In 1699, after more than ten years' work on three different drafts, Kung Shang-jen finally produced The Peach Blossom Fan, a traditional opera in forty scenes. The heroine of the play, Li Hsiang-chun, was a famous courtesan in Nanjing at the end of the Ming dynasty. Her love for Hou Chao-tsung, the hero of the drama, and many of the characters and incidents connected with their romance were for the most part based on fact. And Kung Shang- jen used these events and characters to present the rise and fall of the southern Ming regime in 1644 and 1645.
