Abstract
Mudan ting (Peony Pavilion), written by Tang Xianzu (1550–1616) in the late sixteenth century, remains one of the most read and frequently performed Chinese drama nowadays. Best known for its depiction of qing 情 (love, emotions), the play is replete with allusions, topoi, and words of love. Building on my earlier work on reading Mudan ting as an intertext of love in Passion, Romance, and Qing (Brill, 2014), in this paper I discuss the complex concept of love in Mudan ting, focusing on the terms and concepts of love associated with the meanings of spring, and the difficulty in speaking about love as expressed directly by the playwright and through his female protagonist Du Liniang in the play. The paper also explores the strong presence and function of literary tradition in the process of discovery and communication of the meanings of love in Peony Pavilion.
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