The Injustice Done To

Tou Ngo

byGuan Hanqing
Discussants: Jean F.
Luca
 Author’s Background
• Guan Hanqing (c. 1241–1320),
sobriquet "the Oldman of the Studio"
( 齋叟 Zhā isǒ u), was a notable Chinese
playwright and poet in the Yuan
Dynasty. He has been described as
among the most prolific and highly
regarded dramatists of the Yuan period.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • Guan spent much of his later life
in Dadu and produced about 65 plays,
mostly in the vernacular of the time. 

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 Characterization:
• Tou Ngo – the main character, daughter of Tou-Tien
Chang, daughter-in-law of Mother Tsai, the girl who
Donkey Chang wants.
• Donkey Chang – the antagonsist, wants Tou Ngo but
kills her, unjust
• Mother Tsai – Tou Ngo’s mother-in-law

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • Old Chang – Donkey Chang’s father

• Dr. Lu – best physician of Chu-Ch’ou (setting

of the text)
• Tou-Tien Chang – Tou Ngo’s father who
becomes an Inspector General of the Huai
River Valley

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing
 PLOT
The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing
 Prologue
• There is an old mother named Ts’ai who
have a son.
• Mother Ts’ai always reminds Tou for his
debt.
• In able to pay for his debt, Tou have sent
his daughter to become Mother Ts’ai’s
daughter-in-law.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • Tou have left his daughter to Mother Ts’ai
and received an amount of money from
Mother Ts’ai.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 Act One
• There is a physician named Dr. Lu who have
borrowed money from Mother Ts’ai.
• For thirteen years, Mother Ts’ai had changed
the name of Tuan-yun to Tou Ngo.
• Mother Ts’ai went to Dr. Lu to collect payment
for its debt but Dr. Lu had planned to strangle
Mother Ts’ai.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • Mother Ts’ai had been saved by Donkey Chang
and Old Chang.
• Mother Ts’ai brought the two to their house and
Mother Ts’ai told Tou Ngo about what had
happened.
• Donkey Chang offered Tou Ngo to marry him
but she refused.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 Act Two
• Donkey Chang went to Dr. Lu to buy some
poison.
• Mother Ts’ai had fallen ill herself.

• Mother Ts’ai requested a mutton soup and

Donkey Chang put some poison to it.
• Unfortunately, Old Chang was the one who
had made a sip to the soup.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • Old Chang had died and Donkey Chang
put the blame on Tou Ngo and Mother
Ts’ai.
• They went to the court and the Perfect
Evilbrute favored Donkey Chang.
• Because of not confessing, an
Attendant had beaten Tou Ngo.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 Act Three
• Tou Ngou asked the executioner to go by the
back street
• The executioner gave Tou Ngo a favour to talk to
one person that she wanted, before she will be
executed
• Tou Ngo again requested a favour to the prison
governor

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • She also said: If it is true that I am unjustly condemned,
when I die heaven will send down a winter snow three
feet deep to cover my corpse… and for three years to
come the country of Ch’u shall suffer drought

• The executioner waves his flag and swings his sword.

Tou Ngo falls.

• The snow came and not a single drop of blood of Tou

Ngo has fallen to the ground but it had flown up into
the strip of white silk.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 Act Four
• Tou T’ien Chang appeared, he was an assistant of
the Prime Minister
• He knew that Tou Ngo was his daughter

• He investigated the case of Tou Ngo

• Tou Tien asked the chief of the Police and

Magistrate of the country why there has been no
rain for three years.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • He became angry for the absurd reason of the
officials.

• He called the persons who were involved with

Tou Ngo

• They started the trial

• The ghost of Tou Ngo enters to defend herself

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • Dr. Lu enters escorted by a Prison Warder
• They tackled the case of the tangling of Dr. Lu to
mother T’sai
• Dr. Lu revealed that Donkey was the one who asked
poison from him
• Tou T’ien Chang asked mother T’sai why she married
old Chang and she answered that they were not
married

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • Tou Tien said that Tou Ngo should never have

confessed that she poisoned her father-in-law and Tou

Ngo explained

• Tou T’ien said: Now I know the injustice done to you,

my child. Go now. I shall pass sentence on these

prisoners and the magistrate who heard the case.

Tomorrow I shall have a sutra said for the deliverance

of your soul to paradise

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 • Tou Ngo talked to her father and asked to take care of
Mother T’sai
• Tou T’ien Chang announced that her unjustly
condemned daughter Tou Ngou has been justified.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 Point of View
• First Person Point of View

Conflict
• Man Vs. Man

• Man Vs. Himself

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

 Setting
• Chu-Ch’ou
• Mother Ts’ai’s house
• The Court

Cultural
•
Implication
Fix marriage
•Paying for indulgencies

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing

Theme

“Justice comes, but

waits”
 Implication of the Title
• The title “The Injustice done to Tou Ngo” denotes the
tragic experience of Tou Ngo who had been sent to
death for being accused of the death of Old Chang. It
also denotes that not all of us can attain justice easily.
Some had to die to open the door of truth.

The Injustice Done To Tou Ngo by Guan Hanqing