A Comparative Analysis of Bai Xianyong’s Garden Tour, Startling Dream, and Tang Xianzu’s The Peony Pavilion

Abstract

Bai Xianyong confessed that the creation of Garden Tour, Startling Dream is inseparable from The Peony Pavilion. However, very few scholars have compared and contrasted the two. Therefore, this paper tries to compare and analyze the two from the perspectives of narrative and theme. The purpose is to explore the success of Garden Tour, Startling Dream in becoming a modern presentation of the play The Peony Pavilion. From the narrative level, Garden Tour, Startling Dream has similarities and differences with The Peony Pavilion. Moreover, Bai modernizes its creative techniques by incorporating stream-of-consciousness techniques. From the level of theme, Bai Xianyong explains the theme that life is like a dream in the modern context. Bai also pursues the loss and pursuit of the decline of Kunqu at a deeper level. This paper explores the creative mechanism of Garden Tour, Startling Dream, and the intrinsic connection between the two, to fill the gaps in the corresponding fields.