This anthology features translations of ten seminal plays written during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), a period considered the golden age of Chinese theater. By turns lyrical and earthy, sentimental and ironic, Yuan drama spans a broad emotional, linguistic, and stylistic range. Combining sung arias with declaimed verses and doggerels, dialogues and mime, and jokes and acrobatic feats, Yuan drama formed a vital part of China's culture of performance and entertainment in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
To date, few Yuan-dynasty plays have been translated into English. Well-known translators and scholars have supervised the making of this collection and add a short description to each play. A general introduction situates all selections within their cultural and historical contexts.
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1. Historical Plays
- 1. Ji Junxiang, The Zhao Orphan, translated by Pi-twan Huang and Wai-yee Li
- The Zhao Orphan in Yuan Editions, by Wai-yee Li
- 2. Anonymous, Tricking Kuai Tong, translated by Wai-yee Li
- Part 2. Crime and Punishment
- 3. Anonymous, Selling Rice in Chenzhou, translated by Richard C. Hessney
- 4. Meng Hanqing, The Moheluo Doll, translated by Jonathan Chaves
- Part 3. Folly and Consequences
- 5. Qin Jianfu, The Eastern Hall Elder, translated by Robert E. Hegel and Wai-yee Li
- 6. Li Zhifu, The Tiger Head Plaque, translated by Yoram Szekely, C. T. Hsia, Wai-yee Li, and George Kao
- Part 4. Female Agency
- 7. Guan Hanqing, Rescuing a Sister, translated by George Kao and Wai-yee Li
- 8. Shi Junbao, Qiu Hu Tries to Seduce His Wife, translated by John Coleman, James M. Hargett, Kuan-fook Lai, Gloria Shen, and Wang Ming
- Part 5. Romantic Love
- 9. Bai Pu, On Horseback and Over the Garden Wall, translated by Jerome Cavanaugh and Wai-yee Li
- 10. Li Haogu, Scholar Zhang Boils the Sea, translated by Allen A. Zimmerman
- Bibliography.
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