tudents at the county level at the age of 14. When he was 21 years old, he passed the provincial exam to be Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level). According to his talent and learning attitude, he could have a smooth career in his official career. However, the imperial examination system, which fell with the whole Ming Dynasty, has become corrupt, and the examination had become the behind-the-scenes transaction of the upper ruling group, becoming a fraud to determine the hereditary status of the aristocratic children rather than the theory of talent. As an integrity intellectual, he abhorred this corrupt ethos, and as a result, it was conceivable that Tang Xianzu had lost his fame. But for this reason, Tang Xianzu was praised by the Chinese people for his noble personality and integrate conduct. At the age of 34, Tang Xianzu became a scholar at a very low rank, and his career began with thorns.
Tang Xianzu was a man who respected literature and never succumbed to power. He emphasized innovation and opposed retro, and paid attention to drawing on all the excellent literary heritage of ancient times without being limited by the scope prescribed by the retro school. When the thinking trend of retro literature shrouded domestically, he had his own ideas and special knowledge, and would not go with the current. This is not to say that Tang Xianzu had a innate rebellious personality, yet this is actually the result of his acceptance of the excellent cultural thoughts of ancient times, especially the influence of anti-Confucianism, anti-tradition and anti-autocracy in the embryonic period of capitalism under the historical conditions at that time.
Tang Xianzu studied from Luo Rufang when he was a teenager. Luo was a disciple of Wang Gen of Taizhou School. This school, also known as "academic left of Wang School ", inherited the positive part of Wang Shouren's philosophy and developed it. This school attacked Cheng-zhu school of Neo-Confucianism, doubted feudal dogma, and opposed the restraint of individuality. Li Zhi is the most prominent representative of the leftist Wang School in Wanli Period of Ming Dynasty. In literary thought, Tang Xianzu echoed the old thinking trend, and clearly put forward the idea that literary creation should first "set up an idea" and put the ideological content in the first place. These thoughts are embodied in his works. Although Tang Xianzu has also written poems and essays, the greatest achievements are still Romance. He was another great dramatist in ancient China after Guan Hanqing.
1.2 Overview of The Peony Pavilion
Tang Xianzu the proudest, and the most influential was The Peony Pavilion. In the history of opera, he enjoys the same reputation as Guan Hanqing and Wang Shifu, and has an important position in the history of Chinese and even world literature. He is called "The Shakespeare of the East".
The Peony Pavilion is the representative of Tang Xianzu, and it is also the master symbolization of romanticism in the history of Chinese opera. Through the love story of Du Li-niang and Liu Mengmei, it is permeated with the romantic ideal of pursui
