Tale of the Pipa

Tale of the Pipa (traditional Chinese: 琵琶記; simplified Chinese: 琵琶记; pinyin: Pípa jì; Wade–Giles: P'i-p'a chi "Tale of the Pipa" or "The Story of the Lute") is a Chinese nanxi play written by the playwright Gao Ming during the late Yuan dynasty.^[1][2] There are French, German, English translations of the play, and an English novelization-translation.

It was the most popular drama during the Ming dynasty,^[3] and it became a model for Ming drama as it was the favorite opera of the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.^[4]

Plot

Gao Ming, circa 1305-1359

The play is set during the Han dynasty.^[3] Based on an older play, Zhao zhen nü (The Chaste Maiden Zhao), it tells the story of a loyal wife named Zhao Wuniang (趙五孃; 赵五娘; Zhào Wǔniáng; Chao⁴ Wu³-niang²) who, left destitute when her husband Cai Yong is forced to marry another woman, undertakes a 12-year search for him. During her journey, she plays the pipa of the play's title in order to make a living. The original story sees Zhao killed by a horse and Cai struck by lightning, however in Gao Ming's version the two are eventually reconciled and live out their lives happily.^[5][6][7] Gao reportedly composed The Lute over a three-year period of solitary confinement, locking himself in an attic room and wearing down the floorboards by tapping out the rhythms of his songs.^[2][8]

The Lute won considerable critical acclaim amongst Gao's contemporaries, since it raised the popular but somewhat rustic form of Southern folk opera (Nanxi) to a higher literary standard, and it became a model for Ming dynasty theatre.^[7] It was a favourite play of the first Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who commanded that it be performed every day at court.^[9][10]

Translations

Antoine (A. P. L.) Bazin wrote a French translation in 1841.^[11] This version, titled Le Pi-pa-ki ou l'Histoire de Luth, was published in Paris in 1841 by the Imprimerie Royale.^[12] A group of Chinese students in Boston performed an English-language version of the play in 1925, translated by Y.H. Ku and Liang Shih-chiu, and acted by Liang and Bing Xin among others.^[13] Vincenz Hundhausen wrote a German translation in 1930.^[14]

A complete English translation and study by Jean Mulligan appeared in 1980. ^[15] It is a part of the "Translations from the Oriental Classics" set, published by Columbia University Press.^[16] There is an introduction, which has six sections: "The Play and Its Genre," "The Author," "Sources of the Play," "The Play as Literature," "On the Translation," and "Notes."^[17] The translation also has a bibliography in English and Chinese, a synopsis,^[18] a glossary, and a list of titles of songs.^[17] In the introduction Mulligan examines the concept of filial piety and argues that Cai Yong is, in the words of reviewer Anne M. Birrell, "a victim of circumstance".^[19]

Birrell stated that Mulligan did her work "courageously".^[19] Howard Goldblatt of San Francisco State University, while acknowledging the difficulties in translating older literature, stated that the Mulligan translation is "sensitive" and "good", adding that it "nicely captures the various modes and poetic forms".^[18] Ching-Hsi Perng (Chinese: 彭鏡禧; pinyin: Péng Jìngxǐ) of National Taiwan University wrote that that Mulligan demonstrated "tender, loving care" in the work, and that the final product has "general excellence".^[17] Richard E. Strassberg of University of California, Los Angeles wrote that the translation was "able".^[20]

Adaptations

Memoirs of the Guitar, published in Shanghai in 1928,^[21] is an English-language novel self-described as "A Novel of Conjugal Love, Rewritten from a Chinese Classical Drama". The author was Yu Tinn-Hugh and the publisher was the China Current Weekly Publishing Company.^[22]

A 1946 American musical comedy based on the Chinese play, titled Lute Song, was written by Will Irwin and Sidney Howard.^[23] This adaptation was produced on Broadway. It starred Yul Brynner and Mary Martin.^[2] Cyril Birch, collaborator in a translation of The Peach Blossom Fan, wrote that presumably the basis of the American play was the A. P. L. Balzin French translation of the Chinese play.^[11]

References

• China portal
• Theatre portal

• Bieg, Lutz. "Literary translations of the classical lyric and drama in the first half of the 20th century: The "case" of Vincenz Hundhausen (1878-1955)." In: Alleton, Vivianne and Michael Lackner (editors). De l'un au multiple: traductions du chinois vers les langues européennes Translations from Chinese into European Languages. Éditions de la maison des sciences de l'homme (Les Editions de la MSH, Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme [fr]), 1999, Paris. ISBN 273510768X, 9782735107681.
• Birch, Cyril. "Introduction: The Peach Blossom Fan as Southern Drama." In: K'ung, Shang-jen. Translators: Chen, Shih-hsiang and Harold Acton. Collaborator: Birch, Cyril. The Peach Blossom Fan (T'ao-hua-shan). University of California Press, 1976. ISBN 0-520-02928-3.
• Birrell, Anne M. (1981). "The Lute: Kao Ming's P'i-p'a chi". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (2): 240–241.
• Goldblatt, Howard (1980). "The Lute: Kao Ming's P'i-p'a chi". World literature today. Vol. 54, no. 4. p. 695. JSTOR 10.2307/40135584.
• Mulligan, Jean (1980). The lute : Kao Ming's P'i-p'a chi. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231047606.
• Das traditionelle chinesische Theater Vom Mongolendrama bis zur Pekinger Oper (Volume 6 of Geschichte der chinesischen Literatur, Wolfgang Kubin, ISBN 3598245408, 9783598245404). K.G. Saur. Walter de Gruyter, 2009. ISBN 3598245432, 9783598245435.
• Liu, Wu-Chi. An Introduction to Chinese Literature. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990. ISBN 0313267030, 9780313267031.
• Perng, Ching-Hsi (1982). "The Lute, Kao Ming's P'i-p'a chi". Chinese literature, essays, articles, reviews. 4 (1): 113–120. JSTOR 495601.
• Strassberg, Richard E. (1981). "The Lute: Kao Ming's P'i-p'a chi". Harvard journal of Asiatic studies. 41 (2): 695–697. JSTOR 2719067.
• Tanaka, Issei. The Social and Historical Context of Ming-Ch'ing Local Drama (Chapter 5). In: Johnson, David, Andrew J. Nathan, and Evelyn S. Rawski (editors). Popular Culture in Late Imperial China. University of California Press, 1985. p. 143. ISBN 0520061721, 9780520061729.