The Complete Dramatic Works of Tang Xianzu

by Tang Xianzu

  “Nowhere am I to fix my look

  But bury my head in the book.”

  (Enter the janitor)

  JANITOR:

  “The scholars in the world are poor

  While janitors are smart for sure.”

  (Greets Chen Zuiliang)

  Congratulations, Sir.

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  For what?

  JANITOR:

  Prefect Du would like to find a tutor for his daughter, but is not satisfied with anyone recommended by the director of the Prefectural Academy because he wants an experienced tutor. I spoke to the director and recommended you. Here is the letter of invitation from Prefect Du.

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  Mencius teaches us, “Man’s anxieties begin when he would like to teach others.”

  JANITOR:

  But man’s hunger is more tormenting than man’s anxieties. You don’t have to worry about your stomach at least.

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  In this case, let’s go now.

  (They begin to leave)

  (To the tune of Dongxiange)

  I sew my scarf when it is torn

  And mend my shoes when they are worn.

  JANITOR:

  When you take the tutor’s post,

  You’ll share the honour of the host.

  CHEN ZUILIANG, JANITOR:

  Rinse with water from the writing tray

  Before the tasty dinners every day

  And use toothpicks to keep the stink away.

  JANITOR (To the previous tune):

  I have found such a precious job for you;

  Don’t you forget to give me a gift or two!

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  I know you want me to repay,

  But I don’t know if I can stay.

  CHEN ZUILIANG, JANITOR:

  On festivals when days are fair,

  Be sure to go out in the air

  And bring something for us to share.

  JANITOR:

  The prefect’s gate is in sight now.

  The worldly honour comes and goes,

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  But who cares for old men in their woes?

  JANITOR:

  When Prefects sit at home in ease,

  CHEN ZUILIANG, JANITOR:

  The favour-curriers come in rows.

  Scene Five

  Employing the Tutor

  (Enter Du Bao with his butler and attendant)

  DU BAO (To the tune of Huanshaxi):

  The mountains look their best;

  The court now takes a rest.

  The birds come and go above the hall;

  The petals cover my seal stand and curtains fall.

  “Although Du Shi exceeds me in esteem,

  I’ve earned a good reputation in Nan’an.

  For all my contributions so supreme,

  I have begot no male heir to my clan.”

  As Prefect of Nan’an, I only have my wife and my daughter on my side. I intend to find a tutor for my daughter. Yesterday, the Confucian Academy of the prefecture recommended to me a scholar by the name of Chen Zuiliang, a learned man about sixty years old. He can teach my daughter and also chat with me. Today I have laid off official duties so that I can entertain him with a dinner. Butler, get ready for the guest.

  (The butler and the attendant answer the order)

  (Enter Chen Zuiliang in a blue robe and a scholar’s cap)

  CHEN ZUILIANG (To the previous tune):

  I’ll do away with fear

  And put on my best cheer.

  In shabby coats for my old age,

  I’ll face my master like a sage.

  ATTENDANT (Announces):

  Mr Chen is at the gate.

  DU BAO:

  Invite him to come in.

  ATTENDANT (Announces):

  Here comes the scholar from the prefectural academy.

  (Exit)

  CHEN ZUILIANG (Kneels, rises to his feet, bows and kneels again):

  Chen Zuiliang from the prefectural academy kowtows to Your Excellency.

  (Kowtows)

  “After schools are set up in the town,

  DU BAO:

  A scholar is deemed of high renown.

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  Toasts after toasts are now exchanged,

  DU BAO:

  When host and guest are properly arranged.”

  Now all the attendants may go home since I shall have a chat with Mr Chen. Tell the servants to attend on us.

  (The attendants answer the order and withdraw)

  (Enter the servant boy)

  I’ve long heard that you are well learned. May I ask how old you are and whether you come from a Confucian family?

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  Yes, of course.

  (To the tune of Suonanzhi)

  I’m over sixty years of age,

  On my way toward three score and ten,

  A scholar whose youth will ne’er come again.

  DU BAO:

  And now?

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  I practise medicine to earn some pay,

  A practice passed down from the ancient day.

  DU BAO:

  So medicine is your family heritage. What else do you know?

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  I can do prophecy for men;

  And geomancy is within my ken.

  BU BAO:

  These skills are all the more useful.

  (To the previous tune)

  I’ve heard of your name for many years,

  But it’s the first time for me to meet

  A scholar of enormous feat.

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  You’re over-praising me.

  BU BAO:

  My daughter knows how to read and write

  And will surely learn from you with delight.

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  I’ll do my best, but I’m not sure whether I can teach her well enough.

  BU BAO:

  Lucky is my daughter

  To have you as her tutor.

  As this is a day of bliss

  For my daughter to meet her tutor.

  Butler, strike the summoning plate to call the young mistress.

  (Enter Du Liniang with Chunxiang)

  DU LINIANG (To the previous tune):

  With eyebrows craven-black

  And pendants emerald-green,

  A beauty steps from behind the screen.

  In buoyant footsteps to the hall,

  I act properly in front of all.

  CHUNXIANG:

  Now that the tutor has arrived, what shall we do?

  DU LINIANG:

  I have to meet him anyway, Chunxiang.

  The names of virtuous ladies never fade;

  A little learning makes you a better maid.

  BUTLER:

  Here comes the young mistress.

  (Du Liniang bows to her father)

  DU BAO:

  Come forward, my child. As The Book of Rites says,

  “Uncarved jade is unfit for use;

  Uneducated men are unaware of Tao.”

  As today is a day of bliss, come and meet your tutor.

  (Sounds of drums and music within)

  DU LINIANG (Makes obeisance):

  I’m an unworthy student for an experienced teacher.

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  It’s an honour for an old man like me to teach a talented student.

  DU BAO:

  Chunxiang, come and kowtow to Mr Chen. This servant maid will accompany my daughter in her studies.

  (Chunxiang kowtows)

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  May I ask what books the mistress has studied?

  DU BAO:

  She’s able to memorise the Four Books both for men and for women, and now she’d better read something from the Five Classics. The Book of Changes deals with the duality of yin and yang; that’s too profound for her. The Book of History deals with political affairs; that’s of no concern for women. The Sprin
g and Autumn Annals and The Book of Rites are too fragmented. The Book of Poetry, however, starts with the eulogy of the virtue of queens and consorts and is easy to remember with its four-syllabic verse. Moreover, poetry conforms with my family tradition. It’s better for her to study The Book of Poetry. I have all kinds of books and histories, but the pity is that she is a girl.

  (To the previous tune)

  At fifty years of age,

  I’m fond of books myself,

  With thirty thousand on the shelf.

  (Sighs)

  What’s the use of my great name,

  If I have not a son to carry on the fame?

  Mr Chen, my daughter has all the books at her disposal. If she’s done anything wrong, just punish the maid.

  CHUNXIANG:

  Alas!

  DU BAO:

  I hope that you will make my daughter

  A worthy scholar of the topmost grade.

  Meanwhile, just watch out

  For the naughty maid.

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  Yes, I’ll do my best.

  DU BAO:

  Chunxiang, see your young mistress to her room while I have a drink with Mr Chen.

  DU LINIANG (Makes obeisance):

  “The tutor has his wine to drink;

  The daughter has her books to think.”

  (Exit Du Liniang with Chunxiang)

  DU BAO:

  Mr Chen, let’s have a drink in the back garden.

  A tutor teaches pupils in the day,

  CHEN ZUILIANG:

  Poor scholars have but rice upon the tray.

  DU BAO:

  A loving daughter as my single heir,

  CHEN ZUILIANG, DU BAO:

  She has a tutor now to guide her way.

  Scene Six

  An Outing

  (Enter Han Zicai)

  HAN ZICAI (To the tune of Fanbusuan):

  With family name tracing back to Tang,

  I now dwell in the town Chaoyang.

  Now that I watch the boundless roaring sea,

  Will my career be promising for me?

  “On the Ancient Terrace under banyan trees,

  I watch the Jiazi Bay below in breeze.

  Without a trace of former song and dance,

  I see a partridge come and go at ease.”

  I am Han Zicai. My ancestor Han Yu was banished to Chaozhou in the south because he wrote the essay On the Bones of Buddha. As soon as he arrived at the Languan Pass, his horse was unable to go on because of heavy snow. He thought that this was an ill omen. In distress, he saw his nephew Han Xiangzi, one of the eight immortals, approach him in rags. All the more distressed, he thawed his frozen brush and wrote a poem in the hostel. The last two lines read:

  “I know that you have come to me

  To take my relics to the sea.”

  Han Xiangzi thrust the poem in his sleeves and soared into the sky with a prolonged laugh. It so happened that my ancestor Han Yu died of malaria in Chaozhou with no relatives beside his deathbed. Han Xiangzi witnessed all this up in the clouds. As he recalled the poem, he lowered his clouds and collected the remains. When he came to the official residence, he saw no one but his former wife. As they looked at each other, his mortal instinct was aroused. A son was born in Shuichao to carry on the family line and I am descended from this line. In times of turmoil, I moved here to Guangzhou and was assigned as an assistant to the Temple of Han Yu because I was his descendant. And so I’m now living near the Terrace of Prince Zhao Tuo. As the poem goes,

  “A scholar of the poorest kind

  May have the loftiest mind.”

  Here comes a friend of mine. Who can it be?

  (Enter Liu Mengmei)

  LIU MENGMEI (To the previous tune):

  With learning and experience

  Behind an inconspicuous appearance,

  I’d like to mount the hills to watch the cloud

  Above the flat sea like a shroud.

  (Exchanges greetings with Han Zicai)

  HAN ZICAI:

  Hi, Liu Mengmei! What wind has brought you here?

  LIU MENGMEI:

  I’m wandering alone and happen to climb onto this terrace.

  HAN ZICAI:

  This terrace commands an excellent view.

  LIU MENGMEI:

  But it’s not easy to climb such a height.

  HAN ZICAI:

  I’m having a good time here.

  LIU MENGMEI:

  It suddenly occurs to me that the illiterate have the best time.

  HAN ZICAI:

  Whom do you mean?

  LIU MENGMEI:

  Prince Zhao.

  (To the tune of Suohanchuang)

  When Qin’s First Emperor was dead,

  Across the land the turmoil spread.

  Prince Zhao usurped a stretch of land

  And thus became a sovereign head.

  A hero without any dread,

  With people under his command,

  He built a palace tall and grand.

  But for scholars like you and me, do we have a single bit of land?

  Confucian books bring no land to our hand.

  LIU MENGMEI, HAN ZICAI:

  Oh, Gracious Heaven,

  It’s no use dwelling on the past;

  The terrace alone will stand and last.

  HAN ZICAI:

  You look as if you were upset. My ancestor Han Yu wrote,

  “Never mind whether the official is bright,

  But mind whether your essay is right;

  Never mind whether the official is fair,

  But mind whether your knowledge is there.”

  Brother, I’m afraid we still have something to learn.

  LIU MENGMEI:

  Let’s forget about it. Both my ancestor Liu Zongyuan and your ancestor Han Yu were men of great learning, but they were born under the wrong star. Your ancestor was banished to Chaozhou — he should not have written On the Bones of Buddha; my ancestor was banished to Liuzhou — he should not have played chess with Prime Minister Wang Shuwen in the Chaoyang Hall of the palace and thus disturbed the Emperor. Both Chaozhou and Liuzhou were located in the foggy coastal areas. While they travelled together to the south, they chatted under the lamp in the hostel. “Zongyuan, Zongyuan,” said Han Yu, “your essays are as good as mine. I wrote A Biography of Wang Chengfu, the Bricklayer and you wrote A Biography of a Carpenter; I wrote A Biography of Minister Mao Yin and you wrote A Biography of Hunchback Guo, the Gardener; I wrote A Funeral Oration to the Crocodile and you wrote Reminiscences of a Snake-Catcher. So far so good. When I submitted An Epigraph on the Pacification of Huaixi to curry favour with the throne, you wrote in your turn Ode to the Pacification of Huaixi. You competed with me essay by essay. Now that we are banished to the remote regions, we are in the same boat. What has brought us together, the time, the chance or the fate?” Brother, let’s forget about things in the distant past but comment on you and me. Should we deserve such destitution? Why hasn’t my ancestor’s essay Pursuit for Fortune brought any fortune to the twenty-eight generations of my family? Why hasn’t your ancestor’s essay Farewell to Poverty bid farewell to poverty all through the twenty-odd generations of your family? The time and the chance seem to be the only answer.

  HAN ZICAI:

  Exactly. Chunqing,

  (To the previous tune)

  You buy the books to enrich your mind,

  But oft-times knowledge may be left behind.

  However, Lu Jia, a scholar in Prince Zhao’s time, came here on an imperial errand and was entitled a high-ranking official. How well he was received by Prince Zhao!

  In honour he returned to court,

  With treasures of various sorts.

  Emperor Gaozu in the Han Dynasty detested scholars. Whenever he saw a Confucian cap, he would piss on it. One day Lu Jia went for an audience in his square cap and dark robe. On seeing Lu Jia, Emperor Gaozu said to himself, “Another piss pot for me!” and shouted at Lu Jia, “I have won my emp
ire on horseback; what’s the use of poems and books?” Lu Jia was witty enough to retort: “Your Majesty has won the empire on horseback, but can you rule over the empire on horseback?” The emperor smiled at these words and said, “True as you are, let me hear a passage.” Lu Jia took his time and drew from his sleeves a scroll of Latest Remarks, thirteen essays written at home. The emperor was delighted when he heard the first essay, and praised each essay when they were read out. Lu Jia was immediately entitled Interior Marquis. What a glory for him! Not only the emperor but also the ministers and generals gave high credit to him.

  A word of wisdom from the learned man

  Roused applause from whole clan.

  LIU MENGMEI (Heaves a sigh):

  As for my essays, no one would like to scan.

  LIU MENGMEI, HAN ZICAI:

  Oh, Gracious Heaven,

  It’s no use dwelling on the past;

  The terrace alone will stand and last.

  HAN ZICAI:

  Chunqing, may I ask how you manage to make a living?

  LIU MENGMEI:

  I’m living with my gardener.

  HAN ZICAI:

  In my opinion, you’d better find a patron to help you out.