AUTHOR'S FOREWORD
Those Days I spent with my best friends were truly memorable. At the time I wrote a play in a new fashion, and in collaboration with Mr Xie Jiuzi, Mr Wu Shizhi, and Mr Zeng Yuexiang, brought the poetical lines to suit the stage performance. The play, however, was not completed, for we were obsessed by diverse wry criticism and scandalous rumours. Apprehensive about the unexpected political involvement, we roughly put the scenes together, added some notes as our explanation and printed them as they best appeared to us. The publication of these dramatic scenes, therefore, served as evidence that our composition was irrelevant to the political affairs of the time. The play, initially entitled The Purple Flute, was practically unfinished and, without much of our awareness, went into circulation. Others of my friends read the play. Among them, Mr Shuai Weishen provided me with a pointed comment: “You’ve composed a book for closet reading, not the proper arias for stage performance.” Then Mr Jiang Yaoxian advised me to “let the scenes go as they are with further work on them to make a complete play.” As I had a plethora of spare time from my official duty in Nanjing, I managed to revise the play and produced a complete version which I renamed The Purple Hairpins, for a pair of hairpins made of purple jade as a prop appears throughout the play. In the play, Mistress Huo Xiaoyu irremediably indulges her genuine feelings of love with unshakable faith. At the same time, the knight-errant in a yellow robe braves the injustice without leaving his name. Humble and common as I am, I would fain honour them for their spiritual greatness. In contrast, I give very little credit to Li Yi whenever he comes to my attention. Very unfortunately, though, my friends were not able to enjoy the play when it was eventually completed, for Mr Shuai Weishen had been bed-ridden withdiverse maladies, Mr Jiuzi and Mr Yuexiang had then gone to assume their official duties, while Mr Yaoxian and Mr Shizhi had been selected for various government offices. Unexpectedly, I was left alone, without anyone able to sing these arias in merriment. Alas! So unpredictable is human life! So mutable are life’s advancement and adversity! What more can I say then, except it seems that life never gives us an excess of joy and merriment!
Tang Xianzu
(a hermit in a remote land of purity)
About the Author
HUANG BlKANG (Ph. D) is Professor of English, Peking University, Beijing, China; Fulbright Research Scholar (2003), University of California, Irvine, USA; International Senior Fellow (2017), Durham University, UK; Artist-in-Residence Fellow (2019), the Folger Shakespeare Institute, Washington DC, USA. His books include Politics in Forms: Imagery and Ideology in Shakespeares History Plays (2000); Fictions of Authority: Women Writers and Narrative Voice (trans. 2002); Selected Readings in Shakespeare (2005); American Statesmen and Their Speeches (2013); Shakespeare's Sonnets Translated in Classical Chinese Poetry (trans. 2017); A History of English Prose (2020); The Peony Pavilion (translated in reference to Shakespeare’s poetic style, 2021) and Selected Readings in English and American Literature (2023).
Table of Contents
AUTHOR’S FOREWORD ⅳ
TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION ⅵ
NOTES ON TEXTUAL AFFINITIES xxi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xxii
DRAMATIS PERSONAE xxiv
SCENES
SCENE 1 Prologue 001
SCENE 2 A Scholar’s Longing for Love 007
SCENE 3 A Pair of New Hairpins Brings New Joy 017
SCENE 4 Seeking Good Counsel at the Matchmaker’s 025
SCENE 5 The Capital is Open for the Lantern Show! 035
SCENE 6 A Pair of Hairpins Dropped Makes Two Hearts Tied in Love 041
SCENE 7 Make Haste! Propose Marriage to My Love 057
SCENE 8 A Love is Sealed by the Mother’s Consent 065
SCENE 9 A Matchmaker Works: A Marriage Bond Sealed 083
SCENE 10 I Need Horses and Servants for the Wedding 091
SCENE 11 Are You Ready for the Wedding Night Happiness? 099
SCENE 12 The Arrival of the Borrowed Servants and Horsesi 107
SCENE 13 Happy Nuptial Hour on the Day of Flowers 115
SCENE 14 Congratulations on Your Marriage, but Remember Your Career Goal 129
SCENE 15 Learning Made Tongue-tired by Authority 141
SCENE 16 Swear Your Love and Let the Flowers Witness 145
SCENE 17 Make Haste! For Luoyang! For the Exams! 159
SCENE 18 An Elderly Governor’s Farewell with Words and Wine 167
SCENE 19 The Gallant General Calls for a Wise Adviser 173
SCENE 20 A Young Wife’s Longing Complaints 181
SCENE 21 Your Name is to be Hailed and Cheered at the Apricot Park 187
SCENE 22 A Churlish Marshal is Offended and His Plot is Hatched 193
SCENE 23 Home is the Scholar; Joy be the Consequence! 199
SCENE 24 What a Store of Parting Tears are Shed! 113
SCENE 25 O Weeping, Willow, Willow, You Witness a Woeful Farewell! 225
SCENE 26 From Mount Longshan: Look Back Towards Home with a Poem 241
SCENE 27 Be Generous, Money Buys Help in the Time of Need 249
SCENE 28 The Tubo General and His Plundering Warriors 263
SCENE 29 A General’s Wine and an Adviser’s Ultimatum 269
SCENE 30 Submit to Us, Thou Kingdoms of Hexi, Or Thou Perish! 281
SCENE 31 Music and Wine, the Summer’s Heat to Shun 293
SCENE 32 The Honest Never Escapes the Trap of the Great 303
SCENE 33 O Goddess of Love, Let Me Meet My Love at This Night for Love 311
SCENE 34 Homesickness Painted to be Sent Home 321
SCENE 35 Home is the General, Home from the Frontier 335
SCENE 36 If You Have Tears, Lady, Shed Them Now 345
SCENE 37 The Trap is Set at Mengmen Camp 355
SCENE 38 Be Merciful! Fake News Kills! 365
SCENE 39 Out, Out, Brief Candle, with This Poem All in Tears 373
SCENE 40 O Credulous Lady! Did You Ever Ask Why? 387
SCENE 41 Tell Your Friend to Marry My Daughter! 395
SCENE 42 To Say No to the Arranged Marriage with Double Talk 403
SCENE 43 Wed in a Later Date but Jewels Must Ready for the Maid 415
SCENE 44 O My Jade Swallow Hairpins, I Must You Sell 421
SCENE 45 An Old Jade-smith’s Sigh over the Despised Love 435
SCENE 46 O, Ill-fated Hairpins, I will Keep You in the Sea of My Tears 449
SCENE 47 You Worthless Gold Coins, I Scatter You in the Air,for My Love is Dead! 465
SCENE 48 A Drunken Swordsman in the Alehouse 477
SCENE 49 Congratulations, Lady! You Had a Happy Dream 497
SCENE 50 O Hairpins, Tell Me Your Mistress is Still Waiting for Me! 509
SCENE 51 A Swordsman Arrives for Justice amid Scholars and Flowers 519
SCENE 52 Keep up Your Sword, for the Hairpins Have Returned Happily Home 541
SCENE 53 For the Supreme Justice Proclaimed, All Hail! 569
译后记 AFTERWORD 581
Track Book Series
Translated in Reference to Shakespear's Poetic Style: The Purple Hairpins
