The Chalk Circle

This article is about the original Chinese play. For other uses, see Chalk Circle (disambiguation).
The Chalk Circle
Written byLi Qianfu
Characters
  • Zhang Haitang
  • Ma Junqing
  • Lady Liu
  • Zhang Lin
  • Bao Zheng
Original languageClassical Chinese
SubjectJudge Bao fiction
Genrezaju
The Chalk Circle
Traditional Chinese灰闌記
Simplified Chinese灰阑记
Literal meaningstory of the boundary of lime
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinhuī lán jì

The Chalk Circle (sometimes translated The Circle of Chalk), by Li Qianfu, is a Yuan dynasty (1259–1368) Chinese classical zaju verse play and gong'an crime drama, in four acts with a prologue.[1][2] It was preserved in a collection entitled Yuan-chu-po-cheng, or The Hundred Pieces.[3] The Chinese language original is known for the beauty of its lyrical verse, and considered a Yuan masterpiece;[2][4] a series of translations and revisions inspired several popular modern plays.

  1. ^ "Chalk Circle, The (Hui-Lan Ji)", Oxford Dictionary of Plays, online at Enotes.com. Retrieved May 27, 2008.
  2. ^ a b "The Circle of Chalk" Masterplots, Definitive Revised Edition, online at Enotes.com. Retrieved May 27, 2008.
  3. ^ Das Fremde und das Vertraute: Studien zur musiktheoretischen und musikdramatischen Ostasienrezeption, by Peter Revers, Published 1997 Franz Steiner Verlag, ISBN 3-515-07133-4, pages 212, 213. Online excerpt at Google Books retrieved May 27, 2008.
  4. ^ "Historicity and Contemporaneity: Adaptations of Yuan Plays in the 1990s", Wenwei Du, Asian Theatre Journal, Volume 18, Number 2, Fall 2001, pp. 222-237.