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All Three Fear Their Wives (Sanpaqi): A Post-Midnight Shadow Play
- Asian Theatre Journal
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 26, Number 2, Fall 2009
- pp. 197-214
- 10.1353/atj.0.0044
- Article
- Additional Information
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Post-midnight plays were bawdy, skitlike plays performed late at night, after the women and children have left. Traditionally characterized by lascivious content, they did not use playscript and were frowned upon by the Confucian literati and government. Many Chinese xiqu (opera) traditions may have performed post-midnight plays throughout China, but rarely have they been transcribed or even described. All Three Fear Their Wives is a rare transcription of a play of this genre.