Chinese cultural elements commemorating（纪念）Tang Xianzu, is known as "the Shakespeare of Asia," add an international character to Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare's hometown.
Tang and Shakespeare were contemporaries and both died in 1616. Although they could never have met, there are common （theme）in their works, said Paul Edmondson, head of research for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. "Some of the things that Tang was writing about （be）also Shakespeare's concerns. I happen to know that Tang's play The Peony Pavilion（《牡丹亭》）is similar in some ways Romeo and Juliet."
A statue commemorating Shakespeare and Tang was put up at Shakespeare's Birthplace Garden in 2017. Two years later, a six-meter-tall pavilion, （inspire）by The Peony Pavilion, （build）at the Firs Garden, just ten minutes' walk from Shakespeare's birthplace.
Those cultural elements have increased Stratford's international （visible）, said Edmondson, adding that visitors walking through the Birthplace Garden were often amazed （find）the connection between the two great writers.
（recall）watching a Chinese opera version of Shakespeare's play RichardⅢ in Shanghai and meeting Chinese actors who came to Stratford a few years ago to perform parts of The Peony Pavilion, Edmondson said, "It was very exciting to hear the Chinese language see how Tang's play was being performed."
