The novel Dream in the Garden was published in Modern Literature more than ten years ago. At that time, I was fascinated by Kunqu opera, and I felt the decline of traditional Chinese drama art, so I created "A Dream in the Garden". Kunqu Opera rose in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, dominating the China theater for nearly 3 years. After countless writers, musicians and dramatists, it condensed into a most exquisite and perfect art form. Unfortunately, in the spring and snow, the song was high and few, and it was gradually replaced by skin yellow in the Qianlong period. Since the Republic of China, except for Mei Lanfang's several Kunqu operas, such as Thinking of Fan, Embracing Tiger, and Dreaming in the Garden, most of them have fallen into limbo. I remember my first contact with Kunqu Opera more than ten years ago, and I was immediately shocked by its exquisite art, and then I regretted its decline. At that time, I was studying the Peony Pavilion written by Tang Xianzu, a great writer in the Ming Dynasty. This story of love conquering death and transcending time and space is a milestone in the romantic literary tradition of our country, among which "Dream of Scared Dreams" has reached the peak of lyric poetry. Inspired by the Kunqu Opera "Dream in the Garden" and the legendary "Peony Pavilion", I tried to express the realm of these two plays in the form of novels, which was my creative motivation for writing "Dream in the Garden" at first.

The story of "A Dream in the Garden" is very simple. It tells the story of a Kunqu Opera artist. At a banquet, he reunited with the old friends. After the banquet, some people sang Kunqu Opera "A Dream in the Garden", which triggered the artist's sense of the past and the present. The story of this novel is weak, focusing on the lyrical and poetic atmosphere. This is the hardest short story I have ever written. I have written it five times before and after. Because the traditional narrative method was used in the first three times, I couldn't write the memory fragments interlaced with time and space. It was not until I tried to use the method of stream of consciousness that I broke the time and space limitation and integrated the rhythm and poetry of Kunqu opera into the plot of the novel. It can be said that Kunqu opera is the main source of inspiration for this novel.

The relationship between novel and drama is far away and near. Some novels can be transformed into a complete drama by adding some stage directors, while others can never be put on the stage. Dickens' novels have been successfully adapted into stage plays and movies, because his novels are interesting in characters, lively in plot and fascinating. Camus's The Outsider was put on the screen, but it made people sleepy. A good novelist may not write a good play. Henry, an American grandmaster? James tried to write a stage play, and in the middle of it, someone had already left. The master regretted it all his life. Mao Mu's novels in England are not as far as James's, but his plays are all the rage. He changed one of his own novels, Rain, into a stage play, which was staged on Broadway and lasted for months.

My novel "A Dream in the Garden" was put on the stage, but it was a bit unexpected. In August 1979, the Hong Kong government held the first? Chinese literature week? , invited me to participate in the selection of Hong Kong novels, and at the same time, the Hong Kong Arts Center staged the stage plays "A Dream in the Garden" and "The Story of the Immortal" adapted from my novels. "Dream in the Garden" is mainly composed of teachers and students of the University of Hong Kong? Seal troupe? The performance was directed by Dr. Huang Qingxia, and the screenwriters were mostly in the original form of the novel. Because the actors are not familiar with Kunqu opera, the part of Kunqu opera has to be dubbed, and the dramatic potential of Kunqu opera has not been fully exerted; However, the director's technique is quite novel, the actors are competent, especially the heroine is very hard, and the audience responded enthusiastically. Both days were full. The reports in Hong Kong newspapers are also quite praised. When I returned to Taiwan Province, I discussed this matter with my friends in the cultural circles in Taiwan Province, and everyone said in unison:? Why not move "A Dream in the Garden" back to Taiwan Province? It makes sense for me to think about it. Fan Mannong from the New Elephant Activity Promotion Center was also present, so we made a deal. New elephant? Come forward to make. I didn't expect this plan to get out and get unprecedented enthusiastic support from cultural figures at home and abroad immediately. Everyone thinks that Taiwan Province's cultural development and economic foundation have reached the stage where stage plays can be promoted. Moreover, with the efforts of the domestic drama industry for many years, all kinds of people have been trained before and after the stage. At this time, it should be just the right time to develop drama. With this belief, we began to work separately and actively prepare for the performance of "Dream in the Garden".

first of all, the director. Because the performance idea of "A Dream in the Garden" is to integrate tradition with modernity, the director should not only be proficient in western modern dance platforms, but also have a certain degree of accomplishment in China traditional dramas, especially Kunqu Opera. Such a candidate is really hard to find. We are very lucky to have the full support of Dr. Yang Shipeng. Yang Shipeng graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of National Taiwan University. After going to the United States, he specialized in drama at the University of Wisconsin. During his teaching at the University of Hawaii, he trained American students to perform the Peking Opera Wulongyuan and won the national student drama competition. Performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and broadcast by the American public television station. In American drama, it is hard for Asians to win this honor. Later, Yang Shipeng transferred to the Department of Drama of the University of Colorado, where he was the head of the department for many years, and presided over the Texas Shakespeare Festival, directing more Shakespeare plays every summer. Last year, at the invitation of the Hong Kong government, Yang Shipeng went to Hong Kong to perform the Chinese Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew in the City Hall. Because of the unprecedented performance, the Hong Kong government hired Yang Shipeng as the artistic director. In spite of his busy schedule, Yang Shipeng undertook the task of directing A Dream in the Garden. Apart from his strong interest in The Dream in the Garden itself, he also promised to return to China to shoulder the heavy burden of directing because he has directed many western dramas abroad for many years and very much hopes to contribute his experience and talent to his own country. We met in San Francisco and discussed in the hotel for a whole day. The two of us reached a tacit understanding and made up the script of "A Dream in the Garden".

followed by actors. The actors in this play are also unusual. Apart from rich stage experience, the two heroines need to be able to sing Kunqu opera, while the other one needs to sing a flowery shirt. What's more, they have the beauty of traditional women in China, one is elegant and the other is glamorous. Lucky for us, we found Lisa Lu and Hu Jin, two ladies as the heroines of "A Dream in the Garden", and we really didn't think of them as second people. And two people promised, Lisa Lu will return from the United States thousands of miles * * *.

　? New elephant? Xu Boyun's enthusiasm for the promotion of art is the main driving force for the preparation of the performance of "A Dream in the Garden". He ran around and gathered the first-class stage talents in China to support our plan. The stage design is Mr. Nie Guangyan, because multimedia is needed to assist the plot development in the play, and the stage design is quite complicated. Nie Guangyan's initial idea is to integrate China's traditional poems and paintings into modern design, which is completely China and modern. At that time, Lin Huaimin's Cloud Gate Dance Collection will also draw out a sword to help each other. With the support and cooperation of so many cultural figures, and the generous financial assistance from China Times, United Daily News and Crown Publishing House for the performance of this stage play, our preparatory plan will take shape.