After about 400 years, William Shakespeare(1564 -1616) is still widely celebrated as a great wordsmith and playwright (剧作家). But he was not the only great master of dramatic writing to die in 1616, and he is certainly not the only writer to have left a lasting impact on theatre. While less famous worldwide, Tang Xianzu (1550 -1616) is considered one of China’s greatest playwrights and is highly admired in this country with ancient literary and dramatic traditions.

Tang was born in 1550 in Linchuan, Jiangxi Province, and worked as a government official until, in 1598, he retired to focus on writing. Unlike Shakespeare having plenty of plays and poems, Tang wrote only four major plays: The Purple Hairpin, A Dream Under the southern Bough, The Handan Dream and The Peony pavilion — it is widely considered to be his masterpiece. In the latter three plays, much of the story is told around dream narrative, through which Tang explores human nature beyond the social and political constraints (约束) of the feudal system (封建制度) of his time. It is a similar narrative structure that we find in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Tang lived towards the end of the Ming Dynasty and his success was partly due to the growth of theatre as an artistic practice during his lifetime. As in England, theatre became hugely popular in China, with public theatres opening in different cities and travelling performance groups becoming common. Theatrical audiences started to collect in open public spaces, and theatre as a popular form of entertainment found its place outside palaces. However, unlike in Shakespeare’s time, there was hardly any mix of the noble and commoners at theatrical events.

During this time, the way in which dramas were enjoyed, spread and performed changed. Initially, Chinese dramas put emphasis on poetic language and were circulated in book form, to be read as if they were novels. They were seldom performed. However, from the 16th century, Kunqu opera, a form of musical drama, spread from southern China and became an important form of Chinese dramas.

While Tang and Shakespeare lived in a world away from each other, they have in common the humanity of their drama, their heroic figures, their love for language, the lasting popularity and the anniversary during which we still celebrate them.

Many dogs are very hard-working animals. They have been helping people for thousands of years. Dogs protect our homes.     5     They team up with rescue workers in search-and-rescue operations.

And now, dogs can add another job to their resumes — finding endangered animals! Experts in Australia are training dogs to use their sense of smell.     6    

Luke Edwards is a dog owner and trainer. He says that dogs are good for this kind of work because they have a great sense of smell.

Recently, the dogs have started their most difficult job — finding the Baw Baw frogs. This kind of frog is one of Australia’s most endangered animals.

    7     Just to get to the place, or site, where the frogs live. The dogs and their trainers must walk far distances through forests. It is difficult but important work.

A kind of deadly fungus (真菌) has killed nearly all of Australia’s Baw Baw frogs. Experts there claim that since 1980 the deadly enemy has killed off 98 percent of the Baw Baw frogs.     8     So, a special organization called Zoos Victoria is trying to save the frog. Experts there raise them and have them reproduce.

Deon Gilbert is a frog expert at Zoos Victoria. He says that detecting the frogs in the wild can be very difficult because they mainly live underground.     9     They, unlike the male Baw Baw frogs, do not have a call. He adds that the dogs had no trouble in finding the frogs.