Three academic questions about Ming
dramatists and dramas are worth discussing. (1) The question about a drama piece. In
Yuhuan Ji (A Tale of the Jade Ring), the 6th piece of the Sixty Pieces of Yuan Opera, the woman leading character Yuxiao sang a series of zaju (poetic drama in the Yuan Dynasty)'s titles in the tune entitled Flowers at the Back Courtyard. One of the titles was Cheng Xin Ling Nu Xian (sincerity that makes the daughter virtuous). One could find no more than one place where the title piece is recorded. Mr. Feng Yuanjun guessed that it was Lie Nu Qing Ling Tai (righteous woman at Qinglingtai) written by Yu Jifu in the Yuan Dynasty. In fact, its author is not Yu Jifu, and its subject is not the story about Han Ping and his wife, either. Instead, it comes from Zhu Ya Er Yi (two righteous women in Zhuya County) in Lienu Zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Woman). It is a play about the county magistrate's daughter and her stepmother who each tried to save the other's life at the sacrifice of her own. The story took place between 111B.C. and 46 B.C. (2) The question about a poem. Grave differences (36 lines) regarding Tang Xianzu's Song Ai Tai Pu Liu Shi Yun (sixty poems for Ai Taipu) have been found in Fu Zhu Gong Zeng Shi (poems dedicated) (the 10th volume of Collected Works of Mister Ai Xiting), Collected Works of Yumintang (the Wanli edition), and Complete Works of Yumintang (the Tianqi edition). A comparative study of the texts concerned indicates the scrupulousness of Tang Xianzu in revision and his careless omission in the title and the number of actual lines.(3) The question about a short play. The short play Liu Xiahui inserted in the 23rd piece of the long, serial drama Lakeview Pavilion written by Shen Zijin in the late
Ming Dynasty features comic stories and fun making. It consists of three parts in performing. Instead of the cyclical form, the form of a melody is sung. All these are completely in accord with the characteristics of the drama script summarized by Hu Ji in his A Textual Criticism on Song and Jin Poetic Drama. But the said play is closer to the comic drama script.