"Romance of the Western Chamber" and "The Peony Pavilion": Incense in Classical Drama

Incense in classical drama mainly serves three purposes: a stick of incense is an outlet for private feelings (in "Romance of the Western Chamber", Cui Yingying burns three sticks of incense at night), a censer of lingering smoke measures waiting (the opening of "The Peony Pavilion" says "the agarwood smoke burns out"), and an incense sachet or silk handkerchief is a token of love.Incense on the stage is never merely a prop—it is the very thing that turns "what cannot be said" into "what can be seen."

Key Points

• In Act 1, Scene 3 of "Romance of the Western Chamber", Yingying burns incense under the moon; the first two sticks are for her deceased father and her mother, and at the third she chokes up and cannot speak, so Hongniang offers the prayer on her behalf.
• Wang Shifu writes of the incense smoke: "Deep in the night the incense mist scatters in the empty courtyard, the east wind stills the curtains"—using the scattering of smoke to write the stillness of the night.
• In "The Peony Pavilion: The Interrupted Dream", the aria【Raodi You】sings "the agarwood smoke burns out, the embroidery threads are cast aside", using the incense having burned out to write Du Liniang's listless state of mind.
• "Chen yan" (agarwood smoke) refers to the smoke of agarwood, direct evidence that Ming dynasty drama named agarwood explicitly.
• Gao Lian, author of "The Jade Hairpin", is also the author of the famous incense culture(香学) work "Eight Discourses on the Art of Living"—the playwright and the incense theorist are one and the same.

I. "Romance of the Western Chamber": Three Sticks of Incense, Three Things Left Unsaid

Wang Shifu, "Romance of the Western Chamber", Act 1, Scene 3(editions differ slightly in act and scene numbering; this follows the common edition), Cui Yingying burns incense in the garden at night. Hongniang stands by, and Zhang Sheng watches secretly over the wall.

Yingying takes up the incense and prays, stick by stick:

With this stick of incense, I pray that my departed forebears may be reborn in heaven!

With this stick of incense, I pray that my mother in the hall may be safe and sound!

With this stick of incense... (she falls silent)

The third stick of incense, she cannot bring herself to say.Hongniang takes it up:

Since you will not pray this stick, sister, let me pray for you: may my sister soon find a husband, and bring Hongniang along too!

What makes this scene so good is thatthe incense provides an occasion for "legitimate wishing"A prime minister's daughter could not openly speak of longing, but burning incense under the moon was permitted by family upbringing—so the three sticks of incense became three steps: filial devotion to father and to mother, both speakable; the third layer was reserved for her own heart, which could only choke. Hongniang spoke it for her; the whole audience understood, and only "propriety" was bypassed.

This is the most typical use of incense in opera: incense is a permit.

Next, Zhang Sheng recites a poem across the wall:

Moonlight melts through the night, flowers shade in silent spring. How is it that facing the bright moon, I do not see the one within the moon?

Yingying answers in the same rhyme:

The orchid chamber has long been lonely, passing the fragrant spring with nothing to do. I suppose the one pacing and reciting must pity the one who sighs long.

In the qupai of this act, Wang Shifu wrote of incense:

Deep in the night the incense haze scatters through the empty courtyard, the east wind still beyond the curtain.

—Wang Shifu, Romance of the Western Chamber, "Xiao Tao Hong"

"Incense haze" is incense smoke; "scatters through the empty courtyard" is the smoke dispersing in the empty yard.Through the scattering of smoke, he writes the stillness of night, and also the emptiness of the person.Yingying's situation is entirely within this line of smoke.

II. The Peony Pavilion: a burner of agarwood smoke burned out

Tang Xianzu's handling is even more ruthless.

In scene ten of The Peony Pavilion, "The Interrupted Dream," the first aria Du Liniang sings on entrance, "Rao Di You":

Waking from dream to the oriole's song, the turmoil of the year's light spreads everywhere. A person stands in the small courtyard deep within.The agarwood smoke is all burned out, the embroidery threads cast aside, how this spring's feelings are like last year's.

"Agarwood smoke"——the smoke of agarwood. This is a hard piece of evidence in classical opera where agarwood is named explicitly.

The key is in the word "out." The incense has already burned out, and the embroidery threads are thrown to one side.Du Liniang is not in the midst of burning incense; she has let a whole burner of agarwood burn out without adding more.This is abnormal in the daily life of a Ming dynasty boudoir: the censer needs someone to tend it; if the incense burns out and is not renewed, it shows the person's mind is elsewhere.

With one burner of incense burned out, Tang Xianzu sets out Du Liniang's entire state of mind. Only then comes the garden stroll, "the lazy gossamer blown into the idle courtyard," the interrupted dream, the search for the dream, the portrait, the mourning—A stick of sinking incense burned to the end is the explosive trigger of the whole play.

Incidentally: from Du Liniang's garden stroll to her soul's departure, Tang Xianzu repeatedly writes "spring" and "incense" layered together. Spring is time, incense is space; both are being consumed, both are passing. This is the most core pessimism of The Peony Pavilion.

III. Sachets and silk kerchiefs: incense that can be handed over

The third type of usage is as a token.

In opera, when men and women exchange gifts secretly, the three items that most often appear:sachets, silk kerchiefs, gold hairpins. The reason sachets work well is that they possess three attributes at once—

• They have scent: carried close to the body, imbued with the person's breath;
• They are handmade: sewn by oneself, they are proof that "I made this for you";
• They can be hidden privately: small in size, they can be tucked into a sleeve without parents discovering them.

So in opera a sachet almost equals the abbreviation of "pledging love." Its logic is the same as the three sticks of incense in Romance of the Western Chamber:What cannot be said directly is entrusted to an object that carries scent.

IV. A coincidence: Gao Lian who wrote plays is also Gao Lian who discussed incense

This is the shopkeeper's personal favorite.

The author of The Jade Hairpin, Gao Lian, courtesy name Shenfu, sobriquet Ruinan Daoren, was a native of Qiantang in the Ming dynasty. He was also the author of The Eight Discourses on the Art of Living.

Within The Eight Discourses on the Art of Living, the "Discourse on Elegant Enjoyment in Leisure" has dedicated chapters on incense, discussing incense grades, incense formulas, and methods of burning incense; it is one of the most important documents of Ming dynasty incense culture(香学). That is to say—The same brush that wrote of romantic affairs on the Ming stage was the brush that recorded incense formulas in the study.

This is not strange. Ming literati already regarded "burning incense, tasting tea, hanging paintings, and arranging flowers" as a complete set of life cultivation; that playwrights also burned incense was the norm. Tang Xianzu himself was deeply involved in Buddhist studies; that incense in opera is written so accurately is no accident.

Gao Lian's incense life, on this siteThe incense life in The Eight Discourses on the Art of Livinghas a dedicated article on one page, which can be read in comparison.

V. Incense on the stage: from text to stage

Let's talk about something practical. How is incense in classical opera handled on stage?

On the Kunqu stage, the scene in which Yingying burns incense isgoverned by a complete set of stylized conventions: picking up the incense, placing it, bowing, rising—the movements are extremely slow, and the time of one stick of incense is drawn out very long.Slowness is the stage language of incense.The audience below follows that slowness, waiting for the third stick of incense to appear.

If today one were to recreate the mood of "burning incense under the moon" at a elegant gathering or in a tea room, the shopkeeper suggests: use a covered bronze or porcelain burner, place a incense pill or a small spoonful of agarwood powder inside, and heat it slowly over a heat barrier; the smoke should be fine and rise straight without scattering.If the smoke scatters, the mood is broken.The rhythm of three sticks of incense can be retained: one stick, one wish, with pauses between the three.

Six. Why incense is suited to being written into opera

Final question: Why does Chinese opera love writing about incense so much?

The shopkeeper's answer is—Because incense is the only prop that 'disappears on its own during the plot.'

Wine will be finished, flowers will wither, but their disappearance needs someone to push it; incense doesn't need that—it burns itself, disperses itself, exhausts itself, andcompletes the whole process before the audience's eyes. One act of a play is about twenty minutes, exactly the time of one burner of incense.

So incense in opera is naturallya developer of time：

• Incense just lit → things just beginning;
• Incense smoke at its peak → emotions at their highest point;
• Incense burned out → people have left, wishes weren't made, dreams have awakened.

In 'Romance of the Western Chamber', 'the fragrance disperses in the empty courtyard' is the second frame; in 'The Peony Pavilion', 'the incense stick is burned out, the sinking smoke remains' is the third frame. Tang Xianzu even skips 'burning' and directly shows the audience a burner of cold ashes—This is called an invincible opening.

If you want to try a burner of 'burned-out sinking smoke' agarwood yourself, welcome to the shop to smell it—both Hui'an and Xingzhou varieties are available, with no obligation to purchase. If it's inconvenient to come, call 400-809-1913, and the shopkeeper will give you a direction according to your budget.For the layered explanation of agarwood's fragrance profile, seeFragrance characteristics and layers。

Frequently Asked Questions

Does 'sinking smoke' in 'The Peony Pavilion' refer to agarwood?

Yes. 'Sinking smoke' is a common term in Ming dynasty opera and poetry for agarwood smoke; 'sinking' means agarwood (sinking-grade incense). In 'The Peony Pavilion: The Interrupted Dream', in the aria 'Around the World', 'the incense stick is burned out, the sinking smoke remains, embroidery threads are thrown aside'—the sinking smoke is the agarwood smoke burned in Du Liniang's boudoir. This is clear evidence that agarwood is explicitly mentioned in Ming dynasty opera.

In which act does Yingying burn incense in 'Romance of the Western Chamber'?

In the common edition, it's in the third act of the first book, the act 'Responding to a Poem Across the Wall': Yingying burns incense and prays in the garden at night, Zhang Sheng recites a poem across the wall, and Yingying responds with a rhyme. Different editions may have slight variations in act numbering and titles, but the plot position is the same.

Is the depiction of incense in opera realistic or fictional?

Both. Burning incense, holding incense, and worshiping the moon were real daily routines in the boudoirs of Ming dynasty scholar-official families; incense burners and sachets were also real objects. But arranging incense as a symbol of emotion and time (incense ends means the heart dies, smoke disperses means people are gone) is the artistic treatment of opera. When reading, you should look at both the physical object and the symbolic level.

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