The Peony Pavilion, or The Return of the Soul at the Peony Pavilion in full, is one of China's most widely read plays of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was written in 1598 when the seeds of a capitalistic economy were sprouting in the ancient feudal system. New ideological thoughts of a humanist nature started to take root among the literate, and one of the first targets of criticism was the marriage system in which the father had all the say.
