A Night Visit to Wuguniang Park

Wuguniang Park is located at the western entrance of the ancient town Xitang, covering an area of 3,000 square meters, which includes the Wuguniang statue, Duwating Pavilion, and a water stage, among other features. A true love story is circulated in Xitang. In the late Qing Dynasty, Miss Wuguniang, the daughter of the Yang family landlord from Tangdong village, fell in love with the long-term worker Xu Atian. They faced opposition from her half-brother and she was persecuted to death. Later, her love story was turned into a Tian Ge (field song) and has been sung here for over a hundred years. The musical 'Wuguniang' adapted from the Jiashan Tian Ge won the Wenhua Award at the 7th China Arts Festival. Duwating Pavilion is a special tile Xu Atian made as a kiln worker to express his love for Wuguniang, which he used to cover a pavilion. Inside the pavilion hangs a bell, engraved with the scene of their rendezvous here and the words 'love at first sight'. About 'Tian Ge' Tian Ge is a rural folk song passed down among the people of Xitang, still sung in the neighboring areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai to this day, and is a precious local musical cultural heritage of China. It is particularly noteworthy that the musical 'Wuguniang' adapted from the Xitang Tian Ge won the Wenhua Award at the 7th China International Arts Festival. Moreover, in 1954, the late Yue opera writer Gu Xidong adapted it into the Yue opera 'Wuguniang', performed by the Zhejiang Yue Opera Troupe. After watching the play, Xia Yan (a famous playwright) highly appreciated it and wrote an article in 'People's Daily', giving it a high evaluation.