汤馆景点介

Corridor of Coins

In the Handan Dream, the main character Lu Sheng bribed the nobility and high officials to rave about his talents with the help of his wife Cui’s so-called brother, “Kong Fang” (which describes the square hole in the center of ancient Chinese coins), later identified as the epithet of coins. Despite his thesis being failed, the emperor still conferred on him the title for the scholar with the highest score in the imperial examinations, “Zhuang Yuan”. The design of the Corridor of Coins aims to expose the malpractice of using money instead of talents and capabilities to achieve the Zhuang Yuan title, which is representative of the buying and selling of official positions in the imperial examination system.

Peony Pavilion

The Peony Pavilion tells the story of Du Liniang, daughter of the chief governor of the Nan’an Prefecture, Du Bao. Prompted by her maid Chun Xiang, Du Liniang went out for a walk in the back garden when her father went to the countryside to promote farming. Leaving her house for the first time at the age of 16, she was amazed and intrigued by the splendor of the blazingly colorful blossoms, the delicacy of pavilions amongst the greeneries against the backdrop of clouds and the rosy dawn, and the peacefulness of scattered boats floating on the lake in spring drizzles and soft breeze. These beautiful sceneries triggered a desire for romance in Liniang’s youthful heart, leading to the beautiful love story between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei that transcended the limits of life and death. The Peony Pavilion was featured as an important scene in the episode of “Sweet Dream in the Garden”.

Bridges of Three Lives

It was written at the beginning of the first episode of the Peony Pavilion that

“As long as our love is not forsaken, it will endure forever across the three lives”, which was used to describe the love between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei. “Three lives”, as a Buddhist term that denotes the previous life, the present life and the future life collectively, is also used as an allusion to describe the predestined love in Chinese poetry and prose.

Yuming Hall/Hall of White Camellia

In the 26th year of Emperor Wan Li’s reign (1598), Tang Xianzu returned to his hometown, Linchuan, after resigning his official post in the Suichang County. He built the Hall of White Camellia in the Shajing Lane in Linchuan for writing, guest reception, family dinners, and opera performance. The hall was named “Yuming”, which means “white camellia”. Not looking to outshine the peony, the white camellia only wishes to share its glow along with the sun and the moon. Tang Xianzu loved this noble character of the flower as well as its immaculate white color, and therefore chose “Yuming” as the hall’s name, and he himself also became known as “Mr. Yuming”. The comprehensive exhibition hall was thus named the Yuming Hall/Hall of White Camellia.

Qingyuan Tower/Tower of Tranquility

After his retirement, Tang Xianzu returned to Linchuan and built the Hall of White Camellia and the Qingyuan Tower/Tower of Tranquility. He named himself the Taoist Qingyuan, which expressed a desire to break away from the red tape and worldly trivia to live a tranquil and secluded life.

Golden Millet Inn:

In the Handan Dream, the down-and-out Lu Sheng came across the immortal Lü Dongbin in a small inn in Handan. In a hope to enlighten Lu Sheng after hearing

the man’s complaints about his impoverished and troubled life, Lü gave him a porcelain pillow and asked him to sleep on it. Lu Sheng dreamed of a life of endless wealth and honor as the highest official, only to wake up to the same inn where the innkeeper was still cooking the yellow millet for him, and where he realized that the life in the dream was nothing but vanity. This is the story behind the Chinese idiom “the Golden Millet Dream”.

Shengye Lane/Prosperity Lane:

“Fang” in Chinese means lanes and alleys, and there were more than 100 of them in the ancient Chang’an city of the Tang Dynasty including the Shengye Lane. It was the fourth lane of the Fourth Street to the east of the Gate of Zhu Que (Vermilion Bird, one of the four symbols of the Chinese constellations), where Huo Xiaoyu, the character in the Legend of the Purple Hairpin, had lived.

Brick carving

The Encounter: In the evening of the Lantern Festival, Huo Xiaoyu lost her purple jade hairpin, which was a handed-down family treasure, when she and her maid were washing clothes and enjoying the festive lanterns. A scholar named Li Yi discovered the hairpin on a plum tree and proposed to Xiaoyu with it as the betrothal gift and the two got married.

The Farewell: Li Yi was sent to the Yumen Pass (Pass of the Jade Gate) to defend the border and bade Xiaoyu farewell at the Ba Bridge. Xiaoyu gave him a willow twig that she had broken off to show her reluctance to be parted from him. The newlywed could do nothing but be forced to leave each other.

The Separation: Irritated by Li’s loftiness and yet impressed by his talents, the Grand Commandant Lu wanted Li to marry his daughter and therefore tried to

sabotage the relationship between Li Yi and Xiaoyu. The couple as a result lost contact with each other for three years and were inflicted by lovesickness.

The Reunion: A chivalrous person named Huang Shan Ke (Man in the yellow shirt), who was indignant at what had happened to Xiaoyu, abducted the imprisoned Li Yi and took him to Xiaoyu. The couple cleared up the misunderstanding and finally became reunited.

Brief introduction of the Handan Dream: In a small inn to the north of the Zhaozhou Bridge (aka the Anji Bridge) in Handan, the impoverished and helpless Lu Sheng came across the immortal Lü Dongbin, and complained to him about his wretched life. Trying to enlighten him, Lü gave him a porcelain pillow to sleep on. In his dream, Lu Sheng married a woman from a noble family and became “Zhuang Yuan”(given to the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the Chinese imperial examinations). He performed meritorious service but was expelled from the imperial court due to slanders framed against him, and was rehabilitated to undertake the position of the grand councilor. He lived a life of extreme extravagance and grace until he died of overindulgence in carnal pleasures. It was only when he woke up to the same inn where the yellow millet the innkeeper had been cooking for him was still not ready that he realized the 50 years of vicissitudes of life were merely a vain dream. As a result, he became enlightened and cultivated himself to attain immortality.

Brief introduction of A Dream Under the Southern Bough: One day, Chunyu Fen, a dismissed officer who had just returned his hometown, drank himself to sleep during a gathering with friends. In his dream he entered the “Great Kingdom of Huai An”, where he married the king’s daughter and served as the governor of the tributary state Nanke for 20 years. He gained unprecedented

public approval as the state flourished under his governance, and therefore was quickly promoted and became extremely successful. However, he was defamed and gradually lost power after his wife’s death, and was finally sent back to his own world. When he became awake, he found out that the “Great Kingdom of Huai An” was nothing but a huge ant nest under a Chinese scholar tree. Enlightened by this experience, Chunyu Fen finally converted himself to Buddhism.

Brief introduction of the Legend of the Purple Hairpin: In the evening of the Lantern Festival, Tang dynasty scholar Li Yi met Huo Xiaoyu and was attracted to her beauty and talents. Having fallen in love at first sight, the two got married and took the purple jade hairpin that Xiaoyu had lost on a plum tree as their love token. Li Yi became the first ranked scholar in the imperial examinations not long after that, but was sent to the border by the Grand Commandant Lu, who held a grudge against Li as the latter did not pay tribute to him. After Li was recalled by the imperial court for his exploits, he was imprisoned by Lu for refusing to marry his daughter. However, this was completely unbeknownst to Xiaoyu, who thought Li had betrayed her and therefore resented him. Nevertheless, with the help of a chivalrous man, Huang Shan Ke (Man in the yellow shirt), the couple finally dispelled the misunderstanding and restored their love.

Brief introduction of the Peony Pavilion: Seldom stepping out of her bedroom, Du Liniang, daughter of Nan’an Prefecture’s chief governor Du Bao, visited a garden on a spring day where she had a nap and dreamed of coming across a scholar with a willow twig in his hand. Since then she had been preoccupied with her dream affair and painting self-portraits until lovesickness consumed her life. Three years after her death, Liu Mengmei passed Nan’an City on his way to the capital for imperial examinations, where he discovered Liniang’s

self-portrait and deeply fell in love with her. Liniang was moved by his longings to meet her day and night and appeared as a ghost, telling him to exhume her body from the grave so that she could be resurrected. Du Liniang was brought back to life and finally married Liu Mengmei after overcoming the opposition from her family.