Peony Pavilion is one of the greatest dramas of the Tang Dynasty by Tang Hsien-tsu. It depicts the saga of a love story. The basic template for most Chinese plays involves a handsome, bright scholar who falls in love with a beautiful maiden.  Trouble usually comes in the form of parental disapproval, thus creating the conflict between the young lovers' Confucian obedience to their parents and their own irrepressible love for each other.  Peony Pavilion adheres to this pattern but throws in a very unusual twist.  The young maiden in the story, Bridal Du, falls in love with a scholar whom she's only met once in a dream and dies longing for him. But this is just the beginning.  The scholar, Liu Mengmei, happens to be a real person and through sheer accident ends up staying in her town. Eventually, Liu meets Bridal's ghost, disinters her body, and she comes back to live.

Synopsis

The Dream of Love

Du Liniang, a sheltered, lonely girl of sixteen, dreams of a handsome young scholar. Saddened that he was only a dream, she pines away. Before she dies, she paints a self-portrait and hides it in the garden. Her mother buries her under a plum tree, and a shrine is erected to her memory. Most of the singing and action in Part I is done by the female lead, in melismatic, haunting melodies.

Romance and Resurrection

Liu Mengmei, an impoverished scholar, dreams of a beautiful young woman under a plum tree who prophesies that only she will bring him happiness. While traveling, he finds Du Liniang's portrait, and falls in love with the image. Liniang's ghost appears. Convinced of Mengmei's love, she reveals that she is a ghost, but that she can be revived. Braving his own fears, Mengmei opens the grave. Liniang returns to life.

Reunion and Triumph

The lively resolution to the story. Mengmei succeeds as a scholar, but not before being punished on suspicion of grave robbing. Liniang is reunited with her parents, but not before her stern father admits that love can conquer death.