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Photo, Print, Drawing Yuan qu xuan tu xiang er fu 元曲選圖像二幅

About this Item

Title

  • Yuan qu xuan tu xiang er fu

Other Title

  • 元曲選圖像二幅

Translated Title

  • Two Illustrations from "Selected Arias of the Yuan Dynasty"

Summary

  • These prints from around 1615 show two figures from Yuan-dynasty (1279-1368) poetry. The right-hand picture illustrates a play about Zheng Kongmu, a law clerk, and Song Bin, a young man who accidentally killed a man. Zheng recognizes Song Bin as an honorable man and convinces the judge not to execute him. Instead, he is exiled to a penal colony where he has many adventures, including meeting up with and helping Zheng Kongmu when he himself runs afoul of the law by killing a woman who mistreated his children. The other picture shows Peng Zu, a longtime assistant to a fortuneteller named Zhou, and Ren Taohua, who can tell fortunes and find ways to change a person's fate. The story begins with Widow Shi's anxiety over her son, Liuzhu, who had gone away as a merchant and not returned. Zhou tells the widow that her son will die that very night. Taohua confirms the prophecy but says the young man can be saved if his mother says "Brother Shi Liuzhu" three times at the third watch. Liuzhu is saved when he hears his mother's voice calling, but Zhou is disturbed to discover that there is a "merciful star," i.e., the mother, in the picture that he had not seen before and decides to test his own magical powers. The story continues with many incidents involving Zhou, Peng Zu, and Taohua.

Created / Published

  • [Place of publication not identified] : [Publisher not identified], 1615.

Headings

  • -  China
  • -  1615
  • -  Chinese poetry
  • -  Yuan Dynasty, 1260-1368

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource at: National Central Library.
  • -  Content in Chinese.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
  • -  Title revised per Asian Division.--cc28 2023-01-06

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021668763

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Yuan Qu Xuan Tu Xiang Er Fu. China, 1615. [Place of publication not identified: Publisher not identified] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668763/.

APA citation style:

(1615) Yuan Qu Xuan Tu Xiang Er Fu. China, 1615. [Place of publication not identified: Publisher not identified] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668763/.

MLA citation style:

Yuan Qu Xuan Tu Xiang Er Fu. [Place of publication not identified: Publisher not identified] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021668763/>.