One of the world's greatest love stories in its first complete English translation, brought up-to-date in this new edition. Cyril Birch has captured all the elegance, lyricism, and subtle humour of this drama by Tang Xianzu, perhaps the finest of the Ming dramatists. One of the world's greatest love stories in its first complete English translation. Cyril Birch has captured all the elegance, lyricism, and subtle humour of this drama by Tang Xianzu, perhaps the finest of the Ming dramatists. For the Second Edition, Cyril Birch and Catherine Swatek reflect upon contemporary performances of the play in light of its history.