THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口
This article examines "An Audience with the Envoy" in *The Peony Pavilion* (1598), a scene frequently omitted from performances and studies of Tang Xianzu. The author argues that this passage functions as a "crossing point" between east–west and south–north dynamics, anchoring literary imagination i...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Articles |
| Published: |
Instituto Cultural de Macau
October 2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40024/3682 |
| _version_ | 1877196270867578880 |
|---|---|
| author | Christina Miu Bing Cheng |
| author_autocomplete | Christina Miu Bing Cheng |
| author_browse | Christina Miu Bing Cheng |
| author_facet | Christina Miu Bing Cheng Christina Miu Bing Cheng |
| author_sort | Christina Miu Bing Cheng |
| container_title | Review of Culture |
| container_title_str | Review of Culture |
| container_volume | 24 |
| container_volume_str | 24 |
| description | This article examines "An Audience with the Envoy" in *The Peony Pavilion* (1598), a scene frequently omitted from performances and studies of Tang Xianzu. The author argues that this passage functions as a "crossing point" between east–west and south–north dynamics, anchoring literary imagination in Tang's historical experience in southern China, when he visited Macau, then an entrepôt of the Portuguese Empire. Methodologically, the work proceeds through a close reading of the scene and its role in the dramatic architecture, combined with historical-cultural contextualization: the representation of Macau as a space of encounter is compared with the way the plot organizes exogamous relations between north and south and, simultaneously, between a European alterity and the oriental "Middle Kingdom." The main conclusions indicate that the text does not stage the West merely as peripheral exoticism; rather, it integrates a western enclave and a Chinese world into narrative unity, allowing cultural geography to operate as a device of meaning. Thus, the Macau scene reveals how Tang transforms colonial contact into aesthetic imagination, reconfiguring regional identities and cultural exchanges within the very logic of love and resurrection. |
| first_indexed | 2026-09-11T02:56:54Z |
| format | Articles |
| genre | Articles |
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| hierarchy_parent_id | zotero-coll-76L3BRGH |
| hierarchy_parent_title | Review of Culture |
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| issn | 1682-1106 |
| last_indexed | 2026-09-11T02:56:54Z |
| latest_content_date | 2026-09-11T02:56:54Z |
| publishDate | October 2007 |
| publishDateRange | 2007 |
| publishDateSort | 2007 |
| publishPlace | Macau |
| publisher | Instituto Cultural de Macau |
| publisherStr | Instituto Cultural de Macau |
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| spelling | THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 This article examines "An Audience with the Envoy" in *The Peony Pavilion* (1598), a scene frequently omitted from performances and studies of Tang Xianzu. The author argues that this passage functions as a "crossing point" between east–west and south–north dynamics, anchoring literary imagination in Tang's historical experience in southern China, when he visited Macau, then an entrepôt of the Portuguese Empire. Methodologically, the work proceeds through a close reading of the scene and its role in the dramatic architecture, combined with historical-cultural contextualization: the representation of Macau as a space of encounter is compared with the way the plot organizes exogamous relations between north and south and, simultaneously, between a European alterity and the oriental "Middle Kingdom." The main conclusions indicate that the text does not stage the West merely as peripheral exoticism; rather, it integrates a western enclave and a Chinese world into narrative unity, allowing cultural geography to operate as a device of meaning. Thus, the Macau scene reveals how Tang transforms colonial contact into aesthetic imagination, reconfiguring regional identities and cultural exchanges within the very logic of love and resurrection. Instituto Cultural de Macau Macau Review of Culture Articles October 2007 Christina Miu Bing Cheng |
| spellingShingle | THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 Christina Miu Bing Cheng |
| title | THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 |
| title_autocomplete | THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 |
| title_full | THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 |
| title_fullStr | THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 |
| title_full_unstemmed | THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 |
| title_short | THE PEONY PAVILION : A CROSSROADS OF EAST-WEST AND SOUTH-NORTH牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 |
| title_sort | the peony pavilion : a crossroads of east-west and south-north牡丹亭：東西與南北之間的十字路口 |
| url | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40024/3682 |
| zotero_collection_key | 76L3BRGH |