Literary town stirs interest in Tang Xianzu

The Peony Pavilion's main characters embrace in a giant statue on Dream Island in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province. [Photo by Rosemary Bolger/chinadaily.com.cn]

No Australian makes it to their high school graduation without having to labor over at least one Shakespeare play. Even to native English speakers the old fashioned flourishes of his classic plays is barely decipherable. It is only when the script is brought to life on stage, as Shakespeare always intended, that it begins to make sense.

I suspect it is the same for the four works of his Chinese contemporary Tang Xianzu. While his work may not be mandatory texts for students – my Chinese colleague must also rely on an internet search for information – Xianzu is often referred to as the 'Shakespeare of the Orient'. The comparison has intensified this year, the 400th anniversary of both the Bard and Xianzu's death in 1644.

His home town Fuzhou, in Jiangxi Province, helps bring his most celebrated work The Peony Pavilion to life on an artificial lake. A giant 15-meter-high statue of the two lovers with steam billowing from the base is the centerpiece of Dream Island. It's a story likened to Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, but - spoiler alert - Xianzu imagined a happier ending for his couple with love triumphing over death.

A nearby museum dedicated to the former official who quit his post to write his four classics, uses every tool imaginable to illuminate the writer's life, as well as his pieces, from models of his home in Fuzhou, to 4D shows and peonies that explode with information at the tap of your fingertips. I can't help but think that all the fancy displays are no replacement for actually reading the play and seeing it acted out in the Chinese-opera style Kunqu. And I intend to do just that. If Fuzhou's tributes to its hometown literary hero can spark such a desire in visitors, that is surely the best result.