Quest for Liberty：Mental Development and Creative Thinking of T''ang Hsien-tsu
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Huang, Sin-Yu
Abstract
Abstracthis paper is written due to interest in when and how “ch’ing”（情） became a value in the traditional culture. Advocacy of“ch’ing”was considered a cultural trend or feature in middle and late Ming Dynasty, and it was largely contributed by T’ang Hsien-tsu（湯顯祖） and his work “Peony Pavilion”（牡丹亭）. However, “Peony Pavilion”, “Nan-k’o Chi”（南柯記）, and “Han-tan Chi”（邯鄲記）, which were written during the same period, showed significantly different themes and styles; especially the expression of “ch’ing” by the main characters was nearly contrary. Does it indicate the change in T’ang’s thoughts? Or is it simply because of different themes? Regardless of the question asked, T’ang treated “ch’ing” as a concept with consistent connotation and compared with “li”（理）. However, based on the analysis of the textual context, the vector and usage of “ch’ing” is difficult to summarize, or described with a single model. In the discourses of “enlightenment” or “anti-tradition”, the view of “ch’ing” in the middle and late Ming Dynasty is reduced. Therefore, this paper does not plan to establish or connect any macro systems, instead, it aims to differentiate and analyze the textual context, in order to explore the relationship between T’ang’s creative thinking and mental development, and explain related questions on “ch’ing”. reative thinking refers to the formation, expression, and connotation of focus consciousness, while including the thinking concerning the creative activity. Since it is not only about the mere rational operation, but it also concerns the mental development of writers in response to different situations. revious discussion on the culture of late Ming Dynasty by the academia was often based on the background of the prosperity of business and rising of towns after the mid-Ming Dynasty. Audience or readers today often learn about T’ang and his works through Kun opera（崑曲）, as well as publications and comments in southern China during Ming and Qing Dynasties. For T’ang , the Wu（吳） territory in south of the Yangtze River, a “foreign land”（他鄉） and “right side of the Yangtze River”（江右）with different customs and languages, was not only where he registered the residence but also it is a “place” involves “value” and “belongingness”; in another word, the better clarified life energy after middle-aged years of T’ang was implied in his early days.he literati who came from right side of the Yangtze River once had occupied significant political positions in Ming Dynasty. For T’ang, serving as a government official especially brought romantic senses in achieving chivalrous conducts. He learned from chivalrous experts to establish his position in the world. Since he practiced chivalrous conducts in a political world, he was destined to burden the uncontrollable struggle in a power field. Comparing with “Huo Hsiao Yu Chuan” （霍小玉傳）and “Tzu Ch’ai Chi”（紫釵記）, the obstacle to love was not from influences of family but from complication of power and money. Characteristics of the villain figures are not Li Yi（李益）’s heartlessness but government officer Lu（盧太尉）’s personal monopolization. The story theme is closely correlated with T’ang’s political views and standpoint.urning down by Wan Li Emperor（萬曆皇帝） for his frank criticism in 1591A.D, T’ang was frustrated and changed his mindset instead of concentrating on emperor and his ruling world. From chronicle records, Lo Ju-fang（羅汝芳）, Li Chih（李贄）, and Tzu Po （紫柏）had once offered inspiration or had impact on T’ang. Since he was frustrated that his criticism was not accepted, he especially valued these three persons and reconsidered the relationship between himself and the world.t is worth noting that his creativity reached a peak stage after his mindset switched to the other direction during several years. In addition to “Tzu Ch’ai Ch” that was finished during the time serving as government official in Nanjing around 1587, the “Si Meng” （四夢）that established T’ang’s significant status in literature history includes “Peony Pavilion”, “Nan-k’o Chi”, and “Han-tan Chi” that were completed in 1598, 1600, and 1601, respectively, the first four years he returned hometown from his government post. Through poetry, he searched for his life destination, which is also the issue his opera most concerned about during his prime days. The search for destination is not only the subject of poetry during the four years at hometown. In fact while watching his opera, “ch’ing” is only an element reflecting the subject of chivalrous conduct in “Tzu Ch’ai Chi”; it is until “Peony Pavilion” and “Er Meng” （二夢）that essence of the entire opera is truly accentuated. This differentiation coincides with the transition of T’ang’s mindset.lthough “ch’ing” is the center for guiding action of the leading character in “Peony Pavilion” and “Er Meng”, the totally different story development and interpretation reveal “ch’ing” does not represent the solid value from a fixed angle. While “ch’ing” is indeed the keyword in the context of T’ang’s opera, it is important to clarify how it became the keyword. By analyzing the scope of “ch’ing” and “li”, “ch’ing” and “fa”（法）, “ch’ing” and “hsiang”（想）, “shen ch’ing”（深情） and “chih ku”（智骨） in the specific context, T’ang certainly had numerous ways to define “ch’ing”; “ch’ing” may possibly indicate “infinite” and “limited” in the opposite relationship. Anyway, it would become a life structure with opposite points (e.g. “fa”, “hsiang”, and “chih”).’ang Hsien-tsu considered the “way”（道）of “opera god”（戲神） as “Jen Ch’ing Chih Da Tou”（人情之大竇）. “Tou” was used as a metaphor in “Book of Rites”（禮記）. Written by T’ang, it is still a metaphor; yet, the course of opera presented in “Peony Pavilion” and “Er Meng” changes its focus back on the literal meaning of “tou”, which is also “hole” or “opening”. In another word, metaphor points to self; thus, it shall have something to do with how “ch’ing” became the keyword. T’ang used “ch’ing” to indicate the nature of penetrating constraint or being caught in a closed power, which both involve issues with “single” and “multiple” perspectives. Is the “world” “single” or “multiple”? Is the “truth” “single” or “multiple”? “Tou” distinguishes time and space; it also connects worlds that are different. Two ends of “tou” demonstrated in “Peony Pavilion” are “death” and “life”, while in “Er Meng” are “dream” and “awakening”. The leading role of the opera entered and came out instead of living in the familiar “one-dimensional” time and space in the “one” world.n terms of T’ang, opera may provide a place to present various “possibilities” among “self” and “world”. What, on earth, is the true status of the world? Regardless of the interpretation from Confucianism, Buddhism, or Daoism, all sorts of comparison are rigid confinement or self-contained sophistication. For this, not only “Peony Pavilion”, “Nan-k’o chi” and “Han-tan chi” indicate the criticism to secular scholars who went far away from “liberty”, too. Establish the theory from “intoxicating creation” of “opera god”, T’ang also suggested theory from “conscious acting” of “Yi actors”（宜伶）. It can be referred to dual methods of demonstrating the relationship between “ch’ing” and “liberty” in his operas.
Subjects
Peony Pavilion
Han-tan chi
Type
thesis
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