中国明代伟大的戏剧家、文学家汤显祖的《牡丹亭》，是一部妇孺皆知的不朽戏剧，数百年来盛演不衰，成为中国戏剧舞台上优秀的保留剧目之一。不久前，由美籍华人著名作家白先勇总策划、总制作的昆曲《牡丹亭》，在海内外巡演引起巨大反响。不过很多人也许还不知道，汤显祖的《牡丹亭》始作于浙江省的遂昌县。
　　阳春三月，我从北京来到浙西南深山区，拜访了山川秀美的遂昌。在与众多朋友交往中，一位温文尔雅的中年人递给我一张别致的名片：左边是隐线绘就的垂柳亭台，右边的文字写着“牡丹亭原创圣地 遂昌县人民政府副县长徐炳东”。
　　《牡丹亭》成了遂昌的名片，可见汤显祖与遂昌渊源的深久。
　　位于遂昌县城北，有座汤显祖纪念馆，是一座三进小院的古建筑。进得门来，映入眼帘的是草坪上的一块毛泽东草书石碑，那是20世纪50年代毛泽东观看《牡丹亭·游园惊梦》后即兴写下的一段曲词：
　　
　　原来姹紫嫣红开遍，
　　似这般都付与断井颓垣。
　　良辰美景奈何天，
　　赏心乐事谁家院！
　　朝飞暮卷，云霞翠轩；
　　雨丝风片，烟波画船，
　　锦屏人忒看的这韶光贱！
　　
　　毛泽东手书苍劲飘逸，富有激情，足见《牡丹亭》对他印象之深。馆内收藏陈列的汤显祖史传文诗颇丰，是研究汤显祖的宝贵资源。
　　汤显祖1550年生于江西临川，历任南京太常寺博士、詹事府主簿、礼部词祭司主事等职，大概相当于现在的司局长之类。明代末年朝政腐败，社会黑暗，万历十九年(1591年)汤显祖因上章抨击朝政，被贬到广东雷州半岛的徐闻当了一名编外典史。两年后，朝廷迫于舆论压力，将汤显祖“量移”(落实政策)到浙江遂昌县任知县，在遂昌任上这5年，可以说是汤显祖仕途上最辉煌、最重要的岁月。
　　
　　遂昌那时叫“平昌”，山峦重叠，土地贫瘠，素有“九山半水半分田”之称。汤显祖从老家临川出发，经衢州，过龙游，一叶扁舟溯溪而上。进了平昌只见万山松壑，溪谷厄仄，城门只有门洞，没有半截城垣，民间房舍破旧，一副萧条景象。但毕竟“皇恩浩荡”，汤显祖能够以七品小官的身份执掌实权施展自己的抱负，这便足可聊以自慰。
　　中国历史上的“贬官”往往有两个特点：一是体恤百姓，一是工于诗文。在遂昌的5年，汤显祖推行“仁政惠民”的治县方针，兴教办学，劝农耕作，惩治豪强，灭虎除害，受到老百姓的普遍爱戴。遂昌人最难忘的是汤显祖的“除夕遣囚”、“纵囚观灯”，就是除夕之夜让狱中囚犯回家过年，与家人团聚；元宵节组织囚犯到城北河桥上观花灯，体会“绕县笙歌”的欢乐景象。
　　但是，明末政治腐败到极致，小小县令难有回天之力。汤显祖目睹朝廷种种恶政，百姓苦不堪言，心里十分愤懑，遂于万历二十六年(1598年)弃官回到家乡，1616年终于临川。
　　汤显祖在遂昌短短5年，与遂昌士民结下了深厚情谊。他弃官回乡后，遂昌人经常到临川探望汤显祖，汤显祖也不时书信问候遂昌士民。清康熙五十一年(1712 年)，为纪念汤显祖，遂昌县令缪之弼主持在县城建“遗爱祠”，奉祀汤显祖。现在“遗爱祠”门墙犹存，成为遂昌的省级爱国主义教育基地。
　　汤显祖出生在封建书香门第，喜好诗文，尤其钟情于戏曲。在遂昌期间，汤显祖在政务闲暇之际，常常偕地方文人雅士游览山水名胜，写下了大量脍炙人口的诗文。从1587年到1601年十四年间，汤显祖写了四个剧本：《紫钗记》《还魂记》(又名《牡丹亭》)《南柯记》和《邯郸记》，合称《临川四梦》。其中，始作于遂昌的《牡丹亭》，是汤显祖的代表作。
　　汤显祖的戏剧，核心是一个“情”字。他说：“人生而有情。思欢怒愁，感于幽微，流乎啸歌，形诸动摇。或一往而尽，或积日而不能自休。”“世总为情，情生诗歌，而行于神。天下之声音笑貌，大小生死，不出乎是。”因此，他的作品就是用独特的思想深度和完美的艺术形式来歌颂这个“情”字。
　　《牡丹亭》正是淋漓尽致地抒发了天地之情、人鬼之情、人间至情，歌颂杜丽娘至死不渝地追求自由爱情，渴望个性解放的精神，对封建礼教进行了无情的抨击。《牡丹亭》的故事源于一个话本《杜丽娘慕色还魂》，话本叙述了广东南雄府尹杜宝之女丽娘，春日游园梦见与情人幽会，梦醒恹恹成病，伤情而亡，但她的灵魂不灭，与书生柳梦梅再度相会，最终还魂结为夫妻。汤显祖不满意其中的“慕色”动因，认为人能生而复死、死而复生，莫过于至性至情，因而创作了这个以情为魂的精美绝伦的剧本。
　　
　　《牡丹亭》一问世，立即引起社会的强烈反响，成为青年男女百看不厌的作品。据传，江西娄江女子俞二娘，酷嗜《牡丹亭》传奇，蝇头细字批注其侧，幽思苦韵感其词，结果惋愤而终。汤显祖听说此事，写了《哭娄江女子二首》：“画烛摇金阁，真珠泣绣窗。如何伤此曲，偏只在娄江?何自为情死，悲伤必有神。一时文字业，天下有心人。”杭州著名女伶商小玲扮演《牡丹亭》中杜丽娘，形神皆备。有一次演出《寻梦》一折，唱至“待打并香魂一片，阴雨梅天，守着个梅根相见”，哀恸不已，倒在台上竟溘然而逝……
　　汤显祖以其在戏剧文学上的伟大成就，被人们誉为“东方的莎士比亚”。汤翁与沙翁为同时代人。莎士比亚的故乡小城斯特拉福特如今是世界名城，而对许多人来说，诞生《牡丹亭》的遂昌现在尚地处深山，识者不多。从欣赏文物、开发旅游来说，浙江遂昌实在是一个待开发的“金矿”。
　　
　　Master Masterminded His Masterpiece in Suichang
　　By Zhou Yi
　　
　　The Peony Pavilion, a timeless classic written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), has been popular for hundreds of years in China. It has been among the repertoires of many troupes across the country. In contrast to the great fame of the play, little known is Suichang, a nondescript county in central Zhejiang Province. It was in Suichang that Tang Xianzu worked as county magistrate for five years and started writing the Peony Pavilion, one of the all-time best plays in China.
　　
　　Tang Xianzu was born in 1550 in Linchuan, Jiangxi Province adjacent to Zhejiang on the west. He had been a high-ranking official for a while before he was demoted and exiled to the remote Hainan Island in 1591 to work as a clerk because of a few reports and proposals he submitted to the imperial government which criticized some of its practices and policies. Two years later he was partially rehabilitated and appointed to govern Suichang County in Zhejiang.
　　The five years in the county was probably the best years of his official career. Like many other demoted officials in the history, Tang was a good poet and writer and he cared about the people. During his five-year rule, he adopted policies and measures to promote farming and education, kept public order, and organized hunters to protect the county from prowling carnivores in the mountains. For the policies of benevolence he applied, the local people loved him.
　　However, the dynasty was suffering from throes of political corruption in its last years, which was too much for him. Tang resigned in 1598 and returned to his native place. He died in Linchuan in 1616.
　　Tang was a good poet and playwright. From 1587 to 1601, he wrote four plays, which were called Four Dreams of Linchuan. The Peony Pavilion, the best known, was started in Suichang.
　　The play is about a girl who falls in love with a young scholar in her dream when she is visiting in a garden. She suffers from her lovesickness and dies. She comes back from death and gets married with her young scholar. This masterpiece was adapted from a previous version. In the old play, driven by the lust, the girl came back to life. Tang thought the motivation was unworthy. So he rewrote the play to shift the focus to feeling. Tang's adaptation was a huge success and was very popular with young people. The poems in the play were so touching that a young actress died heartbroken on the stage in Hangzhou.
　　Some critics say that Tang is China's Shakespeare. In fact he was Shakespeare's contemporary. Early this year, Bai Xianyong, a celebrated Taiwanese novelist, produced The Peony Pavilion in Kunqu Opera on the mainland. It is the latest effort to revive both Kunqu opera and The Peony Pavilion.
　　In the 1950s Chairman Mao Zedong watched the play and, on the impulse of the moment, copied a poem from the play. Today, his calligraphy is on a stone stele standing on a lawn in the courtyard of the Tang Xianzu Memorial House in the capital seat of Suichang County.
　　When I was in Suichang, I met Xu Bingdong, deputy magistrate of the county. On his name card was such a description: Suichang: Birthplace of The Peony Pavilion.