Opera Love Story: the Story of Pipa (Part 1)
by Gao Zecheng
About This Novel
"The Story of the Pipa" is a Southern opera adapted from the long-circulated folk opera "Zhao Zhennu Cai Erlang" by Gao Ming, a late-Yuan opera writer. It is a classic work in ancient Chinese opera. It describes the love story of Cai Bojie and Zhao Wuniang, a scholar in the Han Dynasty. Readers who like opera stories, this book is worth reading. "The Story of Pipa" basically inherits the framework of the story of "Zhao Zhennu", but changes the image of Cai Bojie in the original story who betrayed his parents and abandoned his wife. It retains Zhao Zhennu's "chastity and fidelity", but comprehensively transforms Cai Bojie's image, making him a scholar who is "all loyal and all filial". The whole play has a complete and ingenious structure, elegant and vivid language, showing the literati's delicate vision and smooth technique. It is a work that combines highly developed Chinese lyric literature and dramatic art. The literary achievement of "Pipa Ji" greatly exceeds the works in "Three Types of Operas in Yongle Dadian". Since its inception, it has been popular for more than 600 years and has always attracted the attention of the world. It has also been translated into French and Japanese and spread abroad. The whole play is elegant, complete, vivid and rich, showing the literati's delicate vision and hearty technique. It is a combination of highly developed Chinese lyric literature and dramatic art. No matter in terms of ideological content, characters, structure and language, "Pipa Ji" has unique features and is worthy of appreciation and consideration. Therefore, "The Story of Pipa" is an excellent play worth promoting. The artistic achievements of "Pipa Chronicles" not only affected the theater world at that time, but also set a model for the legends of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Therefore, it was called the "ancestor of Southern Opera" in the past.
What Readers Think
Rating
Community(0)
Official(1)Scraped 7d ago
I came to read Pipa Ji after reading Li Yu's "Xian Qing Ou Ji". It doesn't feel as good as what Li Yu praised. It's always the routine of a talented man and a beautiful woman, and there's also the plot of getting married to the number one scholar. There is no way to escape Jia Mu's conclusion about Yuan Qu. But "The Romance of the West Chamber" and "The Peony Pavilion" are relatively better to read. The plot in the West Wing is clearer and the writing is more charming. The main twists of The Peony Pavilion are quite deep. The plot of Pipa does feel a bit long-winded. The writing is very good at the beginning, but feels weak later on.
Rating
Community(0)
Official(1)Scraped 7d ago
I came to read Pipa Ji after reading Li Yu's "Xian Qing Ou Ji". It doesn't feel as good as what Li Yu praised. It's always the routine of a talented man and a beautiful woman, and there's also the plot of getting married to the number one scholar. There is no way to escape Jia Mu's conclusion about Yuan Qu. But "The Romance of the West Chamber" and "The Peony Pavilion" are relatively better to read. The plot in the West Wing is clearer and the writing is more charming. The main twists of The Peony Pavilion are quite deep. The plot of Pipa does feel a bit long-winded. The writing is very good at the beginning, but feels weak later on.
