Selections from Yuan Dynasty Zaju

Author: Gu Xuejie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-08-01
Features: The sixteen plays in this collection can be roughly divided into five categories:
1. Tragedies reflecting class oppression and racial oppression.
2. Comedies that positively depict peasant heroes resisting feudal rule.
3. Comedies reflecting human emotions, social realities, and everyday life.
4. Love comedies based on myths and folk legends.
5. Historical tragedies.
This collection is selected from over one hundred thirty existing plays that are believed to be works of the Yuan Dynasty. It aims to introduce some outstanding works to readers. A total of sixteen plays have been selected. All the included plays are based on the Yuan Qu Xuan (Selected Yuan Qu) compiled by the Ming Dynasty scholar Zang Maoxun, as it is relatively complete. However, there are occasional errors in the compilation, which have been corrected and supplemented using other Ming Dynasty editions, with explanations provided for each correction.