Tang Xianzu's tomb

Tang Xianzu's tomb

The five characters of "Tang Xianzu's tomb" on the surface of the Tang tomb are written by Shu Tong, a famous calligrapher. The strokes are powerful and static. At the top of the tombstone, inside the circular frame line, there are two characters "sun" and "Moon". The combination of "sun" and "Moon" is "Ming", which shows the living Dynasty of the deceased, and praises the works of the deceased and "sun and moon". Tang is respected not only by his great works, but also by his integrity. The inscription on the back of the tombstone records the story of Tang's life, in which it records the fact that Tang was poor and self-defense and refused to flatter the powerful. Next to Tang's tomb, a "Peony Pavilion" was built by later generations. A couplet on the "Peony Pavilion" reads: "the article is beyond the sea, and the taste is the highest in Linchuan". It should be a portrayal of Tang's personality and writing.

On August 27, 2017, Jiangxi Provincial Department of culture and Fuzhou Municipal Government jointly held a press conference to announce the discovery of 42 Ming and Qing Dynasty Tombs in Fuzhou, which were basically identified as the family tombs of Tang Xianzu, a great dramatist of the Ming Dynasty. Tomb 4 is the joint Tomb of Tang Xianzu and his wife.

Brief introduction of Tang tomb

Linchuan ancient town has beautiful scenery and outstanding people. The Taotao river passes through the city. On the surface of the river is the famous Wenchang bridge. Not far from the bridge, on Tangjiashan, lingzhi garden, is a joint Tomb of Tang Xianzu, his wife Wu, his stepwife Zhao and Fu. In 1903, Jiang Zhaotang, the magistrate of Linchuan County, had a major overhaul, and wrote a couplet on the tombstone: "the article surpasses the domestic, and the festival is the highest in Linchuan." On the eve of liberation, cemeteries were razed. It was repaired in 1957 and destroyed in the cultural revolution. In October 1982, it was moved to the people's Park. Now, it has become a place of interest for scholars. The original site of Tang tomb is listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Jiangxi Province.

Tang tomb covers an area of 5000 square meters. Facing a four pillar archway, both sides are connected with the winding wall of Tang tomb. The blue and white walls are no more than 1 meter high, and the walls are mostly carved with carved windows, which makes the inside and outside of the walls have a wide field of vision, which is consistent with Tang's personality of "loving nature in life". What is particularly striking is that the images of Tang's representative work "four dreams of Linchuan" are engraved on four pieces of ink jade on the wall. The black background of the play and the engraved pattern of the Yin line are not so good as "Wu Dai Dangfeng", but the rigid and soft lines vividly depict Du Liniang, who dreams and lives freely because of love in the Peony Pavilion, Huo Xiaoyu, who is loyal to love in the story of purple hairpin, Lu Sheng, who dreams of becoming a high official in the story of Handan, and Nanke Taishou, who has seen through the world in the story of Nanke I want to go out.

Under the barrier of more than a dozen pine trees and in the arms of the ring fence carved with white marble, the Tang tomb, which is less than two feet high, looks simple and quiet. The top of the Tang tomb is neither the raised gold lettering used by ordinary people to build tombs, nor the round top often used by Zhumen big families to build tombs. The top of the tomb is Pavilion shaped, with several "Pavilion ridges" protruding and a round "Pavilion top" striking. The tomb is like a pavilion half buried in the ground and half standing on the ground, which is a metaphor for Tang's first famous work Peony Pavilion. In the Peony Pavilion, Tang asks the protagonist to fight for a happy life. Later generations integrated Tang tomb and "Peony Pavilion". Jiuquan, the sage, knew it, would be smiling.

The five characters of "Tang Xianzu's tomb" on the surface of the Tang tomb are written by Shu Tong, a famous calligrapher. The strokes are powerful and static. At the top of the tombstone, inside the circular frame line, there are two characters "sun" and "Moon". The combination of "sun" and "Moon" is "Ming", which shows the living Dynasty of the deceased, and praises the works of the deceased and "sun and moon". Tang is respected not only by his great works, but also by his integrity. The inscription on the back of the tombstone records the story of Tang's life, in which it records the fact that Tang was poor and self-defense and refused to flatter the powerful. Next to Tang's tomb, a "Peony Pavilion" was built by later generations. A couplet on the "Peony Pavilion" reads: "the article is beyond the sea, and the taste is the highest in Linchuan". It should be a portrayal of Tang's personality and writing.

Confirm the tomb site

On August 27, 2017, Jiangxi Provincial Department of culture and Fuzhou Municipal Government jointly held a press conference to announce the discovery of 42 Ming and Qing Dynasty Tombs in Fuzhou, which were basically identified as the family tombs of Tang Xianzu, a famous dramatist of the Ming Dynasty

Among them, tomb 4 is the tomb of Tang Xianzu and his wife

. However, the main Tomb of Tang Xianzu was destroyed by human activities in the 1960s.

Life of the character

Tang Xianzu is the most outstanding dramatist in the history of Chinese and world literature, known as "Shakespeare of the East". Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) was born in Linchuan, Jiangxi Province. Born in a scholarly family, Tang Xianzu was not an official for several generations, but he had a high reputation. He was very talented. He won the mid-term examination at the age of 21. When he entered Beijing at the age of 28, he was already a famous talent in the world. However, Tang Xianzu offended the then Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng because he didn't want to support senior officials, and he failed in both examinations. It wasn't until after Zhang Juzheng's death that Tang Xianzu became a Jinshi. That year, he was 34 years old. Later, Tang Xianzu refused to be courted by senior officials several times, but he was arranged to be a casual official in Nanjing. However, Tang Xianzu was upright and jealous of evil. He often talked about current affairs. Once he wrote a letter to the court accusing the ruler of involving the emperor, so he was demoted to a remote place and became a county magistrate. However, Tang Xianzu was not depressed. He managed the county in good order. Later, those who opposed him still wanted to strike him. Tang Xianzu was tired of officialdom for a long time. He resigned and returned to his hometown in Jiangxi.

In Tang Xianzu's hometown, there is a popular local opera called "Haiyan opera". There are more than 1000 professional actors alone. After returning to his hometown, Tang Xianzu devoted himself to writing plays and directing rehearsals, becoming the leader of this vigorous drama movement. Although he lived in poverty in his later years, he got endless pleasure from drama creation. He often sat in his study and talked with his friends about literary essays. Outside the window, pigs were eating and chickens were crowing. Tang Xianzu's dramas mainly include zichai Ji, Peony Pavilion, Handan Ji and Nanke Ji. Because the contents of these dramas are related to dreams, they are also called "four dreams of Linchuan".

The most famous of the four dreams in Linchuan is the Peony Pavilion, which has reached the highest level of Tang Xianzu's drama creation both in thought and art. It tells the story of Du Liniang, a girl with rich feelings, who died for love under the bondage of her family, and came back to life under the influence of love. It expresses the theme that sincere love can transcend the boundary of life and death. This theme seems very common today, but it is a great idea in the feudal society of China, which advocated ethics and suppressed human nature. As soon as the Peony Pavilion was put on stage, it was welcomed by people, especially touched the hearts of many oppressed women. It is said that there was a woman who especially liked reading Peony Pavilion at that time. The plot of the play often moved her to tears, and finally she died of sadness.

In the Peony Pavilion, Tang Xianzu creates the image of Du Liniang by means of romanticism. For the sake of love, she experienced a complex process from reality to dream, to the nether world, and then back to reality. Some of the songs in Peony Pavilion are still famous aria in traditional Chinese drama.

Tang Xianzu's other three plays are also very famous. The story of the purple hairpin eulogizes a chivalrous man who upholds justice. Handan dream and Nanke dream describe the impermanence and emptiness of life. At the time of writing these two plays, Tang Xianzu was in his old age. Unfortunately, his beloved son died. He became more and more superstitious in Buddhism and no longer cared about politics. His mental outlook can also be seen in the two plays.

Tang Xianzu's "Four Dreams" had a great influence in the late Ming Dynasty. Many dramatists studied his style and formed the "Linchuan school" in the history of drama in the late Ming Dynasty.

Address: Xuefu Road, Linchuan, Fuzhou, Jiangxi

Longitude: 116.351928

Latitude: 27.991251

Chinese PinYin : Tang Xian Zu Mu