Jing Shen

Kong Shangren (1648-1718) was a sixty-fourth-generation descendant of Confucius. Impressed by his lecture on the Confucian classics, the Manchu emperor Kangxi (r. 1662-1722) granted him an official position in Beijing. During his tenure of office, he completed a chuanqi play titled The Peach Blossom Fan (Taohua shan), which created a sensation at the time. Peach Blossom Fan interweaves a love story with an account of factional strife to present a critical and grieving reflection on the fall of the Han Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644). It stands out among historical plays in Chinese dramatic literature for its careful composition and complex profundity and has inspired many adaptations. This chapter examines its comprehensive evaluation of the roles taken by historical personalities in the last years of the dynasty and its regional continuation in the Southern Ming (1644-1645), through the medium of romantic chuanqi drama. This masterpiece demonstrates that Kong Shangren's experiment with the dramatic and musical form also enabled him to negotiate between history and interpretation.