桃花扇 (Táo Huā Shàn / “The Peach Blossom Fan”)

Though this particular translator chose to render the title as Peach Blooms Painted with Blood, the literal and most common translation is the one I gave. It’s effectively the life’s work of 孔尚任 (Kǒng Shàngrèn), a 64th generation direct descendent of 孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ or Confucius). Writing it was a 20-year effort ending with its first performance in 1699 to widespread acclaim. It is considered a peak of Chinese historical drama and has been transformed and reinterpreted in many forms and many ways across its over-three century history.

The plot revolves around the romance between a scholar and a courtesan in the face of competition from corrupt officials atop a backdrop of the decline and fall of the Ming Dynasty. It features historical figures prominently with a rather pointed “J’accuse” at several of them for causing and/or hastening the decline.

This being a Chinese romantic drama, one of the two traditional ends befalls the lead characters: the courtesan becomes a nun, and the scholar a monk. (The other traditional end is that the leads die.)