Yuan Dynasty
普天乐·崔张十六事（普救姻缘）
### 标题
佳人才子，一见情牵。
门掩梨花闲庭院，粉墙儿高似青天。
Translation
The traveler from Xiluo speaks of destined love and seeks a way to meet at Pujiu Temple. A gifted young man and a beautiful woman see each other once, and their hearts are immediately drawn together. He stares until his eyes seem almost pierced through; desire gathers in his mouth, yet he can only swallow it down. The gate is closed amid pear blossoms in a quiet courtyard; the whitewashed wall rises as high as the blue sky. Though he has seen countless women, rarely has he met one so charming. She stirs his restless heart and wandering desire.
Analysis
This piece belongs to Guan Hanqing’s cycle on the love story of Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng. It focuses on the first stirring of desire after an encounter at Pujiu Temple. The language is deliberately vivid and colloquial: phrases such as “hungry eyes” and “greedy mouth” make the young man’s longing direct and almost comic. The most elegant image is the closed courtyard behind pear blossoms and a white wall “as high as the blue sky.” The beloved is physically close but socially and spatially unreachable. The lyric therefore turns immediate attraction into blocked desire. Its mixture of refined setting and earthy expression is precisely what gives Yuan sanqu its theatrical energy.
About the Author
Guan Hanqing was a leading Yuan dramatist and sanqu poet, later revered as the foremost figure among the Four Great Masters of Yuan drama. His plays and songs are known for their direct language, lively theatricality, and sympathetic attention to women, urban life, and social injustice. Works such as The Injustice to Dou E and Saving the Courtesan established his lasting position in Chinese literary history.