Yuan Dynasty opera commentaries on Bao Gong plays

Author: Fan Jiachen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: Yuan Dynasty zaju (a form of Chinese opera) about Bao Gong (Judge Bao), which created a mature image of the upright official Bao Gong and holds an important position in Yuan zaju. This book compiles eleven existing Yuan zaju about Bao Gong, all collected in one volume. Among them, only Tiesha Qi (Substituting Execution) is based on Yuan Kan Gushi Zaaju San Shi Zhong (Thirty Ancient Plays Published in Yuan Dynasty), while the rest are from Yuan Qu Xuan (Selected Yuan Dynasty Qu Dialects). It also includes an Index of All Yuan Zaju About Bao Gong and Bao Zheng's Biography from The History of Song Dynasty. Each play is preceded by a brief commentary. The annotations focus on naming conventions, institutions, customs, and colloquial phrases, with appropriate references to classical texts. Terms related to dialects, obscure words, and allusions are also explained.
Browsing through the garden of Yuan zaju, we will find it to be a vibrant and magnificent realm, with Bao Gong plays standing out as a particularly remarkable gem. Together with other outstanding achievements in zaju art, they mark the rise of a new literary genre in China, bringing vitality to the ancient literary scene and creating a more glorious period in the history of Chinese literature. They also had a profound influence on the development of later literature.