Peony Pavilion can be said to be the most often adapted Kunqu Opera in history. The opera focuses on a “Dialogue of sound and emotions between Kunqu and historical spaces.” In the historical building of an old rice wine production area in Huashan 1914 Creative Park, a modern girl who is reading Peony Pavilion starts fantasizing and projecting herself through history, The opera is thus reinterpreted in the time and space between dream and reality. In the opera, the scene of “Xie-zhen (Reality)” in which Du Li-niang is alive and the scene of “Wan-zhen (Illusion)” in which Liu Meng-mei sees the portrait of the girl when she is already dead, overlap and transcend time. Du Li-niang’s lament about the transient nature of youth and beauty subtly reflects the alienation both between humans and within oneself that is characteristic of modern times.

The DVD of the opera garnered three nominations for the 19th Golden Melody Awards and won the “Producer’s Award for the Best Album” (Wang Zhi-ping is the producer). Wen Yu-hang, a renowned actor of shiao-sheng in both Beijing Opera and Kunqu Opera, plays the main character and also directs. He considers the vocal singing of Kunqu very powerful. In order to show the special features of the landmark building, the opera is accompanied by a small musical ensemble instead of an orchestra. Zhu An-li, a modern girl in the opera, is not a new character. On the contrary, when she imagines herself as Du Li-niang, a classic Peony Pavilion reappears on the stage.