Yuzan Ji

The opera Yuzan Ji was written by Gao Lian³ around 1580. In it the scholar Pan Bizheng, having failed in the imperial exams due to illness, goes to visit his aunt in a convent. Here he falls in love with the well-born but impoverished novice nun Chen Miaochang.⁴ The aunt separates them, forcing Pan to go take the exams again. This time he succeeds and returns to marry Miaochang.

In the scene Qin Tiao (Plucking the Qin)⁵ Pan Bizheng overhears Chen Miaochang at the convent playing the qin melody Xiao Xiang Shui Yun. He then plays Zhi Zhao Fei, which concerns a man approaching middle age but still unmarried. She tells him he is not so old, then plays Guanghan You, which may allude to a story about Yang Guifei, though this is not mentioned.

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 玉簪記 Yuzan Ji; LXS p.267. (Return)

2. Image from 張國標 Zhang Guobiao, ed., 徽派版畫藝術 Art of Woodcut of the Huizhou School, 安徽省美術出版社 Anhui Publishing House, 1995, p.98. (Return)

3. Gao Lian (高濂 fl. 1573 - 1581)
ICTCL, pp. 472-3, discusses Gao Lian's importance both as a playwright (節孝記 Fidelity and Filiality as well as The Jade Hairpin), poet and essayist. His best known essay, Eight Discourses on Living (遵生八箋 Zun Sheng Ba Jian), covers many diverse subjects, including some commentary on the qin (see in Watt essay and HIP). In his outline of this work, Van Gulik (Lore, p. 179) says that Gao Lian includes commentary on the qin in the 6th essay, Refined Enjoyment of Elegant Leisure (燕閒清賞 Yanxian Qingshang), which in includes a "論琴 Discussion of the Qin". (Return)

4. 潘必正 Pan Bizheng; 陳妙常 Chen Miaochang (Return)

5. 琴挑 Qin Tiao (Return)

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