The Peach Blossom Fan

by K'ung Shang-jen

[Exit Shih. Huang and Liu are about to withdraw when Ma detains them.]

  Ma: Wait a minute, generals. [He clasps the hands of both.] Now that, thanks to our efforts to enthrone the new Emperor, he has promoted us to high ranks, you and I are firm friends. From now on we must keep in close contact and always exchange notes to help each other maintain our wealth and power.

  Huang and Liu: For all these advantages, we are indebted to you. Of course we shall do as you say. [Exeunt.]

  Ma [chuckling]: Who would have expected me to become Prime Minister! What a happy day for me! [Juan Ta-ch’eng creeps in. Ma, about to leave, stops and says]: But hold! Since a new court is being established, everything is in disorder. I must take care that the three Vice-Premiers do not gain too much power. There is no hurry for me to go home. I had better investigate conditions in the cabinet.

  [As Ma is about to leave, Juan approaches him with a quiet greeting.]

  Juan: Congratulations, my venerable Lord Prime Minister.

  Ma: Where have you sprung from?

  Juan: I was hiding outside the hall to hear what was being settled.

  Ma: This place is out of bounds. You’re dressed as an ordinary clerk and should not be here at all. Please retire quickly.

  Juan: But I have something of importance to tell you. [Whispers]: Now that you are Prime Minister, my venerable lord, do you remember the little services I rendered, especially as keeper of the petition appointed by yourself?

  Ma: It has just been announced in the Imperial decree that all vacant posts will be filled by those who escorted the Imperial chariot, and you are included among them.

  Juan: Wonderful, wonderful! Thank you, thank you!

  Ma: It is only proper that you should be rewarded. [Ma turns again to leave.]

  Juan: There must be many details requiring immediate attention. Let me be Your Excellency’s private secretary until you can find me a suitable post in the cabinet.

  Ma: True, this is the first time I am in charge of cabinet affairs. I may require plenty of assistance from you, but you must walk warily.

  Juan: Of course I shall. [Follows Ma obsequiously, carrying his tablet of office for him.]

  Ma [sings]:

  After long service outside the Yellow Gate,

  I am become Prime Minister.

  I stride with lofty steps and my spirit leaps with joy;

  How magnificent I must appear!

  Juan [sings]:

  Pray don’t forget your plodding old adviser.

  Ma:

  The palace roofs slant towards the east, and the morning mist is yellow.

  Juan:

  A newly appointed courtier has cause to be elated

  Ma:

  All those who went to the river return as minions of the dragon.

  Juan:

  I too shall climb the golden stair, holding an ivory tablet.

  [1] The Chinese had a binary notation system which yielded sixty possible combinations for naming years. There is thus a sixty-year cycle before the same year-name comes round again. Chia-shen here is 1644. In other contexts it could be used for 1584, 1704, etc.

  [2] See Prologue, n. 1.

  [3] The “Four Guardian Generals,” Huang Te-kung, Kao Chieh, Liu Tse-ch’ing, and Liu Liang-tso.

  SCENE 17

  THE MATCHMAKERS RESISTED

  1644, FIFTH MONTH

  Yang Wen-ts’ung [enters and sings]:

  Now that an Emperor in the prime of life is enthroned,

  We shall revive the festive spirit of the southern dynasties.

  Forget the dust of war beyond the river:

  Rare perfume becomes the most popular merchandise.

  [Speaks]: Having won credit for escorting the Imperial chariot, I have been appointed a Councillor in the Ministry of Ceremonies. My sworn brother Juan has become a member of the secretariat, and my fellow countrymen Yüeh Ch’i-chieh and T’ien Yang have also received good posts. We have all won these appointments on the same day — a day of rejoicing for each of us. T’ien Yang should receive the vacant post of Director of Military Supplies. He has just sent me three hundred silver taels with a request to find a lovely singing-girl to take along with him. The most eligible beyond any doubt is Fragrant Princess. I’ll go and ask her. [Calls out]: Steward!

  Steward: Though I have memorized the entire directory of nobles and court officials, I am called upon to trudge the brothel district. What are Your Honour’s orders?

  Yang: You are to summon the musician Ting Chi-chih and Mistress Pien Yü-ching to my study.

  Steward: But I’m a respectable steward, Your Honour. I am only familiar with the residences of ministers and officials. I don’t know the abodes of vagabonds and harlots.

  Yang: Let me enlighten you. [Sings]:

  Everywhere is a bustle for the Summer Festival,

  But most seductive is the Water Pavilion,

  Where young gallants can find red skirts

  More easily than Oxherd crosses the River of Heaven![1]

  Steward: If Your Honour refers to the Pavilion on the Ch’in-huai River, I think I can find it.

  Yang [pointing, sings]:

  There, where a gauze of almond blossoms

  Shows beneath flowering dates,

  You should make discreet enquiries.

  [Enter the three poet-musicians Ting Chi-chih, Shen Kung-hsien, and Chang Yen-chu.]

  Musicians: The brothel harbours the old and idle; the court attracts the young and brisk.

  Ting: Here is His Honour Yang’s mansion. I’ll knock. Hey, here?

  Steward [opening]: Who are you?

  Ting: I’m Ting Chi-chih, and these are my good friends Shen and Chang. We wish to see His Honour. Please announce us.

  Steward [delightedly]: What a happy coincidence. I was just about to look for you.

  [As the musicians enter the house, the three courtesans Pien Yü-ching, K’ou Pai-men, and Cheng T’o-niang appear.]

  Courtesans [recite]:

  Why are the purple swallows here so early?

  It seems the orioles come too late.

  K’ou: Will you three gentlemen wait for us? We might as well enter together.

  Ting: Oh, it’s you, sisters. What brings you here?

  Cheng: We must have all caught the same disease. You’re afraid of being teachers, and we’re afraid of being apprentices.

  [Visitors enter together.]

  Yang: How providential! I was hoping to see you.

  Visitors: We should not have ventured to intrude if we had not an urgent request. We came to ask Your Honour a favour, but first let us pay our respects. [All kowtow.]

  Yang [politely restraining them]: Please sit down and tell me what’s troubling you.

  Ting: Is it true that the newly promoted Secretary Juan is an intimate friend of Your Honour’s?

  Yang: It is indeed.

  Ting: We have heard that he has presented four plays of his own invention to His Majesty, and that the Emperor is so delighted, especially with The Swallow Letter, that he has ordered many copies to be made. It is rumoured that we are to be taken to the Inner Court to be trained for the various roles. Has Your Honour also heard his?

  Yang: I have; and it should be a fine performance.

  Chang: To be frank, nearly all of us have families of at least eight mouths to support with our own two lips. If we are taken to the Inner Court, we shall never see them again and they will starve.

  Cheng: We too have eight mouths depending on two strips of flesh.

  Yang: You need not worry on that account. When the Imperial decree is issued, there will be plenty of boys and girls to choose from. I’ll see that you are exempted.

  Visitors: We shall be grateful for Your Honour’s protection.

  Yang: I’ll send a special request to Master Juan. You may rest at ease about it.

  Visitors: We thank Your Honour. [All sing together]:

  In this city, the misty waters are ever beguiling,

  But there must be melody and damsels smili
ng

  To enhance the fiery glamour of the sunset. . .

  If we are all transferred to the Inner Court,

  Only gloom and rain will hide the landscape;

  On the pleasure-boats, behind the blue curtains,

  There will never be the same gaiety.

  Your Honour must protect

  The charm of the Ch’in-huai River;

  Then the hills themselves will retain

  Their glow of joyous life.

  Yang: I have a favour to ask you in return.

  Ting: What is Your Honour’s wish?

  Yang: A kinsman of mine, T’ien Yang, will soon be promoted to Director of Military Supplies. He has sent me three hundred silver taels to procure him a concubine.

  Cheng: Wouldn’t I be suitable?

  Chang: You can’t go — if you did, this place would lose its rhythm.

  Cheng: How “lose its rhythm”?

  Chang: There’d be no one left for me to strum!

  Cheng: Pah!

  Ting: Has Your Honour any particular girl in mind?

  Yang: I have, but I must ask you to negotiate.

  Pien: Who is the lucky choice?

  Yang: Fragrant Princess.

  Ting [shaking his head]: I doubt if that can be arranged.

  Yang: Why?

  Ting: Remember, she is contracted to Master Hou. [Sings]:

  The notes of her flute as she sits in her tower are full of fond memories.

  Though the willows are three springs older,

  She pines behind closed doors for her absent love,

  And hears the swallows twittering in vain.

  There’s little hope of persuading her to yield;

  She’s not the fickle kind.

  Yang: But her union with Master Hou was a temporary arrangement. Now that he is far away, I doubt if he gives her a thought. In any case, the attempt is well worth making.

  Pien: Ever since Master Hou’s departure, Fragrant Princess has remained faithful to him. She has never entertained another guest, and I am sure she would never remarry. The attempt would be hopeless. [Sings]:

  She is like a swan who has lost its mate.

  Alone she lingers by the shore,

  Cries to the passing clouds;

  And when the moon shines on her desolate tower,

  Her powder and rouge are washed away,

  Her ornaments thrust aside.

  The voice that used to sing is silent now.

  She is like a nun who spends all her time embroidering Buddha’s image,

  Lest the dusty world pollute her.

  Yang: Even so, if she were offered a mate more suitable than Master Hou, I think she would accept him.

  Ting: As her mother is an old friend of Your Honour’s, you might be able to cajole her by that means.

  Yang: Since I arranged the match with Master Hou, I would be embarrassed to broach this second one. It would be more becoming for you to do so. You shall be amply rewarded for your pains.

  Chang and Shen: In that case we’ll go too.

  K’ou and Cheng: If it is a flesh-and-blood transaction, we are quite as efficient as any of you.

  Yang: Stop arguing. If Mistress Pien and Master Ting don’t succeed, the next chance will be yours.

  All: Your Honour’s will be done. We beg to take our leave.

  Yang: Excuse me for not accompanying you to the door. [Recites]: I have jesters to amuse me, and other men’s affairs to keep me busy. [Exit.]

  Ting and Pien: We must do our best to oblige His Honour, since he has done so much for us.

  Shen and Chang: That goes without saying.

  Ting [to the others]: You others might as well go home while we visit Fragrant Princess and see if she can be persuaded.

  Cheng: If you get any money out of this, we must share and share alike.

  [Exeunt Chang, Shen, K’ou, and Cheng, laughing and joking. Ting and Mistress Pien walk together.]

  Ting: When Master Hou was united to Fragrant Princess, we were also intermediaries. [Sings]:

  Not long ago a banquet was spread

  For the betrothal of a genius to a radiant beauty.

  How lovely the flowers were,

  How brilliant the decorations!

  Flutes and viols filled the air with joyous modulations.

  [Speaks]: And now we are helping another to obtain her. What a shame! [Sings]:

  We are like grooms at posting stations, receiving

  One traveller after another as they come and go.

  Pien: Supposing we don’t comply?

  Ting: If we don’t, I’m afraid that the new official will use coercion.

  Pien: What is the most prudent course, then?

  Ting: Let us be ambiguous. When we get there, speak noncommittally, express our sympathy, and see how the wind blows. [Sings]:

  Let us imitate the leisurely bee,

  Which flies among flowers without apparent aim.

  Pien: That seems the most sensible approach.

  Ting: Oh, here we are. Let’s go in. [Calls]: Mistress Li!

  Fragrant Princess [enters reciting]:

  In my silent empty tower I sit alone,

  And doze in sickness through the weary days.

  [Calls]: Who is downstairs?

  Pien: Master Ting and I would like to see you.

  Fragrant Princess: Please come up.

  Ting and Pien: Where is your mother?

  Fragrant Princess: She has gone to a hamper party. May I offer you some tea?

  Pien: You seem to be always alone with nothing to do. Does nobody ever keep you company?

  Fragrant Princess: Dear aunt, you cannot conceive my state of dejection. [Sings]:

  The spring is ending, yet I am solitary.

  Sometimes I sing “The Lament of White Hair”

  Until the tears soak my handkerchief.

  Pien: Have you never thought of finding another mate?

  Fragrant Princess: I’m pledged to Master Hou. My heart will never change.

  Ting: Of course we understand your feelings. However, His Honour Yang told us that a high official has offered a large sum of money for you and we came to consult your opinion on the matter.

  Fragrant Princess [sings]:

  You were utterly mistaken,

  You were utterly mistaken.

  The crimson silk which bound me to my love

  Is worth far more than the largest sum of money.

  Pien: The decision rests with you. If you are unwilling, we shall have to seek elsewhere.

  Fragrant Princess [sings]:

  There are bevies of beauties in this pleasure resort

  Whose smiles are for sale.

  It was not my destiny

  To enter the rich man’s gate.

  Pien: Then we shall refuse this proposal on your behalf.

  Ting: But when your mother returns she may be tempted by so large an offer.

  Fragrant Princess: My mother is too fond of me to force my hand.

  Ting: We need not worry then. I admire your resolution. [He stands up and says goodbye.]

  Chang, Shen, K’ou, and Cheng [running in, recite]:

  Love binds two people a thousand leagues apart,

  But money may sever the bond betwixt heart and heart.

  Chang: Let us hurry. If the others succeeded in cajoling her, we shall lose our reward.

  Cheng: Even if they have swallowed the money, I’ll make them cough it up.

  Chang [to Fragrant Princess]: We have come to congratulate you.

  Fragrant Princess: What for?

  K’ou: Two matchmakers have called on you at the same time. Isn’t that a reason for congratulation?

  Fragrant Princess: Are you referring to T’ien Yang’s proposal?

  Chang: Precisely.

  Fragrant Princess: I have already rejected it.

  Shen: His Honour Yang was kind enough to recommend you. How can you be so ungrateful as to disappoint him? [Sings]:

  Since you were born a rare pearl,
/>   Waxing in beauty like flowers under the moon,

  He has found you a mate

  Renowned for elegance and fabulous wealth.

  Fragrant Princess: I have no inclination for either. Say no more.

  Ting and Pien: We have discussed it with her, and she has decided not to marry again.

  K’ou: So she’s being obstinate, eh? But if she’s dragged off to the Inner Court, she will never have a chance of seeing another man. [Sings]:

  After each performance,

  She will be locked in a gloomy den.

  Night and day,

  She will live to regret it.

  Fragrant Princess: Why should it be so hard to remain alone all one’s life?

  Cheng: Three hundred taels of gleaming silver! What more do you expect, you drivelling child?

  Fragrant Princess: If you’re so fond of silver, go and marry him yourself. Why bother me?

  Cheng: You little idiot, how dare you talk to me like that? You have so provoked me, I shall die of rage here and now. [She bumps her head in a clownish attempt at suicide, singing]:

  You cheap little low-born hussy,

  How dare you wag your tongue

  To abuse your elders and betters?

  Chang: You brazen strumpet, remember that His Honour Yang is now a high official in the Ministry of Ceremonies, and you and your sort come under his jurisdiction. Tomorrow he can send you to the magistrate and have your thumbs cracked. [Sings]:

  In his anger he may send a thunderstorm

  To destroy all our peaches and willows.

  Fragrant Princess: Threaten as much as you please, my mind is determined.

  Pien [to others]: Don’t regard her as a child. Young as she is, she knows her own mind.

  Ting: It is useless threatening her. Let us go.

  Cheng: I was on the verge of suicide. Didn’t you notice it? Why did nobody try to stop me? I’m disgusted with the lot of you. As for the wench, if she keeps on refusing, why not carry her off if we have to drag her downstairs? [Sings]:

  Stick her in a two-wheeled cart,

  Stick her in a two-wheeled cart,

  Break her jewelled hairpins,

  Tear her silk robes apart.

  Ting: Remember the proverb: No matter how rich you are, you cannot buy what is not for sale. Both threats and coercion are useless. Let us go.

  Shen and K’ou: We never wanted to come in the first place. It was old Chang and Cheng T’o-niang who dragged us into this unpleasant situation. [Sing]:

  Let’s be off.