French musical Notre Dame de Paris. To the throngs
of theater-goers who went to these performances, they were
an aural and visual Chinese/cordon bleu feast.
Authors
Wang Shifu and Victor Hugo are from different eras, countries
and cultures, but their works nevertheless have many parallels.
Both laud the pursuit of love and freedom and decry feudalism
and despotism, portraying the deprived and oppressed as righteous
and courageous. Moreover, both have places of worship -- Pujiu
Temple and Notre Dame de Paris -- as the backdrop to their
performance masterpieces.
Romance
in a Buddhist Sanctuary
A scene from the Peking
opera version of The West Chamber. |
The
West Chamber is set during the Zhenyuan Period (785-805) of the Tang Dynasty. The
story begins as the late Prime Minister's widow Madam Cui
and her children make a stop at Puzhou (today's Yongji County,
Shanxi Province) and put up at the Pear Blossom Courtyard
guesthouse of the local Pujiu Temple, on their way to the
Tang capital Chang'an. A young intellectual, Zhang Junrui
(Zhang Sheng) from Luoyang is also on his way to Chang'an,
where he is to take the imperial examination. He stays in
the west wing of the temple.
When
Zhang and Madam Cui's daughter, Yingying, meet in the temple
hall, the two fall in love. Observing this, Yingying's maid
Hongniang commits herself to helping the lovers.
Soon
after, a mutiny occurs in the local garrison. Hearing of Yingying's
beauty, the rebel leader besieges Pujiu Temple with the intention
of capturing the maiden, at which point her mother, Madam
Cui, promises that whoever repels the attackers may have her
daughter's hand in marriage.
Overjoyed,
Zhang immediately writes a letter to his classmate General
White Horse, who arrives with forces strong enough to overwhelm
and scatter the rebels. Madam Cui, does not, however, bring
up the matter of her promise, and Zhang is so distraught that
he falls ill. Feeling deep sympathy for this lovesick young
man, Hongniang persuades her mistress to steal into the garden
at midnight and listen as Zhang plays plaintive music to his
love on the other side of the wall. Hongniang later serves
as a messenger between Zhang and Yingying, and eventually
arranges a clandestine meeting for them, when the two plight
their troth, flee and spend the following month together.
The wall Zhang
Sheng climbs to meet Yingying. |
Yingying's
mother is furious, and severely chastises Hongniang for her
part in the conspiracy. Unfazed, the maid retorts that the
young couple had no alternative but to elope, as Madam Cui
broke her original promise allowing them to marry.
Abashed
and speechless, Madam Cui is forced to keep to her original
word, but insists that Zhang pass the imperial exam before
marrying Yingying. Though reluctant to part with his beloved,
Zhang sets out for Chang'an, and six months later passes the
exam with flying colors, ranking first of all entrants.
Meanwhile
Madam Cui's nephew, Zheng Heng, to whom Yingying was formerly
affianced, starts a rumor that Zhang has married a senior
official's daughter. Outraged, Madam Cui decides to marry
Yingying to Zheng. Fortunately Zhang returns in time, and
the story has a happy ending.
As
most Chinese love dramas end in tragedy, The West Chamber
is unusual for its tale wherein the underdogs win out against
all-dominating feudalism. The fighting spirit and happy ending
to this opera make it a favorite of the masses, as it corresponds
to their common aspirations.
Originally
entitled The Story of Yingying by Yuan Zhen (779-831),
famous Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet, The West Chamber
was adapted by noted playwright Dong Jieyuan and Wang Shifu
in the thirteenth century. Its enthralling plot, distinct
characterization, and rich language have preserved its popularity
right through to the present day, and many of its arias are
still widely sung.
Thousand-Year-Old
Temple
Pear Blossom Courtyard
where Yingying and her mother stay. |
The
West Chamber is set in the Pujiu
Temple of Emeiyuan, Yongji County, Shanxi Province. No record
exists of when the temple was first built, but according to
historical documents and archeological research, it was in
existence at the time the Sui Dynasty (581-618) was founded,
when it was called the West Yongqing Temple. It was renamed
Pujiu in the mid-Tang Dynasty. In the Story of Yingying
Yuan Zhen refers to the temple thus: "a dozen li
(1 li=0.5 kilometer) east of Puzhou is situated a monks'
quarters, Pujiu Temple." Over the past millennium the
temple has been destroyed several times by earthquakes and
fires, and undergone subsequent reconstructions, the last
occasion being 1986.
The
temple comprises buildings and a rear garden. The west chamber
where Zhang Junrui lodged is to the west of the Great Buddha
Hall, and the Pear Blossom Courtyard where Madam Cui and Yingying
stayed is to its east. In between is the Red Wall, beside
which grows a towering almond tree. In the play Zhang scales
the Red Wall with the help of this tree to go and meet Yingying,
a scenario that would appear to be based on fact. A stone
tablet has been unearthed in the temple, on which is inscribed
a poem entitled Pujiu Temple, Former Residence of Yingying,
by a local official of the Dading Period (1161-1190) of the
Jin Dynasty. This demonstrates that the temple was believed
to be the setting for the Western Chamber as long as eight
centuries ago.
Legendary
Pagoda
The Yingying Pagoda
in Pujiu Temple. |
The
most famous structure in the Pujiu Temple is the Yingying
Pagoda. Initially named Pujiu Temple Dagoba, it is where Zhang
and Yingying meet and pledge their love. Its comely shape
and role in The West Chamber have resulted in it later
being renamed the Yingying Pagoda.
This
pagoda is also famous as an example of consummate architectural
excellence. Like most Tang pagodas, it is a quadrangular,
13-story structure of compactly stacked eaves, of a height
of 36.7 meters. What makes it singular is its bewitching echo
accoustic. The pagoda is one of four ancient echo buildings
extant in China, the others being the Echo Wall in Beijing's
Temple of Heaven, Baolun Temple Pagoda in Henan, and the Stone
Harp in the Giant Buddha Temple, Sichuan.
Built
with fine bricks at the top of a slope in open fields, the
pagoda is a perfect conductor of sound, its hollow body enabling
sound waves to resonate. Knocking on the ground with a stone
20 meters from the pagoda, it is possible to hear echoes reminiscent
of a frog croaking, hence the reference to it as the Pujiu
Frog in the Puzhou Prefecture Annals of 200 years ago.
The
Frog Beating Platform west of the pagoda is where the most
effective echo may be produced, as constant strokes over past
centuries have left a dent on the petrous slate. On the slope
down from the platform is the Frog Croak Pavilion where the
reverberation can be heard most clearly.
Other
relevant West Chamber sites are the Yingying Pavilion
and Moon Worshiping Platform in the rear garden.
Enduring
Appeal of The West Chamber Protagonist
A print by Ming
painter Chen Hongshou (1589-1652) depicting Hongniang
watching Yingying read a letter from Zhang Sheng. |
Thanks
to the lasting fame of The West Chamber, Pujiu Temple
attracts throngs of young people who go there to pray for
nuptial felicity. Today many young people hold their wedding
ceremonies in the west chamber.
Hongniang,
the pert and vivacious maid who performs vital offices in
the love affair between Zhang and Yingying, is a household
name in China. She easily steals the limelight from Zhang
and Yingying in opera performances, and her name has become
the appellation for match-makers.
According to the
latest study, the experiences of Yuan Zhen, author of The
Story of Yingying, on which The West Chamber is
based, is antithetical to that of his hero Zhang Sheng. As
a descendant of the Northern Wei Dynasty royal family, Yuan
served at senior official posts during the Tang Dynasty. The
woman he loved was, however, a Hu barmaid who came to Puzhou
from today's Uzbekistan. Given the distance between them,
as regards ethnicity and social status, their affair was ill
starred. But literati over the following ages rewrote his
work as The West Chamber, a more optimistic tale where
the lovers break the shackles of feudalism to achieve a free
and happy marriage.
