長生殿 (The Palace of Eternal Youth)

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The Palace of Eternal Youth (長生殿, 1688) by Hong Sheng is one of the masterpieces of Chinese kunqu opera, dramatizing the love story of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his consort Yang Guifei — whose beauty was held to have distracted the emperor from governance, contributing to the catastrophic An Lushan Rebellion. The play's combination of imperial grandeur, private tenderness, and political catastrophe has made it the Chinese equivalent of a Shakespearean historical tragedy. The opera requires elaborate staging and singing; as a reading text its poetry is extraordinary.