Chang hen ge (poem)


Chang Hen Ge is a literary masterpiece from the Tang dynasty by the famous Chinese poet Bai Juyi. It retells the love story between Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his favorite concubine Yang Guifei. This epic poem is dated from 809.

Influence

A long list of literary, political, visual, musical and film works have been based on or referenced by Chang hen ge. Immediately after the poem had been written, its influence has already been felt. Bai Juyi's friend Chen Hong created a dramatic version, Chang hen zhuan, which later inspired Rain on the Paulownia Tree by Bai Pu and The Palace of Eternal Youth by Hong Sheng.
Painter Li Yishi illustrated the poem with a series of thirty paintings. In classical music the poem has been set as a cantata by Huang Zi and as an orchestral song by Mo Fan. The poem is referenced in the writings of Mao Zedong.
Author Madeleine Thien quotes from the poem in the closing pages of her award-winning 2016 novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing.
The 2005 Hong Kong film, Everlasting Regret, shares the exact same title as the poem, but tells a story about a woman's turbulent life in 20th century Shanghai.
The poem is central to the plot of Legend of the Demon Cat. In this 2017 historical fantasy film directed by Chen Kaige, the poet Bai Juyi is solving a murder case together with monk Kūkai. Throughout the film, Bai Juyi is struggling to finish his poem about the legendary beauty of Yang Guifei, without realizing that the murder case is also related to her death, a generation ago.

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