In the spring of 2009 I went on a trip alone in a small city of southern China called Su Zhou; a city that is famous for its beautiful waterways and gardens. In a tea house next to the river I watched a show of Su Zhou traditional opera; among the audience two people attracted my attention. It was a handsome young man in his twenties, and an elegant woman around forty. He remained quiet; she seemed rich. It was quite obvious that he was her kept man, a lover who got paid. But during the show I saw her hand reached slowly for his, and then she held his hand, like what we used to do in primary school: holding hands under the desk so the teacher won't see.
It was a secret yet sentimental way of being in love.
That was when I first had the idea of Peony Pavilion.
The original play of Peony Pavilion is a traditional Chinese Kun Qu Opera written by Tang Xianzu in 1598. China was a feudal state at that time; women were bounded to arranged marriages. But in Peony Pavilion, Du Liniang, a sixteen-year-old girl falls in love, freely, with a young man named Liu Mengmei in her own dream. By the time she wakes up he was gone. She misses him so much that she dies; but after three years when her soul hears him calling, she comes alive for him.
It was the most brave way to love; it fascinates me all the time.
By combining the original idea of the story and Peony Pavilion the opera itself, I try to question closely, how should people deal with their love and themselves in modern city of China.