生平

汤显祖出生于书香门第，祖父汤懋昭好老庄、喜谈神仙，父亲汤尚贤为人严正，从小便饱读诗书，性格刚正不阿。隆庆四年（1570年）江西乡试第八名举人，万历五年（1577年）汤显祖进京赶考，因不肯接受首辅张居正的拉拢，结果两次落第。万历八年（1580年）汤显祖第四次往北京参加春试。张居正三子张懋修去看望汤显祖，汤显祖也曾回访而不遇。直到万历十一年（1583年）他33岁时，即张居正死后次年，才考中万历十一年（1583年）癸未科会试第六十五名，三甲二百十一名进士。。

汤显祖中了进士后，仍不肯趋附新任首辅申时行，故仅能在南京任虚职。在职期间，与顾宪成、高攀龙等东林党人交往甚密。万历十九年（1591年）他又写了《论辅臣科臣疏》，揭发时政积弊，抨击朝廷，弹劾大臣，因而触怒了明神宗。之后被谪迁广东徐闻典史。后又调任浙江遂昌知县。汤显祖在地方为官清廉，体恤民情，深得民心，但最终还是因不满朝政腐败，于万历二十六年（1598年）弃官回乡，在临川建了一座闲居，号玉茗堂，从此致力于戏剧和文学创作活动，终其一生。

主要作品

汤显祖著有《紫箫记》（后改为《紫钗记》）、《牡丹亭》（又名《还魂记》）、《南柯记》、《邯郸记》，诗文《玉茗堂文集》、《玉茗堂尺牍》、《红泉逸草》、《问棘邮草》，小说《续虞初新志》等。

因《牡丹亭》、《紫钗记》、《南柯记》、《邯郸记》这四部戏都与「梦」有关，所以被合称为「临川四梦」，又称「玉茗堂四梦」。「玉茗堂四梦」都以「爱情」为主题。这四部戏中最出色的是《牡丹亭》，写一个女孩因情而死，又因情而复生的故事。在《牡丹亭》之前，中国最具影响的爱情题材戏剧作品是《西厢记》。而《牡丹亭》一问世，便令《西厢记》减色不少。

戏剧

• 《紫箫记》，大约创作于1577年，却因被认为影射时政而辍笔。十年后又改为《紫钗记》。

• 1598年弃官返乡后作《还魂记》，即《牡丹亭》，描写了少女杜丽娘与年轻书生柳梦梅在梦中相爱，醒后寻梦不得，抑郁而终。其后柳梦梅掘坟开棺，杜丽娘复活，与书生成婚。

• 1600年作《南柯记》。

• 1601年作《邯郸记》。

诗文

• 《红泉逸草》

• 《问棘邮草》

• 《玉茗堂诗》

• 《玉茗堂赋》

• 《玉茗堂文》

• 《玉茗堂尺牍》

• 《海若先生文》( 又名《汤海若先生制艺》)

思想

汤显祖曾从泰州学派罗汝芳读书，后又受李贽的思想影响；并和僧人达观相友善，晚年滋长了佛教、道教的出世思想；在戏曲创作方面，反对拟古和拘泥于格律，与沈璟过于讲求声律对立。

汤显祖赞赏李贽的学说，拒绝摹拟，反对「文必秦汉，诗必盛唐」的文学复古主张，认为佳作不应「步趋形似」，提倡表现个人直觉，作品是「不思而至」的自然表现，作品往往「怪怪奇奇」，不可预测。汤显祖认为「奇士」的作品自然出类拔萃，此说与李贽的「童心说」相似。

家族

曾祖父汤瑄。祖父汤懋昭（号酉塘）、祖母魏氏，伯父汤尚质，父亲汤尚贤；母吴氏。具庆下。弟儒祖、凤祖、会祖、良祖。

元配吴氏，生长子汤士蘧。继配傅氏、赵氏，生三子汤开远，四子汤开先。其家族墓地在江西省抚州市文昌里灵芝园内。

评价

王思任点评汤显祖刻画人物性格「无不从筋节窍髓，以探其七情生动之微也」。汤显祖与英国的莎士比亚同时期，所以也被现代人称为「中国的莎士比亚」或「东方莎士比亚」。1946年，赵景深的《汤显祖与莎士比亚》，提到汤显祖和莎士比亚的五个相同点：一是生卒年相同，二是同在戏曲界占有最高的地位，三是创作内容都善于取材他人著作，四是不守戏剧创作的清规戒律，五是剧作最能哀怨动人。

1959年，田汉到江西临川拜访「汤家玉茗堂碑」，作诗：「杜丽如何朱丽叶，情深真已到梅根。何当丽句锁池馆，不让莎翁在故村。」提出汤显祖与莎士比亚旗鼓相当，杜丽娘与朱丽叶不相上下。

1964年，徐朔方的《汤显祖与莎士比亚》，指出汤显祖与莎士比亚时代相同，但具体的戏剧创作传统不同，前者依谱按律填写诗句曲词，后者则以话剧的开放形式施展生花妙笔，认为汤显祖的创作空间与难度更大。1986年到1987年，徐朔方两次钻研了汤显祖与莎士比亚，联系剧作家与中西历史文化发展的关系，指出汤显祖生活的明朝封建社会，比起莎士比亚的伊丽莎白一世时代而言，要封闭落后得多，故而汤显祖塑造出《牡丹亭》里杜丽娘敢于追求自身幸福的人物，更是难能可贵。　

Biography

Tang was a native of Linchuan, Jiangxi and his career as an official consisted principally of low-level positions. He successfully participated in the provincial examinations (juren) at the age of 21 and at the imperial examinations (jinshi) at the age of 34. He held official positions in Nanjing, Zhejiang province, Guangdong province etc.

After serving as the magistrate of Suichang, Zhejiang from 1593 to 1598, he retired in 1598 and returned to his hometown where he focused on writing. Tang died in 1616, the same year as famed English playwright William Shakespeare.

His major plays are collectively called the Four Dreams, because of the decisive role dreams play in the plot of each one. All of them are still performed (in scenes, or in adapted full versions) on the Chinese Kun opera (kunqu) stage. Generally considered his masterpiece, the Mudan Ting (The Peony Pavilion) has been translated into English several times.

A translation of his complete dramatic works in English was published in China in 2014 and in London in 2018.

Tang Xianzu (1550-1616), courtesy name Yireng, artist name Ruoshi 若士, the Taoist Devotee of Qingyuan 清远道人, was from the Linchuan district of Jiangxi province. Tang lived through the reign of three Late Ming emperors, an era marked by corruption and instability. He was born during the time of Jiajing 嘉靖 (1522-1566) and spent most of his adulthood under the reign of Longqing 隆庆 (1567-1572) and Wanli 万历 (1573-1620).

Tang came from a family of scholars, with a lineage dating back to his great-grandparents. He passed the second-level civil service examination at the age of 21 but took another 13 years to succeed at the third level. Tang's initial failure was mainly caused by his refusal to accompany the two sons of the chief grand secretariat ZHANG Juzheng 张居正 to their examinations, thereby offending the powerful man. After ZHANG's passing, Tang was finally able to secure a place in the government.

However, seeking favor with superiors for political gain went against his principles. Without the support of influential figures like ZHANG Siwei 张四维 and SHEN Shixing 申时行, Tang was appointed Taischang scholar to oversee rites and sacrificial ceremonies in Nanjing, a position of little significance. Nevertheless, Tang was deeply concerned about the state of affairs and actively involved himself by writing to the court, exposing corrupt practices within the system, such as funds intended for disaster-stricken civilians being misappropriated.

In his Memorabilia to the Throne, titled Commentary on the Leadership and Supportive Duties of the Bureaucratic Officialdom 《论辅臣科臣疏》, Tang criticized the influence of ZHANG Juzheng during the first decade of Emperor Wanli's rule and the subsequent influence of SHEN Shixing during the following decade. However, his harsh criticism had unintended consequences, leading to his demotion to Guangdong Province to oversee Xuwen County prisoners.

In the twenty-first year of Wanli's reign (1593), Tang received a promotion and served as the magistrate of Suichang County in Zhejiang Province for five years. Tang's impartiality and integrity earned him great respect from the people. Despite this, disheartened by the constraints and his inability to effect change, Tang lost interest in politics and retired to his hometown, dedicating the remainder of his years to playwriting.

Tang grew up with the Chinese classics. His father was a Confucian scholar, and his grandfather was a follower of the Taoist masters Laozi and Zhuangzi. These influences shaped his character and are evident in his works. As a teenager, Tang studied under Luo Rufang 罗汝芳, a representative of the Taizhou School. Luo's teachings, which were akin to Zen, contrasted with CHENG and ZHU's idealization of Confucian philosophy.

While in Nanjing, Tang developed a close friendship with the Zen master Daguan monk 达观禅师. He also encountered LI Zhi's 李贽 philosophical critique titled A Book to Burn 《焚书》. Tang resonated with LI's arguments, leading to his admiration for LI. Eventually, Tang and LI had the opportunity to meet in Linchuan. Daguan and LI Zhi were regarded as "the two cardinal figures" among late Ming thinkers, and their perspectives left a lasting impression on Tang Xianzu.

Reflecting on Tang's life, two aspects stand out regarding his views on human existence. Initially, like many others, Tang believed that taking action could bring about positive changes and favorable political outcomes. However, disillusioned by reality, he turned to Buddhism and Taoist practices, acknowledging the transient nature of life. Despite this shift, Tang struggled to reconcile his inner turmoil, as seen in Record of Handan and Record of the Southern Bough.

In addition to his spiritual pursuits, Tang nurtured the flame ignited by LI Zhi and passed on this torch through his masterpiece, The Peony Pavilion. In this work, he highlighted basic human needs and validated the concept of self, which had been marginalized by the teachings of CHENG and ZHU.

Legacy

A few Ming and Qing playwrights followed Tang's writing style and called themselves the Yumintang or Linchuan school. Tang Xianzu is known for his unique methodology in writing, which often prioritizes conveying a message over adhering strictly to logical semantics. His approach has drawn comparisons to Western writers such as Shakespeare and Philip Sidney, who also employed a similar style in their works.

Works

• The Purple Flute (紫箫记 Zǐxiāo Jì)

• The Purple Hairpin (紫钗记 Zǐchāi Jì)

:See The Purple Hairpin (1957) 紫钗记 (粤剧) by Tang Ti-sheng

• The Peony Pavilion (牡丹亭 Mǔdān Tíng)

• Record of Handan (邯郸记 Hándān Jì)

• Record of Southern Bough (南柯记 Nánkē Jì)

The Four Dreams of Linchuan was a literary record of the ideological transition Tang went through concerning the meaning of life and one man's relationship to society. The Purple Hairpin was "one droplet of (his) obsession". The Peony Pavilion was his vow of "living and dying for the obsession". Record of the Southern Bough was the initial realization of "being entangled by the obsession". Record of Handan was a nostalgic sigh of "a whole life wasted upon such obsession". The processional of the plays might be read as Tang's journey of disillusionment, paralleling the change from vehement advocacy of self-expression to doubts about the Tangibility of lived reality. In summary, the greatest contribution of Tang was transforming theater from pleasure-seeking to philosophical preponderance, marking the maturation of Chinese drama as an art form. Tang's compositions were highly acclaimed soon as brought to the sight of the public. Yet most spectators attributed the success of the plays to their literary mastery. In the chapter"Casual Notes" from Prosody of Qu, Wang Jide commented that Tang's language was "graceful yet seductive that the words drill to the bone". In the prologue of Record of Handan, Shen Jifei wrote that "the paintbrush of Linchua draws flowers in the dreams". The later playwrights like Ruan Dacheng, and Wu Bing were all great admirers. As followers of Tang's style, the attempts were only capable of scratching the surface.

The first of Tang's attempts at writing Chuanqi plays yielded an unfinished script titled The Purple Flute, in the first year under the reign of Emperor Wanli (1573). Fourteen years later, Tang complete the play and renamed it The Purple Hairpin. The other three plays The Peony Pavilion, Record of Handan, and Record of the Southern Bough were all composed when Tang was in retirement.  Dreams and dreaming played an important role in these four plays, and also because Tang's study was known as White Camellia Hall, the anthology of scripts became Four Dreams of the White Camellia Hall 《玉茗堂四梦》. The series was also introduced as the "Four Dreams of Linchuan 临川四梦", commemorating Tang's birthplace.

Inspiration for The Purple Flute came from The Story of Huo Xiaoyu 《霍小玉传》by a Tang novelist Jiang Fang 蒋防. Tang later changed the title to The Purple Hairpin. In the original, Huo Xiaoyu was wronged by Li Yi and died of a broken heart. In Tang's version, Li and Huo were husband and wife separated by the grand commander Lu. When Li was selected as the top graduate, Lu intended to have LI as his son-in-law. They reunited with the help of the Yellow-Robed Chevalier, a close friend of the emperor. Apart from the ending, the plot was untouched. Most of Tang's rewriting was done on the grouping of scenes and the use of language. Huo was depicted as a devoted wife and an unfaltering lover. The language was elegant and the lines were effective, affirming the pivotal potion of romantic love in Tang's plays. Yet the play was regarded as less successful among Tang's works as it lacked depth and was short of innovation.

Record of Handan was adapted from The Tale of the Pillow 《枕中记》, a short fiction composed by another Tang novelist Shen Jiji 沈既济. The play was a social commentary, an indirect aspersion of the Ming politicians and elites through "a dream that was cooking along the yellow sorghum". Tang Xianzu used to be keen on the governing class of the Ming and actively engaged in the discussion about the grand secretaries that took office in the second half of the dynasty. Scholar Lu who served as the prime minister for years and swam in the center of power was built based on the shared traits of these high officials. Lacking real talents, Scholar Lu bribed his way to the top graduate. When he was working in Shanzhou, to dredge the sluggish river, Lu asked his attendants to use salt and vinegar. Then Lu took advantage of the exchange of letters and defeated the invading armies from Tibet. The unbelievable effectiveness of the unlikely means was a comic satire, ridiculing the incompetence of the current administration. By this point, Scholar Lu had reached the highest point of his career. Out in the field, he was appointed as the general. Back to the court, he was given the position of the prime mister. His fame and wealth led Lu to a decadent life. The emperor rewarded Lu with a vast expanse of land, on which he built dozens of gardens, halls, terraces, and pavilions. His Majesty also sent Lu twenty-four actresses from the Bureau of Celestial Music to delight him with songs and dances. While preaching abstinence to others, Lu made the order of the court his excuse and said yes to all that came his way, eventually he died of exhaustion among the bed covers. The detailed depiction of Lu's debauchery was sourced from the Ming high officials and their way of living. The most astounding of all was Lu's fear that his many contributions might have been left out of the official record. Only after a complete list was produced, the scholar was finally able to draw in his last breath. When he woke up, only a brief period had passed and the yellow sorghum that the waiter put in the pot upon his arrival was still cooking. Evolving around the transience of life, Record of Handan was a disclosure of the delusive nature of fame and status, the two things many took as the ultimate purpose of life. The journey of Scholar Lu also let out about the fatuity of the ruler, fawning officials stepping down one another to climb the ladder, and the ludicrousness of the day-to-day acts that each was carrying on. When Lu began to make impressive progress, his jealous colleagues set him up. Lu ended up being banished to Yazhou and not a single person would speak up for him. While at his low point, all Lu received from the clerk of Yazhou was abuse and insult. When Lu resumed his position, the offender immediately came to beg forgiveness. When bidding farewell, Lu's friend Xiao Song put on a sincere face. Soon as Lu turned his back, Xiao went to congratulate Pei Guangting, the man that was to take Lu's place, hoping to gain favor with this new supervisor. The coldness of the bureaucracy came out from every page of the writing.

Record of the Southern Bough was based on the short fiction of Tang novelist Li Gongzuo 李公佐 named The Prefect of the Southern Bough 《南柯太守传》. The play was about a generation of ambitious young scholar awakening from the unaccommodating political environment, realizing the importance of love. The protagonist Chunyu Fen got drunk and fell asleep. In his dream, entered the Grand State of Blooming Locust, fell in love, and married Princess Yaofang. At the same time, Chunyu was appointed the prefect of the Southern Bough and made advances in his career, living a fulfilling and prestigious life. With help from the princess, Chunyu became the prime minister. When everything was going his way, Princess Yaofang fell ill and passed away, under the persecution of his enemies that Chunyu was removed from the court and sent back to his hometown. Hence Chunyu woke up and discovered that the State of Huaian was a giant ant next under the locust tree in his front yard. Longing for his deceased wife, Chunyu gave up eating. Eventually, he crossed the barrier of life and death, transcended the divide between humans and animals, and reunited with the soul of the princess. Though in the end, the play made a bow to Buddhist teaching and had the Zen master Qixuan break the tie between the lovers, affection was still regarded as the mightiest and most enduring of all Chunyu deemed of value. Yet even love was ephemeral. The shortcoming of this play was its heavy religious connotation and scatteredness.

A shared characteristic of Tang Xianzu's plays was the depiction of corporeality through dreams. Dreaming is observed in humans from all parts of the world since antiquity. Dreams are a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind while sleeping. They are the reflection of a person's needs, their perception of reality. Dreams are glimpses into the deepest part of the mind and undulation from the softest part of the soul.  In ancient times, the interpretation of dreams was a widely practiced method for fortune-telling. In modern times, the study of dreams and dreaming is combined with other scientific approaches to understand the human experience. The Purple Hairpin, The Peony Pavilion, Record of Handan, and Record of the Southern Bough were all woven by dreams. Through dreams, the playwright merged the recurring conflicts his generation was experiencing with the illusory there and then.

A second characteristic of Tang's compositions was the precedence of love above reasoning. Tang believed that "love was an innate quality",  "emotions were brought out by the circumstances, then new circumstances were created by the emotions", and "love was given birth along with life"  with a concrete existence and justifiable presence. Tang Xianzu theorized that aesthetic and metaphysical engagements such as poetry, music, and dance were all the outcome of human beings' search for spiritual fulfillment, in other words, the product of love.   In a letter, he wrote that " …love is the purpose of being. Songs and poetry are the expressions of love, enlivened by the human spirit. The sounds we hear and the sounds we utter, the appearances we bear and the appearances we admire, the gigantic and the minuscule, the lively and the lifeless are no exceptions to the rule. Therefore it moves us, connects us, excites us to motions and dances." With theater, Tang found that "love causes us to dream, and dream wakes up the drama." Through the limited space of the stage and a small group of performers role-playing, " figures of the past thousands of years are brought back to life, dreams come true, curving our lips and drawing tears from our eyes without contriving an explanation", "enabling the proud and the prestige to be humble, calling the poor and the miserly to share, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to sigh, the lame to bounce." "Dispersing hunger from the empty stomach, awakening the inebriated from drunkenness, keeping the sojourner from wandering, restoring the bedridden to be on their feet; allowing the snobbish to praise and the stubborn to embrace new ideas."  Tang Xianzu concluded that the unfathomable potential of drama and the magic of the stage was due the operation of theater and how it "turned on the button of humane feelings" within the deliverers and the receivers, allowing all to freely live and own the delight, the rage, the sorrow, and the joy. Furthermore, Tang found that feudal ethics and purposed indoctrination was the greatest transgression to the instinctive attachment between man and his compatriots and human and nature. He argued against the claim of emotion and reasoning were two forces through the interaction of which to achieve homeostasis. Rather, they were irreconcilable opponents, and "the utter objective of each was to extinguish the other." "Were there any exceptions that when the logical mind had to push for one direction, the instinctive reaction was certain to lead to another?" The "love", "emotion", "feelings", or "instinctive reaction" referred to by Tang Xianzu were denoting the fundamental needs of human existence. The "reasoning" and "logic mind" were the process of justification for the rules and conventions designed to maintain the running of the cultural-political-economic units known as a society. These two conflicting powers were manifested in all civilizations. The battle grew most fierce when a set of regulations were corroded by corruption, and when the established social order was going through a transition. Liberation from the constraint of the prescriptions, and welcoming the call of human desire was what Tang Xianzu and the humanist philosophers stood for, and the motivation for their academic and creative endeavors.

Emotion was inseparable from sincerity and sincerity was the feature and proof of the value of feelings. Yet through the intervention of the mind, feelings got distorted, producing what was known as "faked love and false devotions". For this reason. Tang was particularly fond of LI Zhi's espousal of "Uncontaminated Childishness", a state of being that was capable of rectifying fraudulence and pretension. In "Response to Gan Yilu", Tang stated that "the man was neither good nor evil, the approach to emotions made him true or false." From Tang's plays, it was obvious to see he was against crooked sensual desires, excessive indulgence in delicacy and sex, as well as the accumulation of wealth, power, and status through devious means that extended far beyond the basic needs.

The third feature of Tang's works was their "strangeness". Compositions of Ming and Qing were named "marvel tales" for their eccentric content and convoluted plot. The "strangeness" of Tang Xianzu's plays was presented through his authentic and innovative characterization and the romantic ambiance that invited the audience to contribute through their imagination. In "A Prologue to The Manuscript of Qiu Maobo", Tang observed that "…the compelling writings were all full of life, and this liveliness was sponsored by the ingenuity of the playwright. Being in harmony with his quirks and oddities, the playwright acquired the liberty to exist as he might. With the freedom to be as he would, the writer developed the wings to fly—to dive below the waves and to rise above the sky; to step back to the past and to leap into the future; to stretch, to bend, to broaden, to shrink, to emerge, to vanish at their will. Being in command of his own will, obstacles disappear and the reality became pliable." Tang Xianzu felt that every master writer was a unique being with a perceptive heart empowered by imagination and creativity, enabling them to breathe life into their compositions.

When The Peony Pavilion was circulating widely, dissatisfied with the rhyming and arrangement of melodies, the leader of the Wujiang School SHEN Jing 沈璟 and his followers appropriated the play and made changes to suit their taste. The enraged playwright lodged a fervent protest, affirming that "the essence of a piece was the free flow of its charm and interest". The clever retort was in line with Tang's composition principle."

Works available in English

• The Peony Pavilion (trans. Cyril Birch). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980.

• The Peony Pavilion (trans. Wang Rongpei). Changsha: Hunan People's Press, 2000.

• A Dream Under the Southern Bough (trans. Zhang Guangqian). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2003. .

• The Handan Dream (trans. Wang Rongpei). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2003

• The Complete Dramatic Works of Tang Xianzu (trans. Wang Rongpei & Zhang Ling) Bloomsbury: London, 2018.

Studies available in English

• Peony Pavilion Onstage : Four Centuries in the Career of a Chinese Drama (Catherine Swatek). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Center for Chinese, 2003.

• Tan, Tian Yuan and Paolo SanTangelo. Passion, Romance, and Qing: The World of Emotions and States of Mind in Peony Pavilion. 3 Volumes. Leiden: Brill, 2014.