The Novel in Seventeenth- Century China 9780231895866

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Divisions of Chinese History by Dynastic Rule
Conversion Table of Wade-Giles and Pinyin Systems for Romanizing Chinese
1. The World Behind the Novel: China in the Seventeenth Century
2. The Novelists’ World: Tradition and Innovation
3. Political Realities in Fictional Garb: Past as Metaphor for the Present
4. Man as Responsible Being: The Individual, Social Role, and Heaven
5. Self as Mind or as Body: Fictional Examinations of Identity
6. Disaster and Renewal in an Ordered Universe
7. Literary Innovation and the Legacy of Seventeenth-Century Novels
Appendix I. Literary Source Materials for Several Seventeenth-Century Novels
Appendix II. Textual Histories of Various Seventeenth-Century Novels
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

The Novel in Seventeenth-Century

China

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T h e c o v e r of t h e kuei-yii II e d i t i o n of The l'i/i\nMai of Flesli, d a t e d I(H);< ("')• I lie vertical i n s c r i p t i o n o n tlie right giv es t h e a u t h o r ' s p s e u d o n y m . C h ' i n g - v i n H s i e n - s h e n g ( " M r . Feelings C o n c e a l e d " ) : o n the left is an a d v e r t i s e m e n t : " E v e n t h o u g h t h e f u n c t i o n of fiction is to e x h o r t a n d to chastise, if it is not spicv a n d u n r e s t r a i n e d , it will not delight t h e e v e of t h e r e a d e r . . . ."

THE

NOVEL IN SEVENTEENTHCENTURY CHINA ROBERT

NewYork

E.

HEGEL

C O L U M BI A U NI V E R S I T Y P R E S S

1981

Copyright © 1981 Columbia University Press All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America

Columbia University Press New York Guildford, Surrey

Calligraphy for the chapter openings courtesy of Richard H. Yang, Washington University.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hegel, Robert E 1943T h e novel in seventeenth-century China. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Chinese fiction—Ming dynasty, 1 3 6 8 - 1 6 4 4 — History and criticism. 2. Chinese fiction— Ch'ing dynasty, 1644-1912—History and criticism. I. Title. PL2436.H4 895.13409 80-24105 I S B N 0-231-04928-5

To Jane and Elizabeth,

who helped to make my life meaningful and enjoyable during extended periods of tension and concentrated effort, this book is most affectionately dedicated

Contents

Preface Divisions of Chinese History by Dynastic Rule Conversion T a b l e of Wade-Giles and Pinyin Systems f o r Romanizing Chinese 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

T h e World Behind the Novel: China in the Seventeenth Century T h e Novelists' World: T r a d i t i o n a n d Innovation Political Realities in Fictional Garb: Past as M e t a p h o r f o r t h e Present Man as Responsible Being: T h e Individual, Social Role, a n d Heaven Self as M i n d o r as B o d y : F i c t i o n a l E x a m i n a t i o n s of I d e n t i t y Disaster a n d Renewal in an O r d e r e d Universe Literary Innovation a n d the Legacy of Seventeenth-Century Novels

A p p e n d i x I Literary Source Materials f o r Several Seventeenth-Century Novels A p p e n d i x II Textual Histories of Various Seventeenth-Century Novels Glossaiy Notes Bibliography Index

ix xvii xix 1 33 67 105 141 189 219 235 241 255 263 309 331

Preface

On the first day of the lunar new year in the year 1589, an earthquake of serious proportions shook Peking, the Ming capital. He too may have been frightened or perhaps he merely was looking for an excuse, but the Chinese Wan-li emperor, a young man named Chu I-chiin, refused to meet his assembled ministers in open court, as custom dictated f o r that day. Throughout the next thirty years of his reign, he never again met any of his ministers on a regular basis and steadfastly ignored the business of governing. Lacking any stable leadership, competing factions vied f o r power in incessant bloody struggles. Simultaneously, economic conditions for the masses of common people grew worse; when finally China collapsed into widespread peasant rebellion, the Chinese Ming imperial house fell with it. In its place emerged a line of Manchu rulers who forged a new state, the Ch'ing, on the Chinese model, but with positions of highest authority reserved f o r members of their own ethnic group. This new dynasty kept Chinese intellectuals and bureaucrats under firm control; wholesale destruction of life through war, famine, and natural disasters reduced population pressure on the economic base. Despite its political fragility, the late Ming had been a period of intense cultural activity; with limited opportunities to serve in the state bureaucratic structure, many intellectuals devoted their talents to literature and the arts, with the result that culture continued to flourish into the early Ch'ing. Within a few years of the Peking earthquake, major literary events occurred—the appearance of two major novels, Chin P'ing Mei (also known in translation as The Golden Lotus) and Hsi-yu chi (Journey to the West or Monkey). T h e first, an anonymous exposé of the internal conflicts between the several wives in the household of a lecherous and wealthy merchant, has as its raison d'être a stern condemnation of licentious living—which was seen as a major social problem during the last decades of the Ming. T h e other is a rollick-

x

Preface

ing fantasy a d v e n t u r e based on l e g e n d s and stories already p o p u l a r f o r centuries in which a timid m o n k makes a pilgrimage to India looking f o r B u d d h i s t scriptures; in a lighthearted way it also castigates the foibles of its a g e , particularly those of the clergy. Journey

to

the West also m a r k s the first serious use of allegory in the C h i n e s e novel. In 1 6 9 9 K ' u n g Shang-jen ( 1 ( 1 4 8 - 1 7 1 8 ) was to present a lengthy retrospective of

the seventeenth century

f o r m . His T'uo-huu

in an elegant

dramatic

slum (Peach Blossom Fan) in forty-odd scenes

chronicles the e n d of the M i n g dynasty and the end of an era. F o r the most part, then, it is a t r a g e d y . B y K ' u n g ' s time, Manchu control was firmly established; the C h ' i n g K'ang-hsi e m p e r o r was strong, capable, and decisive. China's population had regained its previous p e a k — b e f o r e the calamitous events of m i d c e n t u r y — a n d the country as a whole was b e c o m i n g m o r e p r o s p e r o u s . In 1 7 0 1 Wu Ching-tzu (d.

1 7 5 4 ) was born;

fifty

years later he would complete a n o t h e r

l a n d m a r k of C h i n e s e fiction, Ju-lin

wai-shih ( T h e Scholars), a scath-

ing satire of c o n t e m p o r a r y values. Reminiscent of Gulliver's

Travels

in its vacillation between comic p a r o d y a n d bitter c o n d e m n a t i o n , Wu's novel focuses on China's b u r e a u c r a c y , that privileged g r o u p at the pinnacle of p o w e r a n d prestige. His work was followed by Hunglou meng ( D r e a m of the R e d C h a m b e r ) , also entitled Shih-t'ou

chi

( T h e Story of the Stone), unquestionably China's finest novel; at once

a

mythical

search

for

blessed

oblivion

beyond

mortal

selfishness, a p e n e t r a t i n g e x p o s u r e of China's wealthiest b u r e a u c r a t clans, and a series of romantic stories about adolescent lovers. T h e s e two great novels m a r k the greatest achievement of C h ' i n g fiction in the same way that Journey

to the West and Chin P'ing Mei are widely

c o n s i d e r e d the a p o g e e of M i n g novels. T h i s studv, h o w e v e r , will f o c u s not on these well-known narratives, but on several outstanding novels that a p p e a r e d d u r i n g the seventeenth century, between these pairs of masterpieces. T h e seventeenth c e n t u r y , o r m o r e specifically the tumultuous p e r i o d f l a n k e d by the e a r t h q u a k e of 1 5 8 9 and the final consolidation of C h ' i n g

control by the K'ang-hsi

emperor

in the

1690s, saw-

C h i n e s e v e r n a c u l a r fiction c o m e of a g e on the foundation laid by Chin P'ing Mei and Journey

to the West. It was d u r i n g this period that

the short story f o r m was brought to perfection by F e n g M e n g - l u n g ( 1 5 7 4 - 1 6 4 6 ) ; his three collections of tales (called hua-pen) present in

Preface

xi

edited f o r m m u c h of the best of earlier fiction f r o m both the vernacular and classical styles, c o u p l e d with outstanding new pieces written by Feng and several of his colleagues. T o this body of 120 stories, Ling Meng-ch'u ( 1 5 8 0 - 1 6 4 4 ) contributed another eighty, and the dramatist Li Yii (Li Li-weng, 1 6 1 1 - 1 6 8 0 ) responded with still m o r e , although some of Li's stories caricature the works of his contemporaries. F u r t h e r m o r e , the best-known and most widely read of earlier novels reached their final f o r m s d u r i n g the seventeenth century through revision, e m e n d a t i o n , or truncation. But beyond the

finalization

o f specific literary masterpieces, the

seventeenth century p r o d u c e d even m o r e significant changes in the novel. Formal structural features had become conventionalized already in the late works o f the previous century. Paramount a m o n g them is narrative in a vernacularized hybrid prose style, through the use of dialectical and slang expressions and a broader range of g r a m m a r and diction m a d e far closer to the living colloquial lang u a g e than the standard, f o r m a l classical Chinese style. While less terse, this vernacular allowed fast reading, inaugurating a whole new r a n g e of stylistic possibilities not available to the poet and writer of linguistically dense and highly polished prose essays. T h e prose of these narratives is regularly i n t e r r u p t e d by passages of verse to allow editorial comments, in a d e t a c h e d m a n n e r , on persons, places, or events in the tale. Extrinsic structure likewise became formalized by the beginning of the seventeenth century. Novels came to be divided into chapters (huí, "sessions"), each narrating two or m o r e events d e n o t e d by allusive chapter titles in antithetical couplet f o r m and b e g u n and ended with f o r m u l a i c expressions deliberately reminiscent of professional storytellers' turns of phrase. Seventeenth-century novelists were to use this conventional format creatively, to add new dimensions of m e a n i n g to their work. Chin P'ing Mei had presented a brutally frank vision of moral depravity. Seventeenth-century

writers seized u p o n this work as

m o d e l for keen observation a n d e x p o s u r e o f the moral problems of their own day. I n d e e d , seventeenth-century novelists became even m o r e d a r i n g than their predecessors in their search in fiction f o r the justice and truth so hard to find in their society. T h e finest a m o n g their works are inev itably didactic; they speak directly to their times with a d e g r e e of political and intellectual seriousness h e r e t o f o r e disc o v e r e d only in Dream of the Red Chamber. S o m e seventeenth-century

xii

Preface

n o v e l s a r e d i s t i n c t l y i n n o v a t i v e in s u b j e c t m a t t e r as well. In creativity they vary demonstrably and

fictionally

f r o m the sentimental

their

romances

e l a b o r a t e d historical chronicles then p o p u l a r

among

less a d v e n t u r o u s r e a d e r s . A l l t h e n o v e l s to b e d i s c u s s e d h e r e

were

w r i t t e n by h i g h l y e d u c a t e d m e n , m e m b e r s of C h i n a ' s c u l t u r a l

and

s o c i a l elite w h o in a less c h a o t i c a g e m i g h t h a v e s e r v e d in p o s i t i o n s o f a u t h o r i t y in t h e C o n f u c i a n state. B u t e c o n o m i c , social, a n d p a r t i c u larly political c h a n g e s

r u l e d o u t this possibility f o r t h e m ,

leaving

t h e m to e x p r e s s their c o n c e r n s , their frustrations, a n d their insights i n t o t h e m e a n i n g o f t h e i r e x i s t e n c e in a l i t e r a r y f o r m that g r e w t o a n e w peak of significance t h r o u g h their contributions. N o n e o f these writers was a revolutionary; o n the contrary, the ideology o f their s o c i a l class m a d e r e f o r m i s m t h e o b v i o u s c h o i c e f o r t h e i r c a u s e . A l l e x p r e s s e d t h e i r c o n s e r v a t i v e m o r a l s in n a r r a t i v e s set in t h e p a s t ; f e w writers

had

the

temerity

to

fictionalize

directly

the

emotionally

c h a r g e d c h a n g e o f dynasty they had personally witnessed. M a t u r e criticism o f the novel likewise d e v e l o p e d seventeenth century. Each of the works discussed

only

here

in

the

appeared

f i r s t in a n e x p e n s i v e e d i t i o n c o n t a i n i n g a n a l y t i c a l p r e f a c e s a n d n o t e s . I n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h his p u b l i s h i n g o f a s e r i e s h e c a l l e d t h e " w o r k s o f genius,"

Chin

Sheng-t'an

(i6io?-i66i)

presented

original

and

h i g h l y d e t a i l e d c o m m e n t a r y o n a n d e x e g e s i s of a n o l d e r n o v e l t h a t h e h a d e d i t e d t o a s i g n i f i c a n t e x t e n t , Shai-hu a l s o t r a n s l a t e d as All Men Are Brothers).

chuan

(Water

Margin,

T h e r e C h i n f o c u s e d o n stylis-

tic f e a t u r e s , s o m e o f w h i c h h e i n t r o d u c e d h i m s e l f , a n d r i g h t l y

em-

p h a s i z e d t h e c e n t r a l i m p o r t a n c e o f style in t h e a p p r e c i a t i o n o f a w o r k of vernacular and

fiction.

H i s e f f o r t s w e r e f o l l o w e d by t h o s e of M a o L u n

M a o T s u n g - k a n g , an otherwise obscure father and son

team

( a l t h o u g h t r a d i t i o n a l l y t h e s o n h a s r e c e i v e d all t h e c r e d i t f o r t h e i r work);

these two m e n

Three

K i n g d o m s , c.1400) somewhat, then f o r g e d a preface

e d i t e d San-kuo

chih yen-i

(Romance of

the attri-

b u t e d to C h i n Sheng-t'an for the edition containing their detailed c o m m e n t a r y . S h o r t l y a f t e r w a r d , C h a n g C h u - p ' o (fl. 1680) p r o v i d e d a n e x p l a n a t i o n o f h o w t o a p p r e c i a t e t h e Chin P'ing

Met

in 108 sec-

t i o n s , a g a i n e m p h a s i z i n g a c l o s e r e a d i n g of t h e t e x t as p r e r e q u i s i t e for

meaningful

understanding.

Both

Chang

and

the

Maos

were

d e e p l y i n d e b t e d t o C h i n S h e n g - t ' a n ; all r e s p o n d e d t h o u g h t f u l l y

to

t h e t e n d e n c y a r i s i n g o n l y d u r i n g t h e late M i n g to treat t h e n o v e l as a m o d e f o r s e r i o u s p h i l o s o p h i c a l a n d artistic e x p r e s s i o n . T h e w o r k of

Preface

xiii

these a n d other unidentified critics in t u r n influenced the f u r t h e r development of the novel d u r i n g the Ch'ing period. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Chin P'ing Mei, Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Scholars—these novels are the classics in China's literary heritage. Even today Chinese readers know these works; all are widely available around the world through translations into a variety of languages. But during the century of turmoil that included the Ming-Ch'ing transition, a n u m b e r of minor classics also richly deserving of critical attention a p p e a r e d . This study will address several of these works and their historical context. Although I attempt to present relevant political, social, economic, and ideological data in general terms, I have m a d e no such attempt to survey all the novels written d u r i n g this period. I have chosen six f r o m a m o n g the most exceptional works available that I know best and that I have enjoyed reading most. Some have achieved widespread acclaim previously; others have not. Although they may not constitute a representative sample of the entire corpus of seventeenth-century novels, these works d o include a considerable range of material. In terms of the most commonly used scheme for classifying Chinese vernacular fiction, the works discussed h e r e include two historical romances, two military romances, a fantasy, and a work of erotic satire. T h r e e of these novels are textually related, although they use their shared material to achieve quite d i f f e r e n t ends. I will also examine briefly the work of the great critics of this period to demonstrate the esthetic and moral concerns they shared with the novelists. I have deliberately used a variety of critical approaches in examining these works, in o r d e r to present several quite different types of analysis. My aim is to demonstrate thereby something of the range of insights one might draw f r o m seventeenth-century Chinese novels. My first chapter presents an overview of the environment in which the novelists and their readers lived, whether or not they perceived it precisely in these terms. T h e second examines factors of their world view and ideological tradition pertinent to understanding their modes of expression and choice of subject matter in literature. T h e function of these two introductory chapters is, of course, to allow the reader a glimpse of the original setting for these novels, both real and as perceived, in o r d e r to understand better what novelists chose to write about and what they quite consciously chose

xiv

Preface

to avoid; w h e r e t h e y stood in relation to the great political events a n d t h e s u f f e r i n g of t h e i r time; a n d , most i m p o r t a n t , how it was that t h e novel in C h i n a m a t u r e d into a serious literary f o r m at this time. S u b s e q u e n t c h a p t e r s a d d r e s s the works themselves, particularly t h e correlations b e t w e e n t h e i r context a n d t h e m e s , characterization, a n d s t r u c t u r e . T h e final c h a p t e r r e e x a m i n e s the relationship between these works a n d t h e i r t r a d i t i o n as well as their i n f l u e n c e o n later works in this f o r m . A p p e n d i x e s p r e s e n t i n f o r m a t i o n c o n c e r n i n g the written sources f o r t h e w o r k s that grew out of China's earlier literat u r e a n d t h e textual histories of several of them to indicate somet h i n g of t h e i r p o p u l a r i t y t h r o u g h time. Illustrations a n d o t h e r pages f r o m s e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y editions a r e r e p r i n t e d h e r e to d e m o n strate t h e s u p e r b w o r k m a n s h i p lavished o n these most artistic e x a m ples of t h e novel f o r m . It is my h o p e that r e a d e r s interested in fiction g e n e r a l l y , as well as s t u d e n t s of Chinese cultural history, will f i n d s t i m u l a t i n g m a t e r i a l h e r e . With this e n d in m i n d , I have c o n f i n e d m o r e specialized i n f o r m a t i o n to notes a n d to the a p p e n dixes at t h e e n d of t h e v o l u m e . T h e r e , too, is a glossary with t h e C h i n e s e c h a r a c t e r s f o r n a m e s , titles, a n d t e r m s m e n t i o n e d in t h e text a n d in t h e notes. I h a v e also included a table of dynastic reign p e r i o d s a n d a m a p . T h e sorts of g e n e r a l b a c k g r o u n d i n f o r m a t i o n in t h e first two c h a p t e r s may already be familiar to m a n y r e a d e r s ; without it, h o w e v e r , t h e significance of these literary texts m i g h t be less readily a p p a r e n t . For t h e r o m a n i z a t i o n of Chinese personal n a m e s a n d t e r m s . I h a v e u s e d t h e m o d i f i e d Wade-Giles system, retaining t h e u m l a u t s but o m i t t i n g t h e b r e v e in such words as jen. Now that t h e Chinese g o v e r n m e n t has of ficially established the pinyin m e t h o d f o r r o m a n i zation as p r e f e r r e d , m o r e W e s t e r n books will be written using that system. T o facilitate r e f e r e n c e f r o m o n e to the o t h e r , I have provided a c o n v e r s i o n table. I have used the old a n d i r r e g u l a r postal system r o m a n i z a t i o n s f o r certain place n a m e s (Peking, Soochow, Wusih, a n d t h e like) b e c a u s e they w e r e m o r e familiar to Western r e a d e r s t h a n e i t h e r t h e i r Wade-Giles (Peiching, S u c h o u , Wuhsi) or pinyin (Beijing, S u z h o u , Wuxi) versions. For less well k n o w n places I h a v e u s e d Wade-Giles r o m a n i z a t i o n , omitting h y p h e n s between syllables to avoid any possible c o n f u s i o n with personal n a m e s . T o r e f e r to Ming a n d C h ' i n g r u l e r s I h a v e used the n a m e s given to their reign p e r i o d s r a t h e r t h a n t h e i r less c o m m o n l y known personal or t e m p l e n a m e s ( f o r e x a m p l e , " t h e Wan-li e m p e r o r , " not " E m p e r o r Shen-

Preface

xv

tsung," "the K'ang-hsi e m p e r o r , " not " E m p e r o r Sheng-tsung"). Readers of the notes and the bibliography will notice immediately the paucity of secondary material devoted to several of the novels examined here. Many studies of the Chinese novel to d a t e have left them virtually or totally unnoticed. T h e n too, a majority of students of Chinese vernacular fiction have focused their attention on the greatest single example of Chinese narrative, Dream of the Red Chamber. Works of the century previous to its a p p e a r a n c e remain neglected for a variety of reasons. Limited circulation d u r i n g a period of turmoil is one; later literary inquisitions that saw several novels proscribed for political or moral reasons is a n o t h e r . Certain works, it would appear, are simply too difficult for a r e a d e r less willing to devote t h o u g h t f u l attention than were Mao T s u n g - k a n g , C h a n g Chu-p'o, and other critics and readers of the seventeenth century. Some lost relevance as political concerns and literary fashions changed. O t h e r factors are even m o r e extrinsic to the material: literary historians and critics of the Chinese novel have by and large limited their attention either to individual titles or to the novel as a literary f o r m . Studies of the f o r m e r type a r e insufficiently broad and usually address only the acknowledged classics; those of the latter often lose sight of particular features and techniques in a resultant welter of titles, since histories of the Chinese novel tend to become m e r e annotated bibliographies. Curiously, few scholars have bothered to d e t e r m i n e the original significance of any of these works. It is my h o p e that with studies of a small body of writing f rom a similar place and time I may thus correct some of the oversights of earlier work in this field. I have provided general synopses of novels h e r e only when an overview of a text is directly relevant to u n d e r s t a n d i n g . Several of these novels are available in English translation, although not all translations are in print. Readers with n o knowledge of Chinese thus may feel at a disadvantage. However, translations can be but pale reflections of the original, d e p e n d i n g u p o n the skill a n d determination of the translator. And a plot summary does a novel little justice. T h e selected passages translated h e r e may give something of a general impression of style and technique; beyond this, I must r e f e r readers to the original texts. Should anyone be led to study Chinese in o r d e r to reach old China's fiction as a consequence of this book, I will have fulfilled my purpose in writing. Over the past few years I have had occasion to discuss various

xvi

Preface

portions of this study or related ideas with many f riends, colleagues, and students. Some have read portions of the manuscript in its several versions. I would like to thank them for their advice and suggestions here, although of course I alone take f ull responsibility for the book as it remains. T h e y include Katherine Carlitz, Chalmers C. Chiu, the late K'ai-ming Ch'iu, Kenneth J . DeWoskin, Edward L. Farmer, Feng Ch'eng-chi, Patrick D. Hanan, Richard C. Hessney, Harry Hughes, H u g h Lawrence, William H. Matheson, David T . Roy, Nelson I. Wu, Anthony C. Y u , Tsing Yuan, Allen Zimmerman, and especially C. T . Hsia, my mentor at Columbia whose infectious enthusiasm first led me to the study of the classic Chinese novel. I must thank the many librarians who helped so much in locating rare editions and appropriate secondary material, particularly Dr. George Y u and Mr. Sidney Dai (Harvard University, the HarvardYenching Library), Professor Philip Yampolsky and Mr. Jack Jacoby (Columbia University, the East Asian Library), Mr. Ernest Tsai (Washington University in St. Louis, the East Asian Library), and the staffs of the National Central Library and the Fu Ssu-nien Memorial Library, Academia Sinica, in Taiwan. T w a y n e Publishers, a division of G. K. Hall and Co., Boston, has kindly given permission to quote from two publications: Frederick P. Brandauer's Tung Yiieh (Boston, 1978) and J o h n C. Y . Wang's Chin Sheng-t'an (New York, 1972); and Princeton University Press, to quote from my article "Sui T'ang \en-i and the Aesthetics of the Seventeenth-Century Suchou Elite," in Andrew H. Plaks, ed., Chinese Narrative: Critical and Theoretical E\\a\s (Princeton, 1977). T h e Department of Chinese and Japanese, Washington University, have on occasion provided much needed moral and material support; I must thank J . T h o m a s Rimer, chairman, and Susan Messenger, secretary, in particular. At various times I have received major financial support that enabled me to devote my full energies to this project. Specifically, I would like to thank the Faculty Research Committee of Washington University and the American Council of Learned Societies. T h e latter grant was made possible with f u n d s f r o m the National Endowment for the Humanities. T h e findings and conclusions presented here do not necessarily represent the views of the Endowment, of the American Council of Learned Societies, or of the Faculty Research Committee of Washington University.

Divisions of Chinese History by Dynastic Rule

Shang

1 7 ( 1 ( 1 - 1 1 2 2 B.C:. (traditional)

Chou

1 1 2 2 - 2 2 1 B.C:. Spring and A u t u m n period, 7 2 2 4 8 1 B.C. Warring States period, 4 0 3 - 2 2 1 B.C.

Ch'in

2 2 1 - 2 0 6 B.C.

Han

2 0 6 B.C.-A.D.

Three Kingdoms

221-264

Chin

265-3

Six Dynasties

3»7-588

Sui

589-618

Tang

618-906

Five Dynasties

906-960

Sung

960-1280 Northern S u n g , 9 6 0 - 1 1 2 7 Southern S u n g , 1 1 2 7 - 1 2 8 0

Yiian

1280-1368

Ming

1368-1644 Wan-li reign, 1 5 7 3 - 1 6 2 0 T'ai-ch'ang reign, 1 6 2 0 T'ien-ch'i reign, 1 6 2 1 - 1 6 2 8 Ch'ung-chen reign, 1 6 2 8 - 1 6 4 4 H u n g - k u a n g reign, 1 6 4 5 Lung-wu reign, 1 6 4 6

Ch'ing

1644-1911 Nurhaci's reign, 1 6 1 6 - 1 6 2 7 Abahai's reign, 1 6 2 7 - 1 6 4 4 Shun-chih reign, 1 6 4 4 - 1 6 6 1 K'ang-hsi reign, 1 6 6 1 - 1 7 2 2

220

XV111

Republic of China People's Republic of China

Divisions of Chinese History

1912-1949 On Taiwan province, 1945 !949~

Conversion Table of Wade-Giles and Pinyin Systems for Romanizing Chinese

Initial

Sounds

Final Sounds ™d Sound Clusters

Wade-Giles Pinyin

Wade-Giles

eh- (-a, -e, -ih, -u) ch- (-i, -ü) eh'- (-a, -e, -ih, -u) ch'- (-i, -ii) hs-

erh -ieh -ien -ih -iung -o (1-, k-, k'-, h-) -o (t-, t'-, 1-, ch-, ch'-, ts-, ts'-, s-, m-) -u (ss-, tz-, tz'-) -u (yu) -uei -ung -ii (ch-, ch'-, hs-, y-) -ii (n-, 1-) -iian (ch-, ch'-, hs-, y-) -iieh (ch-, ch'-, hs-, y-) -iin (ch-, ch'-, hs-, y-) yeh yen

jkk'PP'-

zhj" chqX-

rg" kb-

t-

Psd-

t'-

t-

ts-

ts'-

zc-

tz-

z-

tz'-

c-

ss- ( o r SZ-)

Pinyin er -ie -ian -i -iong -e -uo -i -ou {you) -ui -ong -u -ii -uan -ue -un ye yan

Other sounds and sound clusters are romanized identically in the two systems. A list follows:

XX

Wade-GileslYmy'm

Conversion

Initial sounds f h m n s w y

Final sounds and sound clusters -a -in -ai -ing -an -iu -ang -o -ao -ou -e -u -ei -ua -en -uai -eng -uan -uang -i -ia -ui -un -'ang -uo -iao

Table

Compassionate Heaven is arrayed in angry terrors; Heaven is indeed sending down ruin, Afflicting us with famine So that the people are all wandering fugitives;— In the settled regions and on the borders all is desolation. Heaven sends down its net of crime;— Devouring insects, who weary and confuse men's minds, Ignorant, oppressive, negligent, Breeders of confusion, utterly perverse:— T h e s e are the men employed to tranquilize our country. Insolent and slanderous,— T h e king does not know a flaw in them. We, careful and feeling in peril, For long in unrest, A r e constantly subjected to degradation. As in a year of drought, T h e grass not attaining to luxuriance; As water plants attached to a tree; So do I see in this country All going to confusion. Anon., c.770 B.C. James Legge, trans., The She King or The Book of Poetry (1871), poem 265.

The Novel in Seventeenth-Century China

The Lower Yangtze Valley, c.1650.

The World Behind the Novel: China in the Seventeenth Century Fleeing the Fighting In the wood there are spread traps, nets— Birds in their flocks fly high above; Deep in the mountains, many tigers and wolves— Travelers are few, even in daytime. Why so always lacking in fortune— A hundred griefs at every step; Here, between Earth and vast Heaven, And harassed, I have nowhere to go. Kuei Chuang, c . 1 6 4 5 1

As Robert Scholes and Robert Kellogg have so rightly observed, " T o understand a literary work, . . . we must first attempt to bring our own view of reality into as close an alignment as possible with the prevailing view in the time of the work's composition." 2 T o understand the world as perceived— and artistically reflected—by seventeenth-century Chinese authors, it is imperative first to review the physical reality, as well as the political, economic, social, and ideological characteristics of the time. T h e first four areas will be the subject of this chapter; the last, being less obvious and even more essential to understanding their fiction, will be explored in chapter 2. T h e glimpses provided here of seventeenth-century China cannot be all-encompassing; still, these introductory chapters are intended to form the basis from which we may begin to bridge the "cosmological g u l f " separating contemporary Western readers from the milieu in which these novels originally appeared. 3 Who wrote these novels? A few names are known: Feng Menglung, Li Yii, T u n g Yiieh, Yuan Yii-ling, Ch'u Jen-huo, Ting Yaok'ang; among the critics and editors are Chin Sheng-t'an, Mao Tsung-kang, and Chang Chu-p'o. All were males, all were from the

2

The World Behind the Novel

same social stratum, as were their overlapping circles of literary friends. All were natives, or residents f o r at least a few years, of the lower Yangtze commercial centers, the cultural focus of the country in their day. For whose benefit were these narratives written? T h e works examined h e r e clearly were a m o d e of expression and esthetic appreciation f o r that same n a r r o w stratum of society, the highly educated elite. In a society w h e r e most people lived at or n e a r the subsistence level, an art f o r m such as the novel could hardly have been otherwise. T h e prices of these works, the fine craftsmanship with which first (and some subsequent) editions were printed, the level of literacy a n d esthetic experience required to appreciate them—all these extrinsic factors point to the place of this literary f o r m in Chinese cultural life d u r i n g the seventeenth century. Furt h e r m o r e , the modes of expression in the novels, particularly the values p r e s e n t e d t h e r e and even their subjects—the essentials of h u m a n experience—are demonstrably concerns a p p r o p r i a t e f o r only o n e social class, the e d u c a t e d elite, a n d a m o n g them, the wealthy a n d leisured stratum of that class. As I will demonstrate, these novelists were inheritors of a C o n f u c i a n tradition who had been deprived by chance of the leading role in society they had been taught to expect; their r e a d e r s h i p is most likely to be f o u n d primarily a m o n g their peers. This conclusion d i f f e r s substantially f r o m that of earlier students of Chinese literature about the position of the novel. Hideb o u n d and self-righteous scholars of the M a n c h u era occasionally d e n o u n c e d t h e novel as quite u n w o r t h y of the attention of the truly educated person. 4 Reformist a n d revolutionary y o u n g scholars in the early decades of the present century sought cultural alternatives to the m o r i b u n d literary world of the old ruling class u p o n which to build a new culture f o r the masses. T h e y t u r n e d to vernacular fiction, a n d at once the full-length novel and the shorter hua-pen story became simultaneously the literary f o r m s r e p r e s e n t i n g the creative energies of the masses of the past and the logical p r e c e d e n t f o r a new vernacular literary m o v e m e n t based o n Western models. 5 T h e hypothesis that the novel was a mass e n t e r t a i n m e n t f o r m seemed app r o p r i a t e at first glance: most such works were written in the m o r e precise vernacular r a t h e r t h a n the stiff, f o r m a l — a n d allusive— literary language; m a n y w e r e poorly p r i n t e d in c h e a p and crudely il-

The World Behind the Noi'el

3

lustrated editions; and most were filled with tales known even by illiterate working people, larded with homilies, and replete with expressions borrowed from the storytelling tradition—presumed to be their ultimate source. Apparently they were denigrated by China's old bureaucracy. As a consequence, nationalistic young writers of the Pacific War period and afterward have been encouraged to read old vernacular fiction as one source of inspiration for creating a new literature for the whole people." Over the last fifty years, many Chinese scholars have applied themselves diligently to research on old vernacular fiction. T h e information they uncovered would have-demonstrated the half-truths and misapprehensions in virtually all points of the hypothesis presented above, but many have chosen to ignore the implications of these later findings. Curiously, even now Chinese scholars, whether Marxists or not, tend to avoid the more tenable thesis that the novel, at least in its highest development, was an upper-class literary form. 7 Recently, scholars writing in the West have speculated that, particularly in its later development during the Ch'ing, the Chinese novel constituted two separate traditions at quite different levels of language and artistry. One is the "scholarly novel" or the "literary novel"; the other is characterized by the popular "swordsman fiction" (wu-hsia hsiao-shuo), the "chapbook tradition." 8 It may be that such definitions are too limited to serve generally ; and it is not my purpose here to dispute the development of the tradition as a whole. Instead, I wish to prove that the novel tradition is complex; that during the seventeenth century the novel was a respected vehicle for serious artistic experimentation and intellectual expression among those already proficient in other, more conventional, literary forms; and that certain writers utilized the novel to address pressing questions concerning the meaning of human existence. T h e broader significance of these observations will be made clearer in the concluding chapter. This survey of seventeenth-century China will concentrate on the group who without question wrote and read novels, that segment of the elite called the "literati" or "scholar gentry." Information concerning other social classes and groups will be presented only to clarify the contrasts between this segment and the rest; it is not my intention to attempt an analysis of seventeenth-century Chinese society

4

The World Behind

the i\m>el

as a whole. Although the works of fiction to be examined here are utterly removed from old China's working masses, the economic and social position of the latter must be noted to understand the cultural distance separating them from the serious novel. A n d to clarify such matters as the cost and distribution of these novels, I have given a brief survey of the publishing industry and the book trade.

T h e Physical Setting While much of earlier long prose fiction had been produced farther south, in Fukien province, 9 by the seventeenth century the novel was developing primarily in China's central coastal region, the lower Yangtze valley. T h e r e , in the area known as Kiangnan (Chiang-nan—"south o f the river"), the cities of Nanking, Yangchow, Soochow, and Hangchow constituted the cultural heart of the country. T h e climate there is mild, rainfall is plentiful, and resources adequate for productive agriculture. Light industry and commercialization surpassed that of any other region at that time, and the numerous natural waterways linked by the Grand Canal made the lower Yangtze region the transportation hub of China. Nanking was the lesser of two imperial capitals during the Ming; Yangchow was the seat of the great salt merchants whose fabulous wealth surpassed all but the most avaricious at the imperial court. Hangchow was a city of culture on West Lake, popularly ranked as one of the most beautiful places in the country. Soochow, with its three hundred bridges and numerous canals, rightly shared that distinction. T h e lower Yangtze region had been a population center for centuries by the time of the late Ming. T h e area had been ruled separately during the Warring States period and again during the T h r e e Kingdoms; several of the Southern dynasties had had their capitals in the region. A f t e r the fall of northern China to foreign invaders in the twelfth century, large numbers of educated northerners had moved to the area, and an unrivaled network of waterways had been developed. A m o n g the cities of the region, Soochow had been a major urban center since 1229, although its walls had been built centuries before. Over fourteen miles in length, these fortifications enclosed an area that allowed housing space and pri-

The World Behind the Novel

5

vate yards for most of the city's inhabitants, who numbered about 500,000 by 1600. T h e center of interprovincial and interregional trade, Soochow served as the site of administration for three counties and the entire Soochow district (fu) as well. It was also a center of learning. Literacy was highest in Kiangnan, and culture flourished at all levels o f society. T h r o u g h o u t the Ming and Ch'ing periods, there were more successful candidates for the civil service examinations from Kiangnan than most other Chinese provinces; the area served as the home of the largest number of men of letters, artists, and bibliophiles—and as the setting for the most refined and renowned literary gatherings of the age. Soochow was a city of outstanding private gardens. Most houses were of one story and enclosed a private space, the work area for craftsmen, and garden space for urban vegetable peddlers. Although residences looked quite similar from outside, the wealthy lavishly decorated their more extensive grounds with miniature landscapes to enhance their enjoyment o f wine, flowers, poetry, and the arts. It was in these private gardens that literati gathered to discuss the art o f writing. Frederick Mote has observed that "In Soochow, with its great wealth, pleasures became more varied, the idle could congregate, imaginations stirred each other. Much of the activity which resulted was non-productive, resulting only in dissipation or exhaustion of resources and energies. Soochow was infamous in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a dissolute city." 1 0 Commercially, Soochow served as the hub o f a circle of cities with populations o f about 100,000 (Wuch'iang, K'unshan, Ch'angshu, and Wusih) and numerous crowded and prosperous smaller market towns. Within this region economic activities were specialized geographically. Commerce and banking were located in the suburban area west of the city proper, along the Grand Canal; specialty markets in such commodities as fish and fancy fruits and vegetables were located in market towns ten to fifteen miles distant. Silk weaving centered in the northeast corner of the city, while cotton production took place outside the walls. 11 Clearly, the economic activities of Soochow residents were as intimately connected with the surrounding countryside as were the city's political functions. Urbanization had increased in pace as a result of economic factors to be discussed shortly, but China's cities (all originating as ad-

6

The World Behind the Novel

ministrative centers) had not taken on unique identities in the process. Unlike European towns, buildings in Soochow and other cities were not different from those in rural areas. Mansions might include several acres of walled grounds, but they were basically singlestory structures. Buddhist and other urban temple complexes were tall and grand—but religious centers in the countryside could be even more elaborate. Nor did government buildings serve as the city's focus in physical terms; administrative edifices spread outward rather than upward. Centers of learning and libraries usually were constructed in rural areas, as were publishing houses and major private libraries. Patterns of dress and values were alike in city and country; indeed, the conservative "rural ideal"—of a life of cultured simplicity—served to ensure a continuity of elite culture from countryside to city. 12

Economic Developments China by 1600 was a wealthy and powerful state. Its population was growing rapidly; new crops, including new strains of food grains, had increased agricultural productivity, making this growth possible. Division of labor and the increasing industrialization of textile and handicrafts production in the lower Yangtze valley had led to more and more regional specialization. Domestic trade developed along China's inland waterways: sugar, fruit, and tea came from the southeast coastal region; salt, silk, and cotton from the Yangtze Valley; and food grains from provinces to the west. China's ports bustled with international commerce as well: the Chinese traded with other Asians, Arabs, and even European merchants. Because the latter traded with silver from the Americas, silver rapidly became China's medium of exchange in commerce and even in taxation. 13 China's population had grown rapidly during the Ming period, from at least 60 million at its beginning in the fourteenth century to over 150 million by 1600. 1 4 The Ming royal house, the Chu, alone numbered between forty and one hundred thousand. 15 Ming population growth, due in part to the introduction of new protein sources from abroad, was most noticeable in the more easily irrigable portions of China, the Yangtze valley and the south. 16 But here too, natural disasters, epidemics of horrifying proportions, and famines

The World Behind

the Noiel

m e r c e w e r e the m e r c h a n t s , a vast n u m b e r o f p e o p l e if t h e t e r m includes the millions i n v o l v e d in t r a d e at all levels. T h e bulk w e r e p e d d l e r s o r small s h o p k e e p e r s , the latter g r o w i n g in n u m b e r with urbanization t h r o u g h the late M i n g . W i t h little o r n o o r g a n i z a t i o n at any level, m e r c h a n t s h a d n o political s t r e n g t h , e v e n t h o u g h a f e w amassed t r e m e n d o u s f o r t u n e s . 4 7 R a t h e r t h a n u s i n g this wealth to dev e l o p e v e n g r e a t e r financial e m p i r e s a n d thus risk official confiscation, the m e r c h a n t princes o f the l o w e r Y a n g t z e cities vied with e a c h o t h e r in e x t r a v a g a n t display. O n e Y a n g c h o w salt m e r c h a n t is said to have paid 400,000 o u n c e s o f silver f o r a private a c t i n g t r o u p e , costumes, a n d stage p r o p e r t i e s late in t h e c e n t u r y , w h e n it was f a s h i o n able to k e e p a t r o u p e in the h o u s e h o l d f o r the e n t e r t a i n m e n t

of

guests. 4 8 B u t while s o m e m e n p r e f e r r e d p u r e l y sensual e n j o y m e n t , others w e r e m o r e selective, with t h e result that the life style o f t h e wealthiest m e r c h a n t s usually d i f f e r e d in n o significant way f r o m that o f the f o r m a l l y e d u c a t e d elite. T h a t is, b o t h g r o u p s o f t h o s e w h o c o u l d a f f o r d to d o so collected b o o k s , p a i n t i n g s , curios, a n d t h e like. Such sophisticated h o b b i e s r e q u i r e d a r e a s o n a b l e d e g r e e o f e d u c a tion, o f c o u r s e , but with the leisure that m o n e y c o u l d b u y , m e r c h a n t families e d u c a t e d their sons a n d t h u s assimilated t h e m s e l v e s culturally a n d , t h r o u g h the e x a m i n a t i o n system or t h r o u g h the p u r chase o f d e g r e e s a n d positions, politically into the socially f a v o r e d g e n t r y . A l t h o u g h c o n s p i c u o u s c o n s u m p t i o n limited the a c c u m u l a tion o f capital, m e r c h a n t s w e r e most c i r c u m s c r i b e d by their o w n v a l u e s — t h e y chose to j o i n , not to s t r u g g l e against, e n t r e n c h e d bureaucratic p o w e r . 4 9 C o n s e q u e n t l y , literate m e m b e r s o f the m e r c h a n t class d i f f e r e d less significantly in their r e a d i n g habits f r o m

the

g e n t r y than did a n a l o g o u s g r o u p s in W e s t e r n E u r o p e a n society. It is unlikely that they c o u l d constitute a n y n o t e w o r t h y r e a d i n g a u d i e n c e separate f r o m the rest o f the elite. W h e t h e r less p r o s p e r o u s m e r chants w e r e l e a r n e d e n o u g h to r e a d , m u c h less a p p r e c i a t e , t h e vernacular novels s e e m s entirely p r o b l e m a t i c . It is also unlikely that w o m e n c o n s t i t u t e d a s e p a r a t e public o f any c o n s e q u e n c e .

Recently,

social scientists

reading

have

seen

c h a n g e s in the position o f w o m e n d u r i n g the M i n g : a g r e a t e r e m phasis o n rules limiting w o m e n ' s actions, t h e s p r e a d o f f o o t b i n d i n g , a n d the cults o f chastity a n d virginity a r e c o n s i d e r e d a male reaction to a m o r e a g g r e s s i v e assertion o f their personal f r e e d o m s o n the

The World Behind the Novel

21

part o f urban women. 5 0 T h e opportunities—and the need—to work outside the h o m e because o f the growth o f the handicrafts industries gave women o f the lower classes new freedom, as did the breakdown o f the manorial system and the end o f s e r f status. 51 T h e r e seems to have been a significant increase in the numbers o f literate women during the late M i n g - e a r l y Ch'ing period as well, nearly exclusively in gentry households. Although the wives and daughters o f many literati were skilled at verse, there also existed in a simplified version o f the literary language a n u m b e r o f works designed to edify the barely literate female. 5 2 Still, the position o f women was undeniably lower than that o f m e n ; consider the following description written by Li Yii o f what can only have been a slave market in a brothel: I was once in Yangchow to select a concubine for a certain person of rank. Of those who were brought in, all dressed and ornamented beautifully, nearly all stood with their heads bowed. But when they were ordered to raise their heads, they did so. One of them just raised her head and stared unabashedly, while another was ashamed and embarrassed and would not hold her head up until she had been instructed to do so several times. . .

Clearly, women were subservient to men at every level o f society; lacking f r e e d o m o f movement and expression, their effect on fashions in reading could only have been minimal. B e y o n d the gentry, wealthy merchants, and a certain segment o f the female population, what literate elements were there? Certainly Buddhist monks and Taoist priests were literate to an extent; some, particularly a m o n g the f o r m e r , were known as poets in their day. Indeed, one was even a novelist before taking the tonsure. But although visiting worthy monks (or to the monastaries in which they resided) was considered a refined diversion, monks did not play a particularly significant role either in politics or in culture during the seventeenth century. Instead, monasteries and mountain retreats provided viable places o f political and religious refuge during that turbulent period. T h e r e remains only the specialized entertainers catering to the interests o f the elite. T h e y ranged in occupation from storyteller (Liu Ching-t'ing), to music teacher and drama coach (Su K'unsheng), to dramatist and director (Li Yii), to landscape architect (Chang Lien and his son C h a n g J a n ) , to prostitute (Li Hsiang-chiin

22

The World Behind the A W /

a n d Y a n g Ai) a n d a c t o r ( H s u T z u - y i i n ) , to the n u m b e r s o f p r o f e s sional p a i n t e r s ( i n c l u d i n g the f a m o u s T a o - c h i in his later years). Probably f e w o f t h e m a l e s in this g r o u p held a m i d d l e - o r u p p e r level d e g r e e , g i v e n their low social status, but all w e r e literate. S o m e w e r e e x t r e m e l y well e d u c a t e d a n d c h o s e these o c c u p a t i o n s f o r political o r e c o n o m i c reasons. All w e r e at the m e r c y o f the g e n t r y f o r their i n c o m e s , w h i c h w e r e not necessarily stable. Such p e o p l e certainly c o u l d not c o n s t i t u t e a r e a d i n g a u d i e n c e apart f r o m the g e n t r y ; serious literature c o u l d b e p r o d u c e d only f o r the social elite, w h o c o u l d a f f o r d a n d a p p r e c i a t e it as an intellectual a n d esthetic diversion.

Politics: U p h e a v a l a n d Stability T h e s e v e n t e e n t h c e n t u r y saw d r a m a t i c and catastrophic political c h a n g e s a n d d e v e l o p m e n t s in C h i n a , with ruler f o l l o w i n g i n c o m p e tent r u l e r d u r i n g m u c h o f the p e r i o d , a c h a n g e o f dynasty, a n d s e e m i n g l y e n d l e s s n a t u r a l disasters a n d civil war. S u c h c h a n g e s w e r e to p r o v o k e c e r t a i n w r i t e r s o f novels to question basic a s s u m p t i o n s a b o u t the h u m a n e x p e r i e n c e ; these events also p r o d u c e d a s y m p a thetic a u d i e n c e o f similarly d i s a f f e c t e d readers. 5 4 T h e c e n t u r y b e g a n with the Wan-li e m p e r o r , a m a n n a m e d C h u I-chiin ( 1 5 6 3 - 1 6 2 0 ) , o n the t h r o n e . His c o r o n a t i o n had o c c u r r e d w h e n he was nine. D u r i n g the first d e c a d e s o f his rule, the t h r o n e had

been

dominated

by

his

prime

minister,

Chang

Chii-cheng

( 1 5 2 5 - 1 5 8 2 ) . T h e c e n t r a l g o v e r n m e n t was e c o n o m i c a l l y s o u n d ; the borders were secure; and c o m m e r c e and manufacturing (including the p u b l i s h i n g i n d u s t r y )

flourished.

B u t with the d e a t h o f C h a n g ,

the Wan-li e m p e r o r b e c a m e obstinate, e x t r a v a g a n t , a n d

irrespon-

sibly a r b i t r a r y in w i e l d i n g p o w e r . T o silence criticism o v e r his u n p o p u l a r c h o i c e o f a successor, the e m p e r o r relied o n ruthless suppression o f o p p o s i t i o n in this a n d later in all o t h e r matters as well. B u t his e x t r a v a g a n c e s at c o u r t a n d the b o r d e r wars that soon develo p e d against the M o n g o l s in the n o r t h w e s t , the a b o r i g i n e s in the southwest, a n d in K o r e a (in s u p p o r t o f the vassal state against the a g g r e s s i o n o f t h e J a p a n e s e T o y o t o m i Hideyoshi) e x h a u s t e d his treasuries. F u r t h e r m o r e , h e c e a s e d h o l d i n g court a f t e r 1589; this en-

The World Behind, the Novel

23

couraged imperial reliance on unscrupulous eunuchs, factional strife at court, and an ever greater disregard for the masses of peasants suffering under increased taxes. Key posts in the central government went unfilled because of the emperor's inattention. By 1612 the work of his formal administration had ground to a halt in many areas, his private ventures being carried out by a small army of his personal servants. These projects included the construction of palaces and flotillas o f pleasure boats—all of which were described in a historical novel compiled only a decade after his death (the emperor was so obese that he was unable to support his own weight) in 1620. 55 T h e political consequences of the Wan-li reign were twofold. O n the local level, there were repeated insurrections attempting to redress grievances against the emperor's creatures. (Numerous revolts in central China against eunuch tax commissioners between 1596 and 1601 led to others in Shantung in 1599; in Soochow a mob of common citizens beat the tax commissioners to death in 1601; in 1602 there were uprisings in four provinces simultaneously. In 1620 the price of rice soared to such heights in Soochow that few could afford it. A small amount was doled out to the poor; when officials put a stop to this, enraged citizens simply confiscated grain stores.) These uprisings began a pattern of rebellion that could only have hastened the fall of the state. 56 On another level of society, the Wanli emperor's highhanded reprisals against his critics encouraged the formation of cliques in opposition to him or to his eunuchs. T h e best known of these is the Tung-lin (Eastern Grove) party. T h e i r influence was greatest only for the years from the death of the emperor until the purge of 1624, when Wei Chung-hsien (1568-1627), a selfcastrated eunuch, came to monopolize court power. T h e Tung-lin movement, although strong in righteous indignation, lacked both unity on political goals and even any true group consciousness; instead, it demonstrated the utter helplessness of the scholarly elite to effect any significant political reform. 5 7 At the death of the Wan-li emperor, C h u Ch'ang-lo took the throne, only to fall ill a few months later and die in less than three weeks from the "medicine" he had been given. 58 He was succeeded by his eldest son, C h u Yu-chiao (1605-1627). This monarch, the T'ien-ch'i emperor, seems to have been slow of wit; his five children

24

The World Behind the Novel

all died in infancy as he busied himself with making model furniture. Real power was in the hands of the eunuch Wei, who had been one of his mother's butlers. 59 By 1626 Wei Chung-hsien brought his purges of real and potential enemies to a height with a roundup of prominent Tung-lin party members in the lower Yangtze region. This provoked an insurrection in Soochow against abuses of imperial authority. T h e riot demonstrated a remarkable solidarity between people of many strata, particularly the literati, urban workers, and peasants from the nearby countryside. It also marked the end of the eunuch's purges, which had become politically too expensive for him. Although this incident did not result in any prolonged cooperation between different social classes, it was a noteworthy model for later resistance to imperial interference in the area. 60 Chu Yu-chien ( 1 6 1 1 - 1 6 4 4 ) , fifth son of the short-lived Chu Ch'ang-lo, came to the throne as the Ch'ung-chen emperor early in 1628. Wei Chung-hsien attempted to resign; two months later he was sent away into retirement and committed suicide en route. Even though this heralded the extinction of one particularly vicious clique at court, the reign of the youthful Ch'ung-chen emperor was marked by indecision on the part of the monarch and a constant succession of national leaders—each top position changed hands at least once each year. Often the loss of a position was followed by the death of the previous occupant and the confiscation of his property. In the provinces, Ming power crumbled even more drastically: imperial armies, no longer centrally supplied, foraged at great cost to local peasants; the courier-post system was discontinued as a means of reducing government expenses, causing loss of income for people across the empire; commercial taxes were increased, causing even more disaffection; famine spread its cruel tentacles ever more widely in the wake of unrelieved natural calamities. 61 It was during the Ch'ung-chen reign that the most pervasive and geographically widespread political alliance of the century was formed. In 1628 Chang P'u ( 1 6 0 2 - 1 6 4 1 ) , a native of T'aits'ang near Soochow, organized the Revival Society (Fu-she—given Chang's devotion to the Confucian classics, the name probably was meant to be interpreted as "Society for the Revival of Genuine Classical Learning"). At first he assembled groups of young scholars to study together for the examinations; later, through the consolidation of

The World Behind the Novel

25

numerous local literary associations into a single alliance, Chang's g r o u p reached nationwide p r o m i n e n c e and considerable influence. By 1632 membership surpassed two thousand, and the g r o u p began to exert political pressure on the imperial court. In 1639 it issued the N a n k i n g Manifesto protesting the interference o f the p o w e r - h u n g r y minister J u a n T a - c h ' e n g ( c . 1 5 8 7 - 1 6 4 6 ) in the normal f u n c t i o n i n g o f government. T h e society even m a n e u v e r e d to ensure a death sentence for o n e prime minister and the substitution o f another. T h e Revival Society carried on the traditions o f the T u n g - l i n g r o u p to the extent that its m e m b e r s were not only a political force; indeed, politics were incidental to many m e m b e r s as they p u r s u e d their mutual literary and philosophical concerns. 6 2 T h e i r disruptive e f f o r t s on the whole served only to weaken f u r t h e r the tottering M i n g state, although they figure as heroes o f resistance to political immorality in K ' u n g Shang-jen's nostalgic dramatization o f the era written a halfcentury later. China's border conflicts had g o n e badly t h r o u g h the late Ming. O n the northeast frontier a series o f "barbarian" tribes had been united by Nurhaci ( 1 5 5 9 - 1 6 2 6 ) into a M a n c h u military force. At first he led his troops to aid the Chinese in fighting the Japanese invaders o f Korea; but by 1 6 1 6 Nurhaci had established himself as the emperor of a new state and soon thereafter invaded China, o c c u p y i n g several strategic northeastern cities. A b a h a i (b. 1592), w h o succeeded him in 1626, adopted a m o r e Chinese system o f g o v e r n m e n t and pressed once more into China. Abahai's forces reached Peking in 1629, retreating with e n o r m o u s amounts o f booty and increasing numbers of Chinese allies. By his death in 1643, the Manchus had incorporated large numbers o f Mongols and other Central Asians into their military machine. A b a h a i was succeeded on the Manchu throne by his ninth son, Fulin, then aged six. Leadership was in the hands o f a regent, the c o m m a n d e r D o r g o n , when Peking fell into the hands o f a rebel band led by Li T z u - c h ' e n g . A C h i n e s e border general, W u San-kuei, saw the Manchus as the lesser evil and sought their aid in driving out the rebel. T h e Manchus c o m p l i e d — D o r g o n had been waiting for just this sort o f o p p o r t u n i t y — a n d occupied the city in May 1644; then they began their conquest o f all C h i n a as a new dynastic power, the Ch'ing. 6 3 From eyewitness accounts o f the fall o f the Ming capital (collected later by the novelist and story writer F e n g Meng-lung), it is

26

The

World

Behind

the X'oi()">: n e a r l y

identical

to that

in

edition A . L i n Hsu Fa-fan,

by Lin H a n , dated

1508.

u n d a t e d , as in e d i t i o n A .

illustrations: Full title:

44 h a l f - f o l i o p o r t r a i t s of c h a r a c t e r s .

Hsiu-hsiang

Sui T'ang

yen-i ¡'The Illustrated R o m a n c e

....

COMMI.MS: O n e c o p y in the O r i e n t a l Printed B o o k s a n d M a n u s c r i p t s R e a d i n g R o o m , the British M u s e u m .

Textual Histories I). K u e i - p i - t ' a n g S ®

251

"tr, undated edition.

COMMUN I S: T h e n a m e of this printer can be found on the centers of a few folios in the E edition; presumably this publisher sold the printing blocks to another, w h o neglected to alter them all appropriately. E.

Lien-yiian-ko

edition, in 20 chiian, i86(>, annotated.

Prefatory material: Hsu, by C h ' u J e n - h u o , identical to that in edition A . liian-hsu, by L i n H a n . Fa-fan, undated, as in edition A . Illustrations: 44 half-folio portraits of characters. Full title: As in edition A . COMMENTS: E x c e p t for minor misprints, this text is identical to edition A ; one copy in the F u Ssu-nien M e m o r i a l L i b r a r y at the A c a d e m i a Sinica, T a i p e i . F.

(Publisher unidentified), edition of 1896, 10 chiian. Prefatory material: Hsu by C h ' u J e n - h u o , dated 1695 and 1896. Fan-li

/ L M , dated 1896.

Full title: Hui-t'u

t'ung-su Sui T'ang

yen-i ( The Popular R o m a n c e . . . ,

Illustrated). COMMENTS: C o p y in the Wason Collection, Cornell University. G . C h i n - c h a n g t'li-shu-chii S h a n g h a i in 1 9 1 4 , annotated.

Mj, edition in 10 chiian, published in

Prefatory material: Hsu, by C h ' u J e n - h u o , dated 1695 and 1 9 1 4 . Illustrations:

14 half-folio portraits of characters.

Full title: Hui-t'u Sui T'angjen-i

( T h e Illustrated R o m a n c e . . . )

COMMENTS: C o p y in the Chinese-Japanese L i b r a r y , H a r v a r d University; an excellent edition. H. S h a n g h a i S h a n g - w u yin-shu-kuan volume, annotated.

i S - e d i t i o n

of 1 9 3 3 in one

252

Textual Histories

Prefatory material: Hsu by Pu-sheng T o - h e n - j e n of K u - w u -ir-^-flS ± | tB-A* (Full of Sorrows, the Part-time Student from S o o c h o v v . Illustrations: 20 q u a r t e r - p a g e and one full-page illustrations, portraits of characters. Full title: Sui

Tangyen-i

COMMENTS: A p p e a r s to be a reprint of edition (I; copies in the East Asiatic L i b r a r y , University of California, Berkeley, and in the East Asian L i b r a r y , C o l u m b i a University. I.

S h a n g h a i K u - t i e n wen-hsiieh ch'u-pan-she -¿"Jft-^.'i" it i S . i t , edition of 1 9 5 6 , two volumes. Prefatory material: Ch'u-pan shuo-ming by the Editorial Board of S h a n g h a i K u - t i e n wenhsiieh ch'u-pan-she, dated 1 9 5 5 . Illustrations:

1 0 0 f u l l - p a g e action scenes reprinted from edition A.

Full title: Sui

T'angyen-i.

COMMENTS: A modern punctuated edition of edition A omitting the original annotations. Pirated by Shih-chieh shu-clni # ^ in T a i p e i in 1962 as a two-volume hardcover edition, reissued in 1963 as a three-volume p a p e r b a c k . Also photoreprinted by Hsiieh-lin shu-tien in H o n g K o n g , 1966. in two volumes. J.

H o n g K o n g (?) K u a n g - w e n J t j t i edition, undated, in two volumes. COMMENTS: A

cheap

edition,

rife with

misprints,

on

low-quality

p a p e r , p r o b a b l y from the late 1950s. K . H o n g K o n g K w o n g C h i Bookstore

7. edition in two volumes,

unillustrated, u n a n n o t a t e d . COMMENTS: T h i s inexpensive edition varies occasionally from the standard edition A text, sometimes substituting words that make for easier reading; in a few instances whole passages are simply omitted. P r o b a b l y from the early or middle 1960s. L.

T a i p e i , L i - m i n g ch'u-pan-she volume.

¡k Jfc i i .

undated edition in one

Textual Histories

253

COMMENTS: A n inexpensive edition including only the text without prefatory material, annotations, or illustrations, a p p a r e n t l y based on edition A without m a j o r textual alterations. P r o b a b l y from the middle or late 1960s.

Glossary

ai

cheng-sheng i

±

ai ts'aiju nun«

Ch'eng Hao

U B

^-iaty

An L u - s h a n

Ch'eng I i l

" C h ' a n ballads"

Ch'eng Yao-chin ii-St^"

$

Ch'an-chen i-shih # JLiil. jt

" C h i " (a K u c i C h u a n g poem ì fn.

C h a n g C h ' a o ik'M

chi-chii £

C h a n g Chien-chih

ch'i&,

Chang Chii-cheng i k / £ j L

ch'i-iM.*.

Chang Chu-p'o

Ch'i-kuo k'ao -tr SI %

C h a n g Hsien-chung

Ch'i-tung Yeh-jen If-fcJf-A.

é]

C h a n g Hsiieh-ch'eng

Ch'i-lungyeh-yu

Changjan

Chia-erh ssu-yii

ik*

ìfHfcfaia

Chang Lien

chia-jen

{ÉA.

C h a n g P ' u 5ft

Chia-shen chi-shih

chang-p'u

C h i a n g T s ' a i - p ' i n g (\lei-fei;

«f» it %

Ch'angchou " C h ' a n g - h e n c h u a n " -fc.itL11f-

chieh Sp

Chao-tai ts'ung-shu 83 'K

Chieh-kua

"Chao-yang meng-shih hsii"'

Chieh-tzu-yiian hua-chiian

kung ÌMh's" li] i t y

C h i e h - t z u - y i i a n pieh-yeh tf-^f- ® chen ( t r u t h ; JL

t

Chen-chu-shan

Chien-hsiao-ko i'jTÌ W

"Chen-chung chi" i t +

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chen-shen

Chien-she te wen-hsiieh ko-minq ftiSLWj

^

Ch'en C h i - j u f M S i * C h ' e n Ch'i-yii

chien-sheng JSL Ì

Ch'en Hung

C h ' i e n Ch'ien-i

C h ' e n Shou

Ch'ien-tzu wen -f~ ^ 5t

C h e n g C h ' e n g - k u n g Ip^i.

chih-chuan yen-i

C h e n g Ch'i

Chin C h i i n - m i n g

Cheng Ch'u-hui I p ^ i t

C7»n P'in^ .1/«"

" C h e n g - m e n g p'ien'"

Chin S h e n g - t ' a n -^"ÌE^t

cheng-ming SL -S

Chin-luan mi-chi

itUtJ¡L /"SU,

l

256 chin-shih

Ch'u J e n - h u o (Ch'u Chia-hsiian, Ch'u Hsueh-chia)

iHdr

Ch'in Kuei ^ ^ t Ch'in Shu-pao Ching-hua

yuan

Ching-shih

fung-yen

ching-tso

#

ching-ying ch'ing

Glossary

Ch'u Sui-liang $--18-

± ti.%

(blue-green) -f-

Ch'u-chiang

ch'ing

21 i t

ch'uan-ch'i chii-jen

ch'ing (desire) ft

Chiieh-shih

ming-yen

ch'ing-ch'ing ch'un-yeh -ft-ft Ch'ing-ch'ing shih-chieh -tB-

Chun

t'ien-leihk&

ch'ing-i

ch'ii

ft

Ch'ing-yii ching it.fcflr "Ch'iu-jan-k'o c h u a n " "Ch'iung M a Chou tsao-chi maitui-wen" .1*7$ i t & Chou, king of Shang Chou C h ' i - s h e n g $ Chou Mi # £ Chou Shun-ch'ang J8I J® Chou Tun-i JSJ&fiS Chu Ch'ang-lo j ^ ; « . ChuHsij^l; Chu I-chiin frmft Chu I-tsun Chu Kuei-erh Chu Sui-ch'u Chu Yu-chiao Chu Yu-chien Chu Yu-sung ^ . ¿ i t ; Chu Yii-chien

ft

(plays) •(^--JJ(stories) -f^-ii-

ch'uan-ch'i

chun-l-u

•Jt'BMfl'e

ig-f

(poetry) & Ch'iian Lao-shih C r a b hexagram ¥ ¿h Erh-k'o

P'ai-an

ching-ch'i

—

J'a-chia

&

" F a n Chù-ch'ing chi-mai ssu-sheng chiao" Fang I-chih i f y ' À ^ Fangju-hao -frikfe Fang Pao g. Feng Meng-lung il^^MI, Feng-liu huang-ti JS. ijfL jL Feng-shen

yen-i

fu (district ) fa j u (rhymeprosei Fu K u n g i t J& Fu-lin iaSS. Fu-she

chu-ch'ung

&&

Fu-she

Chuang-tzu

ii

Green-coated Commissioner

hsing-shih

lu - f l l ' l i t ^ ^ t

chung Chung

Hai-shan

ching

chi

/¡tibifL,

chung-i

H a n Wo

Chung-tsung, T ' a n g emperor £ + £

Han-kung

ch'iu

hao-chieh

fS

Chung-yung

Hao-ch'iu

chuan

+ /ft

Ch'u Ch'eng-tz'u Ch'u Chi tig. Ch'u Chuan ^ jE.

-té

Ja

"g

è fir Ho Ch'ou H m Hou Fang-yu fè

Hei pai wei

^

Glossary Hou Han shu ft &

t

257 HuShih ^ i t H u a Mu-lan H u a Yu-lan Hua-ch'en

Hsi-hsiang chi &JfaiiL Hsi-lou chi S&it hsi-wen $0, X Hsi-ju chi JbiXLifL Hsi-yu pu Hsi-yu t'an fttt

hua-pen

hsia &

huan (fancy ) H u a n g Tsung-hsi "Huang-liang meng" -jlt 'itt¥H u n g Sheng Hung-chu $¿•81

Hsiang Yii

"Hua-yin Tao-jen c h u a n "

^

hsiang-kung

Hsiang-yun i r ^ f hsiao

#

Hsiao, Sui empress

Hung-lou meng

Hsiao ching # H

Huo-yen-shan p i g i l i i (chivalry, altruism) H,

Hsiao-yiieh-wang -J > J? i (county) iSS hsien (immortal) 'fit Hsien-ch'ing

ou-chi Cfl tfrffi

Hsin the Ancient Hsin Ch'i-chi (Hsin Chia-hsiian;

ix^t

I ching % & l-chiayen — i-hsiieh H, % i-ma Mj

J e n Wei-ch'u -tìrijL^j Jou p'u-tuan

Hsin-ching fit hsin-hsiieh ^ % hsin-yiian - ^ i j t Hsing-shih heng-ren SH8"fi. "a" hsiu-ts'ai

%

Hsiung Wen-ts'an & Hsii Ch'ang-tso & # Hsu Ch'ien Hsu Ching Hsii Fang Hsu Fu-tso foflift Hsii Hsieh-p'u

Hsuan-ho i-shih

Hsuan-yeh

fcit^

J u a n Ta-ch'eng ft: A M Jui-chuJ&#. Jui-chu Kung-jen ULi^'g A* Jui-yii J & i Jui-yii chi J&JE.3L K'ai Tien ch'uan-hsin chi M Ail K'ai-ho chi W HiZ. K'ai-jiian

Tien-pao

i-shih

it* K'ang Hai # Kao P'an-lung £ ft " K a o - t ' a n g f u " iij M King Little Moon - J - f t 3-

¡Ht9it

Hsu K ' o M Hsii Shao Hsii Ting-tso «fjflfrt Hsii Tz'u-yiin folfc'g Hsu Wei te / I "Hsii Yu-kuai lu" ** Hsiian, king of Chou $

I)

jou-ts'ung-jung Ju-lin wai-shih

k'ou

JL

a

Koxinga B Ku Chen-kuan « A f e Ku Hsien-ch'eng ft iji. Ku Ling ft Ku Y e n - w u H & j * .

It

It

25» hu-chin

hsiao-shuo

Lin C h u n g

"t" • J • ÍÜ

Ling Meng-ch'u

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m

(¡lossarx

t-i^-Är

Ling-yen monasierv

K i i e i C h u a n g Sf

I.iti Chin«-!'in«

h'uei-fan

Liu K

l¥] FL

kuei-\u

ï J t ^

Liu Cliing-l'ing chitan M? ift •?' 1¿f-

L i u Su f ' J f t

gf

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"K."un-liiii n u " K u n g T i n g - t z u % ¿Hf %

Liu \ \ u - c h o u f j ^ . f ¡ ¡

kmi^-kiio-ko

Un-Un

i f } i&fê-

kun»-shen« -g" i

Liu-shih-chimi; Hll-lsci 7*7

K l i n g S h a n g - j e n i L fíj'tír

í'A'h ^ - f - f i t g j

K ' u n g - s l i e n g I m m o l lai íL-ff-iJL A

L o I :Li I

Ano Í/ÍÍ/Í / « I t l f i

Lo Kuan-cluing J^lit't'

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Lo Shih-hsin

föi&iji

HdriS

Ii f t

Lo-slia Nil í¡t-í'l - i :

Li C h a o

Lu Chili-shen

" L i C h e - l i s i e n (sui t s ' a o h s i a - m a n sliu"

•

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" L u á n t / u s l i a n g ( s o " ^L fa J i f ^

Li K ' u e i

" L i m h s i a o - s l i u o vii c h i i n - c h i h chili kuan-hsi"

I.i L i n - f i i Li L i m g - c h i

«H* Lun-yii

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4 - i E ,

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M a c k e r e l Spi i i t Mao Chin

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Li S h i h - c h e n 4 - f l f J ^

Mao Tse-umg

Li S l i i h - m i n

M a o T s u n g - k a n g -%.^-r $

^

£

Li T z u - c h ' e n g

"Mei-I'ei c l m a n "

Li Y e n - n i e n

mcn-shcnx H ±

Li Vii i L i L i - w c n g , ^-i.® ,

Mt'n«-h.sian« chili

Li Y i i a n

" M e n g - s h e viieli" f - i i ^ j

I.i-chi

;>!|

íf ítL

li-h\iieh i l f #7 Liang Ch'i-ch'ao

It'll«-!zu Mi-lou Mi-lou chi in insilili

iL

Glossary

259

Ming-huang, T ' a n g emperor

se

mvul Ming-huang tsa-lu ajj Ming-1 tai-fang lu afl Ming shih £

shan-lei 4-lfi shan-shu -f"

Shan Hsiung-hsin JfLifi3.i|L P'i-pu-tai Ho-shang

shih-ch'ing shu Shih-erh ìou + ti shih-hua

Shih-t'ao

#

Shih-t'ou chi /S SS ÌL

"Shih tso-yung che, ch'i wei shengjen h u " ¿ f t i i M C A t t S A f "Shih-tso yung che, ch'i wu-hou hu" shih-yiin

Ifc-fa

Ping-c/ren cha-chi P'ing-yao chuan ^-iki^po-hsiieh hung-ju i-t^u) ^f-^fr

> * « (¿1 ) Po-lo-mi wang P'u Sung-ling Rakshasa, M a d a m e fM'I -k Sai K'un-lun san-chiao San-kuo chih JL SI San-kuo chihyen-i iL San-tzu ching

Shih Nai-an -È-

pao-en

San-wu li-chi

a

Mi Hsin-yu Nung T'ai Te-fu T ' u n g - h o J t (SJ fa

S I 4 ,

jLlufftiSL

•S'/iM f/ii«"

¡g

shu-yiianfe Shuang-chung chi ^

àG,

Shui Ping-hsin "Shun T'ien-i, ying jen-hsin" Shuo Tang hou-chuan M M -fi. 14Shuo T'ang san-chuan Ì)LM J-HfShuo Tangyen-i itM ^ A Sou-shen chi

Ssu-hsùeh-ts'ao-t'ang ra^J^-^r Ssu-ma Ch'ien s] Ssu-ma K u a n g s] Jh^t Ssu-sheng yuan vafifa¡fc

260 Ssu-shu EJ-fSu K'un-sheng Su Liang-ssu 4$. (LW Su Shih (Su Tung-p'o) jjL*. suan % Sui i-lu ft i t f l t •Sui ì/iì7ì i-wen ft Sui shu ft Sui Tang chia-hua Mi fé ti Sui T'ang liang-ch'ao chih-chuan ft fé Sui Tang yen-i ft fé /"St 41, "Sui Yang-ti i-yu chao-ch'ien" Sui Yang-tiyen-shih ft KL Sun Chih-mi # &.5IS Sun W u - k ' u n g , Pilgrim ft.iéH Sung C h i a n g ^.¿iSung shih £ Ta-hsiieh A^f Ta-yeh shih-i chi X t tei Ca-k'ung-erh Tai-tsung, T ' a n g emperor fé ft'fc Tai-yii A Tai-p'ing kuang-chi A-f-fcifL T'ai-tsung, T ' a n g emperor fé i^ijT Tao-chi j3t>J|Tao-hua shan ^ -fi, ^ Tao-hua yuan te. T i Ch'ii-hsieh tiao-kuei ^ VL Tiao p'i-p'a T ' i e h Chung-yu i f c + i T'ieh-shan T'ien-tu Wai-ch'en A ^ P ^ K É T i n g Y a o - k ' a n g T1Q-7C Ting-chia k'ao % T o u Chien-te f i t i t Tripitaka fé ft tsa-lzu Tsai-yiian Isa-chih -¡S. ® $t iiIs'ai-tzu z f ^ f

Glossary

ts'ai-tzu chia-jen hsiao-shuo -¡- UK M1 ts'ai-tzu shu ^ ^ T s a n g Mou-hsiin (Tsang Chinshu I £ ,# & T s ' a o Hsueh-ch'in # "i" /f T s ' a o Jung # % T s ' a o Yeh # fp I so chuan £ fa tso-jen pu-ch'eng H KT^iK tso-shih f t H Ts'ui-sheng Niang "Ts'ui-ya-lou" I n Chiin I'u Kuang-t'ing fc^LfiL 111 "Li-sao" Hift-lge " l u San-kuo chih fa" ft J-81 .t-yi Tu-ku, Sui empress in-shih sui-pi " T u a n fa" #r £ T u n g Ch'i-ch'ang it 4L g l ung Ch'iao it Tung Chou lieh-kuo chih 995«Hsin-chiian

ch'üan-hsiang

t'ung-su yen-i

Sui

1 ang-ti yen-shih

&

Mt . X.p.: Jen-jui-t'ang, 1631. Hsing-shih heng-yen f i ^ t i S . ' f . Feng Meng-lung iSj ni in wen-hsüeh ch'11-pan-she, 1956. Hu-hai-lou

tz'u-chi

comp, Peking: Jen-

Ch'en Wei-sung

c o m p . Ssu-pu

pei-

yao ed., Shanghai: Chung-hua shu-chü, n.d. Hui-t'u

ti-liu

ts'ai-tzu-shu

Hsi-hsiang

(hi

i f r i l %>

¿C ^

H & fe ÜL .

Chin

Shcng-l'an t i f i t i ; , ed. Shanghai: Shanghai shu-chü, 1901. Hung-hm

meng pa-shih-hui

chiao-poi

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. Ts'ao

Hsüeh-ch'in

$ ÜT /f • Vii P'ing-po •iff-f-'fò, ed. Peking. 1958; reprint Hong Kong: Chung-hua shu-chü, 1974. Jou p'u-t'uan 1*1 ài} IS . Tokyo (?). 1705: reprint H o n g Kong: Licn-ho ch'11pan-she, c. 197(1. jfu-lin uai-shih Wu Ching-tzu Taipei: Shili-chieh shuchü, 1957. Ku-chin hsiao-shuo -è" • ) - TÄ.. Feng Meng-lung '•?) 3ML. comp. Peking: Jenmin wen-hsüeh ch'u-pan-she, 1958. Kuei Chuang chi Kuei Chuang Peking: Chung-hua shu-chii, H)()2. Li i'ii ch'iian-chi Li Vii Helmut Martin ed. Taipei: Ch'eng-wen ch'u-pan-she, 1970. Liu-shih-chung ch'ii + A M a o Chin ed. Shanghai: Wen-hsiieli ku-chi k'an-hsing-she, 1955. P'ing-chu

iu-hsiang

Wu ts'ai-Uu-shu

Shui-hu

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Chin Sheng-t'an i f £-18;. ed. Shanghai: H u n g - w e n shu-chü, n.d. San-kuo

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Lo K u a n - c h u n g

JS."iT + . M a o T s u n g - k a n g

ft , ed. Hong Kong: Shang-wu yin-shu-kuan. 1962. Shih-erh lou s^fa. Li Yü H o n g Kong: K w o n g Chi Bookstore, n.d. Shih-k'uei shu hou-chi -5 S ili& • Chang Tai Jfc-ß.. comp. Shanghai: Chung-hua shu-chü, 1959. Shift yu

tsan

W a n g Clio

Mei-shu

ts'ung-shu

First

Collection. H u a n g Pin-hung -jfc^kL and I eng Shih -Jp'jf, eds. 1928; reprint Taipei: I-wen yin-shu-kuan, n.d. Shui-hu chuan ?K • Hangchow: Jung-yü-t'ang. 1610: reprint Peking: Jen-min wen-hsüeh ch'u-pan-she. 1975. Shui-hu ch'üan-chuan ?] 7(3): 203-60. W u , Nelson I. " T u n g C h ' i - c h ' a n g (1555 1636): A p a t h y in G o v e r n m e n t and Fervor in A r t . " In Arthur F. Wright and Denis T w i t c h e t t , eds., Confucian Personalities, pp. 260-93. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1962. Wu T'ai Chu Kuo-chao £ 8 1 * 3 - Chao Kuo-hua "Sung C h i a n g ku-shih te liu-ch'uan ho Nan Sung te chieh-chi t o u - c h e n g " HHc-iff it] J F t H ^ . Kuang-ming jih pao & 0 # , September 20, 1975, p. 2. Y a m a w a k i , Teijirö. " T h e Great T r a d i n g Merchants, Cocksinja and His S o n . " Acta Asiatica (1976), 30: 106 16. Y a n g Hui-chieh

föftfö.

hsi" 1 2 3 - 1 4 6 - 4 8 , 189, 222, 304 Ming politics, ix, 2 2 - 2 7 , 6 6 - 6 7 , 9 1 - 9 6 , 148-49, 225 Models, 5 « Behavioral models; Role models Monks, 2 1 , 27, 69 Mote, Frederick W., 2 3 3 Murder, 18; in fiction, 9 1 , 1 0 0 - 2 , 1 1 0 , 1 1 8 Neo-Confucianism, 4 1 - 4 4 , 58, 96 Novel criticism, xii, 3 3 , 5 8 , 6 1 , 78, 2 0 9 - 1 6 , 2 1 9 ff. Novelists, 1, 38, 45, 6 0 - 6 1 , 225; see also Ch'u Jen-huo; Feng Meng-lung; Li Yu; T i n g Yao-k'ang; T u n g Yiieh; Yuan Yii-ling Novels: as elite art form, 2, 3, 11, 60; as popular reading material, 2, 264 Omens, in fiction, 7 8 - 8 1 , 88, 89, 90, 97, 100, 1 0 9 - 1 0 P'ing-yao chuan, see Quelling the Demons' Revolt Plaks, Andrew, 2 3 1 , 232 Plays, 46, 4 7 , 53, 59, 7 1 - 7 2 , 1 2 1 - 2 2 ; see also Ch'uan-chi plays; Tsa-chii plays Poetry, 46, 47, 5 3 , 57, 6 1 - 6 3 , 1 2 1 ; in novels, 85, 9 4 - 9 5 Population o f China in the seventeenth century, 6, 14, 2 6 4 - 6 5 ; literate population, 17, 2 7 0 - 7 1 Prayer Mat of Flesh, The (Jou p'u-t'uan): authorship, 167, 1 8 1 - 8 3 ; synopsis, 1 6 7 - 6 9 ; Buddhist moral, 1 7 0 - 7 1 ; elements of parody and satire, 1 7 1 - 8 1 , 198, 2 1 4 , 222, 228, 232; viewed as pornography, 1 7 1 , 2 3 0 ; dating, 1 8 3 - 8 5 ; proscription, 227; editions, 2 4 1 Prices: o f books, 2, 10; o f women, 2 7 2 Prostitutes, 2 1 , 5 3 , 1 2 1 - 2 2 , 169, 180 Protest against political abuses: during the Ming, 2 3 - 2 5 , 267, 2 7 3 - 7 4 ; during the Ch'ing, 2 8 - 2 9 , 3 3 - 3 4 , 70; in fiction, 28, 38, 56, 64, 224; in drama, 4 6 - 4 8 ; in IVoter Margin, 77, 79, 8 2 - 8 3 ; ' n Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang, 9 1 - 1 0 3 ; in Forgotten Tales of the Sui, 119; in Tower of Myriad Mirrors, 1 5 3 - 5 4 , '631 inRomance

/ >td ex

oj the Sui and the T'ang, igg, 201, 2 1 6 ; see also Rebellion; Social protest Publishers, see Books Quelling the Demons' Revolt chuan), 59, 1 4 1 , 224, 2 2 7

(P'ing-yao

Rakshasa, 144, 2 9 5 Rape, 26, 1 1 3 - 1 9 Readers, see Audiences Realism, 2 3 1 : in Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang, 95, 106; in Forgotten Tales of the Sui, 119, 1 3 0 , 139, 2 9 1 ; in Tower of Myriad Mirrors, 151; in Romance oj the Sui and the T'ang, 198; in Water Margin, 212; in Chin P ing Met, 2 2 3 Rebellion, historical, 15, 2 3 , 2 5 - 2 6 , 3 3 , 3 7 , 70, 7 7 , 83; in fiction, 7 0 - 8 2 , 8 5 , 9 1 , 1 1 0 , 128 Reformism, in novels, xii, 7 7 - 8 4 , 85 if., 220 ff. Reincarnation, in fiction, 192, 2 0 1 - 3 Revival Society (Fu-she), 24, 3 7 , 4 7 , 146, 222, 274, 304 Role models, 3 5 , 130, 1 9 9 - 2 0 1 , 2 2 0 Romance of the Sui and the T'ang (Sui T'ang yen-i): authorship and dating, 190; outline of contents, 1 9 1 ; written sources, > 9 ' - 9 2 . ' 9 3 . ' 9 5 - 2 2 7 - 2 3 9 - 4 0 ; balance in structure, 1 9 2 - 9 7 , 2 1 6 ; character o f the dynasty founder in, 1 9 7 - 2 0 1 , 223; reincarnation motif, 2 0 1 - 4 , 228: and ethnic loyalty, 2 0 5 - 6 , 222; style, 208; and literary criticism, 209, 2 1 4 ; romantic elements 1 9 1 , 206, 220; editions, 250-53 Romance of the Three Kingdoms (San-kuo chih yen-i), xii, xiii, 60, 6 1 , 7 1 , 2 1 2 - 1 3 , 2 2 2 , 227, 2 3 5 ; editions, 241 Romances, see "Genius and beauty" romances San-kuo chih yen-i, see Romance of the Three Kingdoms Scholarly novels, see Literati novels Scholars, The (Ju-hn wai-shih), x, xiii, 2 2 7 , 228 Schools, 15, 16 Self-concept among literati, 3 6 ff.; developed by fictional characters, 1 0 7 - 1 1, 124-32

Index Self-expression, 34, 45, 52-56, 60, 70, 186, 210, 220, 221 Serfdom and the "manorial" system, 7, 8, 265-66 Shen T e - f u , 18 Short stories, see Hua-pen vernacular short stories Shui-hu chuan, see Water Margin Social protest in fiction, 112-20, 124 ff., •77-8. Social stratification and literacy, 11-18, 2

1 - 2 2

Soochow, 4-6, 18, 23, 24, 28-29, 33- 4652, 70 Sources, textual, for novels, see Literary borrowing Spirits and ghosts, 90, 108 "Stalwart" hero type (kao-chieh), 130-32, 135-37. >39 Storytellers, 21,7 1 ..seealso Liu Ching-t'ing Structure in narrative, 61, 63-64, 102, 209, 211 ff. Sui shih ¡-wen, see Forgotten Tales of the Sui Sut Tang liang-ch 'ao chih-chuan, see Chronicles of the Two Courts Sui Tangyen-i, see Romance of the Sui and the Tang Sui Yang-ti yen-shih, see Met ry Adventures of Emperor Vang Su K'un-sheng, 2 1, 46, 51 Sun Chih-mi, 59, 208, 209 Suppression of novels by officials, 77, 85, 227 "Swordsman" fiction (wu-ksi/i hsuw-shuo), 3 "Swordsman" hero type (hsia), 130-37, >39 Tao-chi (Shih-t'ao), 22, 55 T'ao Ch'ien, 39, 46 Taoism, 38-39, 41, 43, 56 Taxation, 6, 7, 8, 23, 24, 28, 265 T i n g Yao-k'ang, 1, 50 Tcrwer of Myriad Minors, The (Hsi-yu pu): relationship to Journey to the West, 142; authorship and dating, 144; Monkey's dream, 148, 155-63, 225, 228; satirical elements, 149-55, >7>- 2 2 3 - 2 2 9- 2 3 2 : Buddhist theme, 157, 160, 165-66, 170, 203: narrative art in, 163-64; editions, 227, 246-49; sources, 235

335 Tsa-chii plays, 61, 71; rise of, 226 ts'ai-tzu chia-jen, see "Genius and beauty" hero types ts'ai-tzu chia-jen hsiao-shuo, see "Genius and beauty" romances Ts'ao Hsiieh-ch'in, 228, 229, 232-33 T u Chun, 46 T u n g Ch'i-ch'ang, 18, 19,49,50, 145,280, 288 Tung-lin academy and political faction, 23, 37, 44, 273 T u n g Ssu-chang, 145 T u n g Yiieh: biographical data, 1, 50, 141, 144-48, 184; anti-Manchu sentiments, 146, 149-51, 166, 221-22; on traitors, 151-54; narrative art, 163-65, 216, 225, 232; see also Tower of Myriad Mirrors Underworld (Hades), 90, 111 Vernacular language fiction, see Hua-pen short stories; Novels; Literati novels Wages, of workers, 7, 8, 266 Wang Chao-chiin, 287-88 Wang Fu-chih, 30, 44, 278 Wang Hui, 52 Wang Shih-chen, 58 Wang Tao-kun, 77 Wang Yang-ming, 16, 42, 44, 111 Wan-li, Ming emperor, ix, 22-23, 9 , - 9 4 >49 Water Margin (Shui-hu chuan): revision with commentary by Chin Sheng-t'an, xii, 32, 60, 61, 68-69, 77 - 83, 209-13, 219-20, 223, 227; sources and earlier versions, 70-71,85, 235; subject matter, 71-75; condemnation of rebellion, 75-77, 220; proscription, 77; influence on later fiction, 134-35; editions, 241 Wei Chung-hsien, 23-24, 47, 273 Wen Chen-heng, 279 Women, position of, 21 Writers, see Literati; Novelists Wu Ch'eng-en, 228; see also Journey to the West Wu Ching-tzu, x, 232; see also Scholars Wu Wei-yeh, 28, 47, 48, 185, 274, 278 Wu Wo-yao, 228

336 Yang, Sui emperor, 8 6 - ) 0 3 , 1 0 6 - 1 1 , 149 Yangtze valley, lower (Kiangnan), 2, 4 - 6 , i i , 15, 16, 24, 30, 167 Yen Shih-ku, 236 Yuan Hung-tao, 204, 280 Yuan Yii-ling: biographical data, 1, 1 2 0 - 2 3 , 208, 209, 2 2 1 , 224; plays, 47, 1 2 0 - 2 2 ; novels, 60, 124, 1 4 1 , 190, 220,

Index

229, 232: political standards, 105, 1 1 2 , 123, 148, 292; attitude toward Li Yii, 182, 184; see also Forgotten Tales of the Sui Yii Chiao Li, 184 Yii Huai, 46, 185 Yiin Jih-ch'u, 275 Yiin Shou-p'ing, 275 YuT'ung, 46-47,55,63,78, 185,208,280