Palace of Eternal Life

“The Palace of Eternal Life” (also the “Palace of Longevity” ) is a play (in the Chuanqi genre - “a story about the amazing”) by the Chinese playwright Hong Sheng , written in 1688 .

Its plot is based on the love story of the Tang Emperor Ming Huang (known in history under the personal name Li Longji and the temple name Xuan Zong , VIII century ) to his concubine (guifei) Yang . Prior to Hong Sheng, the plot was used in the famous poem by Bo Juiyi “A Song of Endless Sorrow” and in the play (in the “ zatszyu ” genre) of the Yuan playwright Bo Pu “ Rain in Plains ” ( XIII century ) - from it, Hong Sheng transferred several arias to his work .

“The Palace of Eternal Life” is a typical work of the Chuanqi genre, which has developed in the Chinese theater since the 16th century , gradually displacing the traditions of the Yuan drama (“ zatszyu ”). This is a huge text consisting of two parts (twenty-five acts each; out of 50 acts, only 3 have been translated into Russian), with a hundred actors.

If Bo Pu emphasized the evil principle in heroine (it was thanks to her, the emperor’s omnipotent favorite, that the country began to collapse, which later led to rebellion), then in the play of Hong Sheng, all attention is focused on describing the unearthly feelings of lovers. This is especially emphasized in the scene in which the lovers promise in the face of the deities never to be parted, in the scene of Yang Guifei's farewell to her beloved emperor ("Farewell of Jasper") - while she must commit suicide by obeying the will of the rebel soldiers, who saw in it the main source of evil in the state. The author puts into her mouth words that are important in a conceptual sense that this fate was predetermined to her in her previous birth. The loyal commander Guo Tzu-i suppresses the rebellion and allows the emperor to return to the palace. But the sovereign cannot forget the dead beauty, he builds a temple, erects a statue in it and weeps bitterly, looking at the familiar face. Suddenly he sees tears on his face.

The emperor’s grief touches the spirits, and they help the heroes to meet again in heaven, where Yang Guifei becomes an immortal fairy. The death of the heroine and the suffering of the emperor is only the completion of the earthly journey, ahead of lovers - the heavenly path. The last arias of the play are very characteristic in this regard, where the affirmation of the eternity of the “heavenly” feelings in the Taoist plan is combined with the Buddhist interpretation of being (“Life on earth is a dream, and sorrows and joys, consent and quarrels, disposition and love are all one void "). The arrival of the heroes in the celestial chambers of the immortals is interpreted in the Taoist plan as liberation from the earthly shackles (“We will jump out of the cave of passions, cut the bonds of mutual love, cast off the gold shackles, open the jade constipation ...”).

The play "The Palace of Eternal Life" was shown in the palace and received the approval of the emperor himself. However, soon (in 1689 ) the play was banned, and the directors and the author were severely punished. There are various assumptions regarding the reasons for the ban. It is possible that the emperor could see in the capture of the throne by the foreigner An Lu-shan a hint of the Manchu invaders.