Wang Shifu

Wang Shifu (traditional Chinese: 王實甫; simplified Chinese: 王实甫; pinyin: Wáng Shífǔ) (1250-1337?), courtesy name of Wang Dexin (Chinese: 王德信),[1] was a Chinese dramatist and playwright of the Yuan dynasty. He is a representative of “Wencaipai” (Literal talent group) in Chinese opera literature. He was born in Dadu (present-day Beijing), the capital of the Yuan dynasty. His ancestral home was in Hebei province, Baoding city. Wang was born into a noble family. His father was a general who worked for Genghis Khan. Under the impact of his elder generation, Wang started his officialdom career as a county official. He was then promoted to the investigating censor of Shanxi Province due to his brilliant talent and achievement. However, due to his characters and dispositions, he finally chose to escape from the officialdom and devoted himself to literature creation.[2]

There are 14 plays attributed to Wang and only three are extant.[3] The extant three are Romance of the Western Chamber,Li Chun Hall, and Po Yao Ji.[4] His Romance of the Western Chamber (Xi Xiang Ji) is one of the most famous Chinese plays and is still popular today. It is an amplified zaju (雜劇/杂剧), a then-popular theatrical form.[5]

Wang Shifu's writing features in depicting the emotional changes of characters euphemistically and delicately to shape the image of the characters. He also focused on the use of foreshadowing to make twists and turns in the plot in order to create unexpected dramatic effects and depict the complex reality in life.[6]

Wang shifu also developed a brand-new writing format compared with the orthodox Yuan Dynasty zaju repertoire, which was a cycle of five linked pieces. From dramatizing and recomposing a love story already popular in the twelfth century and sharing plots with other zaju, Wang invented his own writing style. This angle of view after popular success suggested that Wang may have been an experienced professional in the first age of Chinese theatre.[7]

Notes
  1. Tres dramas chinos Gredos, 2002 ISBN 978-84-249-2358-7. Several dates are given for his death. The Britannica establishes it in 1337
  2. Li, Yuzhen (1991). "关于王实甫". 山西大学学报(哲学社会科学版）. 2: 62–64.
  3. Britannica Article, Alicia Relinque in Tres dramas chinos says only two complete works survived
  4. Deng, Shaoji (2012). "王实甫的活动年代和《西厢记》的创作时间". EBSCO.
  5. Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema, "Introduction," Wang, The Moon and the Zither.
  6. Zhang, Yanjin (1986). "元曲三家风格论". 北京师院学报（社会科学版）. 04: 38–44 – via CNKI.
  7. Costa, Francisco (2013-05-31). "The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance. Edited by Dennis Kennedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. xiv + 689. £10.99/$19.95 Pb; £25/$45 Hb". Theatre Research International. 38 (2): 160–161. doi:10.1017/s0307883313000060. ISSN 0307-8833. S2CID 161983158.

References
  • Wang, Shifu, Edited and Translated with an Introduction by Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema; with a Study of Its Woodblock Illustrations by Yao Dajuin. The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. ISBN 0520068076.
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