Tang Xianzu (1550-1616 AD), a Ming Dynasty opera writer, was a Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli. He successively served as a doctor of Nanjing Taichang Temple and a priest of the Ministry of Rites, etc., because of the jealousy of the powerful, he was impeached and resigned, and then he decided to pursue a career and lived at home for more than 20 years, concentrating on the study of opera legends and engaging in creation.
He studied under Luo Rufang, and under the influence of Li Zhen, he became friends with the Zen master Daguan (Zibai), who opposed Cheng Zhu Lixue. The most famous of his plays is "Four Dreams of Linchuan", which is composed of "The Story of the Purple Hairpin", "The Story of the Soul", "The Story of Nanke" and "The Story of Handan", of which "The Story of the Resurrection of the Soul" (full name "The Story of the Peony Pavilion") is his representative work.
Tang Xianzu's drama language and melody have a unique style, which has a great influence on opera artists after the end of the Ming Dynasty, and there is also a collection of poems and essays "The Complete Works of Jade Mingtang" and other generations.
Among Tang Xianzu's four plays, "The Peony Pavilion" (full name "The Peony Pavilion Returns to the Soul"), also referred to as "The Soul Return", is the one that can best express his literary ideas and artistic talents, and in the history of literature, it is the most famous romantic drama with the Yuan miscellaneous drama "The Legend of the West Chamber".
The story is based on the book ** "Du Liniang Mu Se Soul Return", which writes the legendary mythological love story between Du Liniang, the daughter of Du Bao, who was too shou in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Liu Mengmei, a scholar who never knew each other.