Orphan of Zhao

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The Orphan of Zhao, or Orphan of the House Tcho (趙氏孤兒) is a Chinese play of the Yuan Dynasty, attributed to someone named Ji Junxiang (紀君祥), about whom almost nothing is known. Based on an episode in Shiji, the play has its full name The Great Revenge of the Orphan of Zhao Family (趙氏孤兒大報仇).

It is the first Chinese play known in Europe. Joseph Henri Marie de Prémare translated the play into French as Tchao-chi-cou-eulh, ou L'orphelin de la maison de Tchao, tragédie chinoise, which was collected in Jean Baptiste du Halde's Description géographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l'empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinoise, published in 1735 (the play was published separately in 1755). Voltaire was inspired to produce his own L'orphelin de la Chine. Stanislas Julien's translation, Tchao-chi-kou-eul, ou L’orphelin de la Chine: drame en prose et en vers, was published in 1834. The play was adapted by the Lincoln Center Theatre in 2003.