Round 10: Tossup 1

A genre of plays in this language consists of four acts and one or two musical interludes called “wedges.” Joseph de Prémare translated a play in this language that was later reworked by Voltaire. In a play in this language, a general on a white horse stops a group of ruffians from razing a temple. In a play in this language, a woman prophesies snow falling in midsummer (15[1])before being wrongfully executed for poisoning (15[1])soup. (15[1])This is the language of a play in which a (*) maid secretly conveys poetry and love letters between a scholar and a minister’s daughter. In a 14th-century play in this language, a judge with a crescent-shaped birthmark exonerates a woman after she refuses to pull her child towards her. For 10 points, what language’s (10[1])zájù (tsah-choo) theatre includes the plays Romance of the Western Chamber and The Chalk Circle? ■END■

ANSWER: Chinese [or Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese or wényánwén or gǔwén; accept zhōngwén or hànyǔ; reject “Mandarin”] (The unnamed plays are The Orphan of Zhao and The Injustice to Dou E.)
<TC, World Literature> | NAFTA-Packet-11
= Average correct buzzpoint

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