"Romance of the West Chamber"

Author: Wang Shifu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: Based on Tang Yuan Zhen's The Story of Yingying (also known as The Record of Meeting in True Love). In the middle of the Zhenyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, scholar Zhang Qing traveled to Puzhou and lodged at Pujiu Temple. Meanwhile, Cui, the minister's wife, carried her daughter Yingying's coffin back to her hometown for burial and stopped at Pujiu Temple to stay overnight. One day, Zhang Qing visited the Buddhist hall and met Yingying, and the two fell deeply in love at first sight. At that time, General Sun Feihu raised an army in Puzhou, besieging Pujiu Temple and seeking to make Yingying his wife. In desperation, the old lady promised that whoever could break the siege would marry Yingying. Zhang Qing volunteered and requested his friend, the, governor of Tong Pass, to lead troops to rescue them. When Du Que arrived with his army, he pacified the rebellious troops and lifted the siege of Pujiu Temple. However, the old lady disliked Zhang Qing as a white-robed scholar, considering him socially incompatible, and retracted her promise, only allowing Zhang Qing and Yingying to be brother and sister. Distraught over his inability to marry Yingying, Zhang Qing fell ill from longing. With the help of Yingying's maid, Hongniang, who secretly passed messages between them, the two met in private behind the old lady's back. Later, the old lady discovered their secret meetings and summoned Hongniang for interrogation. Hongniang retorted that the old lady had broken her word and was ungrateful, warning that if their affair were revealed, it would harm the Cui family's reputation. The old lady, unable to do otherwise, reluctantly agreed to Zhang Qing and Yingying's marriage. Yet, citing the Cui family's generations-old taboo against marrying white-robed scholars, she forced Zhang Qing to take the imperial exam in the capital. Only after Zhang Qing passed the exam was he allowed to marry Yingying.