This is a republication of Dr Yibin Ni’s article written in Chinese “明末清初瓷器上张生的‘凝视’和莺莺的挑战”(Gaze from Scholar Zhang and the response from Lady Cui Yingying: a discussion of figural depiction on porcelains from Late Ming to Early Qing dynasty)...

European descriptions of porcelain paintings that have story scenes tend to describe ‘figures and surroundings’, rather than identifying them. Thus, a large part of those beautiful stories intended by pot painters was lost in the description. Here...

The Chinese classic drama Romance of the Western Chamber (西厢记) depicts a romantic story of a young couple in the Tang dynasty. The name of the play has also been translated into The Story of the Western Wing, The West Chamber, and Romance of the Western Bower, etc. It stands as one of ...

This is from Scene Three of Act Three of the Chinese classic drama Romance of the Western Chamber (西厢记 Xixiang Ji), written by playwright Wang Shifu 王实甫 (1250–1336) in Yuan dynasty. The episode is commonly called Repudiation of the Billet-Doux (赖简).

Zhang Junrui (张君瑞, also called Scholar...

This is from Scene Three of Act One of the Chinese classic popular drama Romance of the Western Chamber (西厢记 Xixiang Ji), written by the Yuan playwright Wang Shi...

This is Scene Two of Act One of the Chinese classic popular drama Romance of the Western Chamber (西厢记 Xixiang Ji), written by the Yuan playwright Wang Shifu (1250–1336).

After Zhang Gong 张珙 (styled Junrui 君瑞) glimpsed Cui Yingying 崔莺莺 outside the Buddha Hall in the Monastery of Universal Salvation, he wen...

This scene is from one of the most famous Chinese dramatic works, Romance of the Western Chamber 西厢记, which was written by the Yuan playwright Wang Shifu (王实甫 1260–1336). The play tells the story of a secret love affair between Zhang Gong (张珙, also called Scholar Zhang 张生) and Cui Yingying 崔莺莺, the daughter of f...

This is Scene Four of Act Two of the Chinese classic popular drama Romance of the Western Chamber (西厢记 Xixiang Ji), written by the Yuan playwright Wang Shifu (12...

Romance of the Western Chamber (西厢记 Xixiang ji) is the most popular love comedy in late imperial China. In the story, Scholar Zhang (张生 Zhang Junrui) falls in love with a beautiful lady named Cui Yingying (崔莺莺), who happens to be stranded in a monastery with her widowed mother and, after plenty of twist...

In Zhuangzi (庄子), an ancient Chinese text from the late Warring States period (476–221 BCE)  and one of the two foundational texts of Daoism, the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu 西王母) was mentioned as a deity who ‘obtained the Dao (the Way)’. According to the Scripture of Great Peace (Tai...