The Novel in Seventeenth-Century China [Hardcover ed.] 0231049285, 9780231049283

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The Novel in Seventeenth-Century China

流

成

T h e cover o f the kuei-yu II edition o f T h e Prayer M a t o f Flesh, dated 1693 (?)• 丁he vertical inscription on the right gives the author’s pseudonym , C h ’ing-yin H sien-sheng (“Mr. Feelings Concealed ” ) ；on the left is an advertisem ent: “Even though the function o f fiction is to exhort and to chastise, if it is not spicy and unrestrained, it will not delight the eye o f the r e a d e r . . .

THE

NOVEL IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY CHINA R O B E R T

N ew York

E .

HEGEL

C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS

i

98 i

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 o f Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hegel, Robert E 1943T he novel in seventeenth-century China. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Chinese fiction— Ming dynasty, 1368-1644— History and criticism. 2, Chinese fiction— Ch’ing dynasty, 1644-1912— History and criticism. I. Title. PL2436.H4 895.1’3409 80-24105 ISBN 0-231-04928-5

To Jane and Elizabeth， w h o h e l p e d to m a k e m y l i f e m e a n i n g f u l a n d e n j o y a b le d u r i n g e x t e n d e d p e r io d s o f t e n s io n a n d c o n c e n t r a t e d e f f o r t , th is b o o k is m o s t a f f e c t i o n a t e ly d e d ic a t e d

Contents

Preface D ivisio n s o f C h in e se H is to ry b y D yn a stic R u le C o n v e r s io n T a b le o f W a d e -G ile s a n d Pinyin System s fo r R o m a n iz in g C h in e s e

1 2 3 4

T h e W o rld B e h in d th e N o v e l: C h in a in th e S e v e n te e n th C e n tu r y T h e N o v e lists’ W o rld : T r a d it io n a n d In n o v a tio n P olitical R ea lities in F ictio n al G a rb : P ast as M e ta p h o r f o r th e P re se n t M a n as R e sp o n sib le B e in g : T h e In d iv id u a l, Social R o le , a n d H e a v e n

5

Self as Mind or as Body: Fictional Examinations o f Identity

6

D isa ste r a n d R e n e w a l in a n O r d e r e d U n iv e rs e L it e r a r y In n o v a tio n a n d th e L e g a c y o f S e v e n te e n th -C e n tu r y N o v e ls

7

xix

67

105 141 18 9 2 19

3 2

5

4 2

1

5 2

5

o 2

3

3 3

9

3

1

A p p e n d ix I L ite ra r y S o u rc e M a teria ls fo r S e v e ra l S e v e n te e n th -C e n tu r y N o ve ls A p p e n d ix II T e x t u a l H isto rie s o f V a r io u s S e v e n te e n th -C e n tu r y N o ve ls Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

ix xvii

6 '

Preface

O n the first day o f the lunar new year in the year 1589, an earth­ quake o f serious proportions shook Peking, the M ing capital. H e too may have been frightened or perhaps he m erely was looking fo r an excuse, but the Chinese Wan-li em peror, a young man nam ed Chu I-chiin, refused to m eet his assembled ministers in open court, as custom dictated fo r that day. T h ro u g h o u t the next thirty years o f his reign, he never again met any o f his ministers on a regular basis and steadfastly ignored the business o f governing. Lacking any stable leadership, com peting factions vied fo r pow er in incessant bloody struggles. Simultaneously, econom ic conditions fo r the masses o f com m on people grew worse; when finally China collapsed into wide­ spread peasant rebellion, the Chinese M ing im perial house fell with it. In its place em erged a line o f M anchu rulers who forged a new state, the C h ’in g，on the Chinese m odel, but with positions o f highest authority reserved fo r members o f their own ethnic group. T h is new dynasty kept Chinese intellectuals and bureaucrats u n der firm con­ trol; wholesale destruction o f life through w ar ， fam ine, and natural disasters reduced population pressure on the econom ic base. Despite its political fragility, the late M ing had been a period o f intense cul­ tural activity; with limited opportunities to serve in the state bureaucratic structure, m any intellectuals devoted their talents tc/lit­ erature and the arts, with the result that culture continued to flourish into the early C h ’ing. W ithin a few years o f the Peking earthquake, m ajor literary events occurred— the appearance o f two m ajor novels, Chin P ’ing Mei (also known in translation as The Golden Lotus) and Hsi-yu chi (Journey to the W est or Monkey). T h e first, an anonym ous expose o f the internal conflicts between the several wives in the household o f a lecherous and wealthy m erchant, has as its raison d'etre a stern condem nation o f licentious living— which was seen as a m ajor social problem du rin g the last decades o f the M ing. T h e other is a rollick­

X

Preface

ing fantasy adventure based on legends and stories already popular fo r centuries in which a timid m onk makes a pilgrim age to India looking fo r B uddhist scriptures; in a lighthearted way it also casti­ gates the foibles o f its age, particularly those o f the clergy. Journey to the West also marks the first serious use o f allegory in the Chinese novel. In 1699 K ’ung Shang-jen (1648—1718) was to present a lengthy retrospective o f the seventeenth century in an elegant dramatic form . His Tao-hua shan (Peach Blossom Fan) in forty-odd scenes chronicles the end o f the M ing dynasty and the end o f an era. For the most part, then, it is a tragedy. B y K ’u n g ’s time, M anchu control was firmly established; the C h ’ing K ’ang-hsi em peror was strong, capable, and decisive. C hina’5 population had regained its previous peak— before the calamitous events o f m idcentury— and the country as a whole was becom ing m ore prosperous. In 1701 W u Ching-tzu (d. 1754) was born; fifty years later he would com plete another landm ark o f Chinese f i c t i o n , wai-shih (The Scholars), a scath­ ing satire o f contem porary values. Reminiscent o f Gulliver’s Travels in its vacillation between comic parody and bitter condem nation, W u’s novel focuses on C hina’s bureaucracy, that privileged group at the pinnacle o f pow er and prestige. His work was followed by Hunglou meng (Dream o f the Red Cham ber), also entitled Shih-t*ou chi (The Story o f the Stone), unquestionably C hina’s finest novel; at once a mythical search fo r blessed oblivion beyond mortal selfishness, a penetrating exposure o f C hina’s wealthiest bureaucrat clans, and a series o f rom antic stories about adolescent lovers. T h ese two great novels m ark the greatest achievem ent o f ’C h ’ing fiction in the same way that Journey to the West and Chin P ’ing Mei are widely considered the apogee o f M ing novels. This study, how ever, will focus not on these well-known narratives, but on several outstanding novels that appeared during the seventeenth century, between these pairs o f masterpieces. T h e seventeenth century, or m ore specifically the tumultuous period flanked by the earthquake o f 1589 and the final consolidation o f C h ’ing control by the K ’ang-hsi em peror in the 1690s, saw Chinese vernacular fiction com e o f age on the foundation laid by Chin P ’ing Mei and Journey to the West. It was du rin g this period that the short story form was brought to perfection by Feng M eng-lung (1574-1646); his three collections o f tales (called hua-pen) present in

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edited form m uch o f the best o f earlier fiction from both the ver­ nacular and classical styles, coupled with outstanding new pieces written by Feng and several o f his colleagues. T o this body o f 120 stories, L in g M eng-ch’u (1580-1644) contributed another eighty, and the dramatist Li Y ii (Li Li-weng, 16 11-168 0 ) responded with still m ore, although some o f Li’s stories caricature the works o f his contem poraries. Furtherm ore, the best-known and most widely read o f earlier novels reached their final form s d u rin g the seventeenth century through revision, em endation, or truncation. B ut beyond the finalization o f specific literary masterpieces, the seventeenth century produced even m ore significant changes in the novel. Form al structural features had becom e conventionalized al­ ready in the late works o f the previous century. Param ount am ong them is narrative in a vernacularized hybrid prose style, through the use o f dialectical and slang expressions and a broader range o f gram m ar and diction m ade far closer to the living colloquial lan­ guage than the standard, form al classical Chinese style. W hile less terse, this vernacular allowed fast reading, inaugurating a whole new range o f stylistic possibilities not available to the poet and writer o f linguistically dense and highly polished prose essays. T h e prose o f these narratives is regularly interrupted by passages o f verse to allow editorial comm ents, in a detached m anner, on persons, places, or events in the tale. Extrinsic structure likewise became form alized by the beginning o f the seventeenth century. Novels came to be divided into chapters {hui, “sessions”)，each narrating two or m ore events denoted by allusive chapter titles in antithetical couplet form and begun and ended with form ulaic expressions deliberately reminis­ cent o f professional storytellers* turns o f phrase. Seventeenth-century novelists were to use this conventional form at creatively, to add new dim ensions o f m eaning to their work. Chin P ’ing Mei had presented a brutally frank vision o f m oral depravity. Seventeenth-century writers seized u pon this w ork as m odel for keen observation and exposure o f the m oral problems o f their own day. Indeed, seventeenth-century novelists becam e even m ore darin g than their predecessors in their search in fiction fo r the justice and truth so hard to find in their society. T h e finest am ong their works are inevitably didactic; they speak directly to their times with a d egree o f political and intellectual seriousness h eretofore dis­ covered only in Dream of the Red Chamber. Som e seventeenth-century

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novels are distinctly innovative in subject m atter as well. In their creativity they vary dem onstrably from the sentimental romances and fictionally elaborated ?historical chronicles then popular am ong less adventurous readers. A ll the novels to be discussed here were written by highly educated m en, members o f C hina’s cultural and social elite w ho in a less chaotic age m ight have served in positions o f authority in the Confucian state. B ut economic, social, and particu­ larly political changes ruled out this, possibility fo r them, leaving them to express their concerns, their frustrations, and their insights into the m eaning o f their existence in a literary form that grew to a new peak o f significance through their contributions. N one o f these writers was a revolutionary; on the contrary, the ideology o f their social class made reform ism the obvious choice fo r their cause. All expressed their conservative morals in narratives set in the past; few writers had the tem erity to fictionalize directly the emotionally charged change o f dynasty they had personally witnessed. M ature criticism o f the novel likewise developed only in the seventeenth century. Each o f the works discussed here appeared first in an expensive edition containing analytical prefaces and notes. In conjunction with his publishing o f a series he called the “works o f genius， ” C hin Sheng-t'aft ( i6 io ? - i6 6 i) presented original and highly detailed com m entary on and exegesis o f an older novel that he had edited to 这 significant extent, Shui-hu chuan (Water M argin, also translated as J/Z Men Are Brothers). T h e re C hin focused on stylis­ tic features, some o f which he introduced him self, and rightly em ­ phasized the central im portance o f style in the appreciation o f 芎 work o f vernacular fiction. His efforts w ere followed by those o£M ao Lun and Mao Tsung-kang, an otherwise obscure father and son team (although traditionally the son has received all the credit fo r their work); these two m en edited San-kuo chih yen-i (Romance o f the T h re e Kingdom s, c.1400) somewhat, then forged a preface attri­ buted to Chin Sheng-t’an fo r the edition containing their detailed comm entary. Shortly afterw ard, C hang C hu-p’o (fl. 1680) provided an explanation o f how to appreciate the Chin P ’ing Mei in 108 sec­ tions, again em phasizing a close reading o f the text as prerequisite fo r m eaningful understanding. Both C hang and the Maos were deeply indebted to Chin Sheng-t’an; all responded thoughtfully to the tendency arising only du rin g the late M ing to treat the novel as a m ode fo r serious philosophical and artistic expression. T h e work o f

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xiii

these and other unidentified critics in turn influenced the furth er developm ent o f the novel du rin g the C h ’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 C hina’s literary heritage. Even today Chinese readers know these works; all are widely available around the world through translations into a variety o f languages. B ut d u r­ ing the century o f turm oil that included the M ing-Ch’ing transition, a num ber o f m inor classics al^o richly deserving o f critical attention appeared. This study will address several o f these works and their historical context. A lthough I attem pt to present relevant political, social, econom ic, and ideolo^cal data in general terms, I have m ade no such attem pt to survey all the novels written during this period. I have chosen six from am ong 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. A l­ though they may not constitute a representative sample o f the entire corpus o f seventeenth-century novels, these works do include a con­ siderable range o f material. In terms o f the most comm only used schem e fo r classifying Chinese vernacular fiction, the works dis­ cussed here include two historical romances, two military romances, a fantasy, and-a w ork o f erotic satire. T h re e o f these novels are textually related, although they use their shared material to achieve quite differen t ends. I will also exam ine briefly the work o f the great crit­ ics o f this period to dem onstrate the esthetic and moral concerns they shared with the novelists. I have deliberately used a variety o f critical approaches in exam ining these works, in order to present several quite d ifferen t types o f analysis. My aim is to dem onstrate thereby som ething o f the range o f insights one m ight draw from seventeenth-century Chinese novels. My first chapter presents an overview o f the environm ent in which the novelists and their readers lived, whether or not they per­ ceived it precisely in these terms. T h e second examines factors o f their world view and ideological tradition pertinent to understand­ ing their m odes o f expression and choice o f subject m atter in litera­ ture. T h e function o f these two introductory chapters is, o f course, to allow the reader a glimpse o f the original setting for these novels, both real and as perceived, in order to understand better what novelists chose to write about and what they quite consciously chose

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to avoid; w here they stood in relation to the great political events and the suffering o f their time; and, most im portant, how it was that the novel in China m atured into a serious literary form at this time. Subsequent chapters address the works themselves, particularly the correlations between their context and themes, characterization, and structure. T h e final chapter reexam ines the relationship between these works and their tradition as well as their influence on later works in this form . A ppendixes present inform ation concerning the written sources for the works that grew out o f China’s earlier litera­ ture and the textual histories o f several o f them to indicate some­ thing o f their popularity through time. Illustrations and other pages from seventeenth-century editions are reprinted here to dem on­ strate the superb workm anship lavished on these most artistic exam ­ ples o f the novel form . It is my hope that readers interested in fiction generally, as well as students o f Chinese cultural history, will find stimulating material here. With this end in mind, I have confined m ore specialized inform ation to notes and to the appen­ dixes at the end o f the volum e. T h e re , too, is a glossary with the Chinese characters for names, titles, and terms m entioned in the text and in the notes. I have also included a table o f dynastic reign periods and a map. T h e sorts o f general background inform ation in the first two chapters may already be fam iliar to many readers; with­ out it, how ever, the significance o f these literary texts m ight be less readily apparent. For the romanization o f Chinese personal names and terms, I have used the m odified W ade-Giles system, retaining the umlauts but om itting the breve in such words as jen. No>v that the Chinese governm ent has officially established the pinyin m ethod fo r rom ani­ zation as p referred, m ore W estern books will be written using that system. T o facilitate reference from one to the other, I have pro­ vided a conversion table. I have used the old and irregular postal system romanizations fo r certain place names (Peking, Soochow, W usih, and the like) because they were m ore fam iliar to W estern readers than either their W ade-Giles (Peiching, Suchou, Wuhsi) or pinyin (Beijing, Suzhou, Wuxi) versions. For less well known places I have used W ade-Giles romanization, om itting hyphens between syl­ lables to avoid any possible confusion with personal names. T o refer to M ing and C h ’ing rulers I have used the names given to their reign periods rather than their less comm only known personal or temple names (for exam ple, “the Wa：n-li em peror,” not “E m peror Shen-

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tsung， ” “the K ’ang-hsi em peror， ” not “E m peror Sheng-tsung”). Readers o f the notes and the bibliography will notice im ­ m ediately the paucity o f secondary material devoted to several o f the novels exam ined here. Many studies o f the Chinese novel to date have left them virtually or totally unnoticed. T h e n too, a m ajority o f students o f Chinese vernacular fiction have focused their attention on the greatest single exam ple o f Chinese narrative, Dream of the Red Chamber. W orks o f the century previous to its appearance rem ain neglected for a variety o f reasons. Lim ited circulation du rin g a period o f turm oil is one; later literary inquisitions that saw several novels proscribed fo r political or m oral reasons is another. Certain works, it would appear, are simply too difficult for a reader less will­ ing to devote thoughtful attention than w ere Mao Tsung-kang, C hang C hu-p’o ，and other critics and readers o f the seventeenth century. Som e lost relevance as political concerns and literary fash­ ions changed. O th er factors are even m ofe extrinsic to the material: literary historians and critics o f the Chinese novel have by and large limited their attention either to individual titles or to the novel as a literary form . Studies o f the form er type are insufficiently broad and usually address only the acknow ledged classics; those o f the latter often lose sight o f particular features and techniques in a resultant welter o f titles, since histories o f the Chinese novel tend to becom e m ere annotated bibliographies. Curiously, few scholars have bothered to determ ine the original significance o f any o f these works. It is my hope that with studies o f a small body o f writing from a similar place and time I m ay thus correct some o f the over­ sights o f earlier w ork in this field. I have provided general synopses o f novels here only when an overview o f a text is directly relevant to understanding. Several o f these novels are available in English translation, although not all translations are in print. Readers with no know ledge o f Chinese thus may feel at a disadvantage. H owever, translations can be but pale reflections o f the original, depen ding upon the skill and determ ina­ tion o f the translator. A n d a plot sum mary does a novel little justice. T h e selected passages translated here may give som ething o f a gen­ eral impression o f style and technique; beyond this, I must refer readers to the original texts. Should anyone be led to study Chinese in order to reach old C hina’s fiction as a consequence o f this book, I will have fulfilled my purpose in writing. O ver the past few years I have had occasion to discuss various

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portions o f this study or related ideas with many friends, tolleagues, and students. Some, have read portions o f the manuscript in its sev­ eral versions. I would like to thank them fo r their advice and sugges­ tions here, although o f course I alone take full responsibility for the book as it remains. T h e y include Katherine Carlitz, Chalm ers C. Chiu, the late K ’ai-ming C h ’iu ，Kenneth J. DeW oskin, Edward L. Farm er, Feng C h ’eng-chi，Patrick D. H anan, Richard C. Hessney, H arry H ughes, H ugh Lawrence, William H. Matheson, David T . Roy, Nelson I. W u, A nthony C. Y u , T sin g Yuan, A llen Zim m erm an, and especially C. T . Hsia, my m entor at Colum bia whose infectious enthusiasm first led m e to the study o f the classic Chinese novel. I must thank the many librarians who helped so much in locating rare editions and appropriate secondary material, particularly Dr. G eorge Y u and Mr. Sidney Dai (Harvard University, the H arvardY enchin g Library), Professor Philip Yam polsky and Mr. Jack Jacoby (Colum bia University, the East Asian Library), Mr. Ernest Tsai (W ashington University in St. Louis, the East Asian Library), and the staffs o f the National Central Library and the Fu Ssu-nien Memorial Library, Academ ia Sinica, in Taiw an. T w ayn e Publishers, a division o f G, K. Hall and Co., Boston, has kindly given permission to quote from two publications: Frederick P. B randauer’s Tung Yiieh (Boston, 1978) and John C. Y . W ang’s Chin Shmg-t’an (New Y ork, 1972); and Princeton University Press, to quote from my article “Sui Tang yen-i and the Aesthetics o f the Seventeenth-Century Suchou Elite， ” in A n drew H . Plaks, ed., Chinese Narrative: Critical and Theoretical Essays (Princeton, 1977). T h e D epartm ent o f Chinese and Japanese, W ashington U niver­ sity, have on occasion provided m uch needed moral and material support; I must thank J. Thom as Rim er, chairm an, and Susan Mes­ senger, secretary, in particular. A t various times I have received m ajor financial support that enabled me to devote my full energies to this project. Specifically, I would l i k e ， to thank the Faculty Re­ search Com m ittee o f W ashington University and the A m erican Council o f Learned Societies. T h e latter grant was m ade possible with funds from the National Endowm ent fo r the Humanities. T h e findings and conclusions presented here do not necessarily represent the views o f the Endowm ent, o f the A m erican Council o f Learned Societies, or o f the Faculty Research Com m ittee o f W ashington U ni­ versity.

Divisions o f Chinese H istory by Dynastic Rule

Shang

17 6 6 -112 2 b .c . (traditional)

C h ou

1 122-221 B.C. Spring and A utum n period, 72 2 481 B.C. W arring States period, 403-221 B.C.

C h ’in

221-206 B.C.

Han

206 B.C.- A.D. 220

T h re e K ingdom s

221-264

Chin

2 65 -316

Six Dynasties

317-5 8 8

Sui

589-618

T ’ang

618-906

Five Dynasties

906-960

Sung

960-1280 N orthern Sung, 9 6 0 -112 7 Southern Sung, 112 7 -12 8 0

Yiian

1280-1368

M ing

1368—1644 Wan-li reign, 1573-16 20 T ’ai-ch’ang reign, 1620 丁 ’ien-ch’i reign, 16 2 1-16 28 C h ’ung-chen reign, 1628-1644 H ung-kuang reign, 1645 Lung-wu reign, 1646

C h ’ing

1644—1911 N urhaci’s reign, 16 16 -16 2 7 A bahai’s reign, 1627—1644 Shun-chih reign, 1644-1661 K ’ang-hsi reign, 16 6 1-17 2 2

xviii

Divisions of Chinese History

Republic o f China

19 12 -19 4 9 O n Taiw an province, 19 4 5-

People*s Republic o f China

1 949 ~

Conversion T able o f W ade-Giles and Pinyin Systems fo r Rom anizing Chinese

Initial Sounds

Final Sounds ^nd Sound Clusters

W ade-Giles Pinyin

W ade-Giles

ch- (-a, -e, -ih, -u) ch- (-i, -ii) ch’- (-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’_ ss- (or sz-) tt’tsts’tztzT-

zhjchqX-

rgkbP_ sdtzczc-

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

O ther sounds and sound dusters are rom anized identically in the two systems, A list follows:

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Wade-GileslVinyxn Conversion Table

Initial sounds f h m n s w y Final sounds and sound clusters -a -in -ing 'ai •an _iu -ang -o -ao -ou -e -u -ei -ua 'e n -uai 'f n g -uan -i -uang -ia -ui -iang -un -uo •iao

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:— These are the men employed to tranquilize our country. Insolent and slanderous,— The king does not know a flaw in them. We, careful and feeling in peril, For long in unrest, Are constantly subjected to degradation. As in a year of drought, The 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

T h e Low er Y angtze V alley, c.1650.

臺

T h e W orld Behind the Novel: C hina in the Seventeenth C entury F leein g the F ig h tin g In the w ood there are spread traps, nets— Birds in their flocks fly high above; D eep in the mountains, m any tigers and wolves— T ravelers are few, even in daytime. W hy so always lacking in fortune— A hundred griefs at every step; H ere, between Earth and vast H eaven, A n d harassed, I have nowhere to go. Kuei C h u an g, 0 .16 4 5 1

As Robert Scholes and Robert Kellogg have so rightly observed, ‘‘T o understand a literary work, . . . we must first attem pt to bring o u r own view o f reality into as dose an alignm ent as possible with the prevailing view in the time o f the w ork’s com position/'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 politi­ cal, econom ic, social, and ideological characteristics o f the time. T h e first fou r areas will be the subject o f this chapter; the last, being less obvious and even m ore essential to understanding their fiction, will be explored in chapter 2. T h e glimpses provided here o f seven­ teenth-century China cannot be all-encompassing; still, these intro­ ductory chapters are intended to form the basis from which we may begin to brid ge the “ cosmological g u lf” separating contem porary W estern readers from the milieu in which these novels originally ap­ peared.3 W ho wrote these novels? A few names are known: Feng Menglung, Li Y ii, T u n g Y iieh, Y iian Yii-ling, C h ’u Jen-huo, T in g Yaok’ang; am ong the critics and editors are Chin Sheng-t’an, Mao Tsung-kang, and C h an g C hu -p ’o. All w ere males, all were from the

2

The World Behind the Novel

same social stratum, as w ere their overlapping circles o f literary friends. A ll were natives, or residents fo r at least a few years, o f the lower Yangtze comm ercial centers, the cultural focus o f the country in their day. For whose benefit were these narratives written? T h e works exam ined here clearly w ere a m ode o f expression and esthetic appreciation for that same narrow stratum o f society, the highly educated elite. In a society w here most people lived at or near the subsistence level, an art form such as the novel could hardly have been otherwise. T h e prices o f these works, the fine craftsmanship with which first (and some subsequent) editions w ere printed, the level o f literacy and esthetic experience required to appreciate them— all these extrinsic factors point to the place o f this literary form in Chinese cultural life du rin g the seventeenth century. Fur­ therm ore, the m odes o f expression in the novels, particularly the values presented there and even their subjects— the essentials o f hum an experience— are dem onstrably concerns appropriate for only one social class, the educated elite, and am ong them, the wealthy and leisured stratum o f that class. As I will dem onstrate, these novel­ ists were inheritors o f a Confucian tradition who had been deprived by chance o f the leading role in society they had been taught to ex­ pect; their readership is most likely to be found prim arily am ong their peers. This conclusion differs substantially from that o f earlier stu­ dents o f Chinese literature about the position o f the novel. H ide­ bound and self-righteous scholars o f the M anchu era occasionally denounced the novel as quite unw orthy o f the attention o f the truly educated person.4 Reform ist and revolutionary ,young scholars in the early decades o f the present century sought cultural alternatives to the m oribund literary w orld o f the old ruling class upon which to build a new culture fo r the masses. T h e y turned to vernacular fic­ tion, and at once the full-length novel and the shorter hua-pen story became simultaneously the literary form s representing the creative energies o f the masses o f the past and the logical precedent for a new vernacular literary m ovem ent based on W estern m odels.5 T h e hypothesis that the novel was a mass entertainm ent form seem ed ap­ propriate at first glance: most such works were written in the more precise vernacular rather than the stiff, form al— and allusive— literary language; m any w ere poorly printed in cheap and crudely il­

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3

lustrated editions; and most were filled with tales know n even by il­ literate working* people, larded with homilies, and replete with expressions borrow ed from the storytelling tradition— presum ed to be their ultimate source. A pparently they were denigrated by China’s old bureaucracy. As a consequence, nationalistic young writers o f the Pacific W ar period and afterw ard have been en­ couraged to read old vernacular fiction as one source o f inspiration for creating a new literature for the whole people.6 O ver the last fifty years, m any Chinese scholars have applied themselves diligently to research on old vernacular fiction. T h e in­ form ation they uncovered would have dem onstrated the half-truths and m isapprehensions in virtually all points o f the hypothesis p re­ sented above, but m any have chosen to ignore the implications o f these later findings. Curiously, even now Chinese scholars, w hether Marxists or not, tend to avoid the m ore tenable thesis that the novel, at least in its highest developm ent, was an upper-class literary form .7 Recently, scholars writing in the W est have speculated that, particu­ larly in its later developm ent d u rin g the C h ’ing, the Chinese novel constituted two separate traditions at quite d ifferen t levels o f lan­ guage and artistry. O ne 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 t a dispute the developm ent o f the tradition as a whole. Instead, I wish to prove that the novel tradition is com plex; that d u r­ ing the seventeenth century the novel was a respected vehicle for serious artistic experim entation and intellectual expression am ong those already proficient in other, m ore conventional, literary forms; and that certain writers utilized the novel to address pressing ques­ tions concerning the m eaning o f hum an existence. T h e broader sig­ nificance o f these observations will be m ade clearer in the conclud­ ing chapter. T h is survey o f seventeenth-century China will concentrate on the group who without question wrote and read novels, that segm ent o f the elite called the “literati” or “scholar gentry.” Inform ation con­ cerning other social classes and groups will be presented only to clar­ ify the contrasts between this segm ent and the rest; it is not my in­ tention to attem pt an analysis o f seventeenth-century Chinese society

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as a whole. A lth ough th^ works o f fiction to be exam ined here are utterly rem oved from old C hina’s w orking masses, the econom ic and social position o f 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 o f these novels, I have given a b rief survey o f the publishing industry and the book trade.

T h e P h y s ic a l S e t t i n g W hile m uch o f earlier lon g prose fiction had been produced far­ ther south, in Fukien province,9 by the seventeenth century the novel was developing prim arily in C hina’s central coastal region, the lower Y angtze valley. T h ere, in the area known as K iangnan (Chiang-nan— “south o f the river”)，the cities o f N anking, Y an g­ chow, Soochow, and H angchow constituted the cultural heart o f the country. T h e climate there is mild, rainfall is plentiful, and resources adequate fo r productive agriculture. L ight industry and com m er­ cialization surpassed that o f any other region at that time, and the num erous natural waterways linked by the G rand Canal m ade the lower Yangtze region the transportation hub o f China. N ankin g was the lesser o f two im perial capitals du rin g the M ing; Y angchow was the seat o f the great salt m erchants whose fabulous wealth surpassed all but the most avaricious at the im perial court. H angchow was a city o f culture on W est Lake, popularly ranked as one o f the most beautiful places in the country. Soochow, with its three hundred bridges and num erous canals, rightly shared that distinction. T h e lower Yangtze region had been a population center for centuries by the time o f the late Ming. T h e area had be^n ruled sep­ arately d u rin g the W arring States period and again d u rin g the T h re e Kingdom s; several o f the Southern dynasties had had their capitals in the region. A fte r the fall o f northern C hina to foreign invaders ill the twelfth century, large num bers o f educated north­ erners had m oved to the area, and an unrivaled netw ork o f wa­ terways had been developed. A m o n g the cities o f the region, Soo­ chow had been a m ajor urban center since 1229, although its walls had been built centuries before. O ver fourteen miles in length, these fortifications enclosed an area that allowed housing space and pri­

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5

vate yards fo r most o f the city’s inhabitants, who num bered about 500,000 by 1600. T h e center o f interprovincial and interregional trade, Soochow served as the site o f adm inistration fo r three coun­ ties and the entire Soochow district (fu) as well. It was also a center o f learning. Literacy was highest in Kiangnan, and culture flourished at all levels o f society. T h ro u g h o u t the M ing and C h ’ing periods, there were m ore successful candidates fo r the civil service exam inations from Kiangnan than most other Chinese provinces; the area served as the hom e o f the largest num ber o f m en o f letters, artists, and bibliophiles— and as the setting fo r the most refined and renow ned literary gatherings o f the age. Soochow was a city o f outstanding private gardens. Most houses were o f one story and enclosed a private space, the w ork area fo r craftsmen, and garden space fo r urban vegetable peddlers. A l­ though residences looked quite similar from outside, the wealthy lavishly decorated their m ore extensive grounds with m iniature landscapes to enhance their enjoym ent 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 M ote has observed that “ In Soochow, with its great wealth, pleasures becam e m ore varied, the idle could congregate, imaginations stirred each other. M uch o f the activity which resulted was non-productive, resulting only in dissipa­ tion or exhaustion o f resources and energies. Soochow was infam ous in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a dissolute city.’’ 10 Com m ercially, Soochow served as the hub o f a circle o f cities with populations o f about io o ^ooo (W uch’iang, K ’unshari, C h ’angshu, and Wusih) and num erous crowded a n d prosperous smaller m arket towns. W ithin this region econom ic activities w ere specialized geographically. Com m erce and banking w ere located in the subur­ ban area west o f the city proper, along the G rand Canal; specialty m arkets in such comm odities as fish and fancy fruits and vegetables were located in m arket towns ten to fifteen miles distant. Silk weav­ ing centered in the northeast corner o f the city, while cotton produc­ tion took place outside the walls.11 Clearly, the econom ic activities o f Soochow residents w ere as intimately connected with the surround­ ing countryside as were the city’s political functions. Urbanization had increased in pace as a result o f econom ic fac­ tors to be discussed shortly, but C hina’s cities (all originating as ad­

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ministrative centers) had not taken on unique identities in the pro­ cess. Unlike European towns, buildings in Soochow and other cities were not differen t from those in rural areas. Mansions m ight in­ clude several acres o f walled grounds, but they w ere basically single­ story structures. Buddhist and other urban tem ple com plexes were tall and grand— but religious centers in the countryside could be even m ore elaborate. N or did governm ent buildings serve as the city’s focus in physical terms; administrative edifices spread outward rather than upward. Centers o f learning and libraries usually were constructed in rural areas, as were publishing houses and major private libraries. Patterns o f dress and values were alike in city and country; indeed, the conservative “ rural ideal”一 o f a life o f cultured simplicity— served to ensure a continuity o f elite culture from coun­ tryside to city.12

Economic Developments C hina by 1600 was a wealthy and pow erful state. Its population was grow ing rapidly; new crops, including new strains o f food grains, had increased agricultural productivity, m aking this growth possible. Division o f labor and the increasing industrialization o f tex­ tile and handicrafts production in the lower Y angtze valley had led to m ore and m ore regional specialization. Domestic trade developed along C hina’s inland waterways: sugar, fruit, and tea came from the southeast coastal region; salt, silk, and cotton from the Yarigtze V a l­ ley; and food grains from provinces to the west. C hina’s ports bus­ tled with international com m erce as well: rfie Chinese traded with other Asians, Arabs, and even European merchants. Because the lat­ ter traded with silver from the Am ericas, silver rapidly became C hina’s m edium o f exchange in com m erce and even in taxation.13 C hina’s population had grown rapidly durin g the M ing period, from at least 60 million at its beginning in the fourteenth century to over 150 million by 1600.14 T h e M ing royal house, the C hu, alone num bered between forty and one hundred thousand.15 M ing p opu­ lation growth, due in part to the introduction o f new protein sources from abroad, was most noticeable in the m ore easily irrigable por­ tions o f China, the Y angtze valley and the south.16 B u t here too, natural disasters, epidem ics o f horrifying proportions, and famines

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com bined with the massive destruction o f hum an life w rought by large-scale peasant rebellion and foreign invasion to deplete this population; one source suggests there w ere a total o f less than n o million by 16 6 1.17 T h e bulk o f C hina’s people, in the seventeenth century as now, lived in the countryside and engaged in agriculture. A bout 176 m il­ lion acres o f land were u nder cultivation, o r at least so registered. Y et through fhe M ing and into the early C h ’ing，ownership o f much o f this land was concentrated in the hands o f relatively small num bers o f people and became m ore and m ore so. U nder C hina’s “m anorial system,Mmost ordinary peasants w ere tied to the land they w orked; their masters provided them with food and clothing, and frequently arranged marriages. A lthough sometimes landlords called them “adopted sons” and “adopted daughters” to avoid legal sanctions against forced servitude, peasants w ere regularly com ­ pelled to sign written bonds lim iting their freedom in order to ob­ tain land to w ork,18 In practice, such peasants w ere at the m ercy o f their lords, w ho could coerce, beat, o r even kill them at will. This set o f relationships had grow n in response to excessively heavy land taxes imposed by the M ing governm ent. In order to avoid taxes that they could not pay, num bers o f free peasants com ­ m ended their land to pow erful large landlords w ho would then be responsible fo r tax paym ent— but who in turn would appropriate the grain produced or levy high rents.19 M oreover, the collection o f land taxes on the local level was entrusted to the largest landlords re­ gardless o f their official status. T h ese large landholders regularly re­ m oved themselves from the tax rolls through their influence and personal connections with officials，thereby increasing the tax bur­ den on freeholders and accelerating the tendency to serfdom or tenancy fo r com m on farm ers. T h is pressure reached its peak by 1600. T h e close connection between local administration and the wealthy is central to an understanding o f the m anipulation o f pow er and land in the countryside; the same large landholders had the re­ sponsibility fo r m aintaining order and for small-scale public works projects. C ontem porary accounts provide some insight into economic conditions in the lower Yangtze du rin g the seventeenth century. A farm laborer’s annual wages were only about 13 ounces (Jiang) o f sil­ ver; a farm er owning or renting a plot o f around one acre in size

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m ight earn slightly m ore. B y contrast, if two wom en tended silk­ worms fed with the leaves from an acre o f m ulberry trees, their com ­ bined incom e could reach 30 ounces in a year. A s silk weavers, these wom en could earn double this amount. Consequently, economic pressure forced agriculture to becom e a nearly exclusively male octu pation in this area. M ale peasants also turned to cash crops, partic­ ularly cotton, fo r increased income; and m any poorer farm ers left the land to take jobs in light industry. O verall grain production fell, and grain had to be im ported from as far away as Szechwan to feed the area’s burgeoning cities.20 T h ro u g h o u t the late Ming, m arket towns grew in num ber and size with increased com m erce and population, characteristically near temples, big manors, industrialvsites such as pottery kilns, bridges, and at the intersections o f m ajor waterways and roads. Frequently governm ent customs houses w ere established at such trading centers to tax the various comm odities that passed through or w ere ex­ changed there. Sm aller groups o f perm anent shops also sprang up in areas form erly served by itinerant peddlers o f goods. Serfdom was officially abolished in 1730 by the M anchu Y u n g ， ch eng em peror, although the m anorial system had drastically d e ' d in e d by that time as land transactions became com m ercialized and legally m ore controlled. T h is change was due in part too to declining profits from land relative to other sources o f income throughout the seventeenth century. W ith increasing com m ercialization o f the econ­ om y and urbanization o f the population, greater profits w ere to be had from urban real estate, m oneylending, and other comm ercial ventures, particularly in the sprawling^m etropolitan areas o f the lower Yangtze valley.21 Equal investments in each would yield twice as m uch in m anufacture, three times as m uch in trade, and five times as m uch in salt production as in agriculture. Land was the m ore secure investment, o f course, as well as the moi： e prestigious.22 B ut th e ju r e o f greater incom e was strongly felt by the landowners o f the seventeenth century; by then, most no longer lived in the coun­ tryside. T h ro u g h com m endation they m ight have control over widely separated parcels o f land. As a consequence, the local elite likewise m igrated to the cultural and political centers as their eco­ nom ic interests became increasingly urban in focus. T h ere their con­ sum ption o f handicrafts increased, providing m ore jobs for at least

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skilled labor. T h ese m arketing com plexes o f rural, semi-urban, and urban markets encouraged new consum ption habits as well, chang­ in g fashions in entertainm ents and the arts from the printing in­ dustry to the theater.23 Despite the growth o f industry and com m erce, the structure o f China’s econom y w eakened m ajor Chinese m erchants com pared to their E uropean counterparts. State licensing and m onopolies con­ trolled the bigger and m ore lucrative enterprises such as salt and textile production. Furtherm ore, m erchants themselves were not in ,， volved in production; the m ultiple tasks in p reparing cloth, for e x ­ ample, w ere divided am ong scattered individual industries with no corporate structure to coordinate them. Profits were extracted at each level, not concentrated within one unified structure. W ealthy and pow erful m erchants were also subject to social pressure. H ighest status was accorded to holders o f degrees in the civil service exam i­ nations; with substantial wealth, any landlord o r m erchant could hire fine tutors fo r his sons or purchase one or m ore degrees for him self in o rd er that the fam ily m ight m ove quickly into the far m ore prestigious political elite. Ideally, then, m erchant status was m erely a transitory station fo r most families engaged in large-scale com m erce, although some families did maintain their occupations for generations. A disproportionate grow th in num bers o f degree holders from any one area norm ally came as wealth increased there. Likewise, wealthy individuals rapidly becam e the guardians o f tradi­ tional culture as they amassed substantial libraries and m agnificent art collections. Indeed, such persons could have had anything; one seventeenth-century writer describes the cloth m erchants o f his day as holding tens o f thousands o f ounces o f silver and living like princes. B ut what merchants chosq to indulge themselves in were, on the whole, pursuits identical to those o f the educated elite.24 Consequendy, there was no developm ent o f a bourgeois culture in China similar to that o f E urope du rin g the same period. T h e growth o f com m erce brought a corresponding rise in cultural activities, al­ though they were those o f the ruling elite and not som ething new. B ut num erous professional artists could be supported in the lower Yangtze area; and with an increase in wealth and attendant literacy, the book trade flourished there as well.

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P r i n t i h g a n d P u b lis h in g By the seventeenth century，book printing using the woodblock m ethod, xylography, had a history o f nearly a millennium in China and had not changed significantly since the Sung period. First, a calligrapher transcribed a double page o f the text on a rectangle o f thin paper; this p aper was then adhered face dow nw ard to a sm oothed board, usually o f pear or ju ju b e wood, that had been coated with a sizing com pound. A skilled carver then cut away all the surface o f the block not covered by the ink that was clearly visible through the paper. T h e printing plate thus com pleted, the printer used a double-headed brush to apply lam pblack ink to the plate with one end and to smooth the paper to be printed against it with the other. T h e paper was m ade from bamboo, bark, or hemp; printed only on one side, it was folded in the m iddle with the print facing outward and bound along the short edges. Skilled craftsm en w ork­ ing quickly could print as m any as two thousand copies using the same block in a single day.25 T h e process was inexpensive; the eco­ nomic variables were the relative skill o f the craftsm en (or women), the quality o f the materials,-the length o f the text (including the size o f the printed characters), and the num ber o f copies to be made from each block* (Copies became less clear after several thousand sheets had been printed from the same block.) D uring the M ing there was fairly widespread experim entation with movable type, although the process was inefficient and costly fo r Chinese texts. A pparently no novels were printed this way. In­ stead, the novel was to be adorned by a second rriajor accomplish­ m ent o f M ing printers, woodblock illustrations/ For collectors, lim­ ited editions o f certain books m ight have illustrations printed in several colors; illustrations fo r novels were produced in m ono­ chrom e, although with consum m ate artistry in design and execu­ tion.26 Seventeenth-century novels were lengthy, requiring hundreds o f carved* blocks to print. In many first editions there were nu­ m erous fine illustrations o f scenes from the narrative and various prefatory pieces regularly transcribed in elegant calligraphic styles (in contrast to the text itself, the style o f which em phasized clarity and regularity). As a consequence, prices for individual copies were high. O ne edition o f Investiture of the Gods (Feng-shen yen-i) sold for 2 ounces o f silver per copy early in the century; rare old volumes

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brought twice that am ount.27 O nly the well-to-do could afford the m ajor novels in elegant first editions. D uring the Sung and Y iian periods, the publishing industry de­ veloped rapidly in the C hienyang area o f Fukien, on C hina’s south­ east coast. T h e re wood fo r printing blocks was plentiful and thus inexpensive. It was during the M ing that the center o f the burgeon­ ing book publishing trade shifted northw ard to the lower Yangtze region as a result o f the grow ing affluence, and hence the rising cul­ tural level, o f the area. Soochow was the site o f most seventeenthcentury printing houses for which location can be ascertained, fol­ lowed by H anchow, N anking, and Yangchow . T h e lower Yangtze was also a center for book collecting. Bibliophiles avidly sought Sung imprints, although contem porary editions m eeting their exacting standards found a ready m arket.28 Publishing houses du rin g the late M ing w ere o f several types: official (supported by branches o f the central governm ent in Peking and Nanking), commercial (book dealers), private (collectors and scholars), and academic (private academies). A lth ou gh book dealers were the m ore prolific in num ber o f titles and volum e o f production, the finest books were produced by scholarly collector-printers who catered to the refined tastes o f others o f their class. Literati novels, at least in their first editions, apparently cam e from printers o f this sort. M any o f these scholar-printers lived in the Soochow area. O ne o f them, C h ’u Jen-huo (C.1630-C.1705), printed his own novel, taking pride in recording the names o f the artist who drew the illustrations and the two craftsm en who carved the blocks. Certainly the develop­ ment o f the book printing industry in the K iangnan area, coupled with an increasing population o f highly literate males, were signifi­ cant factors in the rapid developm ent o f the novel there du rin g the seventeenth century.

The Literate Classes T h e quality o f printing in noteworthy seventeenth-century novels indicates a reading audience with both wealth and sophistica­ tion, attributes that can be foun d only am ong C hina’s social elite. T h e highest strata in Chinese society d u rin g this period, except for hereditary nobles and the royal house, are generally (but somewhat

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inappropriately) called “gentry” in English. In broad terms this grou p included officials (whether in office, retired, or dismissed) and those qualified to hold office or in the process o f preparing tp be­ come officials— the holders o f academic degrees from the imperial civil service exam ination system. M embers o f the gentry w ere char­ acterized by rural residence at least some o f the time, high social sta­ tus, privileges denied the rest o f society, an unofficial but substantial role in local governm ent, a high cultural level, and usually sizable holdings in land. Education and wealth brought this status, although relatives o f gentry w ere granted preferential treatm ent by their own and other strata despite legal limits on this “reflected glory” duririg the C h ’ing. T h ro u g h m uch o f the seventeenth century, most gentry derived their wealth ultimately from holdings in agricultural lands.29 T h e m ore affluent ow ned or controlled vast tracts o f land; less wealthy "lower gentry” derived incom e from their inform al role in local governm ent. T h e gentry served as interm ediaries between local officials and the peasants, giving advice to the form er and serving as spokesmen fo r the latter.30 H owever, they represented the interests o f the rest o f society only to the extent that all classes w ere con­ cerned with stability and order; this group had no legal responsi­ bility fo r the masses and was bound only by the m ore general con­ straints o f C onfucian paternalism to protect any interests but their own. A lth ou gh they m ight serve as a pressure grou p ，the gentry in most cases shared the goal o f local officials, to maintain the status quo.31 O ne o f the best-known characteristics o f the political institutions o f old C hina is, o f course, the bureaucracy, selected prim arily by way o f the civil service exam ination system introduced d u rin g the T ’ang period. It was du rin g the M ing, in 1487, that the form and content o f the exam inations becam e final. T h e y rem ained substantially un­ changed until the abolition o f the system in 1905. Content was lim ­ ited to discussions o ff passages from the standard C onfucian classics in accordance with the School o f Principle interpretation o f the Sung-period N eo-Confucian philosopher C hu Hsi (1x30-1200). E x­ amination essays could be written only in the form known inform ally as the “eight-legged essay” (pa-ku wen). Each section o f an essay could have only one function in relation to the argum ent as a whole; total length was strictly limited to 450 w ords d u rin g the M ing, with

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an extr^ h un dred words allowed d u rin g the early C h'in g.32 In barest outline, the system consisted o f exam inations at three levels: district, provincial, and national. It was at the lowest level that the strictest screening occurred. T h e re candidates m any times m ore num erous than the prescribed m axim um allowable in any given location un­ derw ent a series o f three exam inations culm inating in the award o f the lowest degree (sheng-yiian) to the successful. T h e potential for dram atic rise in status from this beginning was so tantalizing that men spent decades if necessary in preparation, occasionally driving themselves to nervous collapse o r even to suicide. H owever, quotas lim iting the num ber o f the successful ensured the continuance o f a group o f reasonably well educated but disaffected candidates who had failed. Y et those who did earn the sheng-yiian w ere still scholar-comm oners (min-shih) because the title m eant little. H olders o f this de­ gree w ere subjected to triennial review examinations; failure to per­ form well could result in loss o f the degree. Norm ally, sheng-yiian scholars were never appointed to official positions. M any had to work, often at subsistence wages, as village teachers or fam ily tutors. Such “plow ing with the w riting brush” (pi-keng) in the “inkslab fields” (yen-fien) was looked down upon as an indication that the scholar so occupied had exhausted his m eager talents at that level. O th er holders o f this lowest, d egree even turned to small-scale retail trade, a m uch less favored position. In 14 51, as a source o f em ergency funds fo r the central governm ent, places in the Im perial A cadem y (with branches in Peking and Nanking) began to be sold. Because this institution provided the best library facilities and tu­ torials in the country, attendance greatly enhanced the chances o f success in h igher examinations. Students there, w ho w ere called chien-sheng, ranged upw ard in num ber to x0,000 d u rin g the M ing.33 Despite their “scholar-com m oner” status, the holders o f these lower degrees constituted a leading grou p am ong the com m on people; in recognition o f their education, they w ere addressed as “noble sirs” (hsiang-kung) by people o f lesser status. A n d while officially barred from entering magistrates* courts d u rin g the early G h’in g，these scholars could and frequently did function as a pressure grou p to influence local officials.34 Every three years examinations w ere held in the provincial capi­

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tals and in the two national capitals, Peking and N anking. O nly those who had earned the first degree o r its equivalent m ight sit fo r them; success brought the chu-jen degree and direct access to official posi­ tion, and hence substantial wealth. Attainm ent o f this level m arked the crucial advance in status: it qualified a man to take the highest examination, and even if he failed there his success in gaining some position was guaranteed. Furtherm ore, detailed sum ptuary laws al­ lowed chu-jen holders certain visible status symbols reserved for the gen try~ clo th in g made o f silk and transportation by sedan chair. T h e Ministry o f Rites in the central governm ent adm inistered the metropolitan exam ination once every three years in Peking. A sec­ ond round o f testing was done by an im perially appointed exam iner, and the third by the em peror himself. T h o se who passed this final battery to becom e chin-shih (presented scholars) could pass at once into the m iddle level o f the bureaucracy with a chance ultimately at the highest positions. M en w ho earned all three m ajor degrees at­ tained the sheng-yiian degree at an average age o f twenty-four, be­ came chii-jen scholars at about thirty-one, and earned the highest honor by thirty-six. T h e odds against w inning in all competitions w ere around 6,000 to 1 even fo r those with the requisite education to com pete (al­ though we may assume that some took the local examinations m ore on hope than on the basis o f adequate training). T h e chances for success were decidedly less fo r the poor. Lower-level degrees had been o ffered fo r sale since the middle o f the M ing period; hence the status accruing to a holder o f degrees and the right to take higher examinations could be obtained m erely by the paym ent o f a fee, al­ though it was a substantial amount. W hile “rags to riches” tales did circulate and had their basis in fact, those who rose from poverty to high position were rare. W ealth meant leisure and access to services and goods; in this context, it m eant the time to study, the services o f tutors, and the requisite texts for preparation. T h u s those who earned high degrees w ere fo r the most part from families o f some means. T h e frustration caused by failure in the examinations was com pounded by the relatively high sheng-yiian quotas maintained d u rin g most o f the seventeenth century; the population had doubled from the late fourteenth century to 1600, but the numbers o f recipi­ ents o f this lowest degree m ultiplied by twenty fold. T h e bureaucracy

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did not grow accordingly; the num ber o f chin-shih degrees awarded rem ained virtually constant, and it was at this highest level that the central governm ent dem onstrated its control. T h ose unable to pass beyond the lowest level rem ained a large and disgruntled group. Quotas also favored culturally backward areas, concentrating the frustrated would-be official-gentry, including presum ably men o f considerable talent, in the areas o f highest culture— particularly the lower Yangtze valley. It is not surprising that the novel developed there at this time, fo r m any novelists w ere from precisely this grotip. Significantly, frustrated holders o f the low er degrees and aspirants thereto figured prom inently am ong the leadership o f rebel bands and revolutionary forces throughout the M ing and C h ’ing. It seem ed that, those who had been inculcated with the myth o f m obil­ ity but who had found it lacking in substance for them as individuals were the most likely elem ent am ong the educated to criticize or even to rebel.35 T h e significance o f the exam ination system can be seen on sev­ eral levels. In addition to being a means o f upw ard social mobility, the examinations strengthened the unity o f high culture, since all men o f substantial learning had a sizable body o f shared knowledge. T h e system served to unify literary style th rough out the country, to hom ogenize values, and to clarify the cultural differences between the educated elite and the w orking masses ；A ll persons o f wealth, no matter how it had been accum ulated, established contacts and m ain­ tained relationships with the class o f scholar-bureaucrats the system produced; in this way too, the unity o f econom ic and political power with academic orthodoxy was enhanced. Schools in seventeenth-century C hina served largely to prepare students fo r the civil service examinations. In 1369 the M ing found er had ordered schools established in all districts (fu) and counties (hsien), staffed by governm ent-appointed teachers and per­ m anently supported by state funds. B y the end o f the fourteenth century there were over 1,200 such schools, and several thousand school officials. Both the status and the value o f this education fell drastically through the Ming; posts in local schools came to be re­ served fo r “deadw ood” holders o f m iddle and low degrees. T h e re a f­ ter, the most im portant function o f these schools was as repositories for books at local levels. In addition, the M ing found er had urged

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the form ation o f schools fo r m ore general education and basic liter­ acy. Schools o f this sort w ere usually the product o f local initiative, established by gentry and low er officials in unlicensed temples and shrines, but all too often they w ere disbanded as a consequence o f inattention o r peculation on the part o f the overseers. Charitable schools, i-hsiieh, were established by the wealthy fo r members o f their clan or fo r poor but talented youn g m en o f the surrounding area. A lth ou gh they w ere never universal, a significant num ber o f stu­ dents were trained in them; they form ed a significant ru n g in the “rags to riches” ladder d u rin g this period. A s a m atter o f public in­ terest and an administrative concern, charitable schools w ere regu ­ larly listed in local histories. Y et none o f these institutions offered general education, business o r clerical preparation, and the like. Since all schools prepared students fo r the examinations and the content o f these exam inations was prescribed by the state, the state thus had de facto control over virtually all education.36 A pparently feeling, as a W estern scholar recently phrased it, that “the true aims o f education w ere lost sight o f in the m ad scram­ ble for advancem ent and the desperate endeavor to con form ， ” 37 serious thinkers, especially in the low er Y angtze region, banded together to form private academies, shu-yiidn, fo r study beyond the prescribed texts. H undreds had been established du rin g the period o f M ongol dom ination w hen Chinese intellectuals w ere discrimi­ nated against as official policy; they began to flourish again after 1500. Som e scholars trace the ideological origins o f this m ovem ent to the radical N eo-C onfucian thought o f W an g Yang-m ing; socially, frustration over the lack o f opportunity in governfnent for increas­ ing num bers 6f educated m en m ay well have been the decisive fac­ tor. Retired officials often played a prom inent role; without wealth and leisure fo r a sizable num ber o f the population, such academies could not have existed. B ein g a negative reaction to the exam ination system and the education it fostered, these academies naturally be­ came centers for intellectual and eventually even political opposition to the central governm ent am ong the literati. T h e threat so posed was recognized by the state; private academies and the public lec­ tures on m orality academicians delivered on occasion were officially proscribed in 153 7 ， 1579, and 1625. A fte r the found ing o f the C h ’ing state, with the advent o f a new conservatism in morality, private academies also becam e training grounds for the exam ination

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hall. T h u s, the only organized alternative to state-approved educa­ tion had disappeared by the beginning o f the eighteenth century.38 Preparation fo r the exam inations involved learning to read and to write the literary language, an artificial style ow ing m uch m ore to the vernacular o f C onfucius’ time two thousand years earlier than it did to the living seventeenth-century language. N o m atter how little one could read, therefore, it was still in the literary language; there was no form al training o ffe re d at any level in the style o f language used for the best o f contem porary novels. T h u s, estimates o f C hina’s, literate population can logically be based on figures derived from civil service exam ination records. T h ese statistics indicate that in the seventeenth century, perhaps as m uch as 10 percent o f the total population, o r m ore appropriately 20 percent o f the male popula­ tion, were to some extent literate— in the classical literary lan­ guage.39 In a population o f 150 million, this m ight m ean between 10 and 15 million m en across the country. W ith a population o f roughly 30 million and a high cultural level generally, there m ay have been as m any as 5 million readers o f varying levels in the lower Yangtze region as the novel cam e o f age there, although we cannot consider the reading audience fo r this form to be anything like this figure.40 T h is large num ber o f literate males (if indeed this estimate is reasonable) m ade up several strata in society, from those o f highest status and greatest influence to the lowest functionary in local gov­ ernm ent. A ll o f them, because o f their com m on education, shared conservative C onfucian values with those in power. Furtherm ore, the exam ination system served to cem ent cohesion within this class through the specific relationships it fostered: scholars’ respect for their teachers (tso-shih), the exam iners w ho passed them, recipro­ cated by a feelin g o f responsibility to those students (men-sheng) one passed as an exam iner, and the inform al fraternal feelings am ong those w ho earned their degrees at the same time (Vung-nien).41 Such relationships, at least am ong those who earned only the prelim inary degrees, were established at the local, rather than the provincial or regional, level; this prom oted a sentimental attachm ent to com m u­ nity already com m on am ong m embers o f this class. A n d yet class in­ terests w ere generally m ore decisive than feelings o f com m unity in determ ining the actions o f the gentry at any level. T h e m odern scholar C h ’ii T u n g -tsu has pointed out: “ A s a privileged class, they were eager to maintain the status quo, opposing any force that m ight

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overthrow the established, social o rd e r."42 This class cohesion and the stratification within the elite is o f prim ary im portance in u nder­ standing the ideological basis o f the seventeenth-century novel, which we will exam ine in detail in chapter 2. T h e range o f perquisites conceived as appropriate fo r the social elite is best dram atized by concrete exam ples. Convinced o f their legal protection, members o f the ruling elite freely used their posi­ tion to extend their own wealth. Shen T e-fu (1578 -1642) cites ex­ amples o f the lawless sons o f high officials who comm itted m ajor o f­ fences in late M ing times, including one who exterm inated thirty families in o rder to obtain their property.43 A pparently none o f these men anticipated any form o f judicial restriction. Occasionally fierce competition arose between greedy m embers o f this class; oc­ casionally too, abuses becam e so excessive that the com m on people took matters into their own hands. K u Yen-w u (16 13-16 8 2 ), the w riter and thinker, was fo r a num ber o f years involved in a lawsuit over a piece o f property he had once owned. O riginally, in a time o f financial need, K u had m ortgaged land to a certain Y eh Fang-heng. A form er K u servant w ho subsequently jo in ed Y e h ’s staff then al­ leged that Ku had collaborated with rebels so that his new master m ight m ore easily gain clear title to the land in question. In 1655 Ku had the treacherous servant m urdered, a legally justifiable action be­ cause at that time it was a crim e o f the greatest m agnitude fo r a servant to betray a master. Y eh imm ediately responded; through his friends in the Soochow local governm ent, Y e h had K u confined, tried, and beaten. B ut nothing m ore drastic happened, since K u ’s friends in the local administration w ere w orking frantically on his behalf. Some years later, in 1668，Ku was charged with sedition, again in relation to a property dispute. In a reversal o f his earlier problem , K u had foreclosed on a m ortgage he held, and the o f­ fended party brought charges in an attem pt to revenge him self and recover the property. H ere K u ’s friends w ere the m ore influential; Ku was exonerated and allowed to keep his real estate.44 T u n g C h ’i-ch’ang (1555-16 36 ), fam ous literatus and painter o f the late M ing, was m ore direct in com petition with peers and in abuses o f power. By 1616 the aging T u n g had several concubines, but became infatuated with a young maid in the household o f an­ other gentry fam ily nam ed Lu. Since Lu wanted her for his own pleasure, he was unreceptive to T u n g ’s request. A gan g o f T u n g ’s

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servants, led by one o f his sons, then raided the Lu com pound and abducted the girl by force. T u n g 's connections in local governm ent w ere better, so the case was officially settled by the award o f the girl to T u n g . Lu was ordered to fo rget her. Later a certain local writer recorded the incident; popular entertainers then dram atized the story and p erform ed it, much to the chagrin o f the T u n g family. In his anger, T u n g C h ’i-ch’ang repeatedly harassed m embers o f the Fan family, w hom he held responsible fo r this unw anted publicity, until Fan died o f frustration. C ourageous women o f the Fan fam ily braved verbal and physical abuse to protest at T u n g ’s m ansion and written protests by Fan’s fellow students w ere posted at conspicuous places throughout the city (rather like the political wall posters o f m odern China), but T u n g suffered no legal sanction fo r his actions. H owever, the m atter did not end there. Most o f T u n g ’s sons w ere as intensely hated fo r various excesses in their headlong appropriation o f property fo r themselves. W hen all the complaints o f illegal activi­ ties w ere ignored by T u n g ’s friends in high places, a crowd o f towns­ people rioted against the T u n gs, burnin g and destroying their ex­ tensive holdings. People cam e from miles away to vent their anger at s art collection was partly destroyed, the family. T u n g C h ’i-ch ，ang， but the fam ily all escaped through the protection o f a small arm y o f hired hooligans. His abuse o f pow er notwithstanding, T u n g Ch*ich’ang was later recalled to Peking and given a prestigious position in the central governm ent.45 H ow ever atypical these acts may have been, they do indicate the limits to which members o f the gentry felt they could go, given their privileged position in seventeenth-century society. A n d yet it was a com m on assumption that wealth and position could not be m ain­ tained through time; even if a m em ber o f the gentry, o r his family, comm itted no crimes f6r which their property could be confiscated, it would be lost through the debauchery and extravagance that was considered the logical outcom e o f econom ic success. T h e pattern o f rise, decline, and fall was seen as norm ally taking several genera­ tions; an upright and prosperous man m ight be succeeded by dissi­ pated sons who would squander his fortune. Frequently this decline was interpreted as a failure on the part o f the fath er to teach his sons proper morals, although the absence o f prim ogeniture in C hi­ nese society m ight logically be taken as a contributing factor.46 Separated from the elite by the traditional negative view o f com ­

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m erce were the m erchants, a vast num ber o f people i f the term includes the millions involved in trade at all levels. T h e bulk were peddlers or small shopkeepers, the latter grow ing in num ber with urbanization through the Jate Ming. W ith little or no organization at any level, m erchants had no political strength, even though a few amassed trem endous fortunes.47 Rather than using this wealth to de­ velop even greater financial em pires and thus risk official confisca­ tion, the m erchant princes o f the lower Y angtze cities vied with each other in extravagant display. O ne Y angchow salt m erchant is said to have paid 400,000 ounces o f silver for a private acting troupe, cos­ tumes, and stage properties late in the century, when it was fashion­ able to keep a troupe in the household fo r the entertainm ent o f guests'.48 »But while some m en p referred purely sensual enjoyment, others were m ore selective, with the result that the life style o f the wealthiest m erchants usually differed in no significant way from that o f the form ally educated elite. T h a t is, both groups o f those who could affo rd to do so collected books, paintings, curios, and the like. Such sophisticated hobbies required a reasonable degree o f educa­ tion, o f course, but with the leisure that m oney could buy, m erchant families educated their sons and thus assimilated themselves cul­ turally and, through the exam ination system or th rough the pur­ chase o f degrees and positions, -politically into the socially favored gentry. A lth ou gh conspicuous consum ption limited the accum ula­ tion o f capital, m erchants w ere most circum scribed by their own values— they chose to join , not tQ struggle against, entrenched bu­ reaucratic pow er.49 Consequently, literate members o f the m erchant class d iffered less significantly in their reading habits from the gentry than did analogous groups in W estern E uropean society. It is unlikely that they could constitute any noteworthy reading audience separate from the rest o f the elite. W hether less prosperous m er­ chants were learned enough to read, m uch less appreciate, the ver­ nacular novels seems entirely problematic. It is also unlikely that women constituted a separate reading public o f any consequence. Recently, social scientists have seen changes in the position o f wom en du rin g the Ming: a greater em ­ phasis on rules lim iting w om en’s actions, the spread o f footbinding, and the cults o f chastity and virginity are considered a male reaction to a m ore aggressive assertion o f their personal freedom s on the

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part o f urban w om en.50 T h e opportunities_ and the need_ to work outside the hom e because o f the grow th o f the handicrafts industries gave wom en o f the lower classes new freedqm , as did the breakdown o f the m anorial system and the end o f se rf status.51 T h ere seems to have been a significant increase in the num bers o f literate women du rin g the late M in g-early C h ’in g period as well, nearly exclusively in gentry households. A lth ou gh 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 num ber o f works designed to edify the barely literate fem ale.52 Still, the position o f wom en was undeniably lower than that o f men; consider the follow ing description written by Li Y ii o f what can only have been a slave m arket in a brothel: I was once in Yangchow to select a concubine for a certain person o f rank. O f those w ho were brou ght in, all dressed and ornam ented beau­ tifully, nearly all stood with their heads bow ed. B u t w hen they w ere or­ dered to raise their heads, they did so. O n e o f them ju s t raised her head and stared unabashedly, while another was ashamed and embarrassed and would not hold her head u p until she had been instructed to do so several times. . . _53

Clearly, wom en were subservient to m en at every level o f society; lacking freedom o f m ovem ent and expression, their effect on fash­ ions in reading could only have been minimal. Beyond the gentry, wealthy m erchants, and a certain segm ent o f the fem ale population, what literate elements w ere there? Certainly Buddhist monks and Taoist priests w ere literate to an extent; some, particularly am ong the form er, w ere know n as poets in their day. In ­ deed, one was even a novelist before taking the tonsure. B ut al­ th ough visiting w orthy m onks (or to the m onastaries in w hich they resided) was considered a refined diversion, monks did not play a particularly significant role either in politics or in culture d u rin g the seventeenth century. Instead, monasteries and m ountain retreats provided viable places o f political and religious refu ge du rin g that turbulent period. T h e re remains only the specialized entertainers catering to the interests o f the elite. T h e y ranged in occupation from storyteller (Liu C hing-t’ing)，to music teacher and dram a coach (Su K ’unsheng), to dramatist and director (Li Yii), to landscape architect (Chang Lien and his son C h an g Jan), to prostitute (Li Hsiang-chiin

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and Y an g Ai) and actor (Hsii Tzu-yiin), to the numbers o f profes­ sional painters (including* the fam ous Tao-chi in his later years). Probably few o f the males in this group held a m iddle- or upperlevel degree, given their low social status, but all were literate. Som e were extrem ely well educated and chose these occupations for politi­ cal or econom ic reasons. A ll w ere at the m ercy o f the gentry for their incomes, which were not necessarily stable. Such people cer­ tainly could not constitute a reading audience apart from the gentry; serious literature could be produced only fo r the social elite, who could afford and appreciate it as an intellectual and esthetic diver­ sion.

Politics: Upheaval and Stability T h e seventeenth century saw dramatic and catastrophic political changes and developm ents in China, with ruler following incom pe­ tent ruler du rin g m uch o f the period, a change o f dynasty, and seemingly endless natural disasters and civil war. Such changes were to provoke certain writers o f novels to question basic assumptions about the hum an experience; these events also produced a sympa­ thetic audience o f similarly disaffected readers.54 T h e century began with the \^an-li em peror, a man nam ed C hu I-chun (1563-1620), on the throne. His coronation had occurred w hen he was nine. D uring the first decades o f his rule, the throne had been dom inated by his prim e minister, C h an g Chii-cheng (1525-158 2). T h e central governm ent was econom ically sound; the borders were secure; and com m erce and m anufacturing (including the publishing industry) flourished. B ut with the death o f Chang, the W an-li em peror becam e obstinate, extravagant, and irrespon­ sibly arbitrary in wielding power. T o silence criticism over his un­ popular choice o f a successor, the em peror relied on ruthless sup­ pression o£ opposition in this and later in all other matters as well. B ut his extravagances at court and the border wars that soon devel­ oped against the M ongols in the northwest, the aborigines in the southwest, and in K orea (in support o f the vassal state against the aggression o f the Japanese Toyotom i Hideyoshi) exhausted his trea­ suries. Furtherm ore, he ceased holding court after 1589; this en­

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couraged im perial reliance on unscrupulous eunuchs, factional strife at court, and an ever greater disregard fo r the masses o f peasants sufferin g u nder increased taxes. K ey posts in the central govern­ ment went unfilled because o f the em peror’s inattention. B y 1612 the w ork o f his form al adm inistration had ground to a halt in many areas, his private ventures being carried out by a small arm y o f his personal servants. T h ese projects included the construction o f pal­ aces and flotillas o f pleasure boats— all o f which w ere described in a historical novel com piled only a decade after his death (the em peror was so obese that he was unable to support his own weight) in 1620.55 T h e political consequences o f the W an-li reign were twofold. On the local level, there were repeated insurrections attem pting to redress grievances against the em peror’s creatures. (Num erous re­ volts in central China against eunuch tax commissioners between 1596 and 1601 led to others in Shantung in 1599; in Soochow a mob o f com m on citizens beat the tax comm issioners to death in 1601; in 1602 there w ere uprisings in fou r provinces simultaneously. In 1620 the price o f rice soared to such heights in Soochow that few could af­ ford it. A small am ount was doled ou t to the poor; when officials put a stop to this, enraged citizens simply confiscated grain stores.) T h ese uprisings began a pattern o f rebellion that could only have hastened the fall o f the state.56 O n another level o f society, the Wanli em peror’s highhanded reprisals against his critics encouraged the form ation o f cliques in opposition to him or to his eunuchs. T h e best known o f these is the T u n g-lin (Eastern Grove) party. T h e ir influ­ ence was greatest only fo r the years from the death o f the em peror until the p u rge o f 1624, when W ei C hung-hsien (156 8-16 27), a self­ castrated eunuch, cam e to m onopolize court power. T h e Tu ng-lin m ovem ent, although strong in righteous indignation, lacked both unity on political goals and even any true group consciousness; in­ stead, it dem onstrated the utter helplessness o f the scholarly elite to effect any significant political reform .57 A t the death o f the W an-li em peror, C h u C h ’ang-lo took the throne, only to fall ill a few m onths later and die in less than three weeks from the “ m edicine” he had been given.58 H e was succeeded by his eldest son, C hu Yu-chiao (1605—1627). T h is m onarch, the T ’ien-ch’i em peror, seems to have been slow o f wit; his five children

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all died in infancy as he busied him self with m aking m odel furn i­ ture. Real pow er was in the hands o f the eunuch Wei, who had been one o f his m other’s butlers.59 By 1626 W ei Chung-hsien brought his purges o f real and po­ tential enemies to a height with a roun dup o f prom inent T ung-lin party m embers in the lower Y angtze region. T h is provoked an in­ surrection in Soochow against abuses o f im perial authority. T h e riot dem onstrated a rem arkable solidarity between people o f many strata, particularly the literati, urban workers, and peasants from the nearby countryside. It also m arked the end o f the eunuch’s purges, which had becom e politically too expensive fo r him. A lth ou gh this incident did not result in any prolonged cooperation between dif­ ferent social classes, it was a noteworthy m odel fo r later resistance to im perial interference in the area.60 C hu Yu-chien (16 11-16 4 4 ), the fifth son o f the short-lived*Chu C h ’ang-lo, cam e to the throne as the C h ’ung-chen em peror early in 1628. W ei Chung-hsien attem pted to resign; two months later he was sent away into retirem ent and com m itted suicide en route. Even though this heralded the extinction o f one particularly vicious clique at court, the reign o f the youthful C h ’ung-chen em peror was m arked by indecision on the part o f the m onarch and a constant suc­ cession o f national le a d e r s e a c h top position changed hands at least once each year. O ften the loss o f a position was followed by the death o f the previous occupant and the confiscation o f his property. In the provinces, M ing pow er crum bled even m ore drastically: im pe­ rial armies, no longer centrally supplied, foraged at great cost to local peasants; the courier-post system was discontinued as a means o f reducing governm ent expenses, causing loss o f income for people across the em pire; com m ercial taxes w ere increased, causing even m ore disaffection; fam ine spread its cruel tentacles ever m ore widely in the wake o f unrelieved natural calamities.61 It was d u rin g the C h fung-chen reign that the most pervasive and geographically w idespread political alliance o f the century was form ed. In 1628 C h an g P’u (16 0 2 -16 4 1), a native o f T ’aits’an g near Soochow, organized the Revival Society (Fu-she— given C h an g’s de­ votion to the Confucian classics, the nam e probably was m eant to be interpreted as “Society for the Revival o f G enuine Classical L earn­ ing**). A t first he assembled groups o f youn g scholars to study together fo r the examinations; later, th rough the consolidation o f

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num erous local literary associations into a single alliance, C h an g’s g rou p reached nationwide prom inence and considerable influence. B y 1632 m em bership surpassed two thousand, and the grou p began to exert political pressure on the im perial court. In 1639 it issued the N ankin g M anifesto protesting the interference o f the pow er-hungry minister Ju an T a-ch ’en g (0.1587-1646) in the norm al functioning o f governm ent. T h e society even m aneuvered to ensure a death sen­ tence fo r one prim e m inister and the substitution o f another. T h e Revival Society carried on the traditions o f the T u n g-lin grou p to the extent that its m embers were not only a political force; indeed, politics w ere incidental to m any m em bers as they pursued their m u­ tual literary and philosophical concerns.62 T h e ir disruptive efforts on the whole served only to weaken fu rth er the tottering M ing state, although they figure as heroes o f resistance to political im m orality in K ’u n g Shang-jen’s nostalgic dram atization o f the era written a halfcentury later. C hina’s border conflicts had gone badly through the late Ming. O n the northeast frontier a series o f “barbarian” tribes had been united by N urhaci (1559 -1626 ) into a M anchu military force. A t first he led his troops to aid the Chinese in fighting the Japanese invaders o f Korea; but by 16 16 N urhaci had established him self as the em ­ peror o f a new state and soon thereafter invaded China, occupying several strategic northeastern cities. A bahai (b.1592), w ho succeeded him in 1626, adopted a m ore Chinese system o f governm ent and pressed once m ore into China. A bahai’s forces reached Peking in 1629，retreating with enorm ous amounts o f booty and increasing num bers o f Chinese allies. B y his death in 1643, the M anchus had incorporated large num bers o f M ongols and other Central Asians into their military machine. A bahai was succeeded on the M anchu throne by his ninth son, Fulin, then aged six. Leadership was in the hands o f a regent, the com m ander D orgon, w hen Peking fell into the hands o f a rebel band led by Li T zu -ch ’eng. A Chinese border general, W u San-kuei, saw the M anchus as the lesser evil and sought their aid in driving out the rebel. T h e M anchus com plied— D orgon had been waiting fo r ju st this sort o f opportunity— and occupied the city in M ay 1644; then they began their conquest o f all China as a new dynastic power, the C h ’ing.63 From eyewitness accounts o f the fall o f the M ing capital (col­ lected later b y the novelist and story w riter Feng M eng-lung), it is

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obvious that it came as a (great shock, at least to the gentry. T h ere had been no sense o f urgency as Li T zu -ch ’eng m oved his forces toward Peking in the spring o f 1644, although provinces northwest o f the capital had been taken by the rebels early in the year. Li had captured K aifen g in 1642，killing hundreds o f thousands; he even raided the M ing im perial tombs north o f the city befor 合 advancing on Peking. In A p ril troops outside the wall m utinied because they had not been paid; on the day before the final siege was begun, the whole city celebrated a festival. A ll the officials were present;-there was no sense o f im pending disaster. Li T zu -ch ’en g surrounded Pe­ king on A p ril 23; when none o f his officials heeded his summons, the hapless Ch*ung-chen em peror hanged himself. Most o f his con­ sorts ended their lives at the same time. O n the fourth o f June the M anchu forces entered the raped, pillaged, and burned city— the rebels’ legacy— to decree m ourning fo r the last M ing em peror and to execute his crown prince as an illegitimate pretender to the throne.64 Fulin (1638—1661) arrived later that year to rule China with the reign title Shun-chih. T o a country o f people already driven far past endurance by landlord exploitation, official repression, and ever increasing taxa­ tion, the bloody predations o f self-styled rebel “princes， ” and coun­ tless natural disasters, a foreign invasion at that time could have seemed only one m ore misery. B ut to the elite, this unanticipated change o f governm ent was politically, socially, and, m ore signifi­ cantly fo r this study, em otionally devastating. Accustom ed to lives o f ease and refinem ent, unless one chose to dabble in the m urky and dangerous business o f political clique struggle, the horror o f chaos and war now burst upon them personally as M anchu forces swept across the land. Few w ere able to stand the test. T h e ir first new trial came in organizing opposition to the new M anchu state. T h e gentry, as leaders o f society, were obligated to provide leadership in this venture. T h e y failed. A fter a violent battle between various factions at N anking, the dissolute C hu Y u-sung (1607-1646) was made the H ung-chih em peror o f the M ing in June o f 1644. Lacking unity and discipline in both arm y and civil adminis­ tration, his court attem pted unsuccessfully to forestall D orgon and his M anchu-Chinese arm y with lavish bribes; a year later N anking surrendered and the pretender died in Peking. T h e n C hu Yii-chien

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(1602-1646) declared him self em peror and tried to restore the M ing with remnants o f Li T zu -ch ’en g ’s rebel army. Because his generals proved undependable, he was captured and killed by M anchu troops in the autum n o f 1646. T h e re a fte r other pretenders to the M ing throne appeared, one to be toppled almost at once, another to hold out until 1659, when he fled to B urm a and was captured and turned over to the Chinese general W u San-kuei, who had him strangled.65 T h e re was never any substantial organized resistance on the part o f either the M ing bureaucrats or the gentry at large; all m eager attempts w ere soon crushed as disputes broke out am ong the Chinese. Pockets o f resistance w ere to be found, o f course; gentry in various localities led militia activities against the Manchus, but always with the same result: capture and execution, or suicide in the face o f inevitable defeat.66 T o facilitate pacification o f South China, the M anchus granted enorm ous fiefs to three Chinese gen­ erals who had jo in e d their cause early, W u San-kuei and two others. In 1673 these three rebelled in the nam e o f the defunct M ing House, only to be suppressed after seven years o f bloody struggle. In 1683 the M anchus conquered the island o f Taiw an, then adminis­ tratively a part o f Fukien province but held by followers o f C hen g C h ’eng-kung (1624-1662, K oxinga to Europeans), and snuffed out the last arm ed resistance to a unified China. T h e re too, the restora­ tion cause did not lack strength; it lacked instead the unity and d e­ termination needed fo r effective opposition. For their part, M anchu leaders m oved quickly to assimilate themselves to their new political, social, and cultural environm ent by m aintaining M anchu dom inance over institutions otherwise largely unchanged from those o f the M ing period.67 D orgon ordered all Chinese m en to shave the fron t o f their heads to symbolize their sub­ mission, and to wear the rest o f their hair in a braid or queue. C om ­ mon people jo k ed , “G et rid o f your hair to save your head， ” but to members o f the elite this was degrad in g and disgusting.68 Despite their position as transmitters o f the highest values (as they saw them ­ selves), Chinese literati now had to array themselves in accordance with the whim o f their cultural inferiors. A few refused and were e x ­ ecuted, and m ore shaved their heads com pletely to become Buddhist monks, at least in name, but the m ajority simply grudgingly submit­ ted. T o gain support fo r their claim to the “m andate o f H eaven” to

28

The World Behind the Novel

rule China, the M anchus had no choice but to alleviate the problems that had brought the M ing down. T o peasants longing fo r stability, their rule probably was not unwelcom e, fo r M anchu forces m oved to suppress banditry. In areas w here the population had been severely dim inished by disease and fighting, there was land fo r the taking with no landlord exactions to be feared .69 Factionalism was iden­ tified as the cause o f the weakness at the M ing court; the M anchu fe ­ rocity served as a w arning against its possible reappearance. T h e Chinese literati— that is, those who did not willingly enter the M anchu-dom inated civil service— constituted a problem for the Manchus. Hesitant to suppress the holdouts because their contribu­ tions were needed to m anage the state, the M anchus still regarded M ing loyalists as an ongoing source o f antagonism. O ne early at­ tem pt to dem onstrate their control over the literati was to limit se­ verely the num ber o f degrees to be given at any one exam ination. In the late M ing there w ere unprecedented num bers o f holders o f the lowest degree who could not obtain the m ore limited h igh er degrees. Scholars’ frustrations now centered on the small chance o f passing and even smaller chance o f obtaining office. M any positions, were filled by earlier M anchu supporters shaving low degrees or none at all. T h e C h ’ing governm ent then reinstated the sale o f degrees and posts in an e ffo rt to offset their considerable military expenses. It deliberately kept the exam ination quotas low to increase sales!70 T h e disaffection this produced am ong the literati was considerable; a large group o f well-educated m en were thus deprived o f the op p or­ tunities, the respect, and the financial rewards they had been taught they deserved. M any turned to the arts, including fiction, to express their grievances; others chose m ore overt avenue’s o f protest. O ne C h ’in g drive against the Chinese gentry attem pted to end the tax abuses so com m on in the late M ing. O n several occasions du rin g the reign o f the Shun-chih em peror (r. 16 4 4 -16 6 1)，decrees were prom ulgated listing penalties fo r gentry who failed to pay taxes prom ptly, including dem otion or dismissal fo r officials who failed to collect them. Jen W ei-ch ，u, the magistrate o f W u county, Soochow, thus began a harsh cam paign against local gentry in arrears on their taxes. A ltogether, 13 ,5 17 w ere indicted in fo u r counties in the dis­ trict. W u W ei-yeh (16 0 9 -16 72 )，a chin-shih o£ the late M ing ren­ owned as a poet and a friend o f several novelists, was arrested and

The World Behind the Novel

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sent to the capital along with m any others o f the scholar-gentry. T h ese acts were com pounded by J e n ’s sale o f public grain supplies for personal profit. D uring public m ourning fo r the Shun-chih em ­ peror, over a hundred Soochow scholars and students gathered at the C onfucian temple and then, in flagrant disregard for propriety, m arched on the office o f the provincial governor to present a letter dem anding the m agistrate’s dismissal. T h e re the literati were join ed by a thousand-odd others o f various social classes. T h e governor ar­ rested eleven o f the students and reported the case to the capital. Fearing that these protesters m ight becom e linked with the M ing loyalist forces u nder C h en g C h ’eng-kun g only recently driven o ff the m ainland to Taiw an, the investigators handled the case severely .： eighteen m en, including C hina’s first serious critic o f the novel, C hin Sheng-t’an (b. c.1610), w ere publicly executed in A ugu st 1661, their properties confiscated, and their families exiled .71 Follow ing this and other similar cases o f pressure against the literati, including literary persecutions, lower Y angtze gentry w ere even m ore bitter toward the new regim e. School enrollm ents in the area fell drastically as a consequence.72 T h e Shun-chih em peror had died in 1661. N ot a strong leader, still he had made an e ffo rt to acclimate him self to his new state: he had read widely in Chinese texts, including a popular play annotated by the Chin Sheng-t’an who snubbed his funeral rites, and various novels.73 .His successor to the throne was his third son, Hsuan-yeh (16 54-1722 ), who had becom e crown prince because he had sur­ vived the sm allpox epidem ic that killed his fath er. T h is new K ’anghsi em peror soon took control from his fo u r regents, im prisoning Oboi (d.1669), the m ore ruthless am ong them, and from the age o f fourteen ruled in his own right. D uring his sixty-year reign the M an­ chu conquest was com pleted: the borders w ere established, and border peoples brought u n der Chinese-M anchu control. C hina’s people became as num erous and as prosperous as they had been a century earlier. T h e em peror toured extensively, to take part in wars against the Zungars in the northwest and to make his power felt, particularly am ong the gentry o f the low er Yangtze valley. His use o f censors to keep his bureaucracy u n der constant surveillance elim i­ nated destructive factionalism; d u rin g his reign, eunuch pow er was strictly limited as well. H e also o rdered the com pilation o f various

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The World Behind the Novel

reference works: a dictionary o f all the ideographs with which C hi­ nese was then written (nearly 50,000), an encyclopedia o f literary allusions, the com plete poems o f the T ’ang period, and others, in­ cluding the history o f the fallen M ing state.74 T h e latter was a major step in the K ’ang-hsi em peror’s efforts to win over any scholars who rem ained loyal to the Ming. B y his time there was reason fo r concern about a possible split in the gentry between the officials and the other scholars for whom there were no positions available that would weaken the prestige o f the state and limit the pool o f potential administrators. His predeces­ sors, particularly O boi and the other regents, had relied on harsh m ethods to control Chinese loyalists; the K ’ang-hsi em peror’s aim was to m ake conciliatory gestures. Consequently, in 1678 he ordered the special po-hsiieh hung-tz’u exam ination as a means o f recruiting overlooked talent fo r appointm ent to positions in the bureaucracy. A ll officials in high central and provincial posts were com m anded to recom m end scholars to sit fo r it. A ltogeth er 202 names were submit­ ted, although a few had refused to let their names be included; others went to great extrem es to avoid actual participation. O ne hundred forty-three w ere exam ined, with fifty qualifying for office, forty o f whom w ere from the lower Yangtze region. Few o f the suc­ cessful were widely known; m any o f the fam ous men who had de­ clined to participate, including K u Yen-w u, W ang Fu-chih (16 19 -169 2 ), and H uang Tsung-hsi (16 10 -16 9 5 )，were strong M ing loyalists. B ut the em peror chose not to seek revenge fo r this insult. Instead, he appointed m any o f the successful to the H anlin A cad ­ em y to com pile the M ing history. A ll w ere pleased to, participate, as w ere various dissidents, although the latter w orked inform ally for the most part. Soon antagonism am ong scholars was redirected from the M anchus toward one another, as conflicts arose am ong historians over data and status.75 T h e exam ination net had not drawn in all the fish the em peror m ight have hoped for, but it coincided with the end o f overt opposition to M anchu rule on the part o f the Kiangnan cultured elite. W hat resentm ent rem ained found its outlet in literary nostalgia. C hina had regained a substantial m easure o f economic, social, and political stability, as well as prosperity. T h e M ing was dead, and with its passing a redefined set o f values came to the fore am ong the gentry. By the end o f the seventeenth century, vocal op ­ position to the imperial governm ent and the social m ores o f the time

The World Behind the Novel

31

by disaffected literati who found no place in the bureaucracy had largely disappeared. H owever, it had been the concerns o f ju st this educated and outspokenly moralistic group that had found expres­ sion in the m ore serious novels o f the period.

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T h e Novelists’ W orld: T radition and Innovation A great ruler does not want to pu t him self in a position o f direc­ tor, but w ould rather let all the people in the world direct things. H e w ould love w hat they love and hate what they hate. T h is is w hat is called letting the good originate with Heaven. A n d H eaven is simply a term for the people. . . . People at the end o f a dynasty, u nder pressure exerted by the kin g from outside, dare not express their feelings fully; and yet being forced by their nature from within, they must express their feelings fully. As a result they will deceive the king, . . . form intriguing par­ ties and accuse each other falsely . . • m urder their fathers and assassinate their lords. C h in S h en g-t’a n 1

A m averick literatus who initiated serious criticism o f the novel in China, C hin Sheng-t’an ( c .i6 iO 1661), dem onstrates in his inform al writings m any o f the con­ tradictions and conflicts o f values in the minds o f his peers. His equation o f the will o f H eaven with the will o f the people echoes a classic Confucian statement originated by Mencius (M eng K ’o, 3i7~?289 b .c .) that justifies rebellion against unjust rule.2 T h e late M ing had presented a political catastrophe o f ju st this type. Y et this classical dictum h ad been long superseded by a* grow ing despotism in the M ing court, with a corresponding political disregard fo r the w ill~ o r w ish e s~ o f any other level o f society. Intellectuals trained in the Confucian classics espoused such prescriptions, although in prac­ tice they had learned to ignore certain tenets fo r their own safety. A strong individualist, C hin Sheng-t’an refused to com prom ise his principles; in 1661 he was executed fo r protesting against misgovernm ent in his native Soochow. His cry fo r reform was based on a philosophically and politically conservative stance, dictated by the traditional Confucian obligation fo r the educated to right the

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The Novelists’ World

wrongs o f their time, and phrased in terms imm ediately fam iliar to all well-educated readers. A s dem onstrated in chapter 1, although they were far from unique, C hin’s methods o f protest were uncon­ ventional— an expression o f self. O ther writers o f the seventeenth century, am ong them im portant novelists, voiced similar concerns; their art was shaped by their deeply felt need to serve both society and self and was presented in images adapted from their shared ed ­ ucational background. T h e factors giving rise to these com plex rela­ tionships between society, self, and tradition in seventeenth-century novels will be explored in this chapter.

The Literati Ideal: W riter as Sage, W riter as Man T h e Confucian legacy to the seventeenth century included cer­ tain notions unm odified since antiquity. O ne was its holistic view o f man and the natural world, another its desire to effect cosmic har­ m ony through the proper ordering o f hum an society. H ierarchy e x ­ isted am ong the heavenly bodies, am ong animals on earth, and in earth’s physical features; a hierarchical structuring o f society was the logical reflection in the hum an realm o f the principles underlying all existence. H eaven, an impersonal force for harm ony, could only rely on the efforts o f the wise and learned, the Confucians, to set the world to rights. T h e C onfucian classics recorded the thoughts and experiences o f sage individuals o f the distant past; as the laws o f na­ ture could not change through time, so too would these teachings remain relevant through the centuries, according to this view. Confucius (K’ung C h ’iu, 5 5 1-4 7 9 b . c .) had witnessed the disin­ tegration o f the political o rder established by the C hou royal house centuries before. Society in his day was hereditarily stratified, but these strata were becom ing less well defined. Slaves were freed, fallen nobles enslaved, and itinerant knights became trusted court advisors. A reform er rather than a visionary, Confucius sought ideal behavioral models in the m ore distant past, not the future, thus ra­ tionalizing the conservative intellectual tendencies already present in his time. H arm ony in this world was his highest goal_ peace in a so­ ciety ruled by sage-kings ably assisted by w orthy ministers, a society in which each person knew and was satisfied with his place. W isdom

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concerning how to attain this harm ony would com e as a natural con­ sequence o f study o f the written records o f the past. Since theoreti­ cally the social hierarchy should be based at least in part on merit, those who w orked with tHeir heads acquiring wisdom quite naturally ruled those who w orked with their hands. T h u s, in theory all posi­ tions o f responsibility were to be reserved fo r the learned, that is, the m orally good. T h e ideal Confucian state should have as its m icro­ cosm the basic fam ily unit, with father as head and sons taking on both responsibility and privilege in direct proportion to their age.. H um an relations w ere to be tem pered with li, ritual and propriety, which kept status differences clear at all times. Such distinctions were the bases fo r the prim ary virtues as well: loyalty to one’s lord {chung), filial respect fo r one’s parents (hsiao), fem ale fidelity to o q e’s husband {chieh)f and altruistic generosity am ong equals (f). Fun­ dam ental Confucianism as elaborated by M encius posited that hum an nature is basically good, with that goodness to be maintained or recovered through m oral introspection, guidance, and proper training. A slightly later and m ore eclectic thinker, H siin T zu (Hsiin K ’uang, c.312-230 B .C .), held that hum an nature is basically evil; hence control o f the masses through law and ritual would be crucial to social harm ony. Education— teaching by exam ple, by reference to past models, by imitation o f positive exem p lars~ w as the key fo r all Confucian thinkers. T hose in any position o f authority, in fam ily or state, had the responsibility to provide appropriate behavioral models and to guide their charges; in subordinate positions they and all others were to submit respectfully. Leadership, Confucianism taught, should be effected by moral suasion rather than by force, with courage and circum spection, avoiding all extrem es o f behavior by follow ing the harm onious Mean. T h e good Confucian was m orally fastidious and was to treat others with scrupulous adherence to proper form. C onfucian society ideally consisted o f a network o f relationships. T h e position o f each individual was defined by its relations to all others. O ne m ight change positions, then, with security in the knowl­ edge that success was guaranteed once he learned all the prescrip­ tions fo r behavior in the new role. B ut no society has ever been so simple; Confucian definitions w ere never sufficiently precise to make this degree o f role differentiation possible, nor were they uniform ly

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The Novelists' World

adhered to by all m embers o f Chinese society. Exem plars were always known by their responses to specific circumstances. T h e many biographies o f chaste widows o r filial sons, fo r exam ple, are alike only in one basic detail, their selfless adherence to C onfucian princi­ ple despite adversity. O therwise, their stories d iffer considerably. As a result, the search for an appropriate behavioral m odel from C hina’s past was a serious business fo r the literati, who m ight not find a m odel in a truly congruent situation. M oments o f moral choice, when there was no appropriate m odel to be found or when the conflicting dem ands o f two or m ore roles overlapped, were serious indeed fo r the true Confucian. Questions o f role m odel and appropriate standards w ere given penetrating investigation in various novels o f the seventeenth century, am ple dem onstration o f the perennial nature o f these problems. Confucians were m embers of, or aspirants to, the ruling elite, o f course. B y circular logic, social success was seen as reflecting a cer­ tain degree o f m oral rectitude, and th erefore it justified privilege. M em bership in this social elite conveyed a sense o f com m unity and o f class solidarity, although later Confucians w ere quick to point out the difficulty o f preserving elite status fo r successive generations o f the same fam ily. As a result, Confucians regularly bore testimony to their cultural and moral superiority by forcing a rather lim ited clas­ sical education on their offspring, particularly their sons; by protect­ ing their prerogatives in society through the acquisition o f pow er and influence w henever possible; and by em bellishing their collective image. Such attitudes naturally fostered close relationships am ong the elite, with the consequence that intellectuals m aintained exten­ sive literary ties and acquaintances. T h e ir nunlber was large, al­ though they constituted only a fraction o f C hina’s vast population; they were geographically widely distributed 一 and yet their values w ere rem arkably similar because o f their shared education. Moral scrupulousness forced Confucians from the original Sage onward into a variety o f m oral quandaries. In particular, what if their principles w ere to go unrecognized by society or by those in power? "W hen the W ay prevails u n der H eaven, then show y o u rse lf; when it does not prevail, then hide. W hen the W ay prevails in your own land, count it a disgrace to be needy and obscure; w hen the W ay does not prevail in your land, then count it a disgrace to be rich and h onored,” Confucius u rged .3 Chinese history is well stocked

The Novelists’ World

37

with C onfucian recluses, exem plars convinced o f their m oral superi­ ority w ho ostentatiously w ithdrew from public office rather than serve an “im m oral” regim e. Role shifts w ere necessitated by age and social status changes, o f course, but withdrawal was a response to chan ging political circumstances. T h e C onfucian must, on each change o f role, ju stify his course o f action by reference to accepted ideals interpreted to fit his own situation. Inevitably the Confucian predilection fo r m oral rather than political force m ade retirem ent the p referred alternative to the violent seizure o f pow er from the m orally unw orthy.4 A ppropriately, a num ber o f seventeenth-century writers did retire fo r m oral reasons. Despite its total lack o f theological notions, Confucianism be­ came som ething o f a missionary creed fo r its adherents. N um erous literati through time gave public lectures on m orality and personal relationships to any audience they could gather. M oreover, such was their faith in the ostensibly obvious rectitude o f C onfucian principles that m any w ere outraged by im m oral behavior, taking personal af­ front at what they conceived as antisocial acts. C hou Shun-chang (1584-1626), the upright official whose arrest prom pted the Soo­ chow dem onstration o f 1626, “hated evil as a personal enem y,” his biographer records.5 Similarly, wh6n Fang Pao (1668-1749), a noted scholar and fou n d er o f the T ’ung-ch’en g literary group, was ar­ rested on a charge o f harboring M ing loyalties, so m oved was he by conditions within the prison that he w rote his Yii-chung tsa-chi (Notes on Prison Life) to expose the inhum anity o f treatm ent there. His record reveals an irrepressible sense o f personal betrayal over the violations o f Confucian m orality he observed.6 In practical political tei;ms，the C onfucian thinker Hsiin T zu had sought to balance proper deference fo r the ruler with a sense o f responsibility to protest any abuse o f power; this function was dele­ gated to the wise minister as servant o f the state. B y M ing and C h ’ing times, this notion had been institutionalized as the office o f censor, whose responsibility it was to expose inappropriate behavior am ong lower officials as well as on the part o f the m onarch. C on ­ cepts o f “criticism by the p u re ” {Ming-i) motivated the T u n g-lin and Revival Society factions o f the late M ing; the M anchu rulers feared that such censure m ight go as far as a "righteous uprising” (ch’i-i) against them, and hence suppressed politico-literary societies.7 In the field o f writing, the dom inant C onfucian approach was m oral­

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The Novelists’ World

istic. Neatly sum marized by the Sung-period thinker C hou Tun-i (10 17-10 73) in the phrase “ Literature is a vehicle for the W ay” (wen i tsai Too), this assignm ent o f responsibility fo r the ordering o f society to the writer meant, o f course, that all orthodox writing— and any that sought to be accepted as serious literature— must at least appear didactic.8 T h u s，even i f a literatus had no direct avenue by which to influence the m onarch and thereby contribute to the general social order, he m ight still have an effect as a w riter whose work furthers the Confucian cause. Just as Chinese history presents num erous ex­ amples o f sincere upholders o f Confucian principles despite all ad­ versity, so too literary history regularly reveals writers both skilled in their art and wholly com m itted to the creed. A lthough they had no direct access to power, m any •novelists o f the late M ing and early Ch， ing took a moralistic stance in their works, motivated at least in part by a genuine sense o f responsibility to expose and condem n the shortcomings o f their times, to serve in effect as Confucian sages for their peers, as models o f com m itm ent to ethical principles. Standing in contrast and usually in opposition to this creed was philosophical Taoism , as ancient as Confucianism . T h e philosopher known as Lao T zu (6th century B .C .? ) and the later thinker C huang C hou (fl. 350-300 b . c .) also proposed withdrawal, but from society at large to a life o f detached contem plation o f the T a o in nature, in the whole o f which man is rightly an indistinguishable part. Taoist mysticism took written form in poetry and fantastic parables fo r the most part, becom ing a w ellspring o f literary allusion and inspiration that rivaled the Confucian classics, even though few o f the elite es­ poused Taoism to the exclusion o f Confucian teachings. Philo­ sophical Taoism never had a direct mass appeal. For m any o f the u pp er strata, Taoism provided teachings com plem entary to those o f the Sage: while Confucius and Mencius concentrated on concerns o f this world, Taoism delved into the basic nature o f being, into the search to apprehend the ultimate reality in a direct fashion. C on­ fucians faced their world squarely and with utmost seriousness; the Taoist C hu an g Chou m ore frequently chose irrationality and hum or. W hile to the Confucians a person was defined by his social relationships, the Taoists shifted the focus to the relationship be­ tween the individual and the T ao . H um an society would achieve its goal o f tranquillity when it was governed little or not at all and when it consisted, on all levels, o f people em ancipated from irrelevant

The Novelists' World

39

value distinctions. T o attune him self with nature a scholar m ight (as m any did through the centuries) withdraw to live in rustic simplicity in the countryside, passing his time in quiet contem plation. O r, to follow the m odel o f the poet T ’ao C h ’ien ( a . d . 365-427), one m ight remain in the hum an world but aloof from it (“ I built my hut beside a traveled road/ Y et hear no noise o f passing carts or horses . . .”).9 W hichever path he m ight follow, the man o f Taoist wisdom was to serve as a model— precisely like the Confucian— and as a normative force fo r the reform o f society. T h e mysteriousness o f the mysticism in philosophical TaoisiA occasioned its equation, in the eyes o f m any Chinese critics and those who m isunderstood, with various religious trends in early China. T h u s, the yogic tendencies in Taoist texts came to be stressed by some, their im agery reinterpreted as alchemical form ulas by others. A n d the hum orous hyperbole o f Chuang Tzu's fantastic parables came to be taken literally to populate the pantheon o f folk religion and as inspiration fo r the magical feats claim ed by conjurers. T h e later growth o f Taoism in non- (or extra-) philosophical directions had two effects: the C onfucian literati were able to disparage m uch o f it as superstition while draw ing upon it as rationale fo r a pro­ found love o f nature and rusticity.10 T h e antithesis o f m ajor aspects o f both Confucianism and Taoism was the school o f the Legalists, fa-chia, a trend in classical thought that was to becom e central in the form ation o f the imperial state structure. T heories o f this school were perfected by Han Fei (c.280-233 b . c .), him self a nobleman, who codified notions predat­ ing the age o f Confucius. Legalism , sometimes also referred to as re­ alism, focuses on a single question, the preservation o f the central governm ent. T o strengthen the state, the school envisioned an abso­ lute m onarch who ruled through a tight bureaucracy having clearly defined areas o f responsibility. A ll people were to be liable to a single set o f laws, publicized everywhere, bearing stern punishments for any infraction and rich rewards fo r those who perform ed m eri­ torious service on b eh alf o f the state. Legalists sought no sanction from tradition; all persons and events must be evaluated in accor­ dance with present needs to achieve the ultimate goal— a strong and ordered society, prepared constantly fo r aggressive warfare. Follow­ ing the strategies o f this school, C hina’s earliest unifier, the first em ­ peror o f the C h ’in (C h ’in Shih-huang-ti, r.2 2 1-2 10 B .C .), destroyed

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all nonessential writings o f the past and suppressed all opposition to his rule. A dherents o f Confucianism were prim ary am ong his vic­ tims. A griculture w is given d o se attention by the Legalists, as were the arts o f war. T h e people w ere to be controlled through m utual surveillance; the ruler was a law unto himself. A lth ou gh few openly espoused Legalism after the fall o f the C h ’in in 206 B .C ., its bureau­ cratic structure was left largely unm odified by the succeeding Han, itself the m odel for later Chinese em pires. (Local administration even in the seventeenth century madfe use o f social organizations with grou p responsibility in order to ensure control o f the populace; the draconian m ethods em ployed by late M ing rulers to silence op­ position have often been traced to this source.)11 Buddhism had been introduced to C hina on two levels o f society d u rin g the politically turbulent Six Dynasties period. A m on g the in­ tellectual elite, Buddhism appeared as a mystical philosophy, its unrelenting focus on nonduality often interpreted as a com pletion o f philosophical Taoism . It offered as well withdrawal from the at­ tachments o f regular hum an society to a monastic life o f selfpurification，intense study o f canonical texts, and the em otional and intellectual release provided by m editation with or without attendant enlightenm ent. T o the laboring masses, Buddhism o ffered salvation from the physical sufferings o f this world through blissful rebirth in the W estern Paradise o f the B ud dh a as a rew ard fo r the repetition o f simple religious practices. Even though this teaching seems far from the original tenets o f the B uddha, it is still defensible as or­ thodox— M ahayana Buddhism endorsed a great range o f doctrine as “expedient means” to release hum ans from their worldly sufferings. W hile t\ie popular level o f Buddhisfn alscr peopled the folk pantheon and popular literature with saints and deities, C h ’an (known as Zen in the Japanese reading o f this ideograph) developed from the m ore intellectual sects. Buddhism thus o ffered blessed relief from all hum an torments, regardless o f how conceived; it、 appealed in a vari­ ety o f ways and on a variety o f levels. 卜 For the literati, its volum inous canon and lengthy logical dis­ courses presented a significant intellectual challenge. Buddhism also established the im age o f the bodhisattva, one who had achieved p er­ fect enlightenm ent and yet who took it as a lifelong mission to trans­ mit this wisdom to others in a totally selfless m anner. N ot surpris­ ingly, the bodhisattva was seen as analogous to the Confucian sage in

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their m utual service to hum anity. A m on g the spiritual heroes o f Chinese Buddhism was Vim alakirti, a Indian laym an very m uch in the world, having a fam ily and extensive material wealth, but utterly detached from it all. T h e scripture attributed to him, the Vimalaktriinirdesa Sutra, was extrem ely popular am ong th e literate elite through the centuries largely due to the desirability o f this image am ong m em bers o f that class. Buddhism cam e to be viewed as com ­ plem entary to orthodox C onfucian values. Despite its unequivocal rejection o f the political action and fam ily involvem ent central to C onfucian leadership, its metaphysical concerns answered questions that Confucianism did not address.12 A n d it confirm ed the position o f the enlightened m an as m odel for his society, the wise and learned man as the sage needed by society at large. O n this one key question, then, Confucianism , Taoism , and Buddhism coincided to stress the social responsibility o f the serious Chinese intellectual. By the M ing period, Confucianism had exp an d ed to include metaphysical speculation and m editation practices adopted from Buddhism apd Taoism . Previously, d u rin g the Sung period, the C h ’en g brothers (Ch’en g H ao, 1032-1085, and C h ’en g I, 10 331107) and C hu Hsi (1130-1200) drew C onfucian concern m ore toward the inner person, stressing self-cultivation and intro­ spection as avenues to com prehending the universal principles un­ derlying the processes o f change and grow th in the universe as a whole. T h is new stage, called N eo-Confucianism by m odern scholars, was known then as the School o f Principle (li-hsiieh). Like their fore­ runners, C hu Hsi and his followers w ere particularly conscious o f their social and political responsibilities as sages, or as aspirants to sagehood, in relation to their world. C onfucius had said, “O ne can­ not herd with birds and beasts [that is, one m ay not simply withdraw from the world]. I f I am not to be a m an am ong other m en, then what am I to be? I f the W ay prevailed u n der H eaven, I should not be trying to alter things.” 13 B u t spiritual and esthetic concerns were also natural and necessary fo r the full developm ent o f the individ­ ual, according to N eo-Confucianism ; these com plem entary obliga­ tions to self and society w ere to be met, and sagehood to be achieved, through contem plation, “quiet sitting” [ching4$o)，and study o f the p a st Attainm ent o f that goal im plied constant propriety as a behavioral m odel fo r others to observe and a com m itm ent to w ork with utmost effectiveness fo r the p ro per regulation o f society.

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Neo-Confucianism , despite its alteration or redefinition o f cer­ tain aspects o f traditional teachings concerning the individual, was blind to concerns such as economics beyond the most basic level: C hu Hsi did recognize that the masses would be docile only i f eco­ nomically secure; hence the governm ent should tax w orking people lightly and avoid ambitious military adventures and extravagances at court. T h ere was no question o f the validity o f past experience as a guide for action in the present, according to C hu Hsi. N or was his school intellectually equipped to deal effectively with political or social change, such as the increasingly autocratic role o f the em ­ peror, the crum bling o f the old econom ic order, and the redefini­ tion o f social classes and the developm ent o f new values in society at large. N or was there to be another influx o f ideas from abroad before the nineteenth century to spark ideological developm ent in any genuinely innovative direction. T h e School o f Principle did not go unchallenged, o f course. W ang Yang-m ing (W ang Shou-jen, 14 72-1529) was preem inent am ong its opponents. His School- o f M ind (hsin-hsiieh) em phasized the identity between cosmic principle and the innate know ledge in the individual mind; his was a subjective approach to the attainment o f sagehood. O n the basis o f the M encian concept o f the moral/na­ ture comm on to all men, W ang disparaged study as a means to wis­ dom concerning the path to sagehood and appropriate action in so­ ciety. A ll men, scholars or not, could p erfect themselves; proper behavior would follow naturally from self-developm ent as the free expression o f selflessness. Externally derived rules and regulations were superfluous. W ang’s emphasis therefore shifted from the study o f texts to teaching and discussion, in acknow led^ nent o f the equal validity o f the experiences o f all men in apprehending general truths. Learning, then, was a lifelong process; to live the role o f the sage in society dem anded verification in action. B y W ang Yang-m ing’s time, as m entioned earlier, many C on­ fucian scholars readily refrained from governm ent service to protect their lives. M ing rulers had become increasingly suspicious o f intel­ lectuals and had them beaten or executed fo r the slightest infraction. Clearly “the W ay did not prevail,” and as a consequence m any took to quiet contem plation and artistic activity as a safer alternative. Others chose retirem ent fo r the sake o f personal m oral cultivation. T h e activism o f W ang’s school sought to counteract this tendency;

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W ang assiduously prepared for the exam inations and then spent twenty-five years in office himself. B ut official service was not the only alternative chosen by his followers. W an g Ken (14 8 3 -15 4 1 )， am ong the m ore radical, had no interest in administration and trav­ eled widely in an effo rt to im prove the w elfare o f the com m on peo­ ple, preaching as he went. His sect has no record o f success in social or econom ic reform , however; although W ang K en ’s followers in­ cluded w orking people in m any occupations, the m ajority were scholar-bureaucrats. T h e prom inence o f the W ang Ken sect coin­ cided with the greater social fluidity due to econom ic developm ent through the sixteenth century. Most radical am ong M ing thinkers was Li C hih (Li Cho-wu, 1527-1602), both praised and condem ned in his own time and ever since. Li carried W ang Y ang-m ing’s approach to its logical conclu­ sion to break, in effect, with objective C onfucian morality as ex­ pressed in classic texts. Instead, he espoused follow ing one’s natural instincts, most perfectly em bodied in the “childlike m ind” (t’ung-hsin) o f the sage, as he defined this concept. H e prom oted spontaneity in action, and rudely attacked established C onfucian dogm a by declar­ ing equality o f the sexes and by advocating freedom o f choice in m arriage. H e also announced in w riting his enjoym ent o f popular novels. Li C hih died by his own hand in 1602 while im prisoned as a heretic; and even he had affirm ed the responsibility o f the “sage” or enlightened thinker to w ork for the betterm ent o f society. Obviously there are great differences am ong these various strands o f N eo-Confucianism , but the thread com m on to all was the shift o f attention toward introspection, intuition, and subjectivity.14 T h e syncretism o f philosophical thought paralleled a grow ing re­ ligious eclecticism as well, focusing again on the com plem entary aspects o f the “three teachings” (san-chiao)— Confucianism , with its ritual em bodim ent o f filial respect and other fam ily virtues; B u d ­ dhism, with its concern fo r the afterlife; and Taoism , and the folk religious practices accruing to it, fo r aid in enduring the sufferings o f this life. Religious teachers, like W ang K en’s secular followers, circulated am ong the masses, preaching and distributing written tracts that dem onstrate how to com pute the merits and demerits an individual accumulates through daily activities. A person m ight thereby know his or her fate after death in the Courts o f Retribu­ tion, and be able to prepare accordingly.15 T h e late M ing was thus a

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period o f ideological ferm ent; each trend encouraged people, partic­ ularly the elite, to look within and to respond to their world in accor­ dance with personal values. Som e o f these thinkers endorsed means o f dem onstrating perceived truth that had been thought unconven­ tional before, including the novel. T h is new intellectual emphasis on the individual soon came to be disparaged as indicative o f m oral laxity in general and selfishness in particular. Som e in positions o f pow er attem pted to balance these trends with a greater emphasis on externally defined practicality, a pragm atism that was to bring reevaluation o f basic concepts. T h e schools o f W ang Yang-m ing followers had been popular throughout the latter h a lf o f the Ming. A s political and econom ic stability de­ cayed from around the year 1600, self-righteous and m yopic C on­ fucian conservatives cam e to perceive the pervasive influence o f W ang’s philosophy as the m ajor cause o f dynastic decline. T h e T ung-lin group, for exam ple, endorsed a set o f fixed m oral princi­ ples to be adhered to rigidly, and condem ned all self-indulgence and moral laxity caused by recourse to personal m oral standards. O ne o f Li C hih ’s accusers becam e a T u n g-lin m ember; other conservatives, including H uang Tsung-hsi, W ang Fu-chih (16 19 -169 2 ), and Ku Yen-wu, came to dom inate intellectual circles durin g the decades o f the M ing to C h ’ing transition. B u t although the T u n g-lin party sought to awaken intellectuals from their introspection to political awareness (although not necessarily to political action), their succes­ sors ultimately turned m ore and m ore to historical scholarship. Scholars fo r the last two centuries have characterized the di­ vergence in C h ’ing thought from that o f the M ing as a change in emphasis from introspection, ultimate causes, and personal enlight­ enm ent to book learning and the concrete things and events o f the contem porary world. A lth o u gh most now agree that this is an over­ simplified view, there is no question that a shift in intellectual direc­ tion did occur durin g the seventeenth century; probably it was visi­ ble before- the dem ise o f the M ing, in the 1630s. A lready by that time, H uang Tsung-hsi, K u Yen-w u, and a third influential thinker o f this period, Fang I-chih ( 1 6 1 1 - 1 6 7 1 ) had begun studies that were to characterize the C h ’ing tendency. A ll w ere discontented with the prevailing intellectual trends and each approached his chosen topic (language, customs, institutions, and geography) from a historical perspective, em phasizing the diversity, not the unity, in phenom ena

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o f the real world. Likewise, each felt a keen sense o f social responsi­ bility, in the fam iliar Confucian sense, based on his perception o f the social and political environm ent.16 T h e w ork o f these philosophers was to be paralleled by similar concerns on the part o f several con­ tem porary novelists. T h e tight controls o f the early C h ’ing governm ent encouraged this trend; the M anchus firm ly endorsed conventional patterns o f behavior and values. Ultimately, even anti-M anchu resistance am ong lower Yangtze intellectuals was transm uted into scholarly debate over com piling the history o f the M ing. Instead o f the problems o f the time, the fixing o f responsibility fo r the M ing fall was at issue, as was also the validation o f received C onfucian texts. Contem porary concerns w ere confined to the ethnic pride (in contrast to the sup­ posedly barbaric values o f the conquerors) shared by all the Chinese elite in the second h alf o f the century.17 For the most part, individual writers reflected the traditional values and the ideological changes o f their social stratum. W ithout exception, they viewed m embers o f the social elite as m orally capable and responsible fo r serving as leaders o f society, as sage teachers. W riters also exem plified the contradictory trends in philosophical argum ents; while some strove to set an exam ple fo r their peers, others found justification for unm itigated self-indulgence or at least a new degree o f self-expression in the chan ging emphasis on the in­ dividual. N or w ere these two roles— m oral exem plar and em bodi­ m ent o f particular thoughts, motives, and desires— m utually exclu­ sive. Since the Y iian period, with isolated earlier examples, these contradictory aspects had been present am ong the literati (wen-jen). O rdinarily m en o f independent m eans, such individuals favored lives o f esthetic pursuits, particularly literature, painting, music, cal­ ligraphy, and the social graces. Literati typically eschewed positions in the bureaucracy ^for at least a part o f their lives, taking the exam i­ nations fo r the higher levels only late in life o r never. Literati could, in fact, be extravagant social parasites. A n d yet the ideal had its serious side, that o f w holehearted devotion to cultural pursuits— always with their implicit social function in m ind.18 T h e novelists to be discussed here w ere literati, as was their intended audience. Evidence o f both poles o f this behavioral spectrum are to be seen in the lives and writings o f a num ber o f seventeenth-century figures. For the writer, the obligations accruing to the role o f lit-

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eratus as C onfucian sage were appropriately fulfilled by adopting the stance o f social and political critic in his writings. Censure is un­ mistakable in the poems o f K uei C hu an g (16 13 -16 73 ), one o f which introduces chapter i_19 Y ii H uai (16 17-0 .170 0 )，also a Soo­ chow resident, was known for lamentations o f the civil wars in his poetry.20 C h ’en W ei-sung (1625-1682), another o f the best-known poets o f his day and friend o f Soochow novelists and dramatists, wrote a poem entitled “T zu -ch ’ao” (Chiding M yself) on his m emories o f many o f his class who shamelessly surrendered to the invading M an­ chus. T u C hiin (16 11-16 8 7 ), a d o se friend o f the novelist Li Y ii, was present on that occasion, as was the professional music master Su K ’un-sheng. T u also wrote a poem on the same topic with the same title.21 A pparently these men took little overt political action; instead they confined their combat to pen and paper. Y u T ’u n g (16 1 8 -1 7 0 4 ), a distinguished historian, essayist, and poet—and friend o f the novelist C h'u Jen-huo (C.1630-C.1705) — wrote several historical plays containing thinly veiled references to the ills o f his own day. His Tu Li-sao (Reading “O n Encountering Sorrow”〉 ，for exam ple, re-creates the plight o f the legendary court m in­ ister C h ’ii Y iian (fourth century B.C.), who was exiled by his king on the basis o f slanderous attacks by self-seeking rivals.22 Y u T ’u n g had seized upon the archetype o f the upright but unrecognized minister with which so m any o f his contem poraries could identify d u rin g the M ing decline and u n der the “unjust” rule o f the Manchus. Y u ’s other short plays include Tiao p’i-p， a (M ourning the Lute) an d T ， aohua yiian (The Peach Blossom Spring). T h e form er, an adaptation o f an earlier play based in turn upon legend, narrates how a Hanperiod em peror lost his lady love, through the'm achinations o f a selfish councilor, to the khan o f the northern nom adic barbarians. T h e latter treats another archetypal minister, the Chin-period poet T ’ao C h ’ien，who withdrew from governm ental service as an act o f political protest. Yu's Hei pai wei (Black and W hite Donkeys) recasts a short T ’ang:period prose work o f chivalric fantasy, deem phasizing the magical feats o f the original in order to stress the sense o f justice and unselfish integrity o f the heroine. Y u T ’u n g was proudest o f his Reading “On Encountering Sorrow” because it was p erform ed even, at the C h ’ing im perial court. B ut it was his Chiin fien 4e (Heavenly Joys) in the longer southern th’uan-ch’i form that was most popular. A c­ cording to its preface, written in 16 5 7 while Y u T ’u n g was being de-

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tained by C h ’ing im perial troops, the play castigates corruption in the exam ination system. W hen the play was first staged in Soochow, local authorities had the entire cast arrested and flogged in an effort to learn the identity o f its author and prom oter. B ut by then Y u was already in the capital and was able to find someone o f influence to smooth the problem over. Later Y u passed the special exam ination o f 1679, to serve as a com piler o f the history o f the M ing until his retirem ent in 1683.23 T h e novelist Y iian Y ii-ling (159 9 -16 74) was best known in his own time as a dramatist. His plays, written fo r the most part before the fall o f the M ing, include Jui-yil chi (The Jade Insignia) in the ch’uan-ch’i form . T h is narrates the rise and fall o f several followers o f the pow er-hungry eunuch W ei Chung-hsien m entioned in chap­ ter 1 ，who died only shortly before the play was written. W hen cur­ tain time came at its prem iere, with the playwright absent and the text still lacking a prelude, distressed actors sought aid from the au­ dience in com posing this opening section. Several writers present drafted preludes, but then Y iian him self arrived to dash o f f the missing arias. O ne official, appalled that Y iian should use his name in this devastating exposure, o ffered him a handsom e bribe if he would change the name o f the character. Y iian accepted, it is re­ ported,24 a clear exam ple o f the am biguity inherent in seventeenthcentury literati behavior. A pparently no legal action was ever taken against Yiian Y ii-ling despite the directness o f his attacks. W u W ei-yeh, better known by his pen name W u Mei-ts’u n ，was a poet, scholar, and landscape artist from T ’aits’ang，north o f Soo­ chow. A s a youth he was selected to be a student o f C hang F u , the Revival Society founder, and was one o f the forem ost academic suc­ cesses o f the faction, placing at the top o f his chin-shih class in the 1631 exam ination. Subsequently he served in the Peking Im perial Academ y. T h e M ing fall cam e as a great shock to him; W u at­ tem pted suicide upon hearing the news o f the death o f his em peror, but he was dissuaded by his m other on the grounds o f his continu­ ing filial obligation to her. H e retired, and then several years later began teaching in Kashing, near his home. He wrote poetry laden with political and social references and detailed accounts o f the various local rebellions in the late M ing (his poetry circulated widely and was highly praised by the C h ’ien-lung em peror, during whose reign, 17 3 6 -179 6 , W u’s historical accounts were proscribed). Despite

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his M ing leanings, W u served again du rin g the C h ’ing in the Im pe­ rial A cadem y, to retire finally to m ourn the death o f his m other. A tax delinquency case in 1661 deprived him o f both rank and prop ­ erty, although the poet K u n g T ing-tzu (16 15 -16 73 ), then serving as president o f the censorate, saved him from undue official harass­ ment. W u W ei-yeh’s writings include a biography o f the M ing loyal­ ist storyteller Liu Ching-t*ing, a w ork that clearly reveals his political sentiments and his sense o f obligation to reveal them .25 M any o f W u ’s contem poraries also sought to warn future gener­ ations through their recollections o f the M ing fall in prose notes and historical sketches.26 Even the supposedly apolitical professional writer and notorious sensualist Li Y ii devoted some o f his efforts to personal reflections on historical events. A lth ou gh he did not address his own age directly, he ends one selection o f such notes with a significant reference to W en T ’ien-hsiang (1236-1283), a Sung Chinese loyalist executed fo r his vocal opposition to C hina’s earlier foreign rulers, the M ongols.27 Li’s m ore pointed references were to be made in vernacular fiction, however, as we will see. Feng M eng-lung, a peripatetic w riter in a variety o f form s and com piler o f some o f the finest Chinese short stories, justifies his efforts in this area on strictly moral grounds. A s Feng com m ents in his introduc­ tion to one story: . . . t hough in the telling, it seems not so very remarkable for coinci­ dence, it excels . . . by far in respect o f marital fidelity and w ifely d evo­ tion, and o f moral conduct. For indeed: T o spread far and wide, a story must appeal to the populace; T o move m en’s hearts, let words illuminate moral teaching.28

Despite the assumption still com m on am ong scholars that M ing and C h ’in g writers did not treat vernacular fiction as a serious art form and, as a consequence, one ought not to understand their moralization as serious either, C hina’s literary, history indicates the op­ posite. Most earlier narrative was didactic by intention, its writers acting in accordance with C onfucian principle as guardians o f tradi­ tional morality. In this context, Feng M eng-lung’s comments must be seen as at least partially in earnest; they are wholly consistent with the exem plary stance chosen by writers o f his time and supported by the dom inant norms o f his society. Feng’s successors in the field o f

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vernacular fiction were to be even m ore com m itted to social and per­ sonal reform s. As a particularly striking exam ple o f how the “sage” ideal was personified by a seventeenth-century wen-jen, consider again T u n g C h ’i-ch’ang，whose insufferable exploitation o f w orking people for his own pleasure provoked a riot against him and his family. T u n g had served as tutor to an heir apparent to the M ing throne, his task being to inculcate the young man with proper standards. In addition to the standard topics, T u n g w ent ou t o f his way to preach regularly on the sufferings o f the poor u n der unjust rule. In 1605, as a ptovincial official, he refused to award a locally pow erful fam ily any special favors— and narrowly escaped an attem pt on his life as a con­ sequence. U pon his retirem ent from office, he denounced the ed u ­ cational system fo r its utter ineffectuality. A n d in his old age T u n g C h ’i-ch’ang w orked with industry and great seriousness on studies o f the deteriorating political situation in the 1620s.29 N o r was T u n g C h ’i-ch’ang necessarily unique in com bining harsh censure o f imm orality in the public realm with a personal record that was far from spotless in a C onfucian sense. T h is contra­ diction must be seen in the context o f the dual roles o f elite writers o f the seventeenth century— their public personas and their private lives as privileged individuals. In the one role, their behavior should be exem plary and their influence widespread; in the other, many pursued considerably m ore selfish ends. T h e fall o f the M ing tended to m ake C hina’s writers m ore m oral in deeds as well as in words w hen questions concerning loyalty, that fundam ental C onfucian teaching, became inescapable. M any had to choose between service to the con­ querors or death fo r resistance. O r they could simply refuse to coop­ erate by living in seclusion, an alternative readily interpreted as a dem onstration o f loyalty to the M ing house.30 Som e chose the most exem plary end. Hsii C h ’ien (159 7-1645), fo r exam ple, drow ned him self to avoid M anchu control. His elder son, Hsii Fang (1622-1694), tearfully begged to follow his father in death. B ut the older Hsii dissuaded him, saying: “ I "cannot but die for my cause. B u t i f you w ere to live out your days as a farm er, it would be an acceptable alternative.” A fte r arranging his fath er’s fu ­ neral, Hsii Fang m oved to the fo u n ta in s , never again to enter a city. Indeed, he had little contact with others o f his class except to sell a

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few paintings fo r a minimal income. His younger brother, H sii K ’o (1627-1700), rem ained at hom e in com fortable circumstances, known at least locally as a w riter o f prose, a poet, and a calligrapher o f note. His, o f course, was by far the m ore m oderate form o f politi­ cal withdrawal.31 A t least one novelist，T in g Y ao-k’ang (0.1620-1691) took the road to poverty and ignom iny rather than attem pt the M anchu rulers’ examinations; another, T u n g Y iieh (1620-1686) shaved his head and became a B uddhist m onk. B ut a m ore com m on path was 一 simply retirem ent from or avoidance o f the examinations and public office to live by on e’s skill as a writer or by other income. T in g Yaok ’ang tried to live as a writer, although he supported him self rather badly.32 Even before the end o f the Ming, C h ’en Chi-ju (1558-1639) had set the exam ple o f a literary man out o f office spending his time in artistic pursuits. C h ’en earned his living, at least in part, as a p ro­ fessional w riter o f popular books, epitaphs, and birthday congratu­ lations, and by dabbling in various publishing ventures, including art criticism and novels. H e also spent a fair am ount o f time w ith his good friend T u n g C h ’i-ch’ang in perfect leisure.33 O ne source o f C h ’en Chi-ju’s success may have been the fact that he was notorious fo r being a political herm it in an affluent age. “ H erm it” writers tended to do less well financially in the early C h ’ing. K u Yen-w u earned little editing local histories and through gifts from various officials and landlords; Kuei C hu an g wrote hundreds o f pieces for pay and yet lived poorly. C hin Sheng-t’an did most o f his early C h ’ing writings in retirem ent in the studio o f a gen ­ erous friend; by contrast, C h ’ien C h ’ien-i (1582-1664), the thinker, was in constant dem and to write com plim entary inscriptions. C hu Itsun (1629-170 9), another well-known writer and thinker, ignored the examinations to earn his living as a secretary to m ore orthodox officials. Li Y ii began his life in ease and splendor, only to lose all his property during the M anchu conquest o f South China. Li too tried to live on the income from his w riting rather than seek success through the examinations, but frequently he was reduced to manual labor, to comm erce, and even to pawning his clothing. O nly the es­ tablishment o f his reputation as a playwright and im presario o f his own opera troupe b rought him a supply o f m onetary gifts from various officials, but constant travel and incessant w riting w ere nec-

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essary to maintain his household at what he considered a com fort­ able level. W hen advancing age and illness curtailed his activities, Li Y ii was quickly reduced again to poverty.34 Certainly the life o f an aspiring C onfucian sage brought only difficulty for seventeenth-century literati— political danger, death, or destitution. E xem plary behavior m ight provide none o f the financial security o f conventional service to the ruling house. Even so, the persona o f the exem plar, either by w ord or deed, or both, seems inescapably to have been an integral part o f the w riter’s self-image； — regardless o f its personal cost and regardless o f the literary form in which he chose to express himself. T h e novel is certainly no excep­ tion to this rule.

Artistic Pursuits and Individual Style M embers o f the elite in seventeenth-century China enjoyed a num ber o f artistic pursuits, usually as amateurs and often with profi­ ciency in m ore than one. But despite the sizable num ber o f skilled and educated m en who earned their livelihoods through the arts ， am ateur status was m uch preferred. T h e civil service examinations required a facility with the prescribed essay style and with a limited num ber o f classical texts; new graduates o f the highest degree, on the whole, entered the bureaucracy with no special training fo r ad­ ministration. Indeed, even m any top military positions were filled from the same pool o f degree holders. In the arts, as in governm ent, general know ledge was prized; detailed training veered too far from the “golden m ean” espoused in matters o f culture as in general be­ havior. E xpert secretaries virtually ran local governm ent from a so­ cial and econom ic level well below that o f the bureaucrats them ­ selves. Much w riting and painting was produced at this same level, by professionals in the arts such as the storyteller Liu Ching-t’irxg， the music master Su K ’un-sheng，num erous painters, and Li Yu. For those in society’s top echelon, pleasure in the arts was to be derived from the self-expression they afforded. O f course excellence was to be prized as well, but not necessarily as the consequence o f extensive training. It would appear that talent, like high social status, was viewed m yopically as the ju st rew ard fo r m oral uprightness (com­

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pare the conventional identification o f physical beauty as the logical attribute fo r talented heroes in popular romances o f the tim e~ see chapter 5). Historically, the am ateur ideal in the arts am ong seventeenthcentury literati was most com m only linked with the southern sect o f C h ’an Buddhism , the school o f "sudden enlightenm ent.” In the minds o f the literati the am ateur ideal stood in sharp contrast to the northern or academic school o f painting. A lth ough the form er in fact had no particular religious o r philosophical com m itm ent to C h ’an，it did em phasize spontaneity o f expression; hence the attribu­ tion. T h e latter was m ore intellectual in content and meticulous in detail. A ppropriately fo r an age o f philosophical and religious syn­ cretism, various seventeenth-century painters, forem ost am ong them W ang H ui (16 3 2 -17 17 ), sought to blend the two traditions; only the true connoisseur could appreciate the subtleties o f the new com bina­ tions. W hile the professionals catered to the in t e r e s t s a n d b u d g e ts ~ o f the elite, m embers o f the u p p er class foun d it fashion­ able to be learned in poetry o f several types, in painting o f at least one variety, and in music. O ne should likewise know elegant details about flowers, tea and the w ater used to make it, ink, brushes for calligraphy and painting, musical composition, and the better cour­ tesans in culture centers such as Soochow, H angchow , Yangchow , and N anking.35 W ang H ui’s training took twenty years; the snob­ bishness o f elegant society at large was acquired with m uch less trouble.36 Self-expression in the various art form s involved personal exp e­ riences, feelings, thoughts, and reflections. As ^vas traditional in China, one m ight then generalize on these deliberately lim ited views o f reality to derive m ore universal m eaning from them. B ut the sev­ enteenth century, particularly the first fo u r decades, was in fact a time o f relative individualism; writers generalized less then than they would after the M ing collapse. Late M ing writers recorded calamities o f all sorts— starvation am ong the peasantry, coastal and border in­ cursions by Japanese pirates and M anchu raiders, uprisings and re­ bellions— without necessarily linking them to dynastic doom . W hile it would have been hard to do so without incurring im perial wrath, it m ay also be true that most writers were too preoccupied with them ­ selves to perceive the larger significance o f individual events.37 A n elegant pastime m uch practiced by highly cultured youths

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was travel. Certain places, such as W est Lake at H angchow, w ere on the regular circuit. O thers, the m ore out o f the way the better, were proudly referred to in verse by those w ho did visit them— par­ ticularly if they had crum bling tem ples and Buddhist recluses with whom to discuss philosophy. K uei C h u an g said it well: “ By nature I love mountains and waters. W henever I com e to an outstanding m ountain in my journeys to the fo u r directions, I always ascend to gaze afar and dally there to com pose some r h y m e s.. . .” 38 Unusual experiences and uncanny events on jo u rn eys were regularly im m or­ talized in verse. T h e fam ous lyric {tz*u) poet C h ’en W ei-sung, for instance, wrote On the excavation o f an ancient grave m ound, and prefaces another pair o f poems with this: D u rin g the tenth m onth o f 1674 I was a guest at Lianghsi. O n the night o f the fifth [2 Novem ber], around m idnight, suddenly there was a sound from midair. It was a lo n g and som ber wail, abruptly rising and then falling. Some said it was the sound o f a ghost. T h e n ext day local people arrived" from far and.near; all had heard the same thin g in the night. T h e n I discovered that o f the hundreds o f thousands o f people in the city not one fam ily had failed to hear it. A h , it was ju st too strange! I m ade this poem to com m em orate the e v e n t . . . .

C h ’en also recorded a m u ggin g without fu rth er com m ent,39 and wrote poems on such diverse topics as the weather, festivals, cicadas, flowfers, and other seasonal indicators, paintings and verse by others, prostitutes, and plays. W hat did such subjects mean to writers? T h e ir poetic responses often were vague and suggestive rather than specific or decisive— i f any com m ent is m ade at all. Landscape paintings o f the day frequently include one o r m ore literati, m ore likely than not gazing o f f into space, reflecting, contem plating. T h e ir meditations m ight have been on the universal T a o o r the m oral underpinnings o f all creation, to ju d g e from the philosophical currents o f th e time. B ut their verse is m ore often rem iniscent than meditative, usually the recollection o f specific hum an events and not reflection on their m eaning in a broader social o r m etaphysical context. Late M ing writers com m em orated other visits, other places, but particularly the days o f their youth— a tendency greatly am plified in the early C h ’ing，w hen fond m emories o f past wealth and pleasure recurred to taunt those whose fortunes had turned fo r the worse.40 Personal references o f dubious relevance even intrude into the criticism o f

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Chin Sheng-t’an，as in his prefatory comments to the second act o f the fourth play in the Hsi-hsiang chi (W estern Cham ber) sequence: O n ce in the past when [Wang] Cho-san and I were together d u rin g our travels, it poured dow n rain for ten days. Facing each other on our couch, idle and bored, we gam bled Over who could tell the best happy story to dispel our pen t-up m elancholy. T h a t was twenty years ago now and I don’t rem em ber them all any m o r e . . . .

Chin then lists thirty-three “delightful things” that one m ight do, including cutting open a ripe waterm elon on a red plate, that are to­ tally irrelevant to the play itself.41 Such preoccupations with self, such concern with experience sep­ arate from greater significance, are as com m on in C hin ’s works as they are in the writings o f m any others. Li Y ii similarly reveals his in­ dividual tastes in his collection o f jottings and essays entitled Hsiend iin g ou-chi (W here Idle T h ou gh ts H appen to Lodge). This work presents his theories on the composition and perform ance o f dram a, for which it is justly famous; Li was one o f C hina’s forem ost playwright-directors. B ut these theoretical observations occupy only the first two o f the collection’s eight sections. O thers treat w om en’s m akeup and adornm ent, landscape gardening and architecture, various utensils and curios, types o f food and cooking, flow ering and other decorative plants, ways to enjoy life and to treat illness without medicine. Li Y ii was an am ateur in all these fields, o f course, and yet he felt that others would buy his collected comments. H e was cor­ rect. N ot that his views w ere necessarily different from those o f his peers, although he did criticize those, fo r exam ple, w ho m erely copied the mansions o f others. His point was to advocate the cultured life in all its com plexity— and its fullest enjoym eilt— as an expression o f individual taste.42 N or did he seek to ju stify his opinions as any­ thing other than ju st that. Indeed, in his preface to a later, more com plete collection o f his works, entitled I-chia yen (One M an’s W ords), Li Y ii flaunts his individualistic stance: W hat is this O n e M a n ’s W ords? It is all the poetry, essays, and miscella­ neous other writings I have ever done. M y outstanding contem poraries all call their writings “collected works， ” but I alone d iffer in m y use o f term inology. W hy? N on e o f m y poems, essays, and miscellaneous other writings has ever followed the com m on line; they have never filled the usual mold. From the past I do not take as models the works o f antiq­ uity, from the present I do not seek to imitate the works o f m y contem ­

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poraries, for the future I do not expect to have m y works transmitted to later times. I constitute a school in myself, nothing less. I say what I wish to say and that is all there is to it. . . .43

In the realm o f m ore form al writing, expressions o f self found strong theoretical justification. Y u T u n g , fo r instance, stressed the im portance o f individual feelings in verse and literary prose, oppos­ ing the slavish imitation o f models from the past espoused by certain M ing poets. O f a contem porary，Y u declares: “A sk not which dy­ nasty^ verse he imitates; he simply has perfected verse for his own age. A sk not what poet's work he imitates; he simply has perfected verse fo r him self.” Y u T ’u n g furth er excoriates imitators am ong his peers by stating: A s a man, m y face, m y eyes are m y own, as are m y hands and feet. But supposing one day I should detest the coarseness o f m y features and wish that m y eyebrows were like Shu n ’s，m y chest like K ing W en’s，my neck like that o f Kao T ’ao, m y shoulders those o f T z u -c h ’an— be ancient, to be sure, but what would there be left o f

me!

they would

A n d is this sit­

uation any d ifferen t from the imitations o f antiquity by writers o f the present? 44

Indeed, no m atter how unoriginal the sentiments，many seven­ teenth-century writers insisted that expressing individual feelings was the only way to im part any m eaningful degree o f art to their writings. Such sentiments find a close parallel in a statement made by one o f their contem poraries, the painter Shih-t’ao (also known as Tao-chi, c.1630-170 7): I am always m yself and must naturally be present in m y work. T h e beards and eyebrows o f the old masters cannot grow on m y face. T h e lungs and bowels o f the old masters cannot be transferred to m y stom­ ach. I express m y own lungs and bowels and show m y own beard and eyebrows. I f it happens that m y w ork approaches that o f some old painter, it is he w ho comes close to me, not I who am im itating him. I have got it by nature and there is no one am ong the old masters >vhom I cannot follow and transform .45

T h e elitist aspect o f these statements ought not to be surprising; all these writers w ere steeped in the C onfucian tradition and consid­ ered themselves considerably closer to sagehood than any o f the unlettered masses by virtue o f their social position, their cultural re­ finement, and their knowledge o f the written tradition. A n d as seventeenth-century “ sages”一 given the emphasis on individual in-

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sight into universal truth ih recent philosophical speculation— such m en assumed the right to define the world as they individually saw fit, even i f that entailed ignoring traditional definitions to some extent. Chin Sheng-t’an wavered between conventional C onfucian sen­ timents and others borrow ed from Buddhism or Taoism , although the degree o f concern fo r self expressed in C h in ’s writings is hardly compatible with standard Taoist o r Buddhist teachings. C hin him self com m ented: “T h e sage makes no distinctions between the myriad things in the world; he will let all m en in the world be happy or angry as they wish.” 46 C hin’s life and works are typically discordant with this state­ ment; interest in self-expression in the arts did not preclude at­ tempts on the part o f seventeenth-century writers_ particularly the n o v e lis t s t o change the world through criticism o f imm orality in terms o f traditional C onfucian norms. N or did it prevent them from expressing their individual feelings in totally conventional ways. T h e obvious contradiction in the minds o f seventeenth-century literati between perceived obligations to serve society and presum ed license to e x p r e s s e v e n to indulge— their private desires and fantasies was to play a determ ining role in novels o f this period. A s a “sage,” each felt the duty to address contem porary problems; as individual men, most w ere to probe the m eaning o f individual existence and the de­ velopm ent o f personality, personal values, and social role. O ne possi- 又 ble com prom ise between these conflicting pulls was the expression o f earnest feelings and strongly held values through an unorthodox vehicle, the novel.

Patterns in Reading and Writing Despite the avowed emphasis on the pursuit o f individual selfexpression am ong late M ing literati, their lives followed com m on patterns, life styles determ ined to a greater extent by externals such as econom ic and social considerations than by individual will. This phenom enon was a function o f seventeenth-century C hina’s C on­ fucian legacy o f attention to social roles, m odels, and responsibilities. By tradition, Confucianism was deliberately conservative; fu rth er­ m ore, any ruling elite naturally espouses those values that confirm its status.47 T h e discernable limits o f individualism am ong the elite

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as a consequence o f this tradition likewise tended to curb the extent to which even eccentric behavior could go. Seventeenth-century writers shared a com m on education, in­ cluding the standard “ Four B ooks” (Ssu-shu). T h ese w ere the Lun-yii (Analects) o f Confucius, the Meng-tzu (Mencius), and the Ta-hsileh (Great Learning) and Chung二yung (Doctrine o f the Mean), sections o f a classical text on ritual (the Li-chi) as defined and annotated by the N eo-C onfucian C h u Hsi. T h ro u g h o u t the M ing and C h ’ing these texts w ere basic reading fo r the civil service examinations. As a con­ sequence o f this choice o f com m entaries, C h u Hsi’s interpretation o f classical philosophy was to serve as unchallenged orthodoxy fo r the Chinese state from 1313 to 1905. B eyond these basic texts, literati all studied other C onfucian classics, including the Shih ching (Book o f Songs), the I ching (Book o f Changes), and probably the Ch’ur^ch’iu (Spring and A utum n Annals), with the Tso chuan (Tso Com m entary), general histories o f C hina such as the Tzu-chih fung-chien (Com pre­ hensive M irror fo r A id in G overning) or an abridged version thereof, and the first dynastic history, the Shih chi (Historical Records). B eyond this, it is d e a r that the literati read widely and voraciously. A ll read great num bers o f poems, from the pre-H an “ Encountering Sorrow ， ” to H an and Six Dynastiesf u rhym e-prose, to shih poems o f the Six Dynasties, T ’a n g ，and Sung, to tz’u lyrics o f the Five Dynasties and Sung. T h e y read prose essays o f the great T ’ang and Sung masters, they read widely in short prose fiction and anec­ dotes in the classical literary language. Significantly, they read plays and novels and w ere fam iliar with a wide variety o f current popular songs, jokes, and anecdotes, m any o f which circulated in written form . B ook collecting, a widely pursued hobby am ong the elite, was taken as a sign o f cultural sophistication. T o ju d g e from the endless quotations from earlier works in their writings, private libraries were well used, and continuously so. Preparation fo r the civil, service exam inations required, beyond the ability to com pose in the prescribed essay form , that the student virtually m em orize the C onfucian classics. T h e exam ination topics consisted o f phrases or segments o f one o r two clauses quoted from a classic w ork totally out o f context. I f the exam inee could not supply the context, he failed the examination. Consequently, Chinese m en whose families could afford an education fo r them learned to read very carefully at a tender age. T h e outstanding critic o f novels,

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C hang C hu-p’o, records in a reminiscence that as a boy in school his tutor punished some o f his classmates for skimm ing texts. Chang, on the other hand, while “still very you n g， ” learned to read w ord by w ord, with the consequence that he p erform ed well on the practice’ essays they w ere required to write and earned his m aster’s highest praise. Not surprisingly, C h an g urged that all writings should be approached in the same deliberate m an n er48 (Chang referred here to literati novels such as Chin P ’ing Mei), It may be that some o f the elite regarded novels as “light” reading, but surely not poetry or other m ore conventional literary works. In general, however, all lit­ erature o f the period reveals the com m on ability o f writers to allude to or quote passages from the classics and a basic concern for mat­ ters o f style, a product o f very close reading. Questions o f style and structure were o f prim ary im portance to criticism as it grew through the seventeenth century. C oncern both with style and with specific Confucian values in the literature o f this period ，therefore, owe their origins to preparation for the examinations. Most likely a product o f the contradictory N eo-Confucian in­ junctions to seek truth in the writings o f the past and to express one’s own perceptions o f universal laws, a fashion fo r editing and anthologizing was at high tide du rin g the seventeenth century. Liter­ ary items o f an unlim ited variety o f styles and periods and in a great range o f form s were collected and rewritten. T o the extent that one’s view o f a work is affected by the context in which it is read, even when the original works were left unam ended, as in the case o f poetry,49 editors played a significant role in the interpretation o f ear-/ Her literature. For exam ple, the poet W ang Shih-chen (16 3 4 -17 11) com piled a collection o f T ’ang poetry entitled T'Ang hsien san-mei chi (The Perfection o f W isdom by T ’ang Worthies). W hile B uddhist sen­ timents have long been found in the poetry o f W ang W ei (70 1-761) and his good friend P’ei T i (b. 715)* The Perfection of Wisdom, by ju x ­ taposition, draws attention to similar elements in the work o f other poets. W ang also assembled an anthology o f the best shih poems o f over 330 o f his contem poraries.50 T h e poet-historian C hu I-tsun com piled a critical anthology o f M ing poetry and a collection o f tz'u lyrics from the T ’ang through the Yiian. In his own work, C hu even went so far as to write a whole volum e o f “collected lines” (chi-chti) poems— o f which each line is borrow ed from an earlier poet’s

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w ork.51 Sun Chih-m i (1642-1709) was commissioned in 1678 to col­ lect poems in Chinese by K orean writers; C h an g C h ’ao selected from am ong the inform al prose writings o f his contem poraries to edit his extensive Chao-tai ts’ung-shu (Collected W ritings from T h is Illustrious Age). 1 T h e novelist C h ’u Jen-huo, a friend o f both Sun and C hang, as­ sembled a vast anthology o f reminiscences and excerpts from earlier works, particularly o f the “anecdotes about verse” (shih-hua) variety, entitled Chien-hu chi (Hard Gourds). O th er writers were C h ’u Jenh uo’s focus, but in subject m atter he ranged from monks, priests, and spirit medium s through actresses and courtesans to plants and animals. O ne chapter (chiian) o f this w ork contains thirty-three anec­ dotes culled from no few er than twenty-nine d ifferen t written sources.52 In the field o f dram a, T sa n g M ou-hsiin (d. 1621) in 1615 and 16 16 published Yiian ch’ii hsiian (Selected Plays o f the Yiian), one h un dred exam ples o f the short tsa-chU dram atic form that he apparently edited quite heavily.53 In 1629 Shen T ’ai published Sheng M ing tsa-chii (Short Plays o f the H igh Ming) in H angchow; early in the C h ’in g ，Mao C hin (159 9 -16 59 ) published his Liu-shihchung chfu (Sixty Plays), a collection o f dramatic works in the lengthy ch’uan-ch’i form . A bibliophile and printer, M ao also produced an­ thologies o f Confucian classics, the standard histories, poetry, and bibliographical no 代s.54 O f course these anthologies o f theatrical pieces w ere only the m ajor collections; num erous collections o f plays by single authors also appeared du rin g this century. I f the com pilation o f dram atic pieces was comm on, the editing and revision o f vernacular fiction was even m ore popular. As indi­ cated above, Feng M eng-lung was the most successful and well knotvn o f the literati editors. His three collections o f short stories comprise 120 o f C hina’s finest short narratives. N early h a lf are origi• nal compositions by Feng and another, unidentified, writer; the re­ m ainder were revised and edited from earlier short fiction and plays. "Moreover, Feng M eng-lung doubled the length o f the middle M ing novel o f fantasy P ’ing-yao chuan (Q uelling the Dem ons’ Revolt) and considerably m odified the historical adventure novel Tung Chou lieh-kuo chih (Chronicles o f the Eastern C hou States). A num ber o f other novels are credited to Feng as well, and he com piled several anthologies o f notes on the classics, folk songs, m em oranda, and ad­

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vice to gamblers, in addition to revising at least a dozen earlier plays.55 A rou n d the same time Feng M eng-lung’s close friend Y iian Y ii-ling edited and revised several historical novels* concerning the Han period, and com piled his own Sui shih i-wen (Forgotten Tales o f the Sui) on the basis o f earlier stories.56 C hin Sheng-t’an abridged Water Margin to form what was to becom e the most popular version o f that novel. Later in the century, Mao T su n g-kan g edited Romance o f the Three Kingdoms to its present form ; M ao’s friend C h ’u Jen-huo com piled his Sui Tan g yen-i (Romance o f the Sui and the T ’ang) from a wide variety o f older prose narratives. (The contributions o f Y iian Yii-ling, C hin Sheng-t’an，Mao Tsung-kang, and C h ’u Jen-huo will be discussed in m ore detail in subsequent chapters.) U nquestionably the novel, like its form al opposite, the anthol­ ogy, served as a favorite m edium fo r preserving the best o f earlier w riting while incorporating new o r revised material to si^it the changing tastes o f the elite and to express individual sentiments. T h e form er consideration involves financial gain, an elem ent not to be ignored in publishing even if it was not the w riter’s prim ary con­ cern; the m ore serious novelists com bined a certain degree o f en­ joym ent with a greater elem ent o f artistic self-expression in this form as they did in other literary m edia. T h e line between revision and creation had frequently been hard to distinguish in C hina’s m ore form al letters; poets, and painters, by convention had been praised fo r the skillful use o f earlier material i f they simultaneously m ade an original contribution to the com bined esthetic effect.57 Similarly, the fine distinction draw n by certain contem porary and most later students o f the Chinese novel between the literati novel ajid the other, m ore orthodox literary form s as vehicles^for serious literary expression seems fairly arbitrary. N ot only did m any literati regard vernacular fiction with the gravity previously reserved for other lit­ erary forms, but some even m ade public fheir strong feelings on this issue. T h e critic C h an g C h u -p ’o explains the anonym ous authorship o f certain novels precisely in terms o f their m oral seriousness: T h e writers o f novels never divulge their names, either because they have some ax to grind in their works or because they contain covert ref­ erences to real people. . . . T o sum the matter up in a word: I f the au­ thor had not been possessed by intense feelings he w ould never have written the book. I f the persons w hom he wished to describe make their

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appearance in the book, but the author, who had such intense feelings about them, could not bring him self to name them explicitly, it would be the heigh t o f inanity for us, who have no such intense feelings our­ selves, to insist on iden tifyin g them. . . .58

W riting in the 1670s, C h an g C hu -p ’o also reveals here the cen­ trality he allots to narrative structure in the composition o f a novel "(Chang's criticism will be discussed in m ore detail in chapter 6). In this he echoes the tendency to analyze structure begun by C hin Sheng-t’an in his critical com m entary on Water Margin in the 1640s and continued by M ao T su n g-kan g in his annotations o f Romance o f the Three Kingdoms in the 1660s. B ut this is appropriate, given the re­ m arkable degree o f deliberate structuring in oth er contem porary lit­ erary form s. Fully developed dram a, the tsa-chii, had appeared in China d u rin g the Y iian period; it had a clearly defined musical structure o f arias in progressions o f moods and keys. A ll characters then and in later Chinese drama- w ere o f a lim ited num ber o f role types identifiable, at least du rin g the M ing and C h ’ing, by specific types and patterns o f costum ing and particular m ethods o f delivery o f spoken and sung lines. L o n ger plays o f the ch’uan-ch’i tradition, pop ­ ular from the late Y iian wejl into the C h ’ing, m ight vary in num ber o f scenes, but each began with a conventional prologue. Actors in­ troduced themselves on their first appearance in conventional ways; even plots becam e relatively standardized as rom antic comedies surged in popularity. W hile by the seventeenth century certain play­ wrights w ere experim enting with short dram atic presentations using again the label tsa-chii, most plays followed the established dramatic structure. Clearly, expression in the dram a was thoroughly m olded by tradition in form al matters. Poets sought even less freedom o f structure. L eading schools o f the seventeenth century even u rged taking as stylistic models the outstanding works o f T ’ang，or Sung-period writers; that later poets should copy prosodic structures established centuries before was beyond question.59 Chinese poetic form s had been rigidly prescribed since even before the T ’ang. Shih poetry had lines o f equal num bers o f syllables，either five or seven fo r the most part, rhym ing on every even num bered line, with gram m atical and verbal parallelism within couplets. Tz’u poetry had to conform — in the pitch configuration o f the individual syllables and in num ber o f syllables per line— to m etri­

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cal patterns fo r which the music had long been lost. A n d still poets could dance, despite their chains.60 T h e seventeenth century saw experim entation in verse as well as in drama; witness K uei C h u an g’s “W an-ku-ch’iu ch’ii” (Sorrows o f the Ages), a history o f C hina in hundreds o f lines o f rather free verse. B ut such attempts were rather rare. Li Y ii, w riting about 1678, comments wryly on the uninspiring fashions in verse in his day: T h e world o f today is not the world o f ten years ago. T h e world o f ten years ago likewise was not the world o f twenty years ago. It is like the blossoms in spring or crabmeat in autumn: today is more beautiful than yesterday, tomorrow surpasses, today. W hy do I see things so? I see it in the tastes o f the literati. Even thirty years ago literati gentlem en who e x ­ erted themselves in study all exhausted their energies in the civil service examinations. O f those who wrote shih poem s,/w rhym e-prose, classical essays, or tz'u lyrics, there were only one or two families per district or prefecture— at most only a few individuals. T h e rest all buried their heads in “eigh t-legged ” exam ination essays for the sake o f an official position. T h e age at that time was ,an age o f test papers and exam ina­ tion essays. B ut thereafter the teaching o f shih poetry flourished, and everyone recited the poetry o f the T ’an g and struggled over the B ook o f Songs. T h o se gentlem en who were unable to versify then came to be scorned by those o f more well rounded talents. T h e age chan ged from one o f test papers and exam ination essays to one o f shih poetry, rhym eprose, and classical essays. Even so, few became prom inent for the com ­ position o f rhym e-prose. Likewise, those who filled in tz’u lyrics by ref­ erence to registers o f metric forms were not often to be seen. T h e vast majority o f writers were nothing more than shih poets. For the last ten years, because shih poets have become so numerous, they have not been held in m uch esteem. Writers o f the advance guard no longer held shih poetry in high regard, but turned instead to the tz^u lyric. W hen one sang, a hundred would harmonize^ although few set new styles. Regardless o f w hether the shih poets all became tz'u lyricists, everyone who could read even a few chapters o f a book, or recognize the structure o f any popular m elody— well-born women, yo u n g sprouts, traveling merchants, and village peasants— all began to write verse in lon g and short lines [tz'u]. Furtherm ore, those who could not'recognize what a tz， u lyric m ight be trusted to their own devices to make u p a tune. T h e flute song o f a herdboy on the back o f an ox, for exam ple, w ould be taken as a m elodic pattern by some lyricist. W asn’t that a liter­ ary phenom enon to be lamented! People said that shih poems had be­ com e tz'u lyrics, but the m ore this direction was pursued, the worse poetry became! T a k in g spring blossoms and autum n crabm eat as an analogy [for proper sequence], is this not, then, losing track o f the normal o r d e r ’ o f things? I would disagree. T h is is an om en that classical studies are

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about to arise. H ow can I say this? T z u lyrics must borrow a path from shih verse [the ability to write tzru depen ds on prior training in the shih form]. T h e r e are those who write shih but who do not com pose tz’u ，but there has never been one who com posed tz’u without first writing shih. T h u s, the path o f shih flourishes o f itself without seeking to do so. H ow can we know that ten years from now t z u writers may not be still more num erous, surpassing in num ber the shih poets o f ten years ago? Past events reveal that invariably w hat is rare is most highly prized. T h e fo u r tones and eight rhym ing categories are already stale “straw dogs” and inevitably will not exclusively be held in esteem. O n ly the path o f prose essays in the classical style has not yet been held in exclu­ sive esteem. W hy be concerned that [the rhym e-prose of] Pan Ku and Ssu-ma H siang-ju o f the H an, or that [the shih poetry of] H an Yii and Liu T su n g-yiian o f the T ’a n g and O u -y a n g Hsiu and Su Shih o f the S u n g will not be seen again in days to come? I would affirm that this is an om en o f the rise o f classical studies.61

Significantly, Li Y ii isolates the literati as his subject here; their conservative attitude toward the im portance o f traditional form al structure is clear in both his evaluative comm ents and the fashions he addresses. Likewise, Li Y ii exposes the tendency am ong less cou­ rageous literati m erely to follow the dom inant trend, regardless o f how repetitious their work m ight becom e. Despite his com m ent that “what is rare is most highly prized,” Li Y ii seems to hold out no hope for genuine innovation in the realm o f orth odox writing. H e antici­ pates instead a succession o f revivals o f time-worn form s and sen­ timents. In his own works, however, Li Y ii often experim ented with both form and content; his novel and short stories regularly dem on­ strate, through parody, his disdain fo r convention. Clearly, he and other seventeenth-century novelists w ere am ong the m ore progres­ sive writers o f their time. Instead o f imitating past styles as vehicle for their intellectual concerns and esthetic views o f hum an exp eri­ ence, they chose an extended narrative form , the novel. Finally, one cannot but notice that most obvious use o f pattern­ ing in Chinese thought and artistic expression, the balance m ain­ tained between contrastive and com plem entary opposites. As noted above, parallelism in m eaning and syntax had been an essential fea­ ture o f standard Chinese poetry fo r over a thousand years by the seventeenth century. Likewise, balanced structure,with careful use o f gram matical parallelism, had received prim ary attention in the com ­ position o f the essay form required for the civil service exam ina­ tions. Y u T ’u n g and other literary critics o f the seventeenth century

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wrote o f the necessity fo r such balanced structure in all literary w orks;62 as will be dem onstrated below, ^novelists fespon ded to this traditional concern in their extended narratives as well as in their m ore orthodox poetry and prose. T h e responsible writer, in an effo rt to derive m eaning from the welter o f hum an activity and make it didactically relevant to the reader, deliberately m anipulated the structure o f narrative in con­ ventional ways. His response to tradition was com plex. Not only did he follow established literary precedent adapted from other forms; balanced structure had m eaning for both w riter and reader in and o f itself. T h a t is, theoretical justification fo r this fascination with structure can be found in Confucian ideology and its，ideal o f a tranquil and harm oniously structured society. B y tradition, Chinese thinkers and .writers perceived nature as being in constant flux be­ tween polar extrem es, labeled Y in and Y an g, on m any d ifferen t con­ tinuums simultaneously. Polar opposites thus appear regularly in narratives o f this period as guideposts fo r understanding the shady area in between and as a means o f m aintaining a harm onious bal­ ance to parallel the “ golden m ean” they sought to realize in hum an society. W hile one m ight argue that a certain degree o f patterning through Reference to polar opposites m ight appear in literature as an unconscious reflection o f the dom inant ideology o f the time, cer­ tain ^writers deliberately chose patterning o f this type as a means o f im parting m oral significance to their work. H ere, as in their pointed references to specific .abuses o f pow er and, social injustice, these authors sought to fulfill their responsibility by pxertin g a moral influence on their readers and thereby to contribute to tranquillity in society by reaffirm ing J:he ideal o f security through order so neces­ sary to the C onfucian world view. In their cdncern with didactic im­ pact^ China’s seventeenth-century novelists did not d iffe r in any sig­ nificant way from writers in m ore orthodox literary form s. T h e individual perceptions o f the select group o f novelists to be exam ­ ined here vary considerably; their objects o f attention and the ques­ tions they address are likewise far from identical. B eyond choosing the same form at, the novel, fo r serious moral investigation, all these men express individual predilections in accordance with literary and philosophical currents that laid stress on the self. Furtherm ore, each novelist freely alluded to the body o f readings he knew was shared

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by all his readers, the basic texts fo r the civil service preparation, as a means o f extend in g the significance o f narrated events. Finally, each “ p erfected” earlier narratives through revision, rewriting, or parody, again firm ly linking each novel with tradition. In summary, as products o f their tradition and times,4 m ajor seventeenth-century Chinese novelists— as literati— w ere to express three central concerns th rough the vehicle o f their fiction. First, their comm itment to orthodox morality, by taking the position o f re­ form er attacking society’s shortcom ings in their age; second, their need to express their own individual perceptions o f the world through thought and art; and last, their concern with style and structure, with the art o f writing, on the basis o f their shared train­ ing in earlier literature and experience with other literary forms. A l­ though these concerns are in large m easure inseparable, the chapters that follow will identify them and their central role in the composition o f six m ajor novels o f the century.

Em peror Y a n g takes advantage o f the extra vigor bestowed by aphrodisiacs. T h e M erry A dventures o f Em peror Yang, Edition A , preface dated 1631.

参 Political Realities in Fictional Garb: Past as M etaphor fo r the Present Alas! T h e world belongs to the imperial court; the masses o f people are the court’s helpless infants. A t a time when countless tigers and wolves are allowed to indulge their insatiable appetites on the people and to oppress them without restraint until the bodies o f their victims fill innum erable streams and gullies, how could one possibly hope that the people w ould not rebel and that the state w ould not fall? C hin Shen g-t’an，c.1 6 4 0 1

T h e tum ultuous events surround­ ing the fall o f the M ing imperial governm ent in m idcentury affected intellectuals throughout the country. A s we have seen, some lost their lives or families, others their positions and possessions. T o a few, the change o f dynasty m eant a rapid rise in official ranks; to others it m eant the shattering o f dreams and aspirations. Unofficial history, inform al m emoirs, and a plethora o f b rief notices recorded the tragedy and the trium ph in stark, unadorned literary forms. Some wrote fiction about these events, but such novels circulated only briefly; most w ere suppressed du rin g the m iddle C h ’ing. It was fifty years before this era o f tum ult cam e to be im m ortalized in a lit­ erary w ork o f lasting interest, K ’u n g Shang-jen’s (1648 -1718 ) lengthy ch’uan-ch’i play Tao-hua shan (T h e Peach Blossom Fan, 1699). In this work the M ing collapse is used as ostensible back­ ground fo r a love story, albeit one that ends in Taoist detachm ent from worldly concerns. Inform ed persons throughout the country should have known that a change was com ing lon g before the Manchus entered Peking; small quantitative changes were leading irrevocably toward the M ing fall, follow ing a pattern well represented in works o f history and his­ torical fiction. T h e most obvious changes included the increasing ir­ responsibility, weakness, and indulgence o f the late M ing rulers, the

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abuse o f individual power, and the form ation o f cliques both at court and in the provinces, a n d an increasingly intolerable tax burden on the masses o f peasants as official personal greed and extravagance grew. T h e latter left the peasants no reserves; natural calamities could only produce widespread banditry and starvation. Certain prelim inaries to the M ing fall attracted the attention o f m any o f the elite, o f course, as literary-political societies grew in num ber and in political involvem ent; news o f court events circulated am ong their numbers. B ut apparently few o f those in power were aware o f the massive scope o f fam ine, peasant unrest, and ban­ ditry— or they chose to ignore its signifiance. History and historical fiction had recorded such events from earlier periods o f dynastic transition; several writers from am ong the elite but w ho w ere out­ side the halls o f pow er chose the novel at this time to draw analogies between their own age and similar periods in C hina’s past. T h is fact, if no other, vindicates the seriousness o f intention that C h an g Chup’o was to attribute to various exam ples o f the novel form .

Water Margin;

Rebellion and Its Causes C hin Sheng-t’an seems to have been an exception to the general rule o f apathy or ignorance am ong late M ing literati. B orn in Soo­ chow around 16x0 o f a scholar-gentry fam ily, Chin from his child­ hood had, in the person o f his father, a m odel o f diligent study o f basic C onfucian texts, the Four Books. His imm ediate fam ily was not affluent. Unable to affo rd a private tutor fo f him, C hin ’s* father sent him to a village schopl from the age o f nine fo r his basic literary education. Illness fu rth er lim ited fam ily resources, and kept Chin out o f school as well; his favorite pastime was reading as he 中 ose, not m erely the prescribed textbooks, and often to the exclusion o f m ore active childhood games. Chin collected books and read Vora­ ciously in a variety o f periods, form s, ai?d areas o f subject m atte 备 ; he even spent five m onths hand-copying the novel Water Margin, wkich he had borrow ed. N ot surprisingly, this bookw orm was a lofiely young man. H e passed the lowest-level civil service exam ination around 1625 but earned no h igher degrees. It is not known whether he failed or, the m ore likely situation, w hether he simply did )iot

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6g

wish to u ndergo the d ru d gery o f fu rth er preparation to participate in a political system he could not accept as m orally viable. C hin was certainly an individualist: firm ly convinced o f the su­ periority o f his intelligence, he lam ented that he had no equal with whom to discuss his studies, a sentim ent rem iniscent o f the refrain begun by the loyal but unappreciated m inister-poet Ch*u Y iian so m any centuries before.2 Since he had never held any position o f power, C hin Sheng-t’an lacked the political justification o f having been dismissed or o f choosing retirem ent conventionally ascribed to the/*slandered minister” role and was left with only its self-indulgent aspect. D uring his early years C hin Sheng-t’an passed the time trav­ eling, drinking wine with his friends, and writing, as did many otliers am ong his peers. B ut often C hin assumed an arrogant pose, quite deliberately o ffen d in g fellow literati. A favorite sport \yas to bait scholarly public lecturers with leading questions, then to awe both audience and lecturer with his erudition. His free and ready wit m ade him a great success on such occasions. A m o n g C hin Sheng-t’an’s writings are num erous exegetical prefaces and extensive interlinear com m entaries fo r Water Margin, the romantic play sequence The Western Chamber， and verse by the C onfucian social critic poet T u Fu (a . d . 712 -77 0 ). His Water Margin w ork was com pleted by 1641; The Western Chamber com m entary was finished in 1656; and he was w orking on the poetry w hen he became involved in the political protest that occasioned his execution in 1661. A fte r the fall o f the M ing, all he did was write, it appears, hav­ ing given up hope— if he ever had any— for an official career. B ut C hin’s withdrawal was not a great shift o f direction fo r him. A roun d 1640, C hin had written a preface to Water Margin that he attributed to Shih Nai-an, the supposed fourteenth-century author o f the work. T h ere he expresses his desire to w ithdraw to a hut near flowing water, w here he m ight drink wine with his friends and write as he wished, free from oth er attachments and responsibilities. Certain o f his comm ents in Water Margin reveal his affinity fo r the Buddhist perception o f life’s transience and unreliability. C hin even goes so far in the Buddhist vein as to question the reality o f this life, likening it to a dream . Particularly d u rin g the years he was engaged in anno­ tating The Western Chamber, there w ere several learned Buddhist monks am ong his regular friends; his com m entary relies heavily on basic Buddhist and Taoist concepts.

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B iographers have noted the contradictory aspects o f C hin ’s es­ thetic and philosophical learnings, expressed in his desire for Buddhist-Taoist seclusion, versus his sense o f Confucian responsi­ bility to work toward harm ony in his world. T h e written word was the p referred avemieLjQi_censure o f abuses am ong the literati; Chin chose the^ novel as his foruinV^But despite its popularity am ong readers, nis revised Wutef^iargin had no discernible political effect. Instead, his com m entaries won C hin Sheng-t’an only harsK crfficism from other literati. Banditry spread despite his warnings and the M anchus took control— ostensibly using as justification for their con­ quest the obvious need to destroy rebels and brigands across the land. Later Chin involved him self in the Soochow student dem on­ strations against the sort o f rapacious behavior on the part o f a local official that pushed fictitious characters into brigandage in Water Margin. Centuries before, in' the preface to the Book of Songs at­ tributed to its editor, a C onfucian scholar nam ed Mao, an earlier lit­ erary critic has described the genesis o f poetry as follows: Poetry is where the heart's wishes go. W hat lies in the heart is “wish， ” when expressed in words, it is “poetry.” W hen an em otion stirs within one, one expresses it in words; finding this inadequate, one sighs over it; not content with this, one sings it in poetry; still not satisfied, one un­ consciously dances with on e’s hands and feet.3

T o borrow this analogy, Chin S h en g 't’an’s strong feelings had driven him to express his thoughts and fears in words; when they proved ineffective, he resorted to physical action in the form o f dem on­ stration against despotic authority, only to be executed as a conse­ quence. B ut this anticipates the discussion o f Whter Margin; it is suf­ ficient at this point to leave C hin’s life as an em bodim ent o f the sometimes conflicting dem ands o f self-expression and social obliga­ tion— the writer-as-sage aspect which is o f prim ary im portance in understanding his work in the novel form at.4 T h e origins o f the novel Water Margin have been traced to legends that circulated soon after the time o f the historical bandit leader Sung Chiang, around whom all such tales revolve, Sung’s revolt lasted from around 1 1 1 5 to 1 1 2 1 ，w hen he surrendered to im­ perial authority to take part in the suppression o f a m uch greater threat to the Sung throne, the rebellion led by Fang La in South China. It may be, too, that Sung and his band jo in ed the cam paign

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against the Liao kingdom on China's northeast frontier the following year. But references to Sung C hiang are scanty, those to his fol­ lowers virtually nonexistent.5 Tales about the band sprang u p and spread, however, becom ing material fo r professional entertainers, storytellers, and playwrights o f the Y iian and later dynasties. Some appeared in written form in Hsuan-ko i-shih (Forgotten Events o f the Hsiian-ho Era), a presum ably fictionalized narrative with in­ terspersed verse concerning the period 1 1 1 9 - 1 1 2 5 . O thers were dra­ matized in num erous tsa-chii plays o f the Y iian and M ing; somefound expression in longer ch’uan-ch’i plays o f the M ing and early C h ’ing. B y the time o f the latter, their com pilation into Water Margin had already given them a standard fo rm .6 T h e earliest Water Margin may have appeared around 1400. T radition ascribes its compilation to Shih Nai-an, about whom noth­ ing is fully certain. Some early editions list L o Kuan-chung (C.1330-C.X400) as author in addition to, or in place of, Shih. Lo, a dramatist o f the late Y iian period, com posed various historical plays and probably several historical novels as well, although scholars agree on his authorship o f only one surviving work, the classic Sankuo chih yen-i (Romance o f the T h re e Kingdom s), set in the civil wars o f the third century. Water Margin appeared in num erous editions during the second h a lf o f the M ing period, versions varying in length, style, and, to a certain degree, content. Later recensions be­ tray collective authorship. Various booksellers and literati m ade con­ tributions to its growth, basing their elaborations on earlier written segments o f the story cycle and addin g original episodes. In its sev­ eral versions, the work represents the dem ands o f d ifferen t but over­ lapping audiences, those o f the storyteller in the m arketplace, o f the theater at various social levels, and o f the novel itself. O riginally the novel traced the separate careers o f 108 heroes, most o f martial bent, d u rin g their retreat from society to avoid pros­ ecution for their steadfast resistance to unjust oppression at the hands o f rapacious officials. M any o f these fugitives gather into small groups to work as highwaym en; singly o r a few at a time they gather at the m ountain lair in Shantung called Liangshanpo, a stronghold protected from direct attack by lakes and swamps. T h e re a fte r the united band withstands repeated cam paigns against them by the im perial court until finally they are pardoned by the em peror himself, earning thereby the novelist’s appellation “ loyal

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and chivalrous" (chung-《 ). A t once they are ordered into battle against Fang La and his band o f rebels, du rin g which m any die; ul­ timately they are betrayed, again by evil ministers at court, and the rem aining leaders are killed. Later versions insert a cam paign against the Liao kingdom in N orth China between their surrender and the Fang La section. T h e novel was furth er expanded by the ad­ dition o f battles between Sung C hiang’s band and m ore recalcitrant rebels led by T ’ien H u and W ang C h ’ing to follow the Liao^ cam ­ paign. In its fullest form , with revised narrations o f the latter epi­ sodes, Water Margin has 120 chapters. Earlier versions have between 100 and 124 chapters. Far from all o f its 108 heroes are fully developed in Water Margin. A m on g those whose lives are narrated most com pletely are Lii Chih-shen, Lin C h ’u n g ，Sung Chiang, W u Sung, and Li K ’uei. T h eir separate adventures constitute several chapters each; m any o f these tales were hundreds o f years old by the seventeenth century, to ju d g e from their appearance in plays o f the Y iian period. Most readers agree that these sections constitute the novel’s artistic, high points; characters here are developed with a regard for realistic de­ tail that made these sections “ like paintings” to the comm entator Chin Sheng-t’an. N one o f these tales has any basis in recorded his­ tory. Instead, they m ay well be in large part the collective product o f generations o f storytellers, given the tendency o f professional enter­ tainers o f later periods to concentrate on individual heroes.7 (It seems to have been the literati and literate booksellers who in­ tegrated the separate tales and com posed the collective adventures o f the rebel band before and after their surren d er.)8 Since these tales are relatively fam iliar in the W est through various studies and translations,9 my comments here will be brief. B ut in order to give some impression o f the novel’s end uring appeal, here is a sum mary o f one highly praised episode, Lin C h ’u n g’s turn to banditry. In C hapter 6 (Chin’s num bering) Lin is introduced as an official instructor in the martial arts who has a form idable appear­ ance. It is L in’s m anner that impresses oth er warrior heroes, but his lovely youn g wife attracts the attention o f the adopted son o f a high minister nam ed Kao. Y o u n g Kao attempts seduction and fails; then his friends lay a plot to get Lin C h ’u n g out o f the way: T h ey lure Lin, arm ed, into the minister’s private chambers. Minister Kao, who had approved the plan, charges Lin with attem pted m urder and

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urges his execution, but instead the lenient p refect exiles him to a military outpost hundreds o f miles away. Lin sets o f f on foot, only to be tortured along the way by his two guards. T h ese men have been bribed to kill him. In Wild B oar Forest (Yehchulin) they spring their tra p ~ o n ly to have it foiled by Lu Chih-shen, an altruistic friend who had secretly followed along behind to protect Lin C h ’u n g ’s life from ju st such treachery. Finally Lin reaches his place o f exile. A gain, through the influ­ ence o f generous friends, he is granted some degree o f freedom to move about the settlement. T h e re he meets a m an whom he had previously helped out o f a youthful scrape; the latter inform s Lin C h ’un g that several o f Minister K ao’s henchm en have recently ar­ rived. Soon he is transferred to oversee a fodder depot several miles away. It is a snowy night when Lin makes his way to the fodder depot. T h e hut set aside fo r its caretaker is in disrepair, and Lin goes to a nearby village fo r wine to help him withstand the- cold. W hile he is gone, the ro o f o f the hut collapses; Lin takes shelter in an abandoned temple. B efo re long, however, Lin hears the crackle o f flames. H e discovers that the fo d d er is afire and that several strangers are ju st outside the tem ple door. O verh earing their con­ versation, Lin C h ’u n g learns that they are the m inister’s m en sent to kill him; once again their aim is to get him out o f the way in ord er that young Kao can force Lin’s wife to m arry him. Enraged, Lin kills them all in quick and bloody succession and flees into the night. B ut the wine he has dru nk goes to his head; Lin C h ’u n g collapses into a snowbank, w here local peasants discover him the follow ing m orning. A lthough the local landlord shelters him for a time, when the search for him becomes m ore intense, Lin can only flee to jo in the brigands at Liangshanpo, once m ore through the intercession o f altruistic comrades-in-arms. T h u s he makes the transition from law-abiding citizen to outlaw; like many others am ong the 108 Water Margin heroes, Lin C h ’u n g is the innocent victim o f official abuses o f pow er.10 ’ T h is episode is an exam ple o f what readers have always found most exhilarating in Water Margin, the inevitable trium ph o f a m or­ ally good character o f low status over the evil officials who scheme against him and his escape to jo in other victims o f such oppression. Essential in its appeal may well be the satisfaction enjoyed by the reader as each hero moves from a position o f being helpless and

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alone into the com fortiiig and supportive social m atrix o f likem inded com rades— even i f the band is outside norm al society. C. T . Hsia has rightly observed that the separate tales o f individual Water Margin heroes constitute a vibrant world that smacks o f reality, a re­ ality that includes people o f various social strata and occupations from military officers through innkeepers, monks, fishermen, butchers, and thieves. Separate tales inevitably relate cruelty and selfishness on the part o f many in positions o f authority, but the heroes themselves exhibit savagery in extracting vengeance, particu­ larly against unfaithful wives. Such acts are always justified fo r the novel’s heroes by reference to altruistic friendship or “chivalry， ” the Confucian virtue i. B ut this virtue is not well defined in the C on­ fucian classics; in the context o f the novel it places loyalty to friends over loyalty to superiors or concern for one’s inferiors. T h e appar­ ent misogyny evident in the w ork has attracted the most scholarly at­ tention, although there are other attitudes expressed here that con­ flict strongly with the ostensible altruism o f the gang. No genuine “people’s heroes,” these brigands cause the deaths and sufferin g o f the poor as well as o f the rich in pursuit o f personal or collective self-interest. Water Margin’s martial heroes have gluttonous appetites for food, drink, and physical exercise in practice or combat with weapons，even though they have little or none for sex and other creature comforts. Not really the product o f pure fantasy, still these figures have only a tenuous contact with reality. Virtually all their adventures are ahistorical. M oreover，there seems to have been no group o f m en in Chinese society du rin g the Sung or at any other time precisely like them. Certainly some men did practice the martial arts to earn a living (as guards and the like) or fo r recreation; the ideals o f knight-errantry w ere current in China from the Chou period until the twentieth century. N aturally group solidarity am ong men o f martial bent was central to them. M any o f the innum erable groups o f rebels that sprang up in the wake o f official rapaciousness and natural disasters often professed altruisitic goals, but such groups grew not by a few adult male individuals at a time, but by the hundreds and thousands o f dispossessed and starving peasants o f both sexes and all ages. Historically, these desperate uprisings were suppressed rather quickly, fo r the most p art.11 Unrealistically, Water Margin heroes seldom suffer m ore than

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the most tem porary o f setbacks, are rarely injured in battle，and especially in groups, never su ffer defeat. Individually they are su­ perm en, presented in a high mimetic m ode, awesome for their prowess in contests o f strength or in strategic planning. T h eir inevi­ tably successful escapes from official confinem ent surely smack o f unreality. C hina’s legal history, at least as recorded in other works o f fiction, makes death appear the most frequent consequence o f im­ prisonm ent, not m ere branding and exile. B ut then these characters had their genesis in popular entertainm ent; no audience, literate or otherwise, wishes to hear real events recounted without selectivity or embellishment. I f the aim o f the entertainer is to satisfy his audi­ ence, he must side with them, not attack them; he must confirm their ideals and perceptions o f life. Water Margin heroes do ju st that, at least in part, by confirm ing the im age that was popular— and most likely accurate— through time, o f an administrative and legal system less concerned with matters o f right and w rong than with personal privilege and preserving the status quo. A lth ough certain heroes, with Sung C hiang as a prim e exam ple, repeatedly affirm their loyalty to the established system in the per­ son and position o f the em peror (at least in the earlier versions o f the novel), circumstances invariably arise that prom pt them to act violently and outside the law. Sung Chiang, hum ilitated by a mistress who flaunts her adultery before him ，m urders h er to vindicate his honor. W u Sung surrenders to the authorities after killing his adul­ terous sister-in-law and h er param our to avenge his m urdered brother. A n d then rapacious officials move to have both m en pun­ ished unduly. Can the reader fail to grasp the implicit condem nation o f the political system h e re ?12 It is on the basis o f its unequivocal condem nation o f the m anip­ ulation o f power and praise fo r rebels against the law that Marxist critics once called Water Margin a great revolutionary novel. Revolu­ tionary fiction can idealize positive characteristics or heroic charac­ ters, but to be useful in serving to move social developm ent forw ard ， it must convince readers o f the reality o f the events it narrates, o f the applicability o f its message. Water Margin moves farther from re­ ality as it begins to treat the collective adventures o f the Liangshanpo rebels. As a band, they take on the local militia and defeat them, and then several imperial armies o f increasingly vast numbers in succes­ sion. Indeed, some o f the Sung court’s finest generals are defeated

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and induced to jo in them. A fte r they surrender, they cam paign against similarly form idable brigand armies, only to em erge vic­ torious each time. Individual heroes become lost in the m ovements o f the mass; often magic becomes the ultimate weapon when norm al w arfare proves inconclusive. Finally, the charm ed brotherhood breaks down as the band attacks Fang La. Finally too, the Liang­ shanpo heroes reveal realistic weaknesses; singly or in small groups, they fall in battle. B y the end o f the Fang La cam paign, two-thirds are gone, dead o r dispersed on private concerns. Several o f the few rem aining are given m inor positions in governm ent, no m ore a “revolutionary” post than being in the imperial army, but before long even they are dead, victims o f the m achinations o f the evil ministers who occasioned m any individual acts o f rebellion earlier in the novel. T h u s this soundly idealistic novel ends in a considerably m ore convincing fashion: the heroes age, weaken, fall prey to evil plots. As M arxist literary historians have discerned, their end is realistic to the extent that it reflects the plight o f all rebels in old C h in a ~ e ith er to die at the hands o f those in pow er or to jo in , and to become indistin­ guishable from , the ruling class. Significantly for M arxist analysis, those am ong the fictional rebels most desirous o f surrender to dem ­ onstrate their undim inished loyalty to the Sung throne originate as educated m en o f relatively high status— fo r exam ple, the court clerk Sung C hiang and the scholarly adm inistrator Lu Chiin-i, the two leaders o f the band. O pponents to surrender, the real rebels, are o f considerably low er social rank and have less to lose— lienee m ore to gain— by rebelling; they include the alcoholic jailo r’s assistant Li K ’uei and the militia captain W u S ung.13 Traditional China pre­ sented few revolutionary alternatives in terms o f social structure; all successful conquerors, w hether foreign or native, m erely assumed established positions o f authority in the Chinese political system, en­ dorsing traditional concepts o f loyalty to that system in' the process. Water Margin is a tragedy, the M arxist critic Ho Man-tzu affirms, to the extent that ultimately its heroes all disperse or die, with all hopes either fo r the end o f political abuses or fo r loyal service to the Sung throne thwarted. Despite claims to the contrary by fans and detrac­ tors alike, Water Margin by m odern standards is not, nor was it in­ tended to be, a revolutionary novel. Later, M arxist critiques o f Water M ar^n take a broader look at

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the novel, however. C areful historical studies now show that the tales o f Sung C hiang and his band were popular am ong the literati as well as with unlettered audiences from the Su ng onward. In recent years Water Margin has been seen as a novel not u rgin g revolution, but in­ stead prom oting capitulation to the traditional system. Im portant as this view was to political struggles in contem porary China, its rele­ vance here is only that this m ovem ent again drew attention to the novel’s original justification— as an endorsem ent in fiction o f conven­ tional morality. In a preface to the w ork dated 1 5 8 9 , the official and scholar W ang Tao-kun ( 1 5 2 5 - 1 5 9 3 ) , using the pseudonym T ’ien-tu wai-ch’en ，affirm ed its efficacy in teaching proper C onfucian val­ ues.14 Needless to say, proper Confucian values adm itted no alterna­ tives in the political sphere. T o the extent that the novel in all its ver­ sions attacks abuse o f pow er and m isgovernm ent, it is a reformist work, reaffirm ing allegiance to traditional ideals o f social order d e­ spite the anarchic actions o f its heroes. T o Chin Sheng-t’an，the message in Water Margin was far from sufficiently clear. His aim in editing the text was to em phasize the w ork’s condem nation o f outlawry and rebellion. C hin w orked on his version o f the novel du rin g the lon g years o f rebellion by Li T zuch’eng ( i 6 o 5 ? - i 6 4 5 ) and C h an g H sien-chung ( 1 6 0 5 - 1 6 4 7 ) . Li had rebelled in 1 6 2 8 and surrendered with his band to M ing authorities in 1 6 3 4 — only to rebel again the follow ing year. C h an g rebelled in 1 6 3 0 ，surrendering fo r a few m onths in 1 6 3 9 to jo in the imperial arm y, thus giving his troops a breathing spell.15 C hin Sheng-t’an may or may not have known this, but Water Margin tales were having their effect on other brigands: m any late M ing peasant rebel leaders were taking the names o r nicknames o f Water Margin heroes for themselves. Some northern brigand bands even organized them ­ selves into thirty-six o r seventy-two smaller troops after the numbers o f m ajor and m inor Water Margin heroes. Even such superficial in­ fluence is verifiable only am ong small-scale rebellions; there is, to my knowledge, no evidence that those who m ade direct threats against the M ing state, Li T zu -ch ’en g and C h an g Hsien-chung, deliberately followed the m odel o f the Water Margin heroes in their b rie f periods o f “capitulation” to im perial authorities. B ut it is likely, since this story cycle circulated throughout the country. Authorities perceived it as a possible threat; the work was o rdered suppressed by im perial edict in 1 6 4 2 .16

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C hin Sheng-t’an’s st^nd on banditry and rebellion was unam ­ biguous. H e truncated the text ju st after the 108 leaders have all as­ sembled at Liangshanpo, at their trium phant feast o f celebration. T h e re he tacked on a totally new ending: one o f the two leaders, Lu Chiin-i, has a dream in which he and the other 107 are executed for their resistance to im perial authority; he awakes to find him self star­ ing at an inscription that reads “Peace throughout the Realm .” Readers have had a variety o f responses to this conclusion. His con­ tem poraries could not agree in evaluating C hin’s alterations, al­ though his at once becam e the most popular version o f the novel. Li Y ii praised it, Y u T ’un g had reservations, K uei C huang condem ned C hin fo r condoning brigandage, and the thinker C h ’ien C h ’ien-i even thoughfG hin was possessed by dem ons, given the extent o f his heresy.17 In the present century, certain critics have condem ned him for changing the original symmetry o f the novel; some denounce him as a “spokesman fo r the ruling class” and a reactionary. His changes in Water Margin were deliberate, without doubt. H owever, Chin miscalculated the effect the truncation would have. His b rief conclusion fo r the work— the dream executions— is puzzling, not stirring; his verbose commentaries notwithstanding, the reader upon finishing the novel is left with the exhilaration o f the feast, not an impression o f bloody recom pense fo r w rongdoing. Despite the stri­ dent condem nation o f rebellion against authority in Chin Shengt’an’s comm entaries (he allows his characters no chance to reform ), the bulk o f the w ork as he left it affirm s the exuberant vitality, and by implication the anti-authoritarian stance, o f its heroes. C hin’s use o f the dream world as setting fo r this punishm ent should not be viewed as negating its reality. In his lengthy com m ent on chapter 13, Chin Sheng-t’an sighs in sympathy with the Buddhist tenet that life is but a dream , insubstantial and transient. In this context, then, the dream execution is m eant to be as “real” as any other section o f the w ork.18 T h e contradiction between the exploits o f the desperados and their unexpected demise appears most acute when one reads only his revised text without C hin Sheng-t’an’s extensive prefatory m ate­ rial and commentaries, both o f which are regularly omitted from m odern editions. H owever, to Chin, and to other Chinese literati* o f the C h ’in g，the two w ere inseparable, the com m entary contributing immeasurably to the enjoym ent and understanding o f the novel.19

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In his prefaces, C hin first takes his stand against rebellion in general. His introductory com m entary to C hapter 1 (Chapter 2 o f the longer editions; C hin labeled the original first chapter a “w edge”一 to bor­ row a term from the tsa-chu dram a form — or prologue and renum ­ bered the rem aining chapters) states boldly that “political disorder is generated from above” (luan tzu shang tso), caused by the abuses o f those in power. C hin’s sentiment was not unique; it was echoed not m any years later by the political theorist H uan g Tsung-hsi in his Ming-i tai-fang lu (A Plan fo r the Prince).20 In fact, C hin even ex­ presses sympathy in his com m entary fo r the victims o f official op ­ pression who became the m ajority o f Water Margin heroes.21 It is only Sung Chiang, the rebel leader, that he singles out for individual attack, often m aking m inor changes in the text o f the novel to dim in­ ish furth er his heroic image. A com parison o f editions may serve to clarify how C hin Shengt'an m odified Water Margin. In the versions Chin used as his sources, those having 100 or 120 chapters,22 a point is reached in the narra­ tive w hen a rival gang o f brigands tries a bit o f “psychological war­ fare" against the Liangshanpo brotherhood: the Tsengt'oushih band popularizes a song boasting that it will turn Sung C hiang and the others over to the im perial authorities. A t this time, pow er in Liang­ shanpo is shared equally between C h ’ao Kai and Sung Chiang, al­ though this battle is to bring death to the form er. Earlier versions record the scene as follows: H earing T a i T s u n g ’s report, a great anger arose in C h ’ao Kai’s heart, and he said: “H ow dare that beast act so high and mighty! I must tend to this m yself— I swear that I won’t return to cam p until I capture the whole lot o f them !” “Y o u are the lord o f our stronghold, elder brother,” S u ng C hian g said; “Y ou must not be so easily m oved. Let m e go instead.” “I have no desire to steal your glory,” C h ’ao Kai said. “Y o u ’ve often gone out on expeditions at great risk and expense o f energy. I will go in your place this once. N e x t time som ething comes up, then you can go, m y w orthy brother.” Ign orin g Sung C h ian g’s fervent entreaties in his wrath, C h ’ao Kai m ustered 5,000 cavalry and requested twenty com ­ manders to assist him in this cam paign. T h e rest were to remain with S u n g C h ian g to safeguard the fortress. . . . S u n g C hiang, together with W u Y u n g , K un g-sun Sheng, and the other com m anders, descended the m ountain to G olden Sands Shoals for a sendoff. A s they were drinking, suddenly a fierce gust o f wind arose, breaking the sta ff on C h ’ao Kai’s newly m ade banner. A ll o f them paled at the sight.

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W u Y u n g entreated him, saying: “T h is is an inauspicious portent, elder brother. B egin this cam paign some other day.” S u n g C h ia n g u rged him: **Brother, it is an ill om en to have the wind break your banner sta ff ju s t as you begin a cam paign. Delay a while settling scores with that creature. It will not be too late i f you do.” ‘‘W hat’s strange about the natural movem ents o f the winds and clouds o f heaven and earth?” C h ’ao Kai said. “L et us take advantage o f this warm spring weather. I f I d on ’t go to take him now but instead wait for them to grow still stronger before we advance our troops, that would be too late. D on’t try to delay me— no matter what, I must go out this once!” H ow could S u n g C h ian g restrain him? C h ’ao Kai led his troops across the water; helplessly dejected, S u n g C h ian g returned to the m ountain stronghold, again dispatching T a i T s u n g dow n the m oun­ tain to listen fo r news.23

Clearly Sung C hiang is concerned with the fate o f his com rade in this earlier version o f the novel, the source o f C hin Sheng-t’an’s edi­ tion. In C hin’s hands, however, Sung C hiang’s actions and words take on a m ore sinister aspect, especially through the elucidation o f­ fered in the editor’s com m entary (indicated by italics below): H earing his, a great an ger arose in C h ’ao Kai’s heart, an d he said: “H ow dare that beast act so high and m ighty! I m ust tend to this m y­ self— I swear that I w on’t return to cam p until I capture the whole lot o f them! I need only muster 5,000 cavalry and request twenty com ­ manders to assist m e in this cam paign. T h e rest will remain with Sung C h ian g to safeguard the fortress.” S u n g C h ia n g ，together with W u Y u n g, K un g-sun Sheng, and the other com manders, descended the m ountain to G olden Sands Shoals for a sendoff. I n various passages above，each time a great army is r^obilized, it is written that C h ’ao K a i wants to go but that S u n g C h ia n g forcibly urges him to 'stay. O n this expedition S u n g C h ia n g does not urge him to stay, with the result that C h ’ao K a i goes to his death. S killfully subtle expression! I t does not seem cold to the reader an d yet it is chilling. T h e p op u lar version makes fa n c ifu l additions to the text here, even though there is no basis f o r it in the old editions— thus we know that we should value those old editions. A s they were drinking, sud­ denly a fierce gust o f wind arose, breaking the staff o f C h ’ao Kai’s newly m ade banner. A ll o f them paled at the sight. I t plainly records that a ll o f them p aled in order to show that S u n g C h ia n g did not pale. I f it were not meant to be interpreted thus, then why does it not record the words, “ S u n g C h ia n g an d the others a ll . . W u Y u n g entreated him, saying: A g a in it p lainly records that W u Y u n g entreated him in order to show that S u n g C h ia n g did N O 丁 entreat him. S k ill­ f u lly subtle expression! N o different fr o m that o f the S p r i n g

and

A utu m n

A n n a l s . “Brother, it is o f ill om en to have the wind break your banner

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staff ju s t as you begin a cam paign. D elay a while settling scores with thkt creature/* “W hat’j strange about the natural movem ents o f the winds and clouds o f heaven and earth?” C h ’ao Kai said. “L et us take advantage o f this warm spring weather. I f I don't go to take him now bu t instead wait for them to grow still strongfer before we advance our troops, that would be too late. D o n ’t try to delay me— n o m atter what, I must go out this once!” H ow could W u Y u n g alone restrain him? With each line Sung Chian^s crime becomes more serious. Skillfully subtle expression! C h ’ao Kai led his troops across the water; S u n g C h ia n g returned to the mountain stronghold, secretly dispatching T a i T s u n g dow n the m ountain to listen for news. That this last action has no outcome is not because'Shih Nai-an here divulges his real intention. He uses this skillfully subtle expression to make clear that this defeat comes as no surprise to Sung Chiang~his thoughts of rescue serve to make his crime even more serious! Reading this passage swiftly makes it appear that he describes Sung Chiang as being good; only if one reads it care­ fully can one discern that infact it reveals Sung Chiang’s crimes. The marvelous subtleties of his style are to befound in 'what is left unsaid. How could one hope that people of this age could read and apprehend its true significance? 24

Even a hasty com parison o f these two passages reveals that C hin Sheng-t’an has deleted from his version all dem onstrations o f altruis­ tic concern on the part o f Sung C hiang, attributing w hatever remains to the strategist W u Y un g. T h is subtle change m ight go unnoticed, how ever, w ere it not fo r C hin’s outspoken com ­ m entary— which frequently equals the test itself in length fo r any given scene. A n d as i f the interlinear notes w ere insufficient to clarify his condem nation o f Sung C hiang, in C hin Sheng-t’an’s edi­ tion this chapter begins with a note that reads, in part: T h a t S u n g C h ia n g slew C h ’ao Kai is sim ply unforgivable. T h is is not to say that Shih W en -k u n g’s arrow actually came from S u n g C h ia n g ’s hand. N or is it to say that S u n g C h ia n g clearly knew that the five “tiger generals” o f T se n g t’oushih w ould be able to kill C h ’ao Kai and that he sat back to o ffer no aid for this reason. N o, C h ’ao Kai’s death today was truly not som ething that S u n g C h ian g had considered. A n d yet to have C h ’ao JCai dead— this w ould be advantageous to S u n g Chiang. T h is is Som ething he had realized lon g ago.25

Chin Sheng-t’an continues his nbte in this vein; obviously his inten­ tion is to make every action o f Sung C hiang som ehow sinister, to make this character as m orally reprehensible as possible— even when the e ffo rt requires a distortion o f the text as he him self am ended it! His revisions o f this character are fully consistent and serve a specific

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purpose, the discrediting p f the image o f Sung C h ian g as loyal to the Sung imperial throne and awaiting chao-an, a pardon and a sum­ mons to service. Chin accomplishes this by retaining most o f Sung C hiang’s comments from earlier versions while utilizing his in­ terlinear com m entary to im pute treacherous motives to the charac­ ter, as if “revealing” his deepest motives. A n exam ple o f this specious “psychological analysis” occurs in a conversation from C hapter 31. H ere Suhg C hiang, still a court func­ tionary at this point, offers in a spirit o f cam araderie to travel together with W u Sung, even though the latter is a convicted crim i­ nal. W u Sung replies to the offer: “I f H eaven takes pity on m e then I may be pardoned yet some day before I die. W hen that happens I will come to visit you, elder brother, and it will still not be too late.” W u S u n g does not need to say this— it is merely because S u n g C h ia n g ’s previous words moved him deeply and thus he, too, speaks generously. . . . R ea d in g such words truly causes me to weep, particu­ larly because he does not realize that S u n g C h ia n g is not what he appears to be. S u n g C h ian g said, “I f you harbor this wish to return your al­ legiance to the imperial court, then A u g u st H eaven will grant you assis­ tance.,5 N otice that a ll o f this praise is nothing but a crafty ploy.26

Chin Sheng-t’an’s overarching concern in all his em endations and revisions o f Water Margin is to dem onstrate how unw orthy rebels and brigands, particularly their leaders, are to receive the em peror’s pardon. As his persona— a ju d g e before whom the heroes lie in fet­ t e r s d e c la r e s on the novel’s final pages, ju st before the 108 heroes are executed: “Y o u deserve ten thousand deaths, you lawless thieves! Y ou have filled the world with your crimes. T h e court has sent men several times to apprehend you, and yet you haye openly killed in­ num erable troops! Now you come w agging your tails and begging for pity as a way to escape the headsm an’s ax— w ere I to pardon you today, by what means could I bring order to the world in days to come? W ho could trust you_ you with the treacherous heart o f a w o lf!” As the novel reports that all the heroes are executed, C hin’s interlinear com m ent reads, “T ru ly auspicious w ord s!” 27 W hy such venom on the part o f an editor and annotator? Chin was speaking directly to his times. D uring the Sung period, brigands had been pardoned; the historical band led by Sung C hiang attests to this. T h e same policy was continued du rin g the M ing until near the end o f the dynasty. T h en , when various pardoned brigands re­

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belled a second time, official policy shifted from pardon to the sim­ ple exterm ination o f all rebels as authority waned and rebels grew stronger. A few contem porary examples: In 1629 Y an g Ho (d.1635), a scholar, was appointed suprem e com m ander o f the Shensi frontier > area. Following official policy, he pardoned thirty-six camps o f brigands in his area, only fo r them to rise again stronger than ever. H e was exiled fo r m isjudgm ent. In 1634, the official C h ’en C h ’i-yii (d.1648) trapped Li T zu -ch ’en g ，C h an g H sien-chung, and 36,000 o f their troops in a Shensi valley. H e accepted their surrender, but when they rebelled again C h ’en was exiled fo r his erro r in judgm ent. A n even m ore serious case was that o f H siung W en-ts’an (d.1640), one o f the highest military com m anders executed by the last M ing em peror. H siung m ade his glorious official career in the suppression o f pirates and rebels— by pardon. In 1628 he was ap­ pointed governor o f Fukien and soon won the surrender o f a pirate leader with a large fleet o f W estern style ships and weapons; H siung •used this form er pirate to battle other rebellious groups from then until 1635. H e received one o f the most lucrative posts in the em pire as his reward. Early in 1638 he was placed in cdm m and o f 120,000 im perial troops in central China, but H siung posted notices prom is­ ing pardon for any rebel w ho would yield. Finally C h an g Hsiench ung surrendered, and H siung allowed him to retain his comm and over 10,000 men, even arm ing 3,000 o f them. O th er bandits fo l­ lowed C h an g’s lead, but in 1639，w hen M anchu incursions into North C hina forced the transfer o f num erous im perial troops to the Peking area, C h an g resum ed his raiding. H siung was placed u nder arrest and executed the follow ing year. His m odern biographer notes that H siung’s failure to deal effectively with rebels contributed to the fall o f the M in g ;28 im perial efforts after 1640 shifted away from pardon to exterm ination as a result o f H siung’s mistake, but it made no difference in the end. C hin Sheng-t’an supported the exterm ination policy; he was very likely well aware o f the outcom e o f pardon fo r Y a n g H o and C h ’en C h ’i-yii，if not the ultimate fall o f H siung W en-ts’an. Presum ­ ably, as a m ere student Chin could not have petitioned the throne; instead he chose the novel as a m edium fo r presenting his views. T o this extent, he functioned in the role o f Confucian “sage,” attem pt­ ing to prom ote stability and harm ony in the world by taking an outspoken position on a crucial issue o f his day. A s sage, C hin em-

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bodied views that should have won him the praise o f C hina’s literate elite; other Confucian moralists o f his day similarly stood for re­ form , not revolution. It is ironic that his w ork was so m isunderstood at that time; Chin died because he deliberately u rged the end o f o f­ ficial corruption in Soochow, a stand totally congruent with his stance in Water Margin. B ut even that was m isrepresented as an act o f disrespect fo r the deceased em peror; rapacious officials obscured the real reason fo r the dem onstration o f protest. Chin thus left a legacy quite the opposite o f what he had hoped for: the novel he edited was praised fo r the adventures o f the outlaws he him self con­ dem ned, and his attackers pinned on him the labels he sought to pin on others. As he states in his second preface to the novel: Supposing loyalty and altruism were to be fou nd in W ater M a rg in — then surely loyalty and altruism w ould be the most ill-om ened and detestable things in the world! Furtherm ore, i f loyalty and altruism were to be found in W ater M a rg in ，then the country w ould have to be lacking in them! . . . W ere those one hundred eight persons to obtain pardon from the S u n g court, how could one be assured that in the future there would not be tens, hundreds, thousands, or tens o f thousands o f people who would try to achieve the same end? Shih N ai-an was concerned lest this happen; this was his motivation in writing.29

Ironically, despite his painstaking work, C hin Sheng-t’an’s Water Margin continued to be seen as advocating rebellion in the nam e o f loyalty and altruism— at a time when precious few dem onstrations o f these virtues were to be found in reality. His worst fears had come true.

The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang:

The Unworthy Ruler While Water Margin tales focus on the general inequities o f the traditional. Chinese political and social system as applied in individ­ ual instances, another work originally com posed late in the M ing e x ­ amines the hierarchical system from a higher level— the throne it­ self. A lth ou gh Chin Sheng-t’arv was concerned with the effect o f unchecked banditry and placed blame fo r it on selfish ministers, nei­ ther he nor any earlier contributor to that novel questioned the fu n ­ dam ental propriety o f loyalty to the em peror and to the state. A s he

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appears in the longer versions o f Water Margin, the Sung em peror Hui-tsung (r. 1100—1126) is inept and indecisive, a m alleable pawn fo r unscrupulous ministers. B ut rebellion does not succeed in Water Margin; only the irascible w arrior Li K ’uei is brazen enough to suggest that it should, although Sung C hiang silences him as soon as tfie words leave his mouth. Furtherm ore, all earlier versions o f Water Margin narrate the deaths o f most o f the Liangshanpo heroes* in the service o f their liege and his state. Sui Yang-ti yen-shih (The M erry A dventures o f E m peror Yang, literally “T h e ‘Rom antic’ History o f E m peror Y an g o f the Sui” ）ad­ dresses the im perial institution directly, using historical events o f the Sui dynasty, a . d . 589-618, as m etaphor fo r contem porary M ing real­ ity. The Merry Adventures appeared anonym ously in 1631, its author signing his preface with the untraceable pseudonym “Rustic from the Sticks” （ C h ’i-tung yeh-jen).30 This short novel, forty chapters in length, is not widely known now, although it was frequently re­ printed and even adapted to form segments o f other works during the seventeenth century.31 Its unknow n author was a writer o f ap­ preciable talent and, like other novelists o f his age, a man o f broad reading. The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang is skillfully woven together from a num ber o f written sources and incorporates an appreciable am ount o f poetry. Som e was written by the historical personages to whom it is ascribed here; other verse is original and o f reasonably good quality. O n the w hole the novel is written in an even, clear, and uniform style. O bviously the w ork is the product o f meticulous planping, a clear design, careful compilation, and thor­ ough polishing. The Merry Adventures was am ong the works suppressed du rin g the C h ’ing period, as was Water Margin.32 A t first glance one m ight expect that this action was taken because o f its explicit descriptions o f the em peror’s less conventional sexual exploits, all carefully ex­ purgated from most m odern editions. M ore likely, again like Watef Margin, it was proscribed fo r the political questions it raises, albeit far less directly than did C hin Sheng-t’an in his comm entaries. Its underlying concerns: what constitutes loyalty to an unjust ruler? Is* rebellion really justified against such a m onarch, in accordance with the M encian doctrine referred to by Chin Sheng-t’an in Water Margin? A n d when, at what degree o f excess, can a ruler be labeled unw orthy o f that title?

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In classical Confucian terms, these questions refer to the ^rec­ tification o f nam es” (chen^-ming) problem, an ethical, not m etaphys­ ical, theory espoused by Confucius himself. In the words o f the sage: I f language is incorrect, then w hat is said does not concord with what is meant, and if what is said does not concord with what was meant, what is to be done cannot be effected. I f what is to be d one cannot be effec­ ted, then rites and music will not flourish. I f rites and music [the nor­ mative values] do not flourish, then mutilations and lesser punishments will go astray. A n d i f mutilations and lesser punishments go astray, then the people will have nowhere to pu t hand or foot.33

Specifically applied to social control, this principle was paraphrased: “Let the prince be a prince, the minister a minister, the father a fa­ ther, and the son a son.” 34 H owever, nowhere in C onfucian writings are there any m ore specific requirem ents for the ruler than there are fo r the other social categories. Instead, a Chinese traditionally had to exam ine the verdict o f history to determ ine which ruler was good and which was not. T h e disguised novelist chose a period on which historians had reached an unquestioned verdict as m irror for his own time. E m peror Y an g o f the Sui (Yang K uang, a . d . 569-618), in the words o f a m odern historian, “was the second and last ruler o f a dy­ nasty which successfully brought to an end C hina’s longest period o f disunity and laid many o f the institutional foundations o f the em ­ pires that followed; a gifted and brilliant man whose fate it was to bring his em pire to spectacular ruin.’’ 35 W hile scholars nowadays may ponder the man behind the mythical figure castigated by C hi­ nese tradition, our concern is m ore with the latter than with the his­ torical reality. T h a t is, to evaluate the political significance o f the novel, we must exam ine its m ajor character as readers already knew him, as a classic villain. In traditional history Y an g was a “bad last ruler,” one who bore the prim ary, i f not sole, responsibility fo r the flem ise o f his state through his own inappropriate behavior. How can his behavior confidently be adjudged inappropriate? Because his state fell. A n d why was that his responsibility? Because each individ­ ual had the freedom — and the responsibility— to interpret the limita­ tions o f his or her role in old Chinese society unless strictures were presented by external factors. As m onarch, few er obvious limiting factors im pinged on the em peror’s actions than on those o f people on other levels o f society. In theory all others owed him loyalty for

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the significance o f his role in society, that o f m ediator between man and the forces o f nature, ch ief representative o f hum anity. Particu­ larly by Confucian standards, the ruler was the behavioral m odel for all his followers. T h erefo re, m oral laxity on the part o f this one indi­ vidual could have widespread and disastrous consequences. A s C o n ­ fucius reportedly said, “ R uling is straightening. I f you lead along a straight way, who will dare go by a crooked one?” In relation to the masses o f people he also adm onished a ruler, saying: “Y o u are there to rule, not to slay. I f you desire what is good, the people will at once be good. T h e essence o f the gentlem an is that o f wind; the essence o f small [common] people is that o f grass. A n d w hen a wind passes over the grass, it cannot choose but bend.’’ 36 T h e “bad last ruler” in C onfucian moral history, then, is one who set the worst possible exam ple fo r his ministers and the masses. T h e last m onarch o f the ancient Shang dynasty, K ing C hou (elev­ enth century B .C .), has since the earliest extended historical writings been known as the ultimate Chinese villain in this regard. His crimes and excesses were o f fo u r categories: the tyrannous abuse o f his p o­ litical power, unrestrained self-indulgence, licentiousness, and the flouting o f established norm s fo r interpersonal behavior. M ore spe­ cifically, this ancient king was charged with favoritism toward syco­ phantic but corrupt officials and total disregard fo r the counsels o f the upright and the plight o f the masses; drunkenness, elaborate construction o f buildings and vehicles fo r his own enjoym ent; and laziness, unrestrained lust leading to orgies, sadistic acts, sodomy, and infatuation with an im m oral woman; and finally, disregard for proper relations with parents, brothers, wife, H eaven, and the spirits.37 Historians w riting d u rin g the T ’ang period concentrated on many o f these characteristics in w riting about E m peror Yang. T h ey deem phasized his sexual license and m ade little m ention o f his in­ volvem ent in both patricide and fratricide. Instead, official historians stressed his tyrannous exploitation o f the w orking masses through taxation to support his endless wars and construction projects, while condem ning his unrestrained self-indulgence in general terms. T h e areas left u nexplored or brushed over by the official histo­ rians found ample attention in the collections o f inform al anecdotes about E m peror Y an g and his reign com piled by T ’ang- and .Sungperiod literati. Four such collections exist, listed usually by literary historians as cKuan-cKi, and hence considered m ore in the realm o f

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fiction than history, although palace gossip and otherwise u nre­ corded fact may well make up m any o f their episodes. T h ese works in the literary language detail his licentious behavior, listing the numbers o f young wom en kept in his various palaces to satisfy his prodigious sexual appetite and his m any erotic devices. T h ese four tales docum ent his abuses o f pow er as well: his flogging or execution o f ministers who opposed his will, the massacres o f innocent peas­ ants to slake his frenzied wrath over m inor frustrations. A n d they detail the colossal waste o f resources, material and hum an, in the endless construction projects requiring the lives o f millions and vir­ tually all the surplus wealth o f the entire country .38、 By far the longest in this sequence o f lives o f E m peror Y an g is The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang. Its length not only allows de­ tailed descriptions and conversations, but also stern m oralization on the tragedies w rought by this one deluded man. Structurally, the novel is divided into fou r sections by editorial references to events that herald new stages in the em peror’s career. Th ese sections are his rise to the throne, his consolidation o f pow er and glory, the decline o f his rule through excesses, and the inevitable fall o f the Sui. W ithin the narrative itself these stages are indicated by refer; ence to E m peror Y an g’s changing attitudes concerning him self and his role as head o f state, to the im port o f om ens that regularly ap­ pear, and to the condition o f his dynasty. In the novel’s first section, Chapters 1 to 4, E m peror Y an g is born to the wife o f the Sui found er soon after the state is es­ tablished. Its predecessor in south China, the C h ’en, had fallen through the self-indulgence o f its ruler (who spent his time drink­ ing, w riting poetry, and engaging in endless sexual bouts with his fa­ vorite consort). Initially the new em peror, by contrast, is upright and a conscientious administrator. His empress, T u -k u , is o f similarly firm moral fiber. B ut when she retires to the back palace to give birth, the sovereign uses this unprecedented freedom to begin his first dalliance with a palace maid. T h e em press learns o f it and has the girl beaten to death in a fit o f jealous rage, occasioning a serious rift between the im perial couple. Just at this time Empress Tu -ku gives birth to the futu re E m peror Yang; parturition comes as she dream s o f a red dragon that issues from her body to coil aloft, only to be blown down by the wind and turn into a rat. O th er omens are

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m ore auspicious, and from the first this child becomes the favorite son o f a doting m other. A t a very early age, barely in his teens, this boy learns the conse­ quences o f being a second son. Fearful o f his elder brother, the heir apparent, he lives the life o f an exem plary child, filial in all that he dQes, studious and totally upright. A t this time Y a n g ’s appearance is real; his fraud consists only in feigning less interest in the throhe than he really has. W ith the aid o f several older courtiers, including the pow erful Y an g Su (d. Qo6), he convinces his parents that the crown prince is promiscuous and, by im plication, otherwise morally unfit to rule. T h e older brother is deposed and Y an g is installed in his place. Ironically, the em press dies soon afterw ard; the em peror celebrates his em ancipation from the shrew by taking on two con­ cubines. H e indulges to excess, and before long he is bedridden, severely ill. His illness occasions a m eeting between Y an g and one o f the concubines; Y an g is infatuated and attempts to seduce the girl ju st outside the sickroom. T h is incident becomes the source o f his ul­ timate undoing: enraged by this indiscretion, the ailing em peror suf­ fers a relapse and attempts to have the form er crown prince re­ called. Y an g Su seals o f f the im perial bedcham ber, leaving the old em peror to die unattended as he makes final arrangem ents fo r Y an g to ascend the throne. T h e second section o f The Merry Adventures begins with Y an g as a diligent sovereign. Despite fateful om ens portending ruin for mis­ use o f position, this section, Chapters 5 through 18, shows Y a n g as ruler in fact as well as in name. First he makes peace with his em ­ press, Hsiao; the lady establishes h erself firm ly in his affections by allowing him to carry on with his fath er’s concubine. B ut his sexual activities begin to interfere with his court audiences. W hen the con­ cubine dies o f a guilty constience, Empress Hsiao encourages Y an g to find other consorts by scouring the realm fo r beautiful women. O hce Y an g Su objects, E m peror Y an g begins schem ing to be rid o f him. A faithful d w a rf is impressed by his glory and devotes his life to serving the em peror. Y an g’s m agnificent panoply as he travels to the frontiers o f the realm impresses border states, and this leads to flourishing foreign trade. T h e em peror crushes all opposition at court and abroad, becom ing m ore and m ore autocratic. A n d ever m ore the sensualist, he begins both his lavish construction projects

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and his constant succession o f sexual encounters. In his eyes he has been successful in all his endeavors; Y an g fancies him self the equal o f the great dynastic founders o f C h ’in and Han. T h is is despite repeated war 域ngs to the contrary in om inous happenings，from his ministers, and even by the shade o f the last C h ’en ruler who visits Y an g du rin g a besotted dream . In addition, starving peasants begin to rebel. T h e n in C hapter 19 his brother-in-law suggests excavating the G rand Canal; E m peror Y an g agrees, and his political fortunes take a sharp turn fo r the worse. T h is marks the beginning o f the novel’s third section. His henchm en encounter strong supernatural opposi­ tion to the em peror’s construction projects; undaunted, they drive the millions o f corvee laborers onward despite a horrifying toll in hum an lives. O ne canal overseer, Ma Shu-mou, even turns to canni­ balism— a logical extension o f the em peror’s inhum ane pursuit o f sensual gratification. E m peror Y an g is well aware that his state may fall as a consequence o f his actions, but instead o f trying to reverse political decline through personal reform and repentance, he chooses to question the validity o f such predictions. In a dream his sleeping mind is sum m oned away to the underw orld w here his alter ego, a cow-sized rat, is beaten about the head fo r failure to m end his ways. But to no avail; Y an g ignores all admonitions and portents and loses him self in wine and sex, music and poefry. Significantly, China's vassal states have by now ceased sending tribute missions; Y an g orders a punitive expedition against the states on the north­ eastern border, east o f the Liao river and in northern Korea. As his armies move northward, Y an g travels south along the newly com ­ pleted canal, which again occasions the deaths o f m ore o f the poor. Finally disaster strikes those who deserve it: Y an g has his cannibal­ istic underling executed together with all his accomplices. Local resi­ dents rejoice at this, although their sufferin g is not dim inished in any other respect. T h e novel’s final section begins in C hapter 30 with the imperial entourage installed in Yangchow , the em peror’s new southern capi­ tal. Y an g now wants a secluded place fo r dalliance and orders con­ struction o f the M aze Palace. H owever, the state coffers are empty; his people are im poverished; banditry is rife. Now Y an g struggles to ju stify his acts; his vanity reaches its peak as his glory reaches its most superficial moment. First he debates philosophical questions

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with a pair o f otherworldly characters, Taoists, laughing at their in­ vitation to jo in them in their m ountain retreat. His self-satisfaction complete, E m peror Y an g eyen calls him self lord o f all m en and spirits alike, the equal o f divine immortals (hsien). B y this time Y an g has become pathetic in his self-delusion. His health has failed, which had occasioned the visit o f the Taoists. T h e relie f they bring him only allows furth er indulgence in a pet fancy, deflow ering virgins— Y an g especially enjoys causing them pain.39 A n oth er transcendent being offers him a pow erful aphrodisiac; Y an g gladly uses it to bring him self m ore pleasure and, o f course, his partners m ore pain. W hen the d w arf W ang I persuades him to abstain from sex and wine to preserve himself, E m peror Y an g succeeds in staying away from wom en fo r only one day. T h is he accomplishes by staying quite drunk and availing him self o f the services o f a youn g male atten­ dant. M eanwhile his dynasty crumbles. T h e Sui armies have not been victorious in Korea; rebels are rising everyw here, and efforts to suppress them are left to inept and cowardly lackeys. Unable to bear such unhappy news, Y an g orders execution for anyone who reports on rebel successes. Consequently he hears nothing o f the plots against his life. Y an g is blam ed fo r all the calamities by everyone, friend and foe alike. D ream ing and awake, he is forced to confront his culpability. His response is anxiety, fear, and grief, but only just before the assassins strangle him does he finally adm it his guilt and express contrition. B y then there is no chance fo r reform , o f course, and The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang draws to a quick conclu­ sion. Most o f these events are not original to the novel; they can be traced to the four ch， uan-ch， i tales m entioned above. T h e anonym ous novelist simply incorporated them, rearranging the material into a convincing chronological sequence. CKuan-cKi tales characteristically provide only bare plot outlines; the novelist’s contribution even to his borrow ed materials is considerable, given the extensive elabeJration o f these outlines in The Merry Adventures. B ut why, in 16 3 1，do we have a new novel on the already infam ous E m peror Yang? T h e answer lies in the surprising similarities between his tale and events du rin g the reign o f the M ing W an-li em peror who died in 1620. T h e homilies on the direct relationship between im perial abuses and chaos in the realm with which the text is punctuated are far from gratuitous— this novelist was m aking an earnest w arning fo r his a g e .'

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T h e m onarch in question came to the throne at the age o f nine in 1572, and reigned longer than any Chinese ruler had in the pre­ ceding sixteen centuries. T h e first decade o f his reign was a time o f relative stability and prosperity, in certain regards the high point o f M ing power and culture. T h e youthful E m peror Y a n g owed his position to Y an g Su; the" W an-li em peror also ruled by the grace— and with the assistance— o f his m other, a ch ief eunuch, and the allpow erful nlinister C h an g Chii-cheng. W hen the latter died in 1582, the young M ing ruler m oved to eliminate any further domination. H e confiscated the extensive properties o f the eunuch for his own use and purged the governm ent o f C h an g’s supporters. C o n ­ sequently real court officials, like their fictional Sui counterparts, hurried to ingratiate themselves with the m onarch by supporting all his whims. W ith his tutor now out o f the way, the Wan-li em peror turned to pleasure. From 1589 until 1615 he refused to appear at court audiences, not even attending his m other’s funeral in 1614 (an act o f filial disrespect analogous to E m peror Y an g ’s patricide by ne­ glect). R elaxing with his ladies, the Wan-li em peror relied on eunuchs to transmit messages, even to make decisions in his nam e, thus invit­ ing the rapacity from which the novel’s poor likewise suffer. In 1587 he began to ignore memorials; Y an g too neglects such reports for years. N ot surprisingly, both in history and in fiction, im perial laxity caused partisanship to spread, with resulting inefficiency and mis­ representation o f essential facts (the cannibalistic adm inistrator Ma Shu-mou in the novel had his partisans stop all report^ o f his outra­ geous behavior from reaching the capital，fo r exam ple). A n d the m ore criticism the Wan-li em peror received, th^/more violent were his reactions to it; like Yang, he resorted to flogging or even, execu­ tion for his opponents. A fte r 1609，a num ber o f conscientious o f­ ficials, declining to be associated with his projects, resigned their posts without form al permission; Li Y iian (566—635)，the future T ’ang em peror, likewise refused to serve in the G rand Canal excava­ tions. T h e last decades o f both reigns w ere m arked by helpless frus­ tration fo r court officials. Many o f the focuses fo r historical M ing partisan disputes find no parallel in The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang: over the site o f the imperial tomb (1585), over appointing a crown prince (158 6 -16 0 1— interestingly, his eldest son was the offsp rin g o f his ir­

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regular connection with a palace maid), over m erit evaluations o f ministers (1593). B ut others do: the role o f eunuch tax commissioners and their abuses o f power, especially in collecting funds for the M ing war in K orea (1594) and for the construction o f several palaces in 1596 and 1597. In 1599 local officials com plained that the em ­ peror^ creatures were resorting to all sorts o f excesses, from extor 、 tion to m urder, a charge legally not far rem oved from Ma Shum ou’s cannibalism. T h ro u g h the second decade o f the seventeenth‘ century especially, the Wan-li em peror squandered enorm ous amounts o f m oney in palace construction and for pleasure "boats. D uring the years from 1593 to I604 he had a new canal d u g from the Yellbw River to the H uai and north into Shantung to provision the northeast m ore easily— as had Y ang. T h is late M ing em peror even bought d ff the Mongols on his northern frontier with annual gifts and sent punitive expeditions into the northeast, the northwest,• and the southwest as well. T h e Wan-li em peror’s personal life was characterized by greed ， drunkenness, extravagance, and sexual indulgence. Self-styled "good elements” (shan-lei) at his court, like the moralist-novelist, con­ tinuously-criticized him, advocating traditional m oral standards and sternly condem ning the sensuality ram pant in society to which the m onarch had so heartily contributed. N ot surprisingly, the em ' p eror’s personal life seriously affected his health. From 1589 onward he reportedly suffered from dizziness, shortness o f tem per, and an inability to tolerate anxiety. Y an g too is unable to cope with the polit­ ical traum as o f his age, and takes refu ge from them in sex. In. pointed contrast, however, this M ing em peror apparently not only ate well but also ate a lot; he was grotesquely obese. H e died in bed, not at the hands o f assassins, but shortly before his dem ise confessed his dereliction o f duty as sovereign. His state had been brought to its knees, although it had not yet fallen, when C hu I-chiin was buried in the Ting-ling, a palatial tomb com plex north o f Peking.40 Most parallels between these two stories, that o f the historipal W an-li em peror and that recorded in The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang, are perfectly obvious when the two are juxtaposed. O ne m ight object that the two are substantially different, that similarities are pure coincidence. B ut accident could only have produced this partic­ ular novel at this particular time if the novelist had been totally un­ aware o f contem porary events. Its author’s seriousness is reflected in

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the pointed morals he draws from the narrative. For.exam ple, by way o f introduction he briefly surveys Six Dynasties history up to the last ruler o f the C h ’en ，w hereupon he comments: “Day and night he engaged in licentious activities purely fo r the sake, o f pleasure. How would he realize that wealth and glory are not som ething that can be enjoyed forever, that the realm is no playground!” 41 In reference to Y an g’s father, he comments: “E m peror W en was a perspicacious man, know ing that illness arises as a consequence o f debauchery.” 42 T h e drunken Y an g Su likewise declares: “T h ese eunuchs and palace bawds are a bad lot. A n y time in the past that a m onarch has in­ dulged them even a little, it has only b rought ruin to him. Now I’m not trying to be impolite by knocking them into line this once. B ut even though Y o u r Highness may be hum ane and loving to them, if they know that your old subject here is holding the reins, in the fu ­ ture they’ll be on their toes and won’t dare get out o f line.” 43 W hile Y an g Su is not necessarily any m ore adm irable than C h an g Chiicheng in the M ing, this minister ip the fictional version does forestall abuse o f pow er by his underlings. B ut he, as did C hang, dies early in his liege’s reign; rem oving both ministers prom pts both monarchs to dedicate their lives to pleasure. In the ambiguous tz’u poem with which C hapter 8 begins, the novelist warns against needless border wars that serve only to bring death and poverty to C hina’s people, rem arking that present rulers are not equal to the heroes o f the past in governing.44 T h e “present” in this context m ight m ean the setting o f the novel— but does it not also indicate the author’s time? O n the em peror’s greed, he observes, caustically ， H e wins the north and wants the west Becom es a lord then hopes to be a saint!

/

O f repletion, his greedy heart knows never a taint— O n ly w hen the coffin’s covered w e’ll finally put it to rest.45

Significantly, there is no reference in The Merry Adventures to Y an g’s interest in westward expansion o f the realm, literally to Shu; it was the M ilig em peror who conducted cam paigns against the tribal peoples on the southwest frontier, thus m aking this poem refer both to the fictional Sui and to the novelist’s own time. “T h e majesty and honor o f the court/Once lost can never be recovered， ” 46 the novelist exclaims: •

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A ll the wealth in H eaven and Earth is ju s t a limited am ount, N o matter w hether am ong the mass or in the ministers’ store. W hen masses and the ministers’ store both are w run g out dry, In deed it’s due to a passion for ever m ore building.47

In C hapter 18 he cautions against self-serving ministers at court; in C hapter 19 he laments the cruelty with which laborers on imperial construction projects are treated.48 A n d on num erous occasions the novelist’s refrain is the disaster inevitably follow ing untram m eled im perial waste. E m peror Y an g is the protagonist o f The Merry Adventures, cer­ tainly not its hero in the sense o f being a positive character. N or is he a simple villain. His acts are condem ned fo r the most part, but not the man. From the beginning, Y an g is a man o f little foresight, m yopically devoted to the pursuit o f personal satisfaction. B ut he is intelligent and energetic; with quick and decisive strokes he wrests power from those w ho put him on the throne. In his leisure m o­ ments he is an esthete, com posing poetry, comm issioning architec­ tural m onum ents and musical compositions with equal discrimi­ nation. Yang's problem , his tragic flaw, is his total lack o f understanding o f the established role o f em peror— he has no sense o f duty to any calling h igher than the vague desire to establish a glorious reign. T o Y an g the sensualist, glory is m easured quantita­ tively, in num bers o f construction projects, tributary states, poems, palace ladies. A t times the novel’s otherwise negative narrator too must agree that Y an g ’s reign surpasses that o f the first em peror o f the C h ’in or o f the early Han. B ut the effects o f Y a n g ’s various proj­ ects, the deprivation, starvation, exposure, and death suffered by millions o f com m on people, attract his attention not at all. For this reason, the narrator roundly condem ns him as a deluded ruler. T h e net effect o f these contradictory sides o f the man is a type o f truth, o f accuracy in depicting a character who fails to conform to his social role and yet is not really aware o f it. A m onarch o f such despotic tendencies as E m peror Y an g is a character typical o f the M ing period, for it was d u rin g this time that C hina’s imperial system becam e its most autocratic. T h e M ing founder, fearing that those w ho helped him com e to pow er m ight try to unseat him, had simply abolished the higher civilian positions in the state. Earlier Chinese em perors had ruled in cooperation with

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a body o f ministers who y ie ld e d trem endous pow er in adm inistra­ tion and w ho screened the! mountains o f docum ents daily received at court. T h e early M ing enlperors reduced the political significance o f all ministers by disregarding their right and obligation as loyal sub­ jects to speak out frankly in censure; opposition to the throne was silenced by brutally beating high officials in open court. D uring the M ing it seem ed possible that the em peror could rule by whim; even the dom inant philosophical trends in N eo-Confucianism reinforced the idea that the individual, presum ably also the em peror, m ade his destiny by his own actions.49 It is worth noting that a new Confucian “classic” appeared d u r­ in g the M ing and was fo r a time required reading fo r the civil ser­ vice ^examinations. T h e Gkung ching (Classic o f Loyalty) was widely regarded as spurious, but it m ade a neat parallel to the m ore venera­ ble Hsiao ching (Classic o f Filial Piety), a prim er o f basic Gonfvtcian views on the subject. Loyalty stressed the absolute subservience o f the subject to his lord, with little o f the reciprocal obligation that hum an­ ized the regulations fo r other aspects o f social life. T h ese new no-? tions on the part o f rulers and o f the literate elite thus com bined to make questions o f fidelity to one’s lord somewhat differen t in late M ing from what they had been in other periods. The Merry Adven­ tures of Emperor Yang posits a m an thus freed from perceived obliga­ tion and relatively at liberty to indulge his fancies. M inor characters are used to em body differen t interpretations o f this required loyalty: they are divided between those who serve the throne and those who serve the man, between those w ho follow any com m and blindly and those who put their own values above the em peror’s instructions. T h e central questions behind the novelist’s m anipulation o f these m inor characters, then, are what loyalty means, and w hen and how it should be expressed. T h ese m inor characters are without moral, psychological, or em otional com plexity fo r the most part; their func­ tion in the novel is precisely to illuminate these varying degrees and types o f loyalty and to highlight the personality o f the em peror. T h e ir loyalty ranges between fealty and love. Characters exem plify­ ing these responses include W ang I, Y ii Shih-nan, Empress Hsiao, and various palace ladies, am ong them C h u Kuei-erh. W ang I, a fictitious character, is a paragon o f selfless devotion to Em peror Y an g the man. A dw arf, W ang is presented as a tribute gift

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to the throne by the people o f southern C h ’u (if any historical place is meant, it is an area south o f the Yangtze): In appearance he had dark eyebrows and beautiful eyes, but in stature he was short. His movem ents were pleasing to the eye. H e had a quick intelligence, a ready tongue, and was particularly skilled in repartee.

In response to the em peror’s am used questioning, W ang explains that he was sent by his people on the basis o f his loyalty and altruism {chung-i), valued far beyond any m erely physical attribute. Em peror Y a n g laughed and said: “H ere I have innum erable civil o f­ ficials and military officers. W ho am on g them is not a loyal subject and an altruistic gentlem an? H ow is it that you have any m onopoly on these virtues?” “Loyalty and altruism are the treasures o f the state,” W an g I said. “卞he ruler o f m en is constantly concerned that he has not en ou gh o f them — how could he be annoyed by their superfluity and thus want to get rid o f some? . . .’’ 50

Em peror Y an g is im pressed by this m an’s forthrightness; W ang I, for his part, is utterly taken with his lord. A fte r all, W ang is in­ troduced in the novel’s second section, at a time w hen Y an g is con­ solidating his rule. T h e m onarch at that time is m agnificent fo r his m ultifaceted talents and resolution. T h e y becom e constant com ­ panions when Y an g is at court, and W an g I becomes a trusted ser­ vant o f the em peror. H owever, so strong is the d w a rf’s feeling for Y an g that he cannot bear to be away from him fo r the lon g hours daily that the em peror spends sequestered with his ladies. This makes the d w a rf despondent; fo r his p art，the em peror admits “W e cannot do without you fo r a single m om ent•” T h u s W an g I castrates h im self; as a eunuch he is perm itted into the palace. T h e m onarch too is overjoyed: “I had no idea that you so loved your lord,” he exclaims. Empress Hsiao likewise declares he is “a man o f loyalty and altruism ， ” 51 although W ang’s act goes far beyond m ere fealty to a kind o f desperate love. (T h e novel leaves unexplored the darker, covertly sexual implications o f this self-mutilation; most likely the author did not perceive them.) T h ereafter, on several occasions (Chapters 14 , 18 , 33 , and 35 ) the d w a rf lectures his sovereign on proper behavior, on the seriousness o f omens, on the dangers o f sexual excess, and on appropriate political m aneuvers. A n d yet

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when the fall o f Y an g’s state is imminent, the em peror asks W ang why his warnings w ere not m ore to the point: T ears stream ing from his eyes, W an g I replied: “I ，your subject, am but a useless man from a faraway place; still, I was favored by being presented to you, lord, thus receiving your sagely favor. Consequently I castrated m yself to be nearer to your dragon countenance. T h e world is in chaos, but this is not a recent state o f affairs. ‘W hen there is hoarfrost underfoot, solid ice is not far o f f ’一 it has been lon g in com ing. Your subject realized that great calamity could not be averted, but it is not be­ cause

I

did not speak o f it sooner. H ad I spoken o f it earlier, however, I

would have been dead lon g ago. H ow could I have been with Y o u r M aj­ esty as lo n g as this i f I had?” A s he finished speaking, his tears poured down like rain. H eartbroken, Em peror Y a n g too began to w eep.52

T h e next day W ang presents a detailed listing o f the em peror’s mistakes and excesses. T h e reason he had not spoken so directly before, W ang explains, is becausp he “loved life” at a time that the em peror was executing all w ho criticized him. O f course this is only furth er p ro o f o f his devotion; so unwilling is he to consider separa­ tion from E m peror Y an g that he will give up all moral scruples, even to the point o f renouncing his moral obligations and o f deceiving the man he loves. His censure com plete, W ang I then kills him self as a loyal subject who, in his opinion, should die w hen he has offend ed his lord, even with the truth. In the context o f The Merry Adventuresy it is love fo r the man, not fealty to his position, that motivates this resolute dw arf. T h e em peror terms it both loyalty and love (ai),5Z al­ though Y an g had seen him as som ething o f a king’s toy, to be used or neglected at will. In terms o f emotional attachments, the dw arf was m arried to Yang, as totally comm itted to him as any mate could be. In contrast to this legendary dw arf, Y ii Shih-nan (558-638) was a historical figure o f some renown. A s a dutiful subject, Y ii does pre­ cisely as bidden by his sovereign. Y an g comm ands him to write proc­ lamations for him; Y ii exerts him self to the best o f his abilities (Chapter 26). But Y ii Shih-nan’s responses are pure fealty only. He is motivated by no personal affection for the em peror, nor by any concern for his lord’s feelings.54 W hen the em peror is killed, Y ii thinks only o f saving his brother, Y an g ’s ruthless henchm an (who, am ong other misdeeds, in C hapter 33 deliberately misrepresents the seriousness o f uprisings against the Sui), leaving all political consid­

Political Realities，Fictional Garb

gg

erations aside. Y ii thus dem onstrates an observance o f duty, the obligations inherent in his social role as a bureaucrat in the Sui gov­ ernm ent, saving what personal devotion he m ight have for his brother. His level o f genuine concern is neither self nor state, but family. W ang I and Y ii Shih-nan, then, form a contrasting, even an­ tithetical, pair o f characters. Y ii is only one o f m any outwardly loyal male characters in The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang; several others com e forw ard to oppose Y an g ’s catastrophic construction projects. T h e y regularly lose their positions, and occasionally even their lives (as in C hapter g). T h e ir concern is always externally m o­ tivated. As “loyal ministers” (chung-ch’en) their role in society is to ad­ vise wisely and frankly; they function selflessly and commit no such derelictions o f duty as w ere prom pted by W ang I ’s love. (It is signifi­ cant in the delineation o f E m peror Y an g that he consistently d e­ nounces such men as “disloyal” fo r opposing his will; see Chapters 8, 9, and 14). W ang I finds no male parallel in The Merry Adventures; in­ deed, even fem ale parallels do not exist. Y an g’s Empress Hsiao is introduced here as a m odel wife. She is scrupulously faithful, intelligent, and attractive. She provides advice to her husband on political matters and indulges his sexual appe­ tites.55 B ut from the beginning o f the novel she repeatedly attracts the reader’s attention fo r her strength o f character and the sway she holds over her husband. Like E m peror Y an g’s m other, Empress Hsiao is a jealous woman, apparently devoted to serving Y an g ’s best interests. W hen his m other dies, Hsiao takes her place to push him forw ard to consolidate his position, and to urge him to indulge his fancies. But wife is m ore clever than m other. Y an g’s m other slew her only bedcham ber rival; Empress Hsiao registers her opposition to the em peror’s other sexual contacts, but early in The Merry Adventures she reaches an accom modation with h er husband: he may indulge him self with as m any wom en as he pleases so long as none usurp her position. In this way her place is firm; Y a n g is obligated to her. He regularly sleeps and banquets with her. She, for her part, comforts him when he is frightened by nightm ares or confused.56 Further­ m ore, she encourages him to travel^ and to build m ore playgrounds for the two o f them. She even instigates his m oving the capital southward, the beginning o f his fall from power. A n d in all matters she behaves in opposition to those ministers whom Y an g labels “dis-

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loyal” fo r their adherence; to scruples, even blinding him to the sig. nificance o f the om ens foretelling disaster (Chapter 33). B ut by the time Y an g has declined physically to the point o f chronic insomnia, Empress Hsiao deprives him o f the cuddling from other wom en he needs to be able to sleep. H er jealousy has reached a fever pitch; indeed, she seems to wish to preserve h er dual fun c­ tions as wife and m other without any interference from others. So frightened o f h er does Y an g becom e that she even enters his dreams, a nightm are figure. W hen rebels assault the palace and faithful guards desperately seek his help to win their battle, Y an g agrees to take the battlements in person to awe his enem ies.57 T h e em press will have none o f it: she counsels hiding in some safe place. Y an g does as she directs, thus forsaking his last chance fo r survival; before long, the victorious rebels drag him forth to be strangled. —T h ereafter this “devoted w ife” continues playing her role— as com ­ forter and bed partner o f Y an g’s replacem ent, the regicide Yii-wen Hua-chi (d. 619). N o editorial asides prom pt the reader at this final r twist o f the plot; we can only reflect on h er supposed “loyalty， ” the ostensible pam pering o f h er husband and the utter lack o f moral principles guiding her actions. H er loyalty was as selfishly motivated as was Y an g ’s desire fo r pleasure, m aking her his fem ale counter­ part. A m o n g the hundreds o f women with whom Y an g has sexual relations in The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang, only a few are even given names. A ll cater to his whims, goin g to any expenditure o f time, energy, and talent to provide their lord with pleasure. T o g eth er in the dead o f winter they decorate a a entire pleasure park with artificial flowers o f their own m aking because the em peror wished it were spring. T h is earns them the em peror’s “love.” 58 T h ey indulge him in sex, in drinking, in the perform ance o f music, in the composition o f poetry, in m akeup and dress. Y et they jo in the harem o f the regicide, follow ing the path chosen by their empress. T h ere is only one exception am ong them, C hu Kuei-erh, an u n u ­ sually beautiful young wom an well versed in music, poetry, and courtesy who, like W ang I ，is probably ahistorical. W hen he awakes from his first nightm are vision o f th e dead, it is she who comforts E m peror Y an g (Chapters 1 2 -1 3 )，rather in the m aternal role chosen by Empress Hsiao. B eyond this, C hu is ju st one o f the group, play­

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ing music, versifying, o r engaging ;n orgies— until the last desperate moments. W hen rebels com e to seize Y an g, C h u K uei-erh alone leaps fo r­ w ard to bar their way, cursing them fo r their treachery. H ow can they turn their backs on their lord, she taunts; he has ju st granted them all new robes (his first such dem onstration o f concern, o f course). T h e n she appeals to their perception o f duty to protect the em peror: “E ven if His Majesty were lacking in virtue, he is still the Son o f H eaven and Most H onored O n e, the lord and father o f the entire dynasty— even to hold his hat an d shoes is an im posing responsibility. Y o u are no more than lowly guards. H ow can you dare to take advantage o f the m om ent and use force to bid recklessly for wealth and rank— you ’ll never rid yourselves*of a stinking reputation as rebellious subjects and b r ig a n d s !. . “O n ce y o u ’re riding a tiger, how can you get o ff? ” P’ei C h ’ien-t’u n g said. “Y o u ’re ju st a ch eap slave from his side cham ber. H ow dare you slander us with your clever words!” C h u Kuei-erh cursed them loudly. “ Lawless brigands, to turn your backs on your lord! Just because you have weapons in your hands you dare to violate the forbidden precincts. E ven if no on e opposes you today, still the favor o f the Sui house has nourished the whole world. H ow can there fail to be a few loyal subjects and righteous knights who will avenge the em peror? O n ce a rescue force has assembled, they'll smash your corpses into a thousand pieces! T h ere'll be no time to re­ pent then!” In a rage, Lin g-h u H sing-ta said, “Licentious slave! E very day you/ delude our lord’s heart with your vixen’s ways until the whole em pire is lost! A n d still you dare to use your clever words to slander and shame true righteous knights! H ow could the world ever forgive me i f I didn ’t slay yo u !” W ith that he led his rebellious soldiers forward. C h u Kuei-erh cursed them loudly. “E very one has to die— I ’ll die today in His Majesty’s hour o f trial and leave an honorable reputation throughou t all time! I ’m not like you— tom orrow your corpses will be smashed into a thousand pieces and there’ll be no avoiding a reputation that’ll stink for a thousand years.” A s she cursed them, the rebellious soldiers had already reached her with their swords. . . _59

T h ro u g h o u t the novel her love fo r the em peror has been shown to be little different from that o f his other ladies; h er com forting words, her service in bed, all w ere paralleled by the ministrations o f other ladies. T o die in the h our o f h er sovereign’s extrem ity~ is this

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lo v e ? T h e n a r r a to r id e n tifie s h e r sacrifice as “r e p a y m e n t f o r fa v o r ”

(pao~en)— r e a lm o f

p r e c is e ly

duty,

w hat

sh e

dem anded

o f her

atta ck ers— in

th e

n o t lo v e . C h u K u e i-e r h ’s fin a l act is fu tile a n d p u r e ly

sym b o lic, m o tiv a te d as it is b y a selfish d e s ir e fo r p e r s o n a l fa m e , ir o n ic a lly as d e v o t e d s u b je c t a n d w ife . T h e assassin s’ c h a r g e s a g a in s t h e r a re fu lly ju s t if i e d ，e v e n i f h e r p a r t in th e S u i fa ll w as u n in t e n ­ tio n a l.60 S tr u c tu r a lly s p e a k in g , th e s e m in o r c h a r a c te r s d r a w th e b e g in ­ n in g a n d e n d o f th e n o v e l t o g e t h e r t h r o u g h r e p e titio n , w ith s ig n ifi­ c a n t v a r ia tio n , o f id e n tic a l m o tifs .

The Merry Adventures

b e g in s w ith

t h e in sa n e je a lo u s y o f Y a n g ’s m o th e r , a sort o f sad istic d e v o tio n , th a t is m ir r o r e d b y a sim ila r r e s p o n s e fr o m his w ife to h e r rivals at th e n o v e l’s e n d . Ir o n ic a lly , th is je a lo u s y d r iv e s th e first w o m a n to h e r d e a th ; th e s e c o n d m o v e s o n to a n o th e r b e d d e s p ite it. I n th e life o f E m p e r o r Y a n g ’s fa th e r , a je a lo u s w ife h e r a ld e d th e b e g i n n in g o f a c a r e e r , alb e it s h o rt, o f v e n e r y ; fo r Y a n g h im s e lf it m a r k e d th e e n d . W a n g I ’s s e lf-m u tila tio n c a m e n e a r th e sta r t o f

The Merry Adventures;

C h u K u e i- e r h ， s v ir tu a l su ic id e o cc u rs in its n e x t-to -la s t c h a p te r . B u t w h ile th e d w a r f is m o v e d b y lo v e , th e c o n c u b in e th in k s o n ly o f h e r o w n r e p u ta tio n . B o t h g iv e u p th e ir s e x u a l lives; th e la tte r, life itself. T h e ir o n y o f th e c o n tra s t b e tw e e n th e tw o sce n e s s tr o n g ly r e in fo r c e s th e n o v e l’s m a in th e m e — th e d e s tr u c tiv e n e s s o f s e lf-in d u lg e n c e o n th e p a r t o f a m o n a r c h — w h ile s e r v in g as a n e n v e lo p e fo r th e b o d y o f th e w o rk. In s u m m a r y , th e n , th e v e r d ic t to b e d r a w n fr o m th e e v id e n c e p r e s e n te d in

The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang

is b le a k : tr u e lo y ­

a lty ca n o c c u r o n ly i f th e r u le r is ju s t ; h e cea ses to b e so w h e n s e lf-in ­ te re st b e g in s to ta k e p r e c e d e n c e o v e r th e d e m a n d s o f g o v e r n in g his state. L o y a lty to a d e lu d e d r u le r b r in g s o n ly d a n g e r to th o s e w h o f u l­ fill th e ir o b lig a tio n s to c o u n se l th e ir lo r d . I n d e e d , e v e n s e lf-p r e s e r v a : tio n ca n b e g u a r a n te e d o n ly b y w ith d r a w a l fr o m c o u r t p o litics at su ch tim es; r e m a in in g th e r e to in g r a tia te o n e s e lf w ith a fa lse e m ­ p e r o r ca n s p r in g o n ly fr o m s e lf-s e r v in g s y c o p h a n c y o r b lin d lo v e fo r th e r u le r as a p e r s o n . E ith e r w a y , th e a lte r n a tiv e o f im p e r ia l service co n tr ib u te s to th e fa ll o f th e sta te w h e n th e o c c u p a n t o f th e th r o n e is a le a d e r in n a m e o n ly . I n th e fin a l an alysis, th e r e s p o n s ib ility fo r d y n a s tic d e c lin e lies w ith th e s o v e r e ig n h im s e lf. I n th e p o p u la r im a g ­ in a tio n , E m p e r o r Y a n g h a d b e e n c o n d e m n e d fo r c e n tu r ie s . T h e r e ­ viva l o f tales a b o u t h im a n d th e ir a m p lific a tio n in to n o v e l fo r m w ith

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num erous details similar to the career o f the recently deceased Wanli em peror can only be interpreted as the expression o f political con­ cern on the part o f the novelist. A s Confucius had said: “ A country o f a thousand war chariots cannot be adm inistered unless the ruler attends strictly to business, punctually observes his promises, is eco­ nomical in expenditure, shows affection toward his subjects in gen­ eral and uses the labor o f the peasantry only at the proper times o f the year.” 61 Both Y an g o f the Sui and the M ing Wan-li em peror violated these prescriptions, thus losing the right to rule and upset­ ting the balance o f the realm. N either the novelist nor the inform ed seventeenth-century reader could have failed to realize this similar­ ity. N or could they have failed to notice the danger o f dynastic collapse so explicitly revealed in the novel, using the Sui as a m eta­ phor for the crum bling Ming.

C h ’in Shu-pao attempts to pawn his truncheons. Forgotten T ales o f the S u i, Edition A , preface dated 1633.

Man as Responsible Being: T h e Individual, Social Role, and H eaven Loyalty and integrity are lost in times o f chaos; uprightness and honor becom e obscured. T o d a y a subject o f this contender, to­ m orrow follow ing someone else. People becom e like sojourners, taking lo d gin g in a variety o f places. Like prostitutes, in body they serve m any m en in succession.

Yiian Yii-ling, c.16301

T h e first few decades o f the sev­ enteenth century, the end o f the M ing, witnessed a growth o f per­ sonal expression in the arts and individual self-indulgence unprece­ dented in China. T h e contradictions between obligations to the self and to society becam e sharper than ever before. B e lie f in fate and divine retribution, particularly the latter, was being preached around the country, but such ministries, idealistic rationales fo r suf­ ferin g fo r the most part, appealed prim arily to the w orking masses. Most o f those who had pow er freely abused it in flagrant disregard o f the C onfucian sense o f social responsibility; novelists used their w riting brushes to castigate these abuses. B ut it w ould appear that am ong the leisured elite a new consciousness o f self was grow ing, a sense o f personal freedom that was probably a product o f new eco­ nomic freedom fo r this small minority. T h e developm ent came about with the diversification o f sources o f income: gentry who held no degrees or who did and fo r one reason or an oth er did not serve in administration still could maintain lives o f affluence based on landowning, on m oneylending, o r financing trade and the burgeon­ ing handicrafts industries. Leisure and wealth b rought exploration o f new form s o f entertainm ent, m ade possible the great collections o f art and books, and produced a noteworthy increase in the num ber o f novels, plays, and poems.

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Even this limited degree o f em ancipation from traditional roles in a society that attached such prim acy to social function brought confusion and anxiety in addition to the dissolution widespread am ong the late M ing social elite. Explorations o f a range o f conflicts between the self and social obligations on the one hand and the self and fate on the other found expression in the novel, with central characters asking, directly or implicitly, three m ajor questions: First, are conventional social obligations really relevant to me— am I not above such petty business? Second, how do I find my proper role in society~ w hat models do I follow when no standard role seems appropriate? A n d finally，how responsible am I for my acts— does some higher force take a hand in hum an events? This last area o f questioning should seem particularly fam iliar to W estern readers ac­ custom ed to eighteenth-century discussions o f free will, predesti­ nation, and the individual.

The Merry Adventures < o f Emperor Yang: Denial o f DutyTand Fate E m peror Y an g o f the Sui, as dem onstrated in the previous chapter, is a ruler unw orthy o f his subjects’ loyalty. Unconsciously or by design, he is the opposite o f what Confucius prescribed; he does not “ attend strictly to business,” often not w anting even to hear o f it; he is anything but “ econom ical” in his expenditures for palaces, pleasure grounds, and gaudy means o f land and water transpor­ tation. Y an g shows little “affection toward his subjects,” w orking them to death by the hundreds o f thousands fpr his personal en­ joym ent, regardless o f w hether o r not his projects require their labor during “the proper times o f the year.” 2 B ut thus far ou r exam ina­ tion o f The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang has not addressed the protagonist as an individual. E m peror Y an g is a character o f some com plexity, with a realistic, albeit far from adm irable, w orld view. Significantly, the anonym ous novelist is beguiled by these values as well; the attraction the writer felt prevented him from m aking obser­ vations all too obvious to readers detached from his ideological con­ text, particularly in relation to fate. Em peror Y an g is presented from the outset as a m an o f in­ telligence, energy, and skill: “In his early teens he enjoyed reading

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the documents and tales o f past and present: books about the pat­ terns in the heavens and on the earth, even those about local m edi­ cines, artisans’ crafts, and conjurors’ tricks— there w ere none he had not m astered.” T h e n the novelist imm ediately warns: “ H ow ever，by nature he was perversely anxious, sullen, vindictive, and cruel. He excelled in leading people on em otionally and enjoyed playing clever tricks. A n d yet in h er heart the Empress T u -k u loved him deeply, seeing only his intelligence and wisdom, his love o f reading, and his tact and perspicacity.” 3 T h u s from the outset this future lord o f the realm is a com plex character, widely read in the works that should provide appropriate behavioral models, an “individualist” in his cultural context, and an accom plished m anipulator o f others. His display o f filial concern for his parents seems partly genuine, partly designed to impress them and to win fo r him self the-title o f heir to the throne. Privately he is a man driven by lust，but he confines its satisfaction to the marital rela­ tionship until his m other lies dead and his father falls fatally ill. It is du rin g his first attem pt at seduction that Y an g reveals one o f his guiding principles: “W hy be so serious? People are born to have pleasure— w here do propriety and im propriety enter into it? . • • I f today you don ’t adm it your hum an feelings, tom orrow w hen you wish to do so it may be too late!” T h is headlong drive fo r sensual gratification brings Y an g to curse his intended prey fo r her refusal on moral grounds; the narrator, too, concedes that Y an g has ig­ nored proper relations between fath er and son and has treated the ailing sovereign as i f he were a stranger.4 W ere this the only stance Y an g takes in the novel, he would be o f considerably less interest as a character. Y et d u rin g his coronation the young man collapses, w eighed down by the shame he feels about the events surrounding his fath er’s death. His wife, the new empress Hsiao, also threatens to expose his illicit affair with his fath er’s con­ cubine to the assembled ministers in order to let them know that he is “ not a fit hum an being (tso-jen pu-ch’engy.” H er motivation may be jealous panic, but she uses as her pretext the preservation o f the new ruler’s reputation. T h u s, fo r a time the opinions o f others do serye to restrict his behavior.5 T h e debate over proper morals for E m peror Y an g has another side as well: the minister Y an g Su, an old friend o f Y an g’s father, was a key general fo r the Sui found er and is the m an who lifts Y an g

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Man as Responsible Being

to the throne. For these reasons, he is the most pow erful individual in the realm. Empress Hsiao would limit E m peror Y an g’s private be­ havior; Y a n g Su has firm control over the m onarch’s public affairs. T h e old minister warns E m peror Y an g o f the expectations o f others; disregarding public standards could cost him their loyalty, he de­ clares. T h w arted at every turn, E m peror Y a n g wails his objections: “T h e highest honor in this w orld o f m,en is to be Son o f H eaven, the greatest wealth is to possess the em pire. I am also now at my physical peak— with no beautiful wom en before me to enjoy to my heart’s content, this wealth and this honor are ju st em pty words!’’ 6 H e also complains that the realm should be his playground.7 B ut the em ­ peror is not daunted fo r long. Soon he reaches an accom modation with his wife and tours the realm , an activity appropriate fo r a sover­ eign, to w hich Y an g Su cannot object. T h ro u g h his travels and con­ tacts with foreign leaders, the m onarch’s personal pow er and influ­ ence soar; Y an g Su is eclipsed.8 T h en the ruler lays a trap fo r his minister. In a b rie f scene surprisingly realistic in its subtle psychol­ ogy, E m peror Y an g explains his success upon his return. Y an g Su, a victim o f the venery he warns his liege against, has been carousing fa r too m uch; this news angers him mightily. T h e m inister rebukes his lord and stamps away from the court. T h en , the narrator in­ form s the reader, he is struck down by the shade o f the form er em ­ peror. In a com a, Y a n g Su attempts to rationalize his acts to his form er sovereign. H e fails, and before long lies dead. In The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang his dem ise is retribution; w ere this reality, one m ight describe the minister, sufferin g from anxiety over a guilty conscience and alcoholism, as a victim o f apoplexy. M ore significant, however, is Y an g ’s reaction: he crows over his success and im m edi­ ately seeks to outdo his dead rival in sensual oleasures. Simulta、fer retribution.9 E m peror Y an g ’s education stands him in good stead— w hen he chooses to use it. Y an g is k e e n ly aware o f the privileges historically accruing to liis role in society, even though he denies its attendant responsibilities, in a m anner totally opposite to Y an g Su’s public, Confucian, stance. Most frequently, references to role are used to ju stify his luxurious life style,10 but Yang, like most traditional C h i­ nese historians, views history as the records o f great acts by great men. H e is the greatest o f m en as em peror; he is responsible fo r th^

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great events o f the w o rld ， ”rites ， music, punitive expeditions, and pacifications， ” in addition to large-scale construction projects. T o that end, Y an g feels justified to decide on such matters and to enjoy their fruits while troubling him self not a whit about their execu­ tion.11 A n d yet w hen his ministers u rge conform ity to historical precedents, Y an g declares: “It is better to have no books at all than to trust them implicitly. T h e y are the chatter o f m oldy Confucians. • . .” 12 E m peror Y an g thus uses his station as he pleases, em ploying historical prerogatives to his advantage but ign orin g all limitations. In a fit o f m egalom ania, as we have seen, he even declares him self the lord o f spirits as well as o f m en .13 Clearly, this fictional Y a n g sees him self as not to be fettered by any conventional social role, and in this sense totally free to do as he pleases. B u t by traditional conceptions, m an is decidedly not the highest level o f pow er in the Chinese cosmos— not even m ankind’s most favored m ember. T h e extent to which Y an g m ight be construed as a tragic hero is directly related to his headlong scramble to ignore, to delay, and only at his last m om ent to confront his inescapable fate. Y an g ’s arrogance and self-esteem grow with his initial successes: over Y an g Su, in building lavish palaces, in assem bling crowds o f beautiful wom en fo r his pleasure. Interestingly, it is Y an g ’s satisfac­ tion over his own artistic accom plishm ents that causes him to gloat that he deserves the th rone.14 W hile his poetry m ay or may not be o f adm irable quality, Y an g and the reader soon realize the workings o f fate. It is du rin g an endless roun d o f drinking in an im perial plea­ sure park that Y a n g experiences his first dream vision. T h e last ruler o f the fallen state o f C h ’en appears to Yang, and they engage in pleasant conversation. T h e seventeenth-century read er would realize. at once the scene’s significance: the Ch*en state fell to the Sui through its ruler’s dereliction o f duty. H e, like Y an g, devoted him ­ se lf to wine, sex，and verse. It is only their shared values that the/ dream ing em peror perceives. “W ealth and h onor are matters o f chance," he remarks. “B y chance you lost them and by chance we gained them .’’ 15 C hance, Y an g declares, not personal responsibility, brings position; in this he contradicts his own assertions that he deserves to rule, although at this point he is not aware o f the im pli­ cation o f his words. T h is dream vision is only the start o f a long series o f ominous occurrences, all o f w hich point to the fall o f the Sui. O ne o f Y an g ’s

lio

Man as Responsible Being

p a la ce fa v o r ite s has a n ig h tm a r e g r a p h ic a lly f o r e t e llin g his d o o m ; sh a k e n , Y a n g c a n o n ly p r e t e n d th a t it h a s a u s p ic io u s m e a n in g . In a n o th e r d r e a m a h e a v e n ly m a id e n w a rn s h im sp e c ific a lly a g a in s t s e x ­ u al o v e r in d u lg e n c e .16 T h e n w h e n a seeress fr o m a m o n g his h a re m e x p la in s d ir e c tly th a t th e fa te o f th e r e a lm is his p e r s o n a l r e s p o n s i­ b ility , f o r o n e b r i e f m o m e n t Y a n g a c ce p ts this p r o p o s itio n .17 B u t his ad m issio n a ffe c ts his a c tivities o n ly to th e e x t e n t th a t it m a k e s Y a n g e v e n m o r e fr a n tic in a s s e r tin g his fr e e d o m to b e h e d o n is tic . W h e n p h y sic a l d isa b ility ca u ses h im to ta k e a d a y a w a y fr o m s e x to im p r o v e his h e a lth , h e d e cla r e s: “ I f I h a d to b e so d e p r e s s e d a n d a lo n e , th o u g h I liv e d fo r a th o u s a n d yea rs, w h a t w o u ld b e th e p o in t o f it?” H e r e , at le a st fr o m th e p e r s p e c tiv e o f a d e ta c h e d r e a d e r , is Y a n g ’s tr a g e d y : so to ta lly s e lf-c e n te r e d is h e th a t b e y o n d m e r e p h y s ic a l g r a t­ ifica tio n th e r e is u tte r ly n o th in g in life fo r h im . D e p r iv e d o f sex u a l gr a tifica tio n , h e e x a m in e s f o r th e first tim e in y ea rs s o m e o f th e c o u r t d o c u m e n ts th a t p ile u p o n his d e s k . T h o s e h e r e a d s all c o n ta in n ew s o f w id e s p r e a d civil w a r a n d p e a sa n t r e b e llio n . I n an e f f o r t to d istract h im s e lf fr o m th e r e a lity h e fin d s so u n b e a r a b le , Y a n g has a n a l in te r c o u r s e w ith his p a g e , r e lis h in g th e boy:s p a in as a c u r e fo r his o w n d e p r e s s io n .18 A s th e re b e llio n s s p r e a d , Y a n g sigh s: “B e s t fo r m e to e n jo y m y s e lf as fa s t as I ca n . I f I ca n h a v e p le a s u r e fo r o n ly a d a y , th e n let m e e n jo y it f o r th a t o n e d a y ! ” 19 D u r in g this fin a l p e r io d o f his r e ig n h e r e p e a te d ly r e fe r s to fa te in a n e f f o r t to ease his o w n c o n s cie n c e . T h e fa ll o f th e state is “ sim p ly th e will o f H e a v e n ," h e r a tio n a liz e s.20 M e n a n d sp irits a lik e c h id e h im fo r his s tu b b o r n n e s s a n d ir r e s p o n ­ sib ility, b u t it is o n ly as assassins c o n fr o n t h im w ith b a r e d b la d e s th a t Y a n g a d m its to his so n a n d h e ir , w e a k ly , th a t h e h a s b e e n “ n o t v ir tu ­ o u s ." T h e b o y is c u t d o w n a n d E m p e r o r Y a n g is h a n g e d as H e a v e n relies o n h u m a n

h a n d s to d o its w ill. T h e

r e g ic id e w h o

p u r su e s

Y a n g ’s life o f in d u lg e n c e lik ew ise co m e s to a s w ift a n d b lo o d y e n d .21 The

e v id e n c e as a d d u c e d

in T h e M e r r y A d v e n t u r e s o f E m p e r o r

Y a n g is to o ^p ow erfu lly b ia s e d to b e r e fu te d in th a t c o n te x t: Y a n g sta n d s c o n v ic te d o f w illfu l, selfish d is r e g a r d o f r o le a n d r e s p o n s ib il­ ity , o f a r r o g a n c e in th e fa c e o f H e a v e n , o f c r u e lty to his s u b je c ts ，a n d o f fu tile s e lf-d e lu s io n . F o r o ld C h in a ’s r e a d e r s , this c h a r a c te r in its e lf m a d e a c o m p e llin g n e g a tiv e m o d e l f o r th e p r in c e — o r f o r o th e r m em bers

o f th e so cial elite. W h ile n o o th e r in d iv id u a ls h a d

th e

w e a lth o f th e im p e r ia l c o u r t, to th e e x te n t th a t th e y p u r s u e d lives o f

Man as Responsible Being

ill

s e n s u a l in d u lg e n c e in d is r e g a r d o f tra d itio n a l roles a n d n o r m s , th e n o v e l’s lesso n s c o u ld b e a p p lie d to th e m as w ell. A lt h o u g h t h e fic tio n a l a d v e n tu r e s o f E m p e r o r Y a n g le a v e n o d o u b t th a t th e in d iv id u a l is to b e h e ld c u lp a b le fo r co s m ic o r d e r , as C o n fu c ia n is m tr a d itio n a lly t a u g h t, v a r io u s e d ito r ia l c o m m e n ts b y th e n a r r a to r a r e ]ess u n e q u iv o c a l. O f t e n th e s e c o m m e n ts a re in verse. P o e m s in t r o d u c in g c h a p te r s r e g u la r ly c o n d e m n Y a n g ’s e x tr a v a g a n c e a n d le c h e r y , a n d fr e q u e n t ly a p p e a l to a b e lie f in d iv in e r e tr ib u tio n to r ig h t th e w r o n g s o f this w o r ld . In c id e n ts in w h ic h ch a r a c te r s r e tu r n f r o m ( th r o u g h d r e a m s a n d d r e a m lik e vision s) o r d e s c e n d to (b y m y s ­ te rio u s s u b te r r a n e a n jo u r n e y s ) th e n e th e r r e g io n s to p u n is h o r to w a r n th e liv in g a r e f u lly c o n g r u e n t w ith su ch s e n tim e n ts .22 I n a d d i­ tio n , a fe w r e s o r t to a fa c ile fa ta lis m , p r o b a b ly u n c o n s c io u s o n th e part

o f th e

a u th o r ,

s h iftin g

r e s p o n s ib ility

fo r

th e

S u i fa ll fr o m

h u m a n a c tio n to a so rt o f in d e p e n d e n t d iv in e w ill. F o r e x a m p le : W hen luck leaves, the signs appear from every side, W hen sorrows come, there’s little use in being grieved; All events are H eaven's will for foul or fair— Far beyond the strengths o f mortal m a n !23 G iv e n th e in e x o r a b le m a r c h o f e v e n ts in th e n a r r a tiv e to w a r d Y a n g ’s e x e c u tio n a n d th e c o lla p s e o f his state, th e s e se n tim e n ts strike a d is c o r d a n t n o te . B u t in th e c o n t e x t o f C h in e s e id e o lo g y , Y a n g ’s a p ­ p e a l to d e s tin y f o r se lf-ju s tific a tio n is f a r fr o m u n iq u e — e v e n C o n ­ fu c iu s b e w a ile d his fa te as s o m e t h in g q u ite u n d e s e r v e d . T o a p p e a l to fa te , in th e c o n t e x t o f th e s e v e n te e n th c e n tu r y , is th e m o r e c o n s e r v a ­ tive, c o n v e n tio n a l sta n c e f u lly ju s t ifie d b y r e fe r e n c e to C o n fu c iu s h im s e lf. A n in siste n c e o n fr e e d o m fr o m tr a d itio n a l r o le lim itatio n s a n d o n fu ll p e r s o n a l in d iv id u a l re s p o n s ib ility f o r o n e ’s acts is th e m o r e in n o v a tiv e n o tio n ; it re fle cts th e W a n g Y a n g - m i n g t r e n d in M i n g t h o u g h t th a t, o n th e p o p u la r le v e l, fo u n d e x p r e s s io n in m o r a l­ ity tex ts o f th e tim e . I t m a y b e th a t th e n a r r a to r ’s r e fe r e n c e s to fa te a r e fa c e tio u s . O r th e s e c o n tr a s tin g w o r ld view s m a y b o th r e p r e s e n t fa c e ts o f th e a u th o r ’s o w n id e o lo g y , r e v e a lin g his d e s ir e , s h a r e d b y o th e r s o f his class, f o r th e fr e e d o m fr o m c u lp a b ility im p lie d b y a fa ­ talistic v ie w o f life . E ith e r w a y , fo r its c o n d e m n a t io n o f im p e r ia l ir r e ­ s p o n s ib ility a n d its o p p o s itio n o f s e lf v e r s u s re s p o n s ib ility a n d s e lf v e r s u s d e s tin y , T h e M e r r y A d v e n t u r e s - o f E m p e r o r Y a n g p r e s e n ts con tra-： d ic tio n s th a t w e r e v e r y re a l fo r C h i n a ’s s e v e n te e n th -c e n tu r y elite.

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Forgotten Tales o f the Sui: Role； Destiny, and Self Chin Sheng-t’an and the anonym ous author o f The Merry Adven­ tures o f Emperor Yang w ere not the only seventeenth-century Chinese writers to use the novel form as vehicle fo r social and political cen­ sure. T h e truncated Water Margin intimates the connection between rapaciousness am ong lower officials and im perial ineptitude; most Water Margin villains are in one way o r another connected to four self-seeking court ministers w ho repeatedly lead their gullible sover­ eign astray. In The Merry Adventures the atrocities o f the cannibal Ma Shu-mou are dem onstrably the consequence o f a ru ler barely con­ cerned with the w elfare o f his subjects. Y iian Y ii-ling (1599-1674) likewise sternly criticized abuses o f the late M ing in his Sui shih i-wen (Forgotten Tales o f the Sui; literally, “T ales Forgotten by Sui Histo­ rians,M 1633). In m any ways superior to its literary predecessors, this novel condem ns abuse o f pow er and privilege at all levels o f society, linking a series o f outrages to a lack o f hum anity am ong the social elite throughout the country. Y iian ’s w ork thus sets a high standard for seventeenth-century political and social criticism. Forgotten Tales o f the Sui is set in the Sui and early T ’ang periods, the late sixth and early seventh centuries, thus overlapping The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang, from which it borrows various characters and some narrative. Its protagonist, C h ’in Shu-pao (d. 638), grows from teen-aged uncertainty to m ature self-assurance against a background o f su fferin g fo r the masses o f people, court in­ dulgence, widespread brigandage, and foreign and civil wars. T h e novel simultaneously exam ines the age and the reactions o f one indi­ vidual to it. A ll the parallels between the events o f the M ing Wan-li reign and the novels discussed earlier are also relevant here; Y iian several times draws attention to the similarities he wished his readers to perceive. In particular, Y iian castigates the pam pered you n g men o f the urban privileged stratum who, in denying the hum anity o f others, utterly obviated their own. T o dem onstrate Y iian Yii-Iing’s excellence as a w riter for his time, I will quote the rape scene fr6m C hapter 22 o f Forgotten Tales o f the S u i Rare— i f not unique— in old C hina’s vernacular fiction for its pow erfully realistic narration and sheer horrdr, the scene is hard to match in w riting from any culture o f this period. It m ay very well

Man as Responsible Being

U3

have been based on an actual event; it could hardly be m ore effec­ tive if it had been. First, its context; C h ’in Shu-pao, now a constable in charge o f escorting valuables to the court minister Y a n g Su, encounters a band o f ruffians o f his acquaintance not far from the capital. It is nearly the lantern festival, the fifteenth day o f the first m onth by the lunar calendar; they dem and to accom pany him to see the sights o f the city ： C h ’in can only assent, but he slips ahead to deliver his convoy and reenters the city with his com panions later. Im perial C h ’angan is ablaze with lanterns and packed with people o f all ages and levels; society’s u pp er crust and the indigent, sophisticated urbanites and country bum pkins, all have p oured into the streets to see the sights. A ll are giddy with excitem ent and are dressed in their finest. Y ou n g m en and wom en are especially num erous here, the latter enjoying this rare freedom o f m ovem ent around the city, the form er doggin g their tracks for a stolen kiss o r a surreptitious fo n d le ~ o r to steal their jew elry. A n d there are those who use such chance meetings on a bridge as pre­ texts for rape and m urder. T h e worst o f customs is this ram bling about to view the lanterns! W ho w ould have thou gh t that even old wom an W ang, a w idow r not know ing calam ity from blessing, w ould stay u p a little later than usual to take her full-grow n daughter, nicknam ed W an-erh, out to see the sights? N ot that there was anything amiss in seeing the sights, but who could have known that it w ould provoke a crime o f great m agnitude, a w rong to ruin the happiness o f the old lady and to brin g to an end the girl’s lantern viewing? A ll it takes is a single w rong move T o change the outcom e o f the w hole game. W hat did she look like, this y o u n g lady? H er waist, supple as a willow in late spring, - A face like peach bloom at winter’s end, Ice-white flesh, jad elik e bones, choicest o f the choice, Especially so viewed in lantern light, u n d er full moon! T o g e th e r m other and d au ghter locked their door an d walked out into the main street to see the lanterns. B u t no sooner had they left their door when a band o f y o u n g loafers began to follow them, singing and m aking comments, sticking very close to ogle W an-erh. O n ce they reached the main street they swarmed around the w om en like ants or bees until they could not even m ove freely. N ot on ly was W an-erh frightened, even old wom an W an g was utterly panicked. T h ese loafers

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felt their bottoms and fon dled their breasts, but this was only the beginning. T h e y did not expect that a num ber o f good-for-nothings in the em ploy o f yo u n g lord Y ii-w en would be out on the prowl for any female even three parts pretty. T h ese they would report to their master in order that he could com e out and have a look for himself. W hen they saw how really attractive and truly appealing W an g W an-erh was, they hurried o f f to report to their master. A s soon as he heard that a beauti­ ful girl was out front, the yo u n g lord too rushed in pursuit, and saw how bewitching, how spellbinding W an-erh was. His spy having already ascertained that the girl was accom panied only by one older woman, the yo u n g lord realized how easy it w ould be to take advantage o f the situation. T h u s he went to jostle her around a bit in flirtation. B y this time W an-erh was speechless; she could go nei-, ther forw ard nor back. O ld woman W ang did not recognize you n g lord Yii-wen; w hen she could bear this no longer, she could.on ly object ver­ bally. Yii-w en H ui-chi took advantage o f this change o f events by pre­ tending to becom e angry. “H ow could an old woman be so discourteous that she dares to stand up to m e like this! T a k e her away and lock her u p !” A t this, his crowd o f retainers responded in unison, a roar o f voices, and d ragged them , m other and daughter, away to the gate o f his mansion. T h e widow and W an-erh were so frightened that they broke out in cold sweat, unable even to call out, as num b as i f they had been pushed into a bank o f cloud or fog, as i f pulled into the midst o f thunder and lightning. T h e r e were onlookers along the street, o f course, but who am ong them did not know that you n g lord Yii-w en was in the habit o f behaving so wildly; w ho would dare to intervene in order to free the ladies? Soon they arrived at the mansion gate. Since old woman W an g was o f no use to them, they left her to stay in the gatehouse. Alon e, W an-erh was hustled along by this mob, past several turns and through several courts. It was in the study that the crowd finally came to a halt. Yii-w en H ui-chi was already there. , N o sooner had Yii-w en H ui-chi pursed his lips than his crowd o f retainers all withdrew outside, leaving only a few maids. Yii-w en H uichi looked her up and down: indeed, she was a fine woman. Even though she was fearful, she seemed: As the delicate blossoms, even m ore lovely in the rain, A s the yielding willows, yet m ore charm ing in a breeze. A t once he drew her to him, twisting her face toward him that he m ight kiss her on the mouth. N ow W an-erh was an innocent and in experi­ enced girl— she did not even know the names for such things. H u r­ riedly she twisted her face away and pushed him back with her hands. W hen the yo u n g lord slipped one hand into the crotch o f her trousers, W an-erh was so alarmed that she kicked out in all directions, hastily

Man as Responsible Being

1 15

blocking his hand and sobbing aloud, tears pourin g from her eyes. “Mother! C o m e quickly— save m e!” she shrieked. H ow m any times by now had old widow W an g called out, “Child, w here are you! G ive me back m y child!” B u t w ho knows how many courts and walls lay between them; they could not hear each other no m atter how loudly they cried. W ith a giggle yo u n g lord Yii-w en again clutched her tightly to his bosom, saying, “ It’s no use to cry out. Y o u ’re better o ff d oin g w hat I want. I f yo u ’re nice and let me have m y way, you ’ll becom e m y Y o u n g Lady, sure enough. A n d i f that doesn’t suit you, I ’ll have someone take you back hom e in a few days. B u t this place is ju st like a dyer’s shop— there’s no way that you can com e out o f here ‘white’!” H ow could the girl willingly submit? She stam ped both her feet wildly without cease, and the y o u n g lord was kept from fon dlin g her no m atter how hard he tried. She banged her head against his face, and the you n g lord was prevented from kissing her at every turn. She strug­ gled against him a while longer, bu t as they always say, yo u n g aristo­ crats have quick tempers, and he had lon g since becom e angry. “Force her on to the b ed !” he told his maids, and he pushed her away from him. T h e maids broke into giggles as they did so. T h is was no ordinary bed. It was called a “M ount W u bed ” and had been given to him by a good friend nam ed H o C h ’ou; it was also called a “ perfect bliss bed .” 24 W henever he succeeded in tricking some youn g woman o f good fam ily into com in g here, she w ould be outraged at the y o u n g lord and would twist her bod y and clench her thighs together, strike out with her feet and push him away with her hands. T h is hap­ pened every time. T h e r e was a locking device on each o f the four corners o f this bed and two brocade straps between them. W hen a woman was forced on to this bed, with a snap her hands and feet would be held fast, waiting only for “rain and clouds.” From m y view, I w onder w hat spectacle, what possible interest there could be in bind ing fast the hands and feet— so tightly that she she cannot move— o f a woman who has not given her heart to you? T h is Yii-w en H ui-chi was nothing m ore than a fool to see this as stimulating, to want to have his will ju s t one time and never again. Indeed, A mad bee understands only the pursuit o f fragrance, H ow could he adm ire even the most exquisite flower in the bud? A lth ou gh W an-erh was eighteen years o f age, all her life she had been physically delicate and shy. She was still a virgin, and that thin g o f hers had not yet been broken. T h e yo u n g lord called a servant to hold the lamp so that it illum inated W an-erh while he broke it with his thumb. Just as if it were a peach he had torn apart, the fresh liquid d ripped forth, a stream o f pale red. Aroused, the yo u n g lord’s male m em ber rose mightily; with one thrust he entered the seat o f her w om ­ anhood. W an-erh cried out in pain at his exertions; then her throat

1 16

Man as Responsible Being

clenched and she was unable to m ake a sound. H e r b od y held fast, she was unable even to wriggle. T h e servants covered their mouths to stifle their laughter; outside the window others o f his men and maids secretly watched the spectacle, coupled up and held each other fast, themselves accom plishing their own “task.” N ow these m en and w om en were all from a m o n g his house­ hold; with a yo u n g master so profligate, it was not surprising that what the superiors did the inferiors w ould imitate. Since this Y ii-w en H ui-chi indulged him self in dissipation such as this every day, h e kept nu­ merous T aoist priests and conjurers o f various sects in his household who com peted with each other in presenting him with aphrodisiacs. I f it were not seal testicles or actinolite crystals, curculigo grass or the phallus p la n t25 or any other ordinary medication, then it w ould be some yet more rare concoction from abroad. D ay an d night he took pills o f these kinds. T h e n too there were various rinses, and he never ceased washing his m ale organ in them. O n his “tortoise head” these concoc­ tions had produced a great rin g o f flesh like leather, and at the base he also wore a m edicine-packed lead hoop. T h e organ itself was swollen com pletely full, as if it w ere a ripe squash. In addition, the rin g o f flesh on its head m ade it five or six inches longer w hen it stiffened, with dark veins curling around it like earthworms. T h rash in g and stabbing, it was indeed form idable! W an-erh had never been deflow ered, an d to experience this w ild and foolish yo u n g man for her first time— his forcing open her vagina was ju st like stabbing her with a knife. Blood flowed forth to soak her trou­ sers. H er teeth were clenched tight, her hands and feet turned icy cold. T h e yo u n g lord took offense at her unwillingness to submit to him, and even though he was “accom plishing his task” with her, still he rem ained resentful. T h u s he purposely forced the head o f his organ rou gh ly into her as i f he w anted to m ake her vagina swell and burst. Entreat him as she m ight, he would not leave her alone. B u t eventually he grew im patient with this business. Noisily with­ draw ing his male organ, he again brou ght the ligl^t near to shine on her. U nable to bear her sham e>W an-erh cou ld only curse at him. “ How can I begin to say it all— I bum ped into you by accident, you immoral, cruel-hearted brigand! T o ruin m e like this— it would have been better if you had ju s t taken a knife and killed m e!” H earing her curses, the y o u n g lord angrily cursed her in return. “Y o u mean little beast, to talk back to me that way! H ow m any wom en here in the capital, both highborn and low, ju st can’t wait to m ake it with me— at the m ere mention o f m y reputation as a lover! N o w you, you back alley slave girl— there’s no m aking you w hole again now that I’ve broken you in. T h a t’s good en ough for you一 I o u gh t to beat you to death for talking back to me and putting up resistance, you filthy slave. It’s no trouble for me ju s t to lock you u p here and never let you o u t o f m y gate again."

Man as Responsible Being

iV j

W ith that h e called a servant to brin g him the roster o f his pages. T h e yo u n g lord scrutinized the roster and then called them together. “H ave a little fu n with this wom an in m y place. I f you keep to the order o f the roster you'll all have a turn at her. D o n ’t get out o f order or quar­ rel over her. T h o s e o f you w ho’ve got w hat it takes should let her have it. I f you screw her to death, ju s t bury her in some em pty place in the back courtyard. I f you d on ’t screw her to death, then pu t her in the west w ing o f the study. I l l give her to those o f you w ho aren’t mar­ ried— share her am on g yourselves at night! T h e pages were as happy as i f they had received a present from H eaven and with smiles piling u p on their faces, one after another they responded, “M any thanks for your kind ^ ft , m y lord.” Some am ong these pages were sixteen or seventeen years old, others w ere twenty-one o r twenty-two, but all o f them were vigorous and cruel you n g men. R eceiving their master’s vicious com m and, they did in d eed enjoy their sport in turn. Like h u n gry ghosts they clim bed on to her, b u t the busi­ ness w ould be over in one or two jerks- Just see them standing there in a huddle, laughing uproariously. T h e yo u n g master clapped his hands and laughed loudly. T h e r e were several w ho took longer, facing their master as they strove furiously. T h e y o u n g master clapped his hands and cheered them on, bringin g out large bowls o f wine to reward them. In the midst o f their debauchery, a person came in from outside to m ake his secret report into the m aster’s ear. “T h e old lady is still outside and is m aking a great fuss. H ow d o we get rid o f her?” T h e yo u n g mas­ ter said, “I can't believe that there are such shrews! I'll take care o f her m yself.” T h e pages were even m ore overjoyed now that their master had left the study; u p and dow n on W an-erh, they w orked her until she was neither dead nor alive. She had w ept until she had used u p all her tears. A t last, when she was ju s t like a corpse, those am ong the pages who had any hum an decency, and a few did, warm ed a little wine, sur­ reptitiously loosened the fetters and helped W an-erh to sit up, then spread out bed d in g that she m ight sleep. W an-erh revived a little and again asked where her m other was. “She’s already been sent back lon g ag o ,” the pages said; “w hy d o you ask?” W an-erh w ept without ceasing. T h e pages crow ded around her, u rgin g her to stop. W e will relate no more o f this, however. T h e yo u n g lord w ent out o f the gate o f the mansion to ask the old wom an w hy she was m aking such a fuss. B u t when the wom an heard that the yo u n g lord had com e out she cried all the m ore, beating her breast and stam ping her feet, invoking H eaven and calling on the Earth, b eg g in g for her d au ghter to be freed. “ I ’ve already used your daughter,” the yo u n g lord said. “Y o u ’d better go back to where you came from as fast as you can i f you d on ’t want a beating.” “D o n ’t talk o f b e a t i n g - y o u ’d even g o so far as to kill m e!” the old wom an said. “ You must give me back m y daughter! I ’m a widow, and this d aughter is m y only child. Shefs already promised to somebody, but

1 18

Man as Responsible Being

she hasn’t been married o f f yet and so for our two lives we depend on each other, mother and daughter. I f you d o n ’t give her back to me, I’ll die right here this very night!” “Say what you want, but d on ’t die here,” the yo u n g lord said; “this doorway o f mine can’t accom m odate so many d yin g in it. Go ahead and die if you want to; I don’t mind. B ut it w ould be better if you ju st hurried on hom e.” H e called his servants to drive her away. T h e y pushed and pushed, pulled and pulled, beat her again and again, and once they got her m oving they pushed her out through the barrier at the m outh o f the residential street and latched the gates at both ends in order that she could not reenter. Since by this time the yo u n g lord Y ii-w en ’s appetite still had not yet been sated, again he took a hundred or two hooligans to loiter about on the street. A gain his wish was to bum p into an accom m odating woman who m ight satisfy his urges. N ow it was already the second drum ; before one adventure was taken care o f he was o f f in search o f another. T h is yo u n g lord was ex­ traordinarily stupid and evil, but, on the other hand, .the old lady had brought it on herself. A lone widow and a yo u n g virgin, even from a poor house, ough t not to go out into the crowds to view lanterns by themselves. T h a t you n g lord Yii-wen, who deserved to be beaten to death, was out looking for trouble again. B u t it is always so that each sip, each sup, all is predestined— how much more so greater matters o f life and death! T h e r e is no escaping the will o f H eaven. T h e W ay o f H eaven is to shun licentiousness; this is clear and plain to see. Just ob­ serve the consequences suffered by that yo u n g lord and then you will know the retribution for lech ery!26

In

th e f o llo w in g c h a p te r , C h ’in S h u -p a o a n d

his fe llo w s e n ­

c o u n te r th e g r ie f-s tr ic k e n w id o w , h e a r h e r tale, a n d v o w r e v e n g e . T h e i r d e te r m in a tio n w in s th e m th e p ra ise o f all w h o h e a r o f it. S o o n th e y c a tc h u p w ith th e y o u n g aristo cra t; th e y st^ ge an im p r o m p tu skit in w h ic h C h ’in d a n c e s clo se to Y ii-w e n , tw ir lin g his tr u n c h e o n s . W ith a s in g le m ig h ty b lo w h e sm ites th e villa in d e a d o n th e s p o t; th e g r o u p flees d u r i n g th e c o n fla g r a tio n s ta r te d b y his c o m p a n io n s to c o v e r th e ir e s ca p e , b u t h u n d r e d s o f in n o c e n t b y s ta n d e r s a r e tr a m ­ p le d , s ta b b e d , o r b u r n e d to d e a th . U p o n h e a r in g n ew s o f th e ir s o n ’s m u r d e r , th e Y ii- w e n fa m ily , th e m s e lv e s c o u r t o fficia ls, im m e d ia te ly h a v e W a n -e r h a n d h e r m o th e r p u t to d e a th , th e g ir l b e a te n to an u n r e c o g n iz a b le m ass a n d th e o ld w o m a n s u m m a r ily c u t d o w n .27 S ig ­ n ifica n tly , th e n e x t c h a p t e r n a r r a te s th e p h y s ic a l d e c lin e o f th e Sui e m p e r o r W e n th r o u g h s e x u a l e x c e ss a n d Y a n g ’s a s s u m p tio n o f th e th r o n e . T h e m a k e r o f th e d e v ic e th a t im m o b iliz e d W a n -e r h w ill la ter

Man as Responsible Being

l lg

p r e s e n t tw o s u c h b e d s to E m p e r o r Y a n g ; it is s ig n ific a n t to o th a t th e p r e t e n d e r w h o h a s Y a n g s tr a n g le d s o m e y e a r s la te r is a b r o t h e r o f t h e y o u n g lo r d in th is scen e. I t is r a r e in d e e d to fin d in o ld C h in e s e fictio n s cen es so c o m p le x in th e ir p r e s e n ta tio n o f evil a n d ir r e s p o n sib ility , g u ilt a n d in n o c e n c e ; rea listica lly , n o o n e c h a r a c te r h e r e is w h o lly a b o v e r e p r o a c h . L ik e ­ w ise, sce n e s o f s u c h g r e a t h o r r o r a re s e ld o m f o u n d in classical n a r r a ­ tiv e s .28 In s te a d o f g r a p h ic d e s c r ip tio n s o f b a ttle , f o r in s ta n c e , o n e m ig h t r e a d sim p ly th a t b o d ie s c o v e r e d th e g r o u n d o r th a t a riv er flo w e d r e d w ith b lo o d — b y c o n v e n tio n th e r e a d e r is s p a r e d th e d e ­ tails o f scream s, g a p i n g w o u n d s , d is m e m b e r e d b o d ie s , a n d th e like. H y p e r b o le a n d e x a g g e r a t io n in th is e p is o d e s e r v e to s tr e n g th e n th e n o v e lis t’s m e s s a g e : th a t th e g ir l a n d

h e r m o t h e r to o k an u n w a r ­

r a n te d risk g iv e n th e d a n g e r s p r e s e n te d b y th e p o w e r fu l r a k e s, th a t th is act— d e s p ite th e m o t h e r ’s a b e ttin g th e c r im e b y h e r in c a u tio n — is in h u m a n , th a t b e h a v io r a lly as w e ll as p h y s ic a lly y o u n g Y ii- w e n is a b ­ n o r m a l, a m o n s tr o u s fr e a k fit o n ly to b e e x te r m in a te d . T h e u n d e r ly ­ in g re a lism o f Y i ia n ’s d e s c r ip tio n is a ffir m e d all th e m o r e tr a g ic a lly b y th e o u tc o m e o f th e in c id e n t: a lth o u g h H e a v e n “b o r r o w e d th e h a n d s ” o f C h ’in S h u -p a o to a c h ie v e its aim s, n o id e a lis tic a lly c o n ­ c e iv e d assassin atio n w ill d o . T h e “ y o u n g lo r d s ” in Y iia n Y u - li n g ’s so­ c ie ty w e r e w ell in s u la te d . R e a c h in g th e m w ith r e ta lia tio n n e ce s s a r ily in v o lv e d m a n y o th e r s at th e s a m e tim e a n d w ith d isa stro u s c o n s e ­ q u e n c e s ; th e lo n g a r m o f e lite p o w e r s tr e tc h e d n e a r ly e v e r y w h e r e . F o r g o tte n T a le s o f th e S u i p o in t e d ly d r a w s a tte n tio n to a n u m b e r o f p r o b le m s o f th e n o v e lis t’s era . L ik e T h e M e r r y A d v e n t u r e s o f E m p e r o r Y a n g ，this w o r k c o n d e m n s e x c e s s iv e ta x e s a n d f o r c e d la b o r in te n d e d m e r e ly to s a tisfy im p e r ia l g r e e d , d e c la r in g s u c h c o n s tr u c tio n p r o je c ts to b e m o r e d e v a s t a t in g f o r th e p o p u la c e th a n w a r .29 L ik e w is e , Y iia n Y i i- lin g c e n s u r e s civil o fficia ls f o r th e ir s e lf-c e n te r e d a p p r o a c h to n a ­ tio n a l m a tte rs, r e fle c tin g th e c liq u e s tr u g g le s o f his d a y : “ I n e v ita b ly a sta te w ill b e r u in e d b y its civil o ffic ia ls .’’ 30 B u t in c o n tr a s t to th e e a r ­ lie r n o v e l th a t fo c u s e s o n Y a n g ’s im p e r ia l S u i c o u r t, Y iia n Y i i- lin g ’s w o r k is set in th e p r o v in c e s a n d a t a d if f e r e n t le v e l o f s o cie ty f o r th e m o s t p a rt, so it g iv e s a d if f e r e n t p e r s p e c tiv e o n th e tr o u b le s o f th e tim es. “T h e r e

It is

is r u r a l n o th in g

b r ig a n d a g e th a t

vexes

th a t th e

r e c e iv e s p e o p le

m ost

a tte n tio n

now adays

m ore

h ere: th a n

b r ig a n d s ,” th e n o v e lis t d e cla r e s; “ I d o n o t k n o w h o w b r ig a n d s c a n b e so in h u m a n e , s o la c k in g in fe a r o f p u n is h m e n t •” Y i ia n e v e n cites th e

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advice o f his older contem porary, C h ’en Chi-ju (1558-1639), against the unnecessary m ovem ent and disbandm ent o f troops— because such brigands are all too often deserters or dem obilized soldiers.31 Later he .complains that his contem poraries are perversely fond o f disharm onious behavior, o f m aking enem ies rather than o f behaving in a selfless，virtuous m anner.32 From these comments, several fea­ tures o f Y iian Y ii-ling’s values becom e clear: although addressing provincial problems, his perspective assuredly is not that o f the rural poor. N or w ould that be appropriate in his stratified society; his 'identification is with the class represented by youn g lord Yii-wen despite his castigation o f its abuses. A fte r all, he knew the character­ istics o f his own social group best. A crisis comes fo r C h ’in Shu-pao in Forgotten Tales o f the Sui w hen，du rin g the civil wars at the end o f the Sui, he is forced to choose a side to support. T h e quotation that introduces this chapter is an editorial aside from C hap ter 53; interestingly, it describes a sit­ uation in which the novelist found him self not m any years later. T h a t he, like C hin Sheng-t’a n ，acted in real life in accordance with the principles presented in his novel again proves the seriousness o f this art form in seventeenth-century China. (Yiian Y ii-ling was from a distinguished Soochow;1family. T h e clan had been wealthy fo r a long time before the seventeenth cen­ tury. Y iian ’s great-great-grandfather Y iian T in g had purchased a degree; that generation included a chin-shih degree holder and three others who served in official capacity either in the two im perial capi­ tals or in local positions through purchased degrees. His great­ grandfather, Y iian Pao (14 99 -1576 ), was a noted bibliophile. T h e latter’s brother Y iian C hiu n g (1495-1560 ) was or^e o f the forem ost book collectors and publishers o f the entire M ing period; his print­ ing ventures included various serial publications on history, geogra­ phy, and current political questions. Yii-Iing’s grandfather, Y iian Nien (1539—1617) was a chin-shih graduate o f 1577 w ho served in a num ber o f im portant provincial posts over a ten-year span late in the sixteenthr century. T h e name o f Y ii-ling’s father is not now known, although m any o f his relatives o f the same surnam e were known fo r their writings, particularly poetry, and painting.33 Y iian Y ii-ling him self was best known fo r his plays; these, mostly romantic comedies, brought both fam e and notoriety. His enemies w ere also profuse, to ju d g e from the num ber o f uncom pli­ m entary references to him in contem porary writings: that he was

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short and ugly, that he wrote a play to slander his rival fo r the bed o f a local courtesan (which indiscretion cost him his academic de­ gree), that he personally surrendered the city o f Soochow to M anchu invaders, and that he was subsequently dismissed from office fo r dereliction o f duty. A lth ou gh the first o f these allegations m ay be true, the others are patently false, a consequence o f the vulgar no­ tion that physical shortcom ings naturally correspond to m oral tru­ ancy. H owever, other, m ore reliable, references do indicate Y iia n ’s rather bohem ian life style. Like Li Y ii, he m ay well have offen d ed the m ore hidebound am ong his contem poraries by flouting social conventions. A s a poet in the ch’ii form at, Y iian is classified as one o f the K ’unshan school, as is Feng M e n g -lu n g w h o s e w ork Y iian criticized from a position o f greater talent. T h e ch’ii poetry o f the two m en is similar in style and content. Both poets strictly adhered to the pro­ sodic rules for this form and strove fo r a high degree o f literary polish.34 Y iian and Feng shared values concerning the composition o f dram a as well, that stressing the necessity o f close correspondence o f prosody to musical structure (in contrast to the literati and com ­ posers w ho m ight neglect one m ajor aspect). For this, both are con­ sidered members o f the W uchiang school o f dram a.35 It w ould ap­ pear that the two w ere friends, Yiian having dram atized one o f Feng’s short stories as his Chen-chu shan (Pearl-Sewn Shirt), which* pointedly fails to condem n a you n g w ife fo r falling prey to a hand­ some seducer.36 A ncedotes also record that Feng tricked Y iian into giving him a large sum o f m oney and in return polished Y iian Y iilin g’s play Hsi-lou chi (T h e W estern Bower) by adding one m ore scene to it.37 Y iian ’s play on the rise and fall o f the court clique headed by the eunuch W ei Chung-hsien (likewise incom plete at its first perform ance) dem onstrates a far greater concern with contem ­ porary issues on the part o f Y iian Yii-ling, however. M uch o f Y iian Y ii-ling’s unfavorable reputation is related to his most fam ous play. The Western Bower centers on a wealthy youn g rake, a m atchm aker, a beautiful courtesan (a talented poetess), and the rake’s rival, a youn g p o e t L egen d unjustifiably attributes Y iian ’s composition o f the play to his frustration at being defeated in a love rivalry. Such tales give the lady in question the same name as the stage character, have Y iian ’s supposed alter ego grief-stricken by her loss, and relate that Y iian ’s altruistic retainer kidnapped the girl for him— all events narrated in the play. Y iia n ’s fath er was aghast w hen

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the suitor filed a legal com plaint against him, the legend relates, and he gladly packed his son o f f to prison. T h e re Y iian was supposed to have written the play to get at least a m odicum o f revenge. In fact, the heroine o f the play is closely m odeled on a real courtesan o f note, one C hou C h ’i-sheng, who was carried away by a young literatus nam ed Shen T ’ung-ho around 1620. T h a t would have oc­ curred when Y iian was scarcely twenty, m aking the whole incident highly unlikely. Furtherm ore, the girl was not a great beauty; her face bore the sc^rs o f sm allpox— as did Yuan's, apparently. Shen was also em broiled in a scandal involving cheating on the civil service ex­ aminations; it seems equally implausible that his status would have been such that he could have brought suit against Yiian, a member o f a pow erful and wealthy clan.38 Most o f Y iian ’s plays were written during the late M ing, al­ though The Western Bower was first perform ed d u rin g the winter o f 1645-46 in M anchu-controlled Peking.39 B y that time Y iian had left his native Soochow to travel and had been in Peking at the time o f its fall, first to the Chinese rebel Li T zu -ch ’en g and then to the foreign conquerors. (Yiian must also have confronted the choice o f whom to jo in am ong contenders fo r the throne; as did his fictional hero, Y iian discerned and chose the w inning side. It is significant, given the condem nation o f brigandage in Forgotten Tales of the Sui, that he did not choose Li T zu -ch ’eng.) B y the end o f 1645 he was installed in the Division o f W ater C ontrol in the central governm ent’s M in­ istry o f Public W orks. Soon afterw ard, in the spring o f 1646, he was transferred to a provincial post, overseer o f the customs station at Linch’ing in Shantung province, the province in which C h ’in Shupao was raised. T h erea fter he served as p refect o f C hingchou in H upei province until his im peachm ent in 1653 fo r m isappropriation o f funds. H e returned to Soochow to live in retirem ent, although he apparently resided fo r a time in N anking and perhaps also in H ang­ chow. Several o f Y iian Yii-ling's plays were criticized for unnecessary •lewdness and lack o f refinem ent in diction. Few writers would go so far in their censure, however, as the moralist T u n g Han, who re­ corded the follow ing attack soon after Y iia n ’s death: Yiian Yii-lin g from the Soochow area was proud o f his refined skill at com posing music and traveled about am ong high -rankin g officials. Pro­ fessional actbrs played his ch ’u an-ch ’i play T he W estern B ow er everywhere.

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A n d yet the words o f its arias were base, particularly lacking in refine­ ment, far below those o f W ang, K ’ang, and other gentlem en. H e was fit only to serve as their menial, although he was unwilling to adm it it. Per­ sonally he was corrupt, having no sense o f shame. Even when over sev­ enty years o f age he m aintained the attitudes o f a yo u n g man, enjoying constant talk o f bedroom matters. In com pany he would always ramble on with licentious verses and obscene stories until people had to cover their ears. M any times I have said to people, “T h a t gentlem an will inevi­ tably have to pay for his foul m outh.” B efore long, while he was a guest in K ’uaichi，he went out in the heat to see someone and suddenly con­ tracted a peculiar malady. H e perceived a strange tickle in his mouth; consequently he bit his own tongue until it sloughed o ff piece by piece. H e did not eat for twenty or m ore days; finally he could not utter a word. W hen the root o f his tongu e was all gone, he died.40

It is worthy o f note that Y iian was am ong the first wave o £ Chinese literati to o ffe r their services to the M anchus after the conquest. This is particularly im portant, since Y iian was already relatively well known am ong his peers in the lower Yangtze cultural centers— strongholds o f M ing loyalties well into the C h ’ing period. It seems most likely that the slanderous anecdotes that survive him may be an attempt, conscious o r otherwise, to villify Y iian fo r his “opportunis­ tic” shift o f loyalties. O r they may have been intended，through dem ­ onstrating his supposed lack o f scruples, to verify that he willingly could have jo in ed the enemy. T h e bizarre tale translated above was intended to render “poetic justice” fo r his perfidy. Regardless o f the intentions o f his detractors, Y u an Y u-ling， s actions as recorded by his friends and other acquaintances accord with the political sen­ timents expressed in his m ajor novel. Forgotten Tales of the Sui appeared in only one edition, published in H angchow, presumably, with Y iian ’s signed preface dated 1633. T h ere may be several -reasons w hy it was not reprinted du rin g the Ming, am ong them its condem nation o f official abuses and its insistance on the appearance o f a “true ruler” to replace a decadent and destructive m onarch. D uring the early C h ，in g，one may speculate, Y iian ’s reputation as a turncoat may have affected the popularity o f 1 his writings. W ithin several decades o f the M ing fall m uch o f the w ork had been incorporated into another novel, C h ’u Jen-huo’s Ro­ mance o f the Sui and the T ’ang. As a consequence, the best o f Y iia n ’s narrative survives in the later work, which remains popular even today, although his role in its authorship has been ignored until the

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present century.41 T h e other two novels Y iian Y ii-ling edited, histor­ ical romances concerning the H an period, likewise disappeared soon after their first editions. (Yiian’s novels about the H an w ere far from original; he simply m odified two older novels somewhat and put his ow n name on the title pages. It is tem pting to raise suspicions about Forgotten Tales o f the Sui as a similarly rewritten work, since com m en­ taries on several chapters m ention an “original edition,” yuan-pen or pen-chuan. B ut no earlier text exists that bears any close relation to this; it is my guess that the com m entator simply refers to an earlier d raft o f Y iian ’s novel that circulated am ong his friends in m anu­ script. As it stands, certain sections were adapted from The Merry Ad­ ventures o f Emperor Yang; others owe their inspiration to episodes in Water Margin, although names o f characters and other details have been m odified considerably.) Despite the political com m ent implicit in its choice o f subject m atter and explicit in its editorial asides, Forgotten Tales o f the Sui deals prim arily with the problem s surrounding personal freedom s and responsibilities: how free is one, how ought one to choose a social role in life, and w hat models should one follow. T h ese again are questions relevant only to the leisured and educated, w ho could ponder the present in relation to their know ledge o f the past. T h e central character in these deliberations is C h ’in Shu-pao who, al­ though he lives a life quite differen t from Y iian and his friends in detail, still shares the values o f the leisured elite. Clarification o f this * character’s search fo r identity will require a selective plot synopsis. C h ’in Shu-pao starts life with a romantic view o f the world. He is the scion o f a line o f honored generals, the last o f whom fell with the Sui conquest as a paragon o f loyalty to his date. T h e youthful C h ’in is a m ediocre student, p referrin g instead to learn the rudi­ ments o f military strategy and the handling o f weapons. His sires are dead, and the m odel they present is far rem oved from his daily ex­ perience. Consequently C h ’in Shu-pao becomes som ething o f a hoo­ ligan, getting, into fights fo r the avowed purpose o f righting wrongs in the m anner o f a knight-errant. In fact, C h ’in Shu-pao at this point is as free as he will ever be, headstrong and self-indulgent. O nly his m other can restrain him by insisting that he show h er proper filial respect. W hen a friend suggests that he take some conventional em ­ ploym ent, C h ’in Shu-pao retorts angrily:

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“N ever in m y entire life have I placed any value on serving some o f­ ficial. I am one o f a line o f generals. M y aim is to lead a line o f troops or horse to slay generals and capture standards, to expan d the frontiers and exten d the domain. T h is will bring glory and rank to m y parents and honors and privileges to m y wife and children. B u t if I d o n ’t achieve m y aim, I still have a little poor land and a few fruit trees I can rely on to care for m y old m other and to support m y w ife and children. A n d I have some local wine and a few chickens in our shabby little house that I can use to entertain m y true friends. W henever cares trou­ ble this brave heart o f mine, even thou gh I may not know how to sing lyrics and com pose verse or to play a zither or strum a lute, if»I handle m y lance or m y sta ff for a while this is en ou gh to ease m y mind. W hy should I bow m y head to some corrupt official and obey hi奉orders? I f I captured a th ief he w ould m ake it his accomplishment; all the booty I m ight recover would be ju st that m uch more wealth for h im ! I w ould be the one to wear m yself out captu ring bandits, but then they’d only have to slip him a little m oney and he’d let them go, claim ing false Arrest on o ur part. N o r could I ever go slinking around hu rting good people ju st for the sake o f filling his ricebowl. Fll have nothing to do with this!” 42

His m other insists, however. She feels strongly that the local con­ stabulary, the lowest o f all governm ent positions, is the place to begin the rise to the glory that he owes her and his forebears as a fil­ ial son. C h ’in can only m eekly obey. Soon this coarse Shantung youth is sent to another province, Shansi, to deliver prisoners into exile. His departure marks the beginning o f a new stage in life. Early on in his jo u rn e y he discovers a man being beset by brigands (actually this is an attem pt to assassi­ nate Li Y iian— later the fo u n d er o f the T ’a n g ~ sta g e d by Y an g Su) and in his innocence can only sigh philosophically about the lack o f peace in the realm. His com panion must shame him into saving the man by rem inding C h ’in Shu-pao o f his obligation, as a self-styled knight-errant, to right wrongs w herever they occur. C h ’in rescues the man, then flees in em barrassm ent before he can be properly thanked. Soon C h ’in Shu-pao rides into Luchou with his charges, only to be delayed there fo r m onths— having forgotten to bring any m oney with him. In Luchou C h ’in Shu-pao becom es the pawn o f an innkeeper and his own inexperience. Instead o f seeking help, C h ’in sits m o­ rosely, unable to retort to the insults o f his host. C h ’in tries to sell his weapons, to no avail. Finally he sells his horse to a local stalwart who

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would gladly have helped him out o f these financial straits— but C h ’in is too deeply im m ersed in his own traum as to think o f others, even for his own benefit! Repeatedly em barrassed at falling far short o f the image he has o f him self, C h ’in Shu-pao becomes physically ill, so m uch so that he is com pletely immobilized. T h ro w in g him self thus on the m ercy o f others, C h ’in has given up most o f his egq. T h a t too must be m ended along with his body. His models are the learned W ei C hen g (580-643, later an im portant T ’ang minister), tem porarily in retirem ent because the “W ay does not prevail， ” and the wealthy landow ner Shan Hsiung-hsin. Wei teaches him about pow er politics; Shan is his m odel o f altruistic friendship. A ll this male influence has driven earlier pressures from his mind; C h ’in is stricken with rem orse at news that his m other has been grieving for him all this time. Finally he starts hom e, becomes involved in an accidental homicide, and ends up in exile, in penal servitude in the arm y o f Lo I (known to history as Li I，having received the imperial surnam e fo r his aid in the T ’ang conquest). Lo I is none other than C h ’in’s uncle by m arriage. He becomes his new behavioral m odel, but only after C h ’in Shu-pao thoroughly shames him self again by pretending to be m o re^ ro ficien t at arms than he really is. T h is time his face is saved by his twelve-year-old cousin，a phenom enal archer. C h ’in studies diligently, although now he can no longer rem ain oblivious to his other obligations. Despite his reluctance to leave his benefactor Lo I and his cousin, now a close friend, still he cannot but repay all his debts and return to his m other. M other Ch*in had gotten him started in his career, such as it was; Lo I’s recom m endation starts him again as a low-ranking ru n ­ n er fo r the local circuit intendant. This b rin g s another round o f trials; he attempts to treat his erstwhile friends-cum -highwaym en generously while keeping them out o f trouble at the same time. He succeeds, only to comm it the m urder o f the wealthy rake in the capi­ tal himself, another source o f shame— over the needless deaths this righteous act provokes. A t hom e again he serves as a constable, now unable to discover the identity o f robbers who m ade o f f with a ship­ m ent o f tax silver fo r the court. A t the residence o f a friend, C h ’in Shu-pao weeps in his wine, admitting: “Sir，I may be good for nothing, but it’s not that I can’t bear the pain o f a little criticism and a little floggin g from the magistrate. 丁hat’s not why I have tears in m y eyes. . . .

It was only because I had m y heart set on

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earning a reputation for meritorious service that I went to serve C o m ­ m ander Lai with m y weapons and was given a small post. B u t I d id n ’t foresee that I ’d be called dow n by the governor o f the province or that today my body— m y parents’ most precious gift— would be broken and sham ed by an official beating. I ’m even ashamed to let you see the tears in m y eyes, old frien d.” 43

Friends assemble to celebrate his m other’s birthday, a sign o f their respect fo r C h ’in Shu-pao despite his sufferings over failures in office. A m on g them are the criminals he seeks; one is a childhood playmate and form er sworn brother nam ed Gh’en g Yao-chin (d.665). C h ’in is still playing the altruistic friend, however; without hesitation he burns the w arrant fo r their arrest, thus turning his back on all other obligations. T h is act again reduces C h ’in’s options considerably. Friends must hasten to his aid to forestall disaster; they replace the stolen goods and have him relieved o f his duties. C h ’in Shu-pao’s next assignm ent is to escort a gan g o f laborers to the G rand Canal excavation site. T h e re he learns o f the wide­ spread kidnappings that serve Ma Shu-m ou’s table (adapted from The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang), captures the abductors, and brings them to the highest local authority fo r justice. Since this is Ma himself, the kidnappers are soon back at their trade. B ut now he is a responsible servant o f the state; C h ’in Shu-pao does not act im pul­ sively again. Instead, he chooses the tim e-honored C onfucian alter­ native to participation in tyranny: he retires to his hom e town. A fte r several years o f this pastoral purification, he is a man in the eyes o f the w orld. This heralds a new stage in C h ’in’s career, a higher plateau o f maturation. T h e now adult C h ’in Shu-pao can take the initiative to act without prom pting— and in ways that are not patently destructive. H e has a new born son; he has also gained a reckless protege nam ed Lo Shih-hsin (603-622). Furtherm ore, he is granted a position o f real authority, as a general o f the vanguard in the Sui expeditionary force sent against the K orean state o f Koryo. C h ’in serves conscientiously and well in this assignment, even avoid­ ing violent conflict when confronted by the father o f the young rake he slew in the capital. T o this evil minister, Yii-w en Shu (d.6i6), he declares: “Enough! I got rid o f a public nuisance that day. N ow you want to take revenge fo r your son— I ’ll ju st hand over this head o f m ine and be done with it. I only regret that I haven’t yet repaid m y m other for her con­

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cern and that Korea isn’t yet pacified. A w ay with it! C u t it o f f w henever you want!” A n d with that he straightened him self and m arched out o f the camp, taking great strides.44

C h ’in returns home in glory, finally the w orthy scion o f a line o f gen­ erals. Now C h ’in’s problehis are those o f an adult man in a chaotic age. H e has “found him self” by developing self-confidence in his role as principled leader o f arm ed men. B ut his principles still can leave him snared on the horns o f a dilemma. C h ’in Shu-pao’s next assignment is the pacification o f the brigand and rebel bands rife in his native Shantung. T h e n when several o f his friends also rebel, his enem y Yii-wen Shu charges C h ’in him self with brigandage and has his fam ily arrested. Y o u n g Lo Shih-hsin manages to free them ，but as in Water Margin they have no place o f refu ge except am ong the desperados. Despite his high regard for and strong personal loyalty to his com m anding officer, C h ’in Shu-pao too can only jo in Li Mi’s (582-618) rebel force at T ile Ridge (Wakang): “W hat will I do? I had thought to remain here to fulfill my obligations to the state while fu l­ filling my obligations to m y true friend. . . . I can only write a farew ell letter to C om m ander C hang . . . and long fo r a reunion with my m other.” 45 C h ’in’s erstwhile troop is sent against the rebels; both its com m ander and another o f C h ’in ’s old friends die fighting fo r the Sui. C h ’in him self is heartbroken, although significantly he is simultaneously freed from his last ties to the Sui. His com m ander had been a man o f unsw erving loyalty to the em peror; C h ’in Shu-pao seeks to em ulate him in his own service to Li Mi, now self-proclaim ed duke o f Wei. A m eeting With a rival con­ tender, Li Shih-min (598-649), presents a thorny,problem : it is obvi­ ous to C h ’in that Shih-min is the “true ruler” he had been seeking, a m an o f outstanding capacities and fully worthy o f his loyalty. Unable to discover a means to transfer his allegiance, C h ’in Shu-pao again seeks refuge behind a d ifferen t Confucian principle: he rushes o ff to visit his m other. T h e re he remains until Li Mi is dead, a victim o f 、his, own treachery. T h erea fter C h ’in is free to jo in Li Shih-min and the rising T ’ang forces, as do m any o f his friends and acquaintences. W hen T ’an g military forces subdue another rival rebel leader, 'C h ’in’s first benefactor, Shan Hsiung-hsin, is am ong those taken prisoner. W ithout hesitation, C h ’in makes a form al farewell, ar­ ranges a m arriage fo r Shan’s child, and sees him to the execution ground. T h e n he has Shan buried with honors. His filial concerns

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are not allowed to conflict with his unswerving loyalty to the new T ’ang state— nor are other personal considerations perm itted to in­ terfere. T h e fictional C h ’in Shu-pao has achieved the heroic role allotted him by the recorders o f Chinese history, as a faithful com m ander in the civil wars that established the three hundred years o f T ’an g rule early in the seventh century. Significantly, the C h ’in Shu-pao o f the novel’s last few chapters is nearly devoid o f a convincingly com plex personality; the novelist is com pleting his life story, but by then events subm erge the man. H e has become too prom inent nationally for the novelist to exam ine his movem ents as an individual character separate from those o f other leaders involved in the struggle for power. A n d as an adult, C h ’in simply is o f less interest to Y iian Yiiling than he was du rin g his form ative years. T h e ultimate stultification o f C h ’in Shu-pao in Forgotten Tales of the Sui is a consequence o f Y iian Y ii-ling’s choice o f a historical fig­ ure to be his protagonist. A s he points out in his preface, his in/terest is \^ith the m aturation o f this character m ore than with what he had ultimately become ten centuries before Y iian ’s time: W hy use the word “forgotten” in the title o f this history? It is because I am supplem enting the standard histories. T h e standard histories chron­ icle events . . .

to transmit what is credible. Forgotten histories collect

what has been overlooked . . .

to transmit what is marvelous. Works

which transmit the credible place greatest value on truth (chen) . . . . W orks which transmit the marvelous place greatest value on fancy {htuin). . . .

I have created Forgotten T ales o f the S u i to write o f C h ’in ，

duke o f H u, in his obscurity. A n d in addition I have included those o f his time who served with h i m . . . . T h u s m y intention from the beginn in g was to supplem ent hereby the ‘histories with that 'which had been forgotten; it was not necessarily to proceed in a direction opposite to that o f the histories. T h u s I have ventured to embellish a tale to app end to the histories, w riting to fill in w hat the histories ideas. . . .46

lack

while

m aintaining

the

historians’ original

Custom arily, m odern literary historians have tended to overlook novelists’ prefaces as facetious or as m ere apologias fo r w riting fic­ tion rather than m ore serious literature. Y iian ’s preface to Forgotten Tales o f the Sui smacks lightly o f both. A n d yet it serves as an im por­ tant key to the work, given the context in which it appeared. Histo­ rians ever since Ssu-ma C h ’ien in the early Han period had seen

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nothing amiss in the restrained use o f im agination in the dramatic presentation o f historical events; logic shows that conversations and statements must have been fabricated by historians to dem onstrate the personalities o f historical personages as confirm ed by recorded events. Likewise, historians organized their biographies by types o f social roles (eunuchs, ministers, generals) and behavioral models (fil­ ial sons, chaste widows, loyal subjects). Y iian Y ii-ling here has pro­ vided a fictitious m aturation process to match what orthodox histo­ rians recorded o f the m an’s life as an adult. T h e purpose o f giving his imagination free reign is to produce a kind o f “truth ” despite its basis in fantasy. T h a t in recording truth Y iian achieved what might in large part be called realism can be seen in the rape scene quoted above. His “illusions o f reality” are indeed convincing. T h e stages in d h ’in’s maturation, then, may be viewed as similarly realistic. As has been dem onstrated already, Y iian addressed his narrative to con­ tem porary problems; the “ truth” he fabricates thus is o f his own age, not necessarily that o f the Sui a m illennium before. T h e pressures felt by C h ’in Shu-pao are those o f the seventeenth century. W hether they accurately reflect those o f the Sui as well seems immaterial. C h ’in Shu-pao's attempts to establish him self in the world in­ volve his adoption o f Various behavioral models and his assumption o f several social roles. In his earlier years the models he pursues are o f two distinct types, “stalwarts” or “outstanding m en” (hao-chieh) o f highest moral principles, resolute in their application o f these princi­ ples, and “swordsm en” or “ knights-errant” {hsia), m en o f courage and personal dedication whose reckless altruism all too frequently complicates further the wrongs they strive to right. W hile both are positive character types in Forgotten Tales of the/Sui, Y iian Yii-ling clearly prefers the form er for their cool-headed resourcefulness and integrity; the latter, often bunglers despite their good intentions, become the objects o f -his gentle hum or. T h e form er tend toward paragons o f social consciousness in a Confucian sense; the fatter are m ore often the Chinese version o f the “ru gged in d iv id u a lis t,fr e e spirits who act in accordance with their (frequently dimmed) p er­ sonal lights. W hile stalwarts can and do lead men, swordsmen here must be u nder the firm guidance o f other, m ore socially conscious individuals who control their destructive impulses. N either type is automatically above reproach, however; each is m orally com plex as a group, if not individually.

Man as Responsible Being

Exam ples o f both categories are to be found am ong C h ’in’s youthful friends. W ang Po-tang (d.618) is a scholar (hsiu-ts’ai) and therefore o f the higher cultural group, but most o f C h ’in ’s early influences come from swordsmen— fo r exam ple, the friend who goads him to save Li Y iian while on their first official mission. Shan Hsiung-hsin is a stalwart; his broad knowledge and generosity ap­ peal strongly to C h ’in. M ore important, the stalwart has the wisdom to discern the time proper fo r action. Shan willingly enjoys retire­ m ent and advises C h ’in to do the same. Shan, however, is also headstrong. T h e gold he conceals in C h ’in’s luggage causes furth er traumas fo r the youth; that his elder brother was accidentally slain by Li y iia n makes it impossible for the ven geful Shan Hsiung-hsin ever to jo in the T ’ang forces. Consequently, Li Y iian orders him ex­ ecuted, again causing C h ’in and his friends considerable anguish. T h e youn g C h ’in Shu-pao always mimics those near him. Shan. Hsiung-hsin inspires him to new heights o f responsibility; he hurries home to attend to familial duties, only to be fu rth er delayed en route. His escorts on his way to exile for accidental hom icide are stalwarts, albeit also reckless to an extent. His uncle Lo I is o f a h igher cultural order; a few months in his service even move C h ’in to try his hand at verse. T h is is an act o f desperation, a plea scrawled on a wall that he be allowed to visit his m other. B ut C h ’in Shu-pao is barely literate. His poem , quite unoriginal, wins ’ the desired re­ sponse, although Lo I clearly perceives the limitations o f the youth’s education. C h ’in’s com panions as he visits C h ’angan are identified as swordsmen. O ne may infer, then, that the m urder o f the rake is a reaction to their penchant for impulsive behavior. C h ’in Shu-pao’s own instability is revealed in an interior m onologue ju st before h e enters the capital. First, Li C hing (571-649), the m inister’s agent for receiving the gifts brought by C h ’in Shu-pao and others, warns him o f im pending calamity. T h e n he ruminates: “N on e o f those fellows believes in yin-yang or in spirits and g ho s t s . . . . N ow the official business is finished, but how can I tell them about run ­ nin g into his exalted person, about his telling m y bad fortune from the signs on m y face, and about his w arning to leave at once? N o true gen ­ tleman could say a thing like that. A true gentlem an would put aside his own wishes to accom m odate others! Since my business is finished, how can I tell them such a fairy tale as this? . . . M y friends would all laugh at m e !47

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Surely it is not confidence in his convictions, that m oves C h ’in at this junctu re; appropriately, he is active in seeking approval from the be­ havioral models at hand. As a consequence o f the conflagration in C h ’angan, C h ’in Shupao becomes m ore self-conscious and m ore cautious, as he dem on­ strates in subsequent episodes. Celebrants o f his m other’s birthday are o f fo u r cultural levels. W an g Po-tang and Li Mi, w ho are aristo­ cratic in deportm ent; Shan Hsiung-hsin, who is unpolished but has the air (ch’i) o f a stalwart; several who at least make a proper appear­ ance; and the crude thief, C h ’en g Yao-chin.48 A lth ou gh C h ’en g com ­ pletely loses self-control on this occasion, C h ’in Shu-pao follows the exam ple o f the m ore cultured m en present, and is calm and decisive in his altruistic resp o n se~ even though his destruction o f the war­ rant is not a rational solution to the problem. It is Li Mi and others am ong the elevated w ho replace the lost silver and have C h ’in trans­ ferred to new duties. B y the time he retires from office fo r a respite with his family, he is finally a fully realized stalwart, self-confident and self-reliant. H ereafter C h ’in serves in several social “roles” quite at variance with each other, as bandit leader and as able military com m ander, but his values are established. His m aturation through the use o f successive behavioral models is com plete; he has chosen to become a man o f refinem ent and fidelity to principle, surpassing all his erstwhile models, stalwart and swordsm an alike. C h ’in Shu-pao has chosen the only role appropriate fo r a man o f his caliber in a chaotic age, as an active leader o f m en in the struggle to regain peace and tranquillity in the realm. A fter C h ’in Shu-pao, the most engaging character in Forgotten Tales o f the Sui is C h ’en g Yao-chin. In his untranlm eled exuberance, this “swordsm an” hero is ju st the opposite o f the grave and conscien­ tious Gh’in Shu-pao. B ut while his C h ’in Shu-pao develops from ram bunctious youth to becom e a renow ned general o f heroic pro­ portions, Y iian Y ii-ling reserves f o f C h ’en g Yao-chin the ironic m ode— C h ’en g is consistently a fool, Y iian ’s vehicle fo r comic relief as well as fo r furth er comm ents on man in society. ~ C h ’en g Yao-chin is introduced in C hapter 27 o f Forgotten Tales. W hen a wealthy local stalwart, Y u Chun-ta, hears that shipments o f imperial silver to finance the G rand Canal excavation will pass near his manor, he begins searching fo r a man sufficiently foolhardy to steal it on his behalf. A retainer suggests C h ’en g ，a convicted felon;

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later Y u meets him by chance in a wineshop. T h e ir conversation is rem arkable fo r its realistic vitality; C laspin g his hands together in salutation, he asked: “W hat m ight your em inent nam e be, elder brother?” “Low ly nam e’s C h ’e n g ， ” Yao-chin replied. “A n d where m ight your lofty residence be?” Squire Y u asked. “Live in Pigeonville， ” he replied. “T h e r e ’s a certain brother C h ’e n g C hih-ch ieh in Pigeonville— surely he is one o f your prom inent clan?” the squire asked. Yao-chin laughed. “W hat 'prom inent clan’ are you talking about? E xcept fo r m y m other I live all by myself. I d on ’t know if there’s any­ body at all in m y clan besides me. I’m called C h ’e n g Yao-chin; form al nam e’s Chih-chieh. T h e y also call m e B ig C h ’eng. W hat do you want with m e?” . . . “C o u ld it be that you're selling those bundles o f kindling?” he asked. “N o t far w rong,” C h ’e n g Yao-chin replied. “A ll I have is m y m other at hom e; I weave a few bam boo baskets and m ake u p a couple o f bun ­ dles o f kindling to earn a living. I carried them out today, but nobody wanted to buy them. T h e wind bein g so high, I ’m g o in g to wait here a while and have a cu p o f warm wine before I head hom e-’’

T h e sight o f the two to g e th e r~ o n e so prosperous and the other a poor b u m p kin~ cau ses the other patrons o f the tavern considerable amusement. Soon the pair go o f f to Y u ’s m anor for m ore wine. T h ere C h ’en g Yao-chin breaks the flow o f polite conversation by asking directly: “Y o u want me to do a jo b for you?” “Y o u ’re mistaken， ’’ Y u C h u n -ta said. “I have lon g adm ired your al­ truism and courage, brother, but I have not had the opportunity to make your acquaintance. B ut since today we have met, I w ould like to avail m yself o f your services to m anage a bit o f business. N ow that we are together here and starting a new relationship, let us becom e sworn brothers to link us forever— and to rem ove any suspicions betw een us.” “I ’m kind o f ro u gh ， ” Yao-chin said. “W hy would you want to swear brotherhood with me?”

Y u Chun-ta persuades C h ’en g Yao-chin to participate in the cere­ m ony and then sends him away with an ingot o f silver for his m other. H owever, C h i n g ’s robe is in tatters; the silver tears through the sleeve in which he carries it and falls to the ground. He arrives hom e late, intoxicated and penniless, to receive a vehem ent scolding from his m other— who, cold and hungry; has been anxiously await­ ing his return:

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Seeing his face flushed from drinking, before she knew it her gorge began to rise. “You brute— how could you get so drunk that you forgot all about me here at hom e with neither food nor fuel,” she said. “I’m half stiff with hunger. W hat’s that stupid grin all about? Y ou must be out o f your mind, you brute. You make me so m ad I could die! But let me ask you: what did you do with the m oney you earned from selling that kindling?” “N o w ，m other, d on ’t get so heated u p ， ’’ C h ’en g Yao-chin said. “ I m ade it big today— why even talk about that kindling?” “Y o u ’re d ru n k， ’’ his m other said. “T h a t’s the wine in you talking — how can I believe a word o f it?” “I f you d on ’t believe me, ju st let me show you the silver I ’ve got here in m y sleeve,” he said. “W here is that silver?” she asked. Yao-chin felt in his sleeve, but could not feel it. T h e n he felt along the full length o f the sleeve. “W here could I have lost that silver?” he asked, stam ping his feet. “I told you it was ju s t drunken talk/' the m other said. A lt h o u g h C h ’e n g ’s m o th e r g iv e s little c r e d e n c e to his tale, s h e c a n n o lo n g e r b e a r h e r h u n g e r . S h e fo r c e s C h ’e n g to c a r r y h e r o n his b a ck to th e Y u m a n o r . T h e n ig h t is p itc h b la ck , a n d h e stu m b le s a t e v e r y step . B y th e tim e th e y a r r iv e , C h ’e n g Y a o -c h in is e n tir e ly s o b e r .49 T h i s e p is o d e ，o n e o f th e m o s t h u m o r o u s in F o r g o tte n T a le s , in ­ c lu d e s so m e o f its liveliest d ia lo g u e . Y iia n Y i i- lin g a c h ie v e s r e m a r k ­ ab le su ccess in c a p tu r in g th e fla v o r o f liv in g c o llo q u ia l s p e e c h . E v e n m o r e r e m a r k a b le , h o w e v e r , is th e d e g r e e to w h ic h Y iia n h a s s u r ­ p a s s e d th e W a te r M a r g in

m o d e l fo r s w o rd s m a n h e r o e s to c r e a te a

tr u ly m e m o r a b le p o r tr a it o f C h ’e n g Y a o -c h in . T h e c o u n tr y p e r s o n d o e s a p p e a r as a fo o l in C h in e s e , as in W e s t­ e r n , lite r a tu r e , a lth o u g h it is fa r m o r e c o m m o n fo r C h in e s e w riters to p r e s e n t th e ru stic, p a r tic u la r ly th e w o o d c u tte r , in a T a o i s t lig h t, a l o o f fr o m th e p e tty c o n c e r n s o f th e w o r ld . F r o m his d e ta c h m e n t, th e ru stic th e n ca n c o m m e n t o n m a tters o f p h ilo s o p h y a n d politics; ch a r a c te r s o f this so rt a p p e a r r e g u la r ly in v e r s e a n d d r a m a , as w ell as fic tio n .50, G h ’e n g Y a o -c h in is a ru stic, to b e su re. B u t w ith a p p r o ­ p r ia te ir o n y , h e is n o t th e w o o d c u tte r o f tra d itio n ; in s te a d h e o n ly g a th e r s k in d lin g , a n d in w is d o m h e is d e c id e d ly b e lo w th e fictio n al n o rm . C o n s e q u e n tly , this c h a r a c te r s h o u ld b e se e n as a h u m o r o u s c o m b in a tio n

o f a ttrib u te s

fr o m

this

m odel

and

fr o m

th e

W a te r

M a r g in h e ro es. A s a ca se in p o in t, C h ’e n g ’s “ m ilita r y skills” a re lim ite d to a fa c il­

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ity with the ax— fo r cutting wood. Water Margin heroes all have con­ siderable proficiency in hand-to-hand combat; although C h ’eng Yaochin has fitted his ax with an exceptionally long handle fo r martial practice, he still has to be taught to use this tool as a weapon. Water Margin heroes for the most part willingly jo in the brigands to get revenge for injustices they have suffered; because he has been par­ doned by the em peror (through a general amnesty on Y an g ’s acces­ sion to the throne), C h ’en g Yao-chin is extrem ely reluctant to steal the im perial silver. Water Margin heroes w ould regard such th eft as blows against the em peror’s unw orthy underlings, and it is clear to most other Forgotten Tales characters by this time that the Sui is fall­ ing through internal corruption. T o com pound the irony o f implied comparisons with the archetypal w oodcutter, C h ’en g the buffoon has absolutely no understanding o f politics: W hen finally he agrees to steal the silver, his decision is based on nothing m ore profound than a feeling o f obligation to Y u Chun-ta fo r o fferin g to support his m other. T h e deed accom plished, he proudly announces their names to his victims 一 who naturally report them to the local m agis­ trate. Y et in this com edy o f errors, the guard has garbled the names, with the result that C h ’en g ’s identity remains hidden despite his in­ discretion.51 A lth ou gh the reader cannot but look down, as it w ere, on C h ’en g Yao-chin fo r his boorishness, his childish naivete makes him an extrem ely appealing character, as subsequent scenes dem on­ strate. U naware that he has not been nam ed in a w arrant, C h ’eng turns highwaym an in the Shantung border region, robbing travelers along the highroad. B efore long a band o f stalwarts led by Shan Hsiung-hsin passes through on their way to the birthday celebration for C h'in Shu-pao’s m other. C h ’en g recognizes none o f them, and attacks ferociously as a consequence. O ne o f their num ber attempts to make peace: L ow erin g his lance, W an g Po-tang called out in a loud voice, **Hold, friend! W e are all ‘o f the same path.’ ” N o t understanding his dialect, C h ’en g Yao-chin raised his ax and aimed a blow at W an g Po-tang’s helm et. ‘T m not one o f those ‘on the path’ that d o n ’t eat meat!” “A fine fool,” Po-tang laughed quietly. “W e’re all friends o f the greenw ood!” “T h is is the seventh wood and here you have to buy safe passage From m e!” Yao-chin cried.

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C h ’eng Yao-chin is the butt o f all the hum or here, o f course, as he reveals his ignorance at every turn. First he dem onstrates his inexpe­ rience as a highwaym an, m istaking the argot expression fo r a refer­ ence to the “path” o f Buddhist clergy. T h e n he betrays his provin­ cialism as well by m istaking “greenw ood” fo r “sixth w ood” (lii-lin and liu-lin, respectively in standard northern reading, although pro­ nounced far m ore alike in other dialects); his com m ent on the useventh w ood” is a product o f this m isunderstanding— again, a result o f his ignorance o f outlaw argot— and a feeble attem pt at a witty reply. B efo re long, the battle is stopped— W ang Po-tang blocks C h ’en g’s blows until the latter is exhausted— and after identifications are made, C h ’en g willingly goes with Shan H siung-hsin’s party to an inn for wine: T h e r e they drank for am usement. B y the time the others had reached only h alf o f their capacity, C h ’e n g Yao-chin was already quite drunk. H e loved wine and w henever he had the chance he w ould not stop d rin king until he was fully intoxicated. H old in g his w inecup in his hand, he tho u gh t to him self how hard that bitter w ork had been during his period o f penal exile beyond the pass. T h o se had been years o f anguish for him. B ut soon after his pardon he had m et Squire Y u , who had convinced him to do that bit o f business in L o n g L e a f Forest. A n d now he had m ade the acquaintance o f the world's greatest stalwarts. “I ’m h a p p y!” A lth o u g h these words never left his lips, they rum ­ bled about within his breast. A n d with a thou ght so strong in his mind, it had to com e out his m outh. D raining his winecup, he slam med it fiercely against the table and shouted aloud as if calling for wine: “ I ’m happ y!” A lth o u g h the w inecup shattered into tiny pieces, this was o f little consequence. But when he stam ped on it with his foot, he broke a big, hole in the boards o f the floor.

’

C h ’en g and his com panions are upstairs in the wineshop; dust and debris fall on three m ore stalwarts dining below, and another fight ensues. A gain, this conflict is quickly calm ed;52 and in C hapter 43 yet one m ore m istaken identity causes C h ’en g Yao-chin to attack a potential friend. In both instances his utter guilelessness forestalls any lasting offense to his fellows. Likewise, the reader cannot but find the character appealing fo r the consistency and realism in its delineation. In dramatic contrast to C h ’in Shu-pao, the character o f C h ’eng Yao-chin changes little on the pages o f Forgotten Tales o f the Sui. He is

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first and last a swordsman; he never m atures to a higher level o f un­ derstanding, although ultimately he does become a general in the T ’ang armies. C h ’en g and C h ’in together exem plify the com m enta­ tor^ observation at the end o f C hapter 29: “O ne can see that the af­ fairs o f this world may only be accom plished by stalwarts in their chivalry or by fools in their directness.” 53 T h a t is, some m en learn to choose their roles in life; others are continually in need o f guidance. Similarly rough heroes in earlier novels, L u Chin-shen and Li K ’uei in Water Margin, fo r exam ple, regularly cause difficulty fo r their guardians; they threaten the success o f their respective causes when allowed freedom to act on their own. Lo Shih-hsin in Forgotten Tales is ju st this sort o f character as well. Put in com m and o f a siege, he slaughters the city’s inhabitants!54 C h ’en g Yao-chin, how ever, is suc­ cessful in the context Y iian Y ii-ling provides; both he and C h ’in Shu-pao serve faithfully and well in the T ’ang conquest, and are rew arded with wealth and rank. In this regard, Y iian Y ii-ling bears witness to the M encian dictum that some must lead, using their heads, while the rest, those who w ork with their hands, must inevita­ bly follow. N or is it by accident that the heroes o f this novel include few scholars. N o man here, not even C h ’in Shu-pao, earns a place fo r him self by studying C onfucian texts o r by adherence to C on ­ fucian norms. O n e m ight find nothing unusual in a paucity o f scholars w hen the subjejct is brigandage and civil war, but intellec­ tuals (Wu Y u n g and Chu-ko Liang) do play m ajor roles as strategists in the topically similar Water Margin and Romance of the Three King­ doms. Like C hin Sheng-t’an, Y iian Y ii-ling had few illusions that civil administrators could bring peace to the realm. Instead, m en o f intel­ lectual abilities must be m en o f action and vision— not ju st o f thought. C h ’in Shu-pao’s reflections on his fortune as foretold by the seer Li C hing and on the predelictions o f his rationalistic ruffian com ­ panions in C hapter 20 reveal an aspect o f self-concept that can only have been o f substantial im portance in seventeenth-century China. As we have seen, characters o f the swordsm an type do not believe in spirits, conceptions o f hum an events based on Y in -Y an g theory, or physiognom y. Stalwarts, on the other hand, are distinguished for their ability to discern the time appropriate for action. T h is involves not only perspicacity on the part o f the individual, but also beliefs in fate and the workings o f H eaven popular in the seventeenth cen­

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tury. Th ese concepts are ； regularly m entioned in the narrator’s intro­ ductory comments to each chapter, and clearly they represent genu­ ine beliefs o f Yiian Y ii-ling and his peers. B ut references to destiny are balanced by comm ents and situations that belie this fatalism, in­ dicating that man is prim arily responsible fo r his actions. This blend o f attitudes that appear m utually contradictory to m odern readers was not necessarily so to Y iian Yii-ling; he attributes the responsi­ bility for hum an actions to both H eaven and man on d ifferen t oc­ casions. A lth ough he questions m an’s ultimate freedom through the vehicle o f this novel, Y iian him self was unclear on this problem — he was exclusively neither pure idealist nor materialist, to borrow m od­ ern terms. Y iian Y ii-ling begins Forgotten Tales of the Sui by indicating that its hero is destined to becom e fam ous, that his greatness is as inher­ ent as the grandeur o f a m ature pine in a tiny seed. Such “seeds” must await their time to m ature, he explains; hence heroes with foresight remain obscure until H eaven provides the opportunity for great deeds.55 H eaven arranged to have C h ’in rescue the future T ’ang founder in C hapter 3; it provides portents o f the futu re at the births o f em perors, here Y an g o f the Sui and Li Y iia n ’s son Li Shihmin. H eaven steels man fo r trials yet to come, the narrator explains irx C hapter 9, before detailing C h ’in’s travails;56 young lord Yii-w en’s punishm ent, his slaughter by C h ’in Shu-pao, is irrevocably fated, the reader learns later. It is H eaven that brings the downfall o f the rapacious Sui court, Yiian stresses on several occasions, but this is recompense fo r its ru ler’s personal behavior. Y an g could have pre­ served his state; Li Mi could have founded one., 6 u t H eaven de­ prived them both because they destroyed theiryown chances, Y an g through excesses and Li Mi through arrogance.57 T h u s they bear at least partial responsibility fo r their defeats. T h e “true ru ler” is one ordained by H eaven, but he is one who both “accords with the will o f H eaven” and “responds to the hearts o f m en” (shun fien-i，ying jenhsin). "W hen the will o f H eaven devolves upon a leader, the will o f man follows suit， ” the narrator comments in verse. A lth ou gh one character goes so far as to equate the will o f H eaven with the hearts o f men, this contender for the realm fails, a victim o f his own pride.58 It is the narrator him self who chides this man in his in­ troduction to C hapter 59, saying: “For events in this world you can only depend upon yourself to accomplish them— how can you de-

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pend on others?” 59 Clearly in Forgotten Tales of the Sui, man is not the m ere pawn o f a mindless fate o r o f some frivolous deity; neither is he free to work out his own destiny. C h ’in Shu-pao attributes his dif­ ficulties to “luck” (shih-yun) on m any occasions, and m ore specifically to its lack.60 It is Heaven that is testing him, using him to effect its purposes— fo r good. This seems to be the essential point in Y iian Y ii-ling’s fatalism: he presents H eaven as a balancing agent, as in early Chinese cosmol­ ogy, a mindless force for restoring prim eval social harm ony. T o that end one is free to act in accordance with Heaven, but disregard for proper morals will bring disaster to the offend er, as it did to Em ­ peror Y an g o f the Sui. M ore fantastic claims fo r destiny— that Y an g was a reincarnated rat, fo r exam ple— appear in Forgotten Tales o f the Sui for their curiosity. C h ’in Shu-pao does not believe in them; nor, would it appear, does Y iian Yii-ling. Significantly, the m ore base heroes here, the “swordsm en,” rationalists who will not hear o f fate, are mostly, if not all, o f the p oorer w orking class. It is the “ stalwarts ’、 who perceive the will o f Heaven; they include literate men, large landowners, and trusted officials. It is with this class that Yiian iden­ tifies; it was from this class that C h ’in sprang, although he grew up am ong poorer people. W hen his hero C h ’in Shu-pao rejoins the elite as a T ’ang general, Y iian no longer treats him with ironic distance. T h e ambiguity here on the question o f individual responsibility for one’s acts, deliberately or unconsciously, is typical o f Y iian ’s class, most o f whom were unwilling or unable to act to correct the social and political injustices they so clearly perceived and described in fic­ tion.61 U ndoubtedly his readers shared this sentiment; they most ^likely included those who, professing loyalty to the fallen M ing well after the fact, went into retirem ent rather than risk their lives in po­ litical action as well as those who, like Y iian himself, chose to serve with at least some degree o f loyalty in the political alternative most, likely to bring stability back to China, the M anchu regim e. B ut with typical realism, people constitute the “fate” with which Y iian Y ii-ling moves his characters; others cajole, force, or encourage C h ’in Shupao to act, and thereby to m ature. O thers totally control C h ’eng Yao-chiri. T o seventeenth-century writers, the greater force at work in the lives o f m en was in fact the collective; responsibility to the group should and would always take precedence over untram m eled self-expression in China, then as now.

M on key as kin g and ju d g e in Hell. T h e Tow er o f M yria d M irrors, Edition A , preface dated 1641.

41 S elf as M ind or as Body: Fictional Exam inations o f Identity D reams are what the rich and honored, those with great leisure and happiness, and those w ho are peaceful, d o not want, but are w hat the poor and lowly, the sorrowful, and those in a disor­ derly world, make offerings for and seek after. I f rich and hon­ ored people dream o f poverty and lowliness, they will lose their riches and honor. People with great leisure and happiness will becom e destitute o f these things if they dream o f sorrow. People w ho are peaceful will find themselves in a world o f disorder if they dream o f disorder. A n d so w hen poor and d egraded, one o u gh t to dream ; when sorrowful, one o u gh t to dream ; and when in a world o f disorder, one ou gh t to dream. T u n g Y u eh , c .1 6 4 3 1

Few seventeenth-century novels w ere wholly original, with no earlier written sources. Y iian Y ii-ling had revised somewhat two historical rom ances set in the H an; Feng M eng-lung had written his P ’ing-yao chuan (Q uelling the Dem ons’ Revolt) and a historical rom ance on the late C hou, Tung Chou liehkiu) chih (Chronicles o f the Eastern C hou States), by exp an ding earlier novels; C hin Sh eng-t’an only lightly edited the chapters o f Water Margin that he preserved in his version. Sequels o f successful novels w ere as popular as new versions o f earlier works, although few sequels enjoyed— ■ or, apparently ， deserved—^more than transient at­ tention. T h e ir popularity was evanescent, a product m ore o f com ­ m ercial than o f artistic considerations. O ne significant exception to this rule is a short novel by a precocious young literatus that ap­ peared in 16 4 1 ， The Tower of Myriad Mirrors by T u n g Y iieh (1620-1686). A n oth er is the slightly longer The Prayer Mat o f Flesh. W hile the latter is not, strictly speaking, a sequel, it is in large m ea­ sure a literary parody, a caricature o f fiction popular d u rin g the sev­ enteenth century; this is in addition to its better known function, as a

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hum orous and bawdy expose o f contem porary values. T ogeth er these two novels reveal the minds o f their characters— and o f both their creators and their readers. For each novelist the conjoined sub­ jects are the fundam ental nature o f the self— w hether com posed o f mental constructs o r o f m ere physical experience— and self-tran­ scendence.

The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors:

Mind as Morass Hsi-yu pu (The T o w er o f Myriad Mirrors, literally, “A Supple­ ment to Journey to the Wesff) is a sequel to the m uch better known six­ teenth-century novel o f fantasy and adventure, Hsi-yu chi (Journey to the West). T h e earlier work, attributed to the scholar-official W u C h ’eng-en (0.1506-1582), traces the separate careers o f a supernatu­ ral m onkey and a hum an m onk in its first sections, then narrates their adventures as they, together with their ogre companions, travel from China to the W estern Paradise for Buddhist scriptures. Mon­ key is an indefatigable seeker after power, both magical and spiri­ tual, until the B uddha clamps him u nder a m ountain fo r five cen­ turies; thereafter the m onk Tripitaka rescues him in accordance with the divine plan fo r him to aid in the pilgrim age. T rip itaka’s fa­ ther is killed and hrs m other abducted while he is still an infant; in a m anner reminiscent o f the Moses legend, his m other sets him afloat on a river for his own protection. A n old m onk reseiies and raises the lad, until finally he attracts the attention o f the em peror fo r his wisdom and purity. T h e latter commissions the pilgrim age. T h 6 adventures this pair shares constitute the bulk o f the novel’s 100 chapters; with their companions (a m onstrous pig and a creature known as “Sand”)，they meet a succession o f villainous d e­ mons, all o f whom wish to eat or sleep with Tripitaka, whose purity is such that>a morsel o f his flesh or a drop o f his semen would be­ stow immortality. T ypically these episodes begin with an encounter between the party and a prospective adversary, followed by an im­ m ediate attack on or abduction o f T ripitaka that provokes a contest o f wit, strength, and resourcefulness between Trip itaka’s com­ panions and the dem on, final victory (often through the intercession o f one or m ore deities on the side o f the pilgrims) com ing after a

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certain am ount o f suspense, dense descriptions and intricate plot manipulations, and a great deal o f hum or. Critics have interpreted Journey to the West in a variety o f ways, particularly in the twentieth century, when the work has become known throughout the world in num erous partial or com plete trans­ lations.2 Most agree, however, that it was intended to be read pri­ marily as a Buddhist allegory, with the fo u r pilgrim s representing d ifferen t aspects or phases o f a hum an personality in the quest for enlightenm ent. T h e work simultaneously satirizes the clergy, politi­ cal and social abuses, and fads and fashions, but all in a H oratian m anner, with consistent levity. T h e historical Tripitaka left T ’ang China on his secret pilgrim ­ age in a . d . 627. T h e m onk w andered fo r eighteen years through Central Asia, collecting scriptures, studying B uddhist philosophy, and recording his experiences. T h e latter included visions o f dem ons and deities in the desert; such accounts seem to have form ed the basis fo r legends that began to spread soon after his own time. Fictional narratives and dram atic pieces concerning the pil­ grim age date at least to the thirteenth century; already by then the fictional T ripitaka had acquired M onkey as his most fam ous disciple and had begun his round o f contests with bloodthirsty dem ons that m ore often required physical strength than spiritual pow er to sub­ due. Journey to the West is the fullest unified compilation o f these tales; it appeared in printed form around 1590. Its author, presumably W u C h ’eng-en，edited older material, and created a good deal m ore, to develop relatively com plex and consistent personalities, at least for the protagonists. T h e legendary Tripitaka, an intrepid pilgrim in reality, lost his vigor through time until in this novel he becomes timid, anxious to proceed but fearfu l o f every m onster that bars his path unless the villain appears friendly— his apprehensions are frequently overcom e by his boundless gullibility. M onkey is headstrong, violent, and inquisitive, ready to rush into a m erry and often malicious prank without thinking. Tripitaka holds the magic key to a band installed around the simian's head by the bodhisattva Kuan-yin; his reciting the proper magic spell to make the band shrink— or even threatening to d o so— serves as an effective control over M onkey’s recklessness. B y the jo u rn e y ’s end both he and the m onk have earned their places in Heaven. (Interestingly, the m on­

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key, but not the m onk, becam e an active m em ber o f the pantheon in C hina’s folk religion; he remains the ch ief deity fo r certain local cults in T aiw an province even today.) Given the accessibility o f both translations and excellent critical material in English, the original Journey to the West needs no furth er introduction h ere.3 The Tower of Myriad Mirrors, likes its precursor, combines ele­ ments o f myth, allegory, and satire, although its abbreviated length (only sixteen chapters) leaves little potential fo r the adventure fan­ tasy so fully realized in Journey to the West. O n its first page, T u n g Y iieh locates his supplem ent in relation to the original: “T h e story goes that when the fou r o f them, the T ’ang priest and his disciples, had left Flam ing M ountain. . . .” 4 T h is Flam ing M ountain (Huoyen shan) episode occurs in Chapters 59 to 61 o f Journey to the West; there M onkey tries repeatedly to borrow a magic palm leaf fan from the wife o f a dem on o f his acquaintance, M adame Rakshasa (Lo-sha nii), in order to blow out the flames o f a volcano that blocks their path westward. The Tower of Myriad Mirrors constitutes a single long episode m eant to be read as if inserted into the longer narrative. N or is T u n g Y u e h ’s w ork a m ere imitation meant to capitalize on the popularity o f the original novel; its them e is similar, although not identical, to that o f the earlier work. A lth ough in style it sacrifices the vigor o f the original fo r the sake o f brevity, its narrative tech­ niques are often m ore com plex; the objects o f its satire are typical am ong seventeenth-century novels and d ifferen t in part from those o f its m odel. Furtherm ore, its fantasy is built on a level o f u n der­ standing o f dream psychology genuinely rare fo r it 少 time. Despite the fact that its characterization cannot be fully appreciated without a knowledge o f W u C h ’eng-en’s novel, The Towef is m agnificent for its insight into the self as conceived in seventeenth-century China. THe author o f this classic, T u n g Y iieh, must have written it when he was twenty. A lth ough this precocity has seem ed incredible to certain scholars,5 the date on one o f its prefaces clearly indicates that the w ofk was com plete by 1641. In a com m entary to a poem written in 1650, T u n g Y iieh notes: “T e n years ago I w rote a supple­ m ent to Journey to the West/'6 m aking the date o f the novel beyond question. N o r should the literary skill revealed here be thought un­ usual when T u n g ’s background is taken into consideration. Natives o f N anhsiin in eastern C hekian g on the Kiangsu border, for generations m embers o f his fam ily had been known for their

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C onfucian integrity, their learning, and their literary talent. A m on g his earliest identifiable ancestors are a fourteenth-century father and son w ho steadfastly refused to serve either the falling Y iian or the new M ing governm ent. A grandson o f the youn ger man was ex­ trem ely studious, although a total recluse. T h is man, T u n g Hsiang, l^ad a son nam ed T u n g H uan who purchased a studentship early in the sixteenth century; his son T u n g Pin (15 10 -15 9 5 ) earned a chinshih degree in 1541, being fifth on the national list o f successful can­ didates. B y this time the fam ily was am ong the most prosperous and prom inent in the low er Y angtze valley. Pin’s son T ao-ch ’un earned Xhe chin-shih degree in 1583; two o f his sons earned this coveted Jionor as well. A ll these m en served in the M ing governm ent in one capacity o r another. T h e sixth o f T ao -ch ’un’s sons was T u n g Ssuchang, T u n g Y iieh ’s father. Ssu-chang (1586-1628) purchased the lo w e st degree but was not successful in earning any on a higher level. It may be that the fam ily had declined somewhat politically, al­ though it is m ore likely that ill health and a retiring nature were the greater factors in Ssu-chang^ obscurity. A prolific writer, T u n g Ssuchang was m uch m ore interested in Buddhism and Taoism than in the standard C onfucian classics. T u n g Y iieh him self learned first to read B uddhist texts. From the age o f two, he would sit crosslegged in meditation: A t the age o f four he could read and would listen respectfully w hen his master taught. O n ce when T u n g C h ’i-ch’a n g and C h ’en Chi-ju were present, they asked him which book he w ould like to read. Suddenly he opened his m outh to say, “I want to read the Sutra o f P erfect E n lig h ten ­ m ent (Xiian-chiieh c h in g ).” Everyone w ho heard him was am azed. His fa ­ ther explained: “I have instructed him in the foreign teachings.” O n ly u pon finishing the P erfect E n ligh ten m ent d id he study the Four Books and the Five Classics.7

B y seven he was studying Sanskrit and was being taught the abstruse Hsin ching (Heart Sutra). Ssu-chang died when T u n g Y iieh was eight; thereafter the boy learned to compose essays o f the type required by the civil service exam inations u nder the direction o f a scholarly friend o f his father. A fte r a few years in the district school, T u n g Y iieh earned the lowest form al d egree at the age o f thirteen. H e may have sat fot* a h igher exam ination in 1639, but reportedly was failed because he did not bribe the exam iner.8 T h e follow ing year he wrote The Tower of Myriad Mirrors and within a few m ore /

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years his scholarly Ch’i-kuo k’ao (Study o f the Seven States)，on the po­ litical institutions o f Chinese feudal states o f the later Chou period. D uring these last few years o f the M ing, T u n g had a certain degree o f contact with the Revival Society, the political-literary group founded by C h an g P’u. T u n g Y iieh was even a form al student o f C hang until the latter’s death in 1641, w hereupon the novelist wrote two m emorial pieces on b eh alf o f his fellow members. Surely T u n g was seriously involved with the group, despite his tender years. In 1643 T u n g burned his writings for the first time, an act he was to repeat twice later. Given the profusion o f his writings, it seems likely that T u n g Y iieh initially destroyed works with which he was no longer esthetically satisfied. T h e second instance, in 1646, probably eliminated those containing anti-M anchu sentiments; in 1656, when he becam e a m onk, he destroyed far m ore than he had previously. It is likely, too, that with the change o f dynasty he gave up all thoughts o f governm ent service and burned his examination essays. It is recorded that at the fall o f the M ing he distributed the rem ainder o f the family wealth am ong the poor and went to live in a thatched hut in the mountains o f neighboring Kiangsu province, out o f the way o f the fighting.9 In 1651 the M anchus arrested the Buddhist m onk N an-yiieh o f the Ling-yen m onastery near Soochow. N an-yiieh had attracted a large num ber o f followers, am ong whom were m any M ing loyalists. A leader in the Lin-chi (Rinzai) sect o f C h ’an, Nan-yiieh was a strong loyalist himself. Th ese m en all fled at the m onk’s arrest, but upon hearing the news, T u n g Y iieh imm ediately went there to help re­ store order. T h erea fter he visited the m onastery frequently until 1656 when, vowing never to write again, T u n g/b u rn ed his books, shaved his head, and becam e a m onk there, a disciple o f the C h ’an master H ung-chu (1605-1672). As a cleric T u n g Y iieh, now known as Nan-ch’ien，traveled widely in central China, although he steadfastly refused to enter any city, H e ^Iso resum ed literary activity; his poetry from that period reveals a strong Buddhist coloration. W herever he went, a page carried a laVge num ber o f books for him to read at leisure. Despite pis breaking all official 贫 ontacts，T u n g Y iieh m aintained his scholarlyinterests, r i d i n g and w riting constantly. Ev^n^iis diary for the first h alf o f 1676 is preserved; co m m o n p life 1 dbservations about the w eathe? constitute a large portion, But it includes descriptions o f Ri公

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travels, poems, and records o f his dream s and thoughts. By this time he was striving to live in harm ony with nature; the conversations with friends and disciples recorded here range from philosophy to art but focus on this theme. T u n g died in 1686. T u n g Y u eh had six sons. As a means o f u rgin g them to avoid governm ent service, he nam ed them C h ’iao (W oodcutter, born 1639), M u (Shepherd), Lei (Plow, born 1642)，Fang (Boat), Y ii (Fish­ erman), and T s ’un (Rustic, born 1653). W hen their father becam e a monk, the boys all becam e his disciples. Later C h ’iao and Lei became known locally for their poetry. Most o f T u n g Y iieh ’s extant worlcs are verse, dating from 1646 to 1685, including forty-seven “C h ’an ballads,” philosophical poems with extensive prefaces in the early Six Dynasties yikh-fu ballad form . His contem porary C hu I-tsiin d e­ scribed T u n g ’s verse as distinguished for its “stiff words and obscure form s” (ying-yii se-fi). Few o f his writings are to be found today, but a com plete list includes over a hundred titles. (This may incorporate alternate names for the same work, however.) His works are o f sev­ eral types, including textual studies, anthologies o f excerpts from earlier works, chronologies, collections o f poetry and prose, schol­ arly analyses, and, o f course, a novel. His subject m atter ranges from the Confucian classics, particularly The Book of Changes, th rough as­ trology, luck, and fate, to literature and philsophy, and finally to d rea m s T w o volum es com piled in 1643 record his own dreams, from which the quotation that begins this chapter was taken. T u n g even organized a D ream Society at one time, com plete with a char­ ter. T u n g was fascinated with names: he took over twenty fo r him ­ self, even changing his surnam e fo r a time at the end o f the Ming, and freely nam ed and renam ed his sons, friends, and personal ob­ jects o f everyday life. A n inveterate inventor, T u n g concocted a “smokeless incense” (its fragrance to be borne by steam) and a “ plum blossom milk” that he fed to his youngest son. (Probably coinciden­ tally, this child, T u n g Ts'un, died young.) O ne m odern scholar links these odd concerns to neurosis, but T u n g seems to have been a selfconscious eccentric. His concern with names probably reflects his fas­ cination with personal identity, with the self. A s a student o f B uadhism, T u n g logically would be concerned with self, and ultimately with the extinction o f perceptions o f self to attain the mystical em an­ cipation o f C h ’an. T h e sense o f freedom and contentm ent revealed

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in his later works indicates his success in at least relative detachm ent from the values o f his social class, although surely his early concern with dreams is a function o f his active exam inations o f the self in its various manifestations. This concern continued throughout his life. So did his refusal to allow him self or his offsp rin g to serve the M anchu conquerors. In these respects T u n g Y iieh shared m any con­ cerns with other seventeenth-century scholar-gentry, but none gave them such clear expression in the novel form at. His uniqueness, then, stems from the depth o f his study o f Buddhism from child­ hood onward and from his rare intellectual talents.1^ In the first chapter o f The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors M onkey is bewitched by a pow erful dem on, the M ackerel Spirit (Ch’ing-yii ching); in its last, M onkey is awakened by a B uddha figure from what the chapter title identifies as a dream . W hile dream ing, M on­ key experiences a num ber o f feelings, sensations, and perceptions that are wholly beyond the range o f this character’s experiences as narrated in Journey to the West. Certain o f these dream adventures are the vehicle fo r the novelist’s pointed comments concerning his age; T u n g was no less aware o f the weaknesses o f the M ing state than C hin Sheng-t'an, Y iian Yii-ling, and other novelists. M onkey begins his strange adventure by discovering New T ’ang. H e puzzles over this incongruity; the T ’ang should be far a w a y i n fact this “new T ’ang” is a reference to the author’s own time. T h e state is ruled by the Licentious E m peror (Feng-liu huangti); that sensuality should so dom inate the m onarch that lie takes it for his title reveals to M onkey— and to the reader— that the welfare o f his subjects must be o f little concern to him. O rr the wall o f the palace M onkey reads an inscription that says, in pkrt: “ May the new em peror enjoy H eaven’s m andate for m yriad years; let everyone sing tM 'o d es o f the C hou king Hsiian. . . K in g Hsuan (by tradi­ tion, r\ 827-782 b . c . ) was known for restoring the vitality o f the fail­ ing Chou royal house. His armies also suppressed the barbarians on all frontiers o f the Chinese cultural area. Ironically, M onkey does not understand the significance o f the inscription and comments, about its author, “W ith such petty ministers as this at court, how could the em peror be anything but licentious?” 11 A t this point a pal­ ace serving, maid appears to clean up, talking to h erself all the while about the im perial carousals. T h is is what M onkey overhears:

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t "H a, ha, ha! T h e em peror is asleep and so are his ch ief ministers— the G reen Jade Palace has now becom e a Pavilion o f Sleeping Immortals. Our

licentious

Son

of

H eaven

spent

last

night

with

the

lady

O verthrow er o f States. T h e y feasted in the Em erald Palace o f the rear garden and drank heartily all night long. A t first he pulled out a Kaot’an g mirror, told O verthrow er to stand on the left and L ad y Hsii on the right, and so the three o f them stoo^l there next to each other in front o f the mirror. T h e Son o f H eaven said, ‘Y ou two ladies are beau­ tiful/ but Lady O verthrow er said, ‘Y o u r Majesty is beautiful.’ T h e Son o f H eaven then turned to ask us palace servants about this. T h r e e or four hundred palace maids answered with one voice, ‘Indeed, an out­ standingly handsom e m an!’ T h e Son o f H eaven was delighted, and with a dazed look in his eyes drank a great cu p fu 】o f wine. “W hen he was h a lf drunk he got up and looked at the moon. T h e n he open ed his m outh wide and laughed. Pointing up to C h ’ang-o in the m oon ，he said, ‘T h is is m y Lady Hsu.* Lad y Hsii then pointed to the W eaving Maid and the C ow herd and said, ‘H ere are Y o u r Majesty and Lad y Overthrow er. A lth ou gh tonight is only the fifth day o f the third m onth, let us celebrate the Seventh N ig h t a little early.’ T h e Son o f H eaven was very happy and drank yet another great cu p fu l o f wine. “T h a t drunken Son o f H eaven, his face red as blood, his head w ag­ ging, his legs wobbly, his tongue lolling, not caring that three sevens are twenty-one or that two sevens are fourteen, stretched him self across L ad y H sii’s body. Lad y O verthrow er quickly sat down so that she could pillow the emperor's heels in her lap. T h e r e was another seductive yo u n g beauty, one o f Lad y H sii’s attendants, who was full o f spirit. She picked a chrysanthem um blossom and walked around behind Lad y Hsii giggling. G ently she stuck it into the em peror’s hair, turn in g him into a drunken Son o f H eaven intoxicated by flowers.’’ 12

T h e sardonic hum or o f this passage smacks o f satire, another thinly disguised condem nation o f the licentious livin g~ w ith attendant dis­ regard o f official matters— at the im perial court so characteristic o f the W an-li em peror’s reign. T h e irony o f M onkey’s com m ent will be clarified in the discussion o f the novel’s Buddhist theme; it is suf­ ficient here to note that the inscription M onkey reads undoubtedly expresses the novelist’s genuine hope that a restoration o f M ing rule m ight occur and that the border “barbarians,” specifically the M an­ chus then threatening C hina’s northeastern frontier, m ight be sup­ pressed. In ironic contrast to the inscription’s allusion, this em peror, like E m peror Y an g o f the Sui, is concerned only with sensual plea­ sures, not with matters o f state. T u n g Y iieh ’s deprecation o f the Manchus is revealed m ore di­

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rectly later in the narrative, in C hapter 10，as M onkey explores yet another unfam iliar area: T h e story goes that in the area east o f the mountains was a restau­ rant, the owner o f which was losing his hair and teeth— who knew how m any centuries old he was? A ll day he would sit in his restaurant selling meals. O n his shop sign was written, “H sin the A n cient’s Restaurant， ” and below this，in small writing, it said: “Form erly nam ed Laym an Hsin.” O riginally when Laym an Hsin returned from the W orld o f Fools, the Jade G ate had been closed fast. T h u s he was unable to enter the W orld o f the Ancients and could only remain in the W orld o f the Future, where he open ed a restaurant to support himself. Since he was . not one to forget his roots，he had ch an ged his name to “Hsin the A n cient.” O n this day he was sitting in his shop drinking tea w hen he heard the M onkey raising a ruckus with his cries o f “U gh! W hat a stench!” as he came along by leaps and bounds. “C om e in, sir， ’’ Hsin the A n cient called out. “W ho are yo u,” M onkey said, “that you dare to call m e ‘sir’？， ’ T h e A n cient said, “I ’m the ancient m odern man, the m odern an­ cient m an，but if I tell you about it, yo u ’ll laugh.” M onkey said, "G o ahead; I won’t laugh at you.” “I ’m none other than Laym an Hsin o f the W orld o f the A n cients， ” H sin said. H earing this, M onkey hurriedly renewed his salutations, crying, “B enefactor Hsin! I f you won’t grant m e your kind assistance, Fll never get through the Jade G ate!” Hsin the Ancient was greatly startled. T h e n M onkey told his nam e，his origins, and all his feelings. L au ghing, the A n cient said, “A n d you would pay reverence to me, Sir Sun?” “D o n ’t m ake fu n ， ’’ M onkey said. “T h e r e are a couple o f im portant questions I must ask you: W hat’s this stench? It’s neither a fishy smell nor the rank odor o f sheep.”

’

“I f it’s stench you want, then this is the place to come. I f you don't want a stench, then stay away. T h e Tartars are next d o o r ~ ju s t go a little farther and yo u ’ll really get yourself into a stench!” Hsin the A n . cient said.13

T h e w ord p lay here is between past and present, Hsin (literally, “new ”）the A ncient being both simultaneously. H ence his comments, being placed in M onkey’s “fu tu re” (the novelist’s present) refer to the Tartars, the M anchus, then poised on C hina’s border. T h e A n ­ cient's apprehension surely was shared by the novelist himself; Nurhaci had proclaim ed a rival court, the C h ’in g，in 1636. T h e M anchu

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conquest o f China was imminent, although T u n g Y iieh may not have foreseen that possibility. T h e section quoted above exem plifies M onkey’s confusion o f time, place, and person, in pointed contrast to many o f the charac­ ters he encounters; the latter frequently reveal truths relevant to the reader, to the narrator, or to' both that M onkey com prehends barely— i f at all. M onkey is purely an observer o f one scene that cas­ tigates ’the civil service exam ination system by dem onstrating its ill effects on winners and the failures alike. (M onkey as developed m Journey to the West o f course has no experience with exam inations at all.) L ooking into a m irror, first he sees a man putting up an an­ nouncem ent o f the successful candidates: In a short while there were thousands and tens o f thousands o f people crow ding around and pressing together, shouting and calling out, all com ing to read the announcem ent. A t first there was ju st the sound o f a confusion o f high-pitched voices. T h is was followed by the sound o f wailing and w eeping. A n d this was followed by the sound o f angry cursing. In a little while the mass o f people dispersed, with every­ one goin g separate ways. O n e sat vacantly on a rock. O n e went and smashed to pieces his tile ink slab o f M andarin D uck design. O n e with hair as stringy as hem p was being beaten and chased about by his parents and teachers. O n e took a lute decorated with ja d e out o f its case, burned it, and then cried miserably for a time. O n e pulled a dou ble-edged sword out from the headpiece o f his bed, w anting to com ­ mit suicide, only to have a girl snatch it away from him. O n e with his head bowed low absent-m indedly read his own exam ination essays over and over. With a hearty laugh, one slapped the table and cried, “It’s fate! It’s fate!” O n e h u n g his head and vom ited blood. T h e r e were sev­ eral older m en w ho bou ght wine with their own m oney to help another dispel his sorrow. O n e, chanting poetry by himself, suddenly recited a line and began kicking stones with his feet. O n e w ould not allow his yo u n g servant to report that his name was not on the winners’ list. O utw ardly one feign ed a sorrowful expression while inwardly he was pleased, as if to say that he deserved to have succeeded. O n e was truly sad and angry but, forcing him self to show a happy countenance, smiled. T h e n there was a gro u p o f men whose names did appear on the winners’ list. O n e o f them chan ged into new clothes and new shoes. O n e forced him self to show an unsm iling face. O n e wrote words on walls. O n e looked at his own exam ination papers, read them out a few thou ­ sand times, then folded them into his sleeve and w ent away. Some grieved for their friends. O n e intentionally rem arked that the exam ina-

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tion officials were not u p to standard. O n e com pelled others to read the published announcem ent, and although they may not in their hearts have wished to do so, they forced themselves to read to the end. O n e en gaged in anim ated, high-flow n talk, saying that this year*s exam ina­ tions were most fair. O n e stated that on N ew Y ear’s Eve it had all been revealed to him in a dream . O n e said that his essay this time wasru n ­ satisfactory.14

*

T h e realism ,with which T u n g describes the varied reactions o f the exam inees is impressive in its own right. B ut lest the significance o f the scene be mistaken, M onkey is then m ade to hear the highlights o f the w inning essay read aloud. “T h e Unfinished T a s k to be taken up Is the pronlotion o f H um an Relationships. T h e T r u e A sp ect o f T he L e a rn in g and T h e M ea n Is the Com pleted Divinity o f the Principles o f Governing. H ow so? T h is situation is like Prim aeval Chaos in its unrecoverability, T h ese Principles are like Breath in their indispensability. T h u s the Essence o f H u m an N ature and Form cannot be divulged, T h e Embers o f the Bam boo Records are w holly o f the Spirit. In Sum m ary: T h e original labor o f Creation Generally o u gh t not to be seen as in ferior to T he M ean ; For the secret movem ents o f Ghosts and Spirits In their Obscurity can be only barely perceived.” 15

T h is preposterous collection o f high-sounding phrases takes the general structure o f the “eight-legged” essay required in T u n g ’s own time; at least it was m eant to be hum orous in its absurdity to readers who had struggled to write such compositions; H owever, the topic may well be relevant to the late M ing, although ’specific interpreta­ tion is rendered questionable by its deliberate obscurity. In this par­ ody o f an essay T u n g Y iieh seems to be lam enting the chaos in soci­ e ty caused by a decline in observance o f norm al hum an relationships; h e calls fo r their reestablishment, although this is im­ possible because o f the intangibility both o f m oral standards and o f models from antiquity in the chaos o f the present. T h is 'interpreta­ tion is highly tentative; T u n g ’s intention was to make the exam ina­ tion system appear useless and harm ful, the essays ridiculous, and, probably, classical studies too haphazardly pursued to bear any fruit. T u n g Y u e h ’s comm ents on the current situation becom e harsh

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and strident w hen M onkey encounters two historical figures, one from the past and one from the futu re, ju d g e d from the novel’s T ’an g period setting. T h e first is H siang Y ii (233-202 B .C .), an un­ successful contender for the realm at the found ing o f the Han. M on­ key encounters G eneral H siang in C hapter 6. D eciding to play a trick on him, M onkey m agically assumes the form o f H siang’s wife, Beauty Yii; the gullible general then slays his real wife, thinking her to be the M onkey in disguise. W hile this scene thus far has an alle­ gorical function in The Tower of Myriad Mirrors, its denouem ent is • m ore in the realm o f political com m entary; at M onkey’s bidding, H siang Y ii spends an entire night reciting his exploits on the battle­ field. T h ro u g h his foolishness and arrogance, an egotistical military man is shown to be anything but the sort o f savior C hina needs.16 Furtherm ore, ju d g e d by the historical record known to any educated reader, H siang Y ii is either a liar, self-deluded, or both. Y iian Y ii-ling condem ns civil officials in his novel; T u n g Y iieh similarly excoriates the M ing military establishment. In C hapter 15 the T ’ang m onk, as the delud ed M onkey perceives him, has become a general in the border defense forces. T h e m onk’s comm ands surely distort real practice in the late Ming: he orders execution for the slightest infringem ent o f military discipline. A n d yet this general has no experience; along with his entire arm y, he is quickly slain in battle at the frontier. T u n g m ay have had contem pt for C hina’s aggressive neighbors, but he shows little faith in the Chinese mili­ tary establishment as a defense against them .17 T u n g Y iieh ’s most violent feelings are revealed in relation to traitors o f a particular variety, those who from personal greed turn their backs on the Chinese state to aid foreign aggressors. In C h ap ­ ter .9 M onkey, now w andering in the W orld o f the Future, is coerced' to serve as king and c h ie f ju d g e o f the underw orld. His first duty is to ju d g e the case o f C h ’in K uei (10 9 0 -115 5 )，a court official o f the Sung period. M onkey reads accusations from the records o f C h ’in ’s^ misdeeds (actually condensed from the official history o f the S u n g)18 that prove his collusion with a. foreign governm ent to the detrim ent o f the Chinese state. C h ’in advised his em peror to m ake peace with the invaders, thereby establishing him self in the foreigners, esteem. T u n g records in graphic detail the tortures to w hich M onkey sub­ mits the villain: pricking with needles, slapping across the mouth, being dragged over a fram e bristling with blades, being smashed

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with a ham m er, having his ribs torn apart and spread, being beaten with iron whips, having pus poured down his throat, being flattened under a great weight, and then being turned into a horse and whipped until he goes mad. Finally C h ’in is cut up into thin strips and thrown into a furnace. T o clarify the relevance o f this gory scene, T u n g includes the following: M onkey raised his face to H eaven and laughed loudly, saying: “T h e em ­ pire fou nd ed by the bitter toil o f E m peror T ’ai-tsu o f the S u n g was all so happily given away b y you, C h ’in Kuei!” “T h is hum an pus wine makes m e anything but h a p p y ， ” C h ’in said. "A h , m y lord, many after me played the role o f the C h ’in Kuei, and even now quite a few are doing the very same thing. W hy do you make m e suffer like this all by m yself?” ‘

"W ho told you to be the leader o f present-day C h ’in Kueis and to

be the m odel for those to com e?” M onkey said. With that he sum m oned the G olden Claw Devils to bring over a saw, to tie u p C h ’in Kuei, and to slice him into myriad slivers. . . .ld

T u n g leaves no doubt here: T h e lesson o f this villain is to be applied to later times, specifically his own. Lacking a means to chas­ tise physically those o f his own day who m ight be tem pted to jo in the side o f the invader, T u n g resorted here to fantasy to warn them in advance. T h a t he, like Jonathan Swift, lost all sense o f hum or in this later section o f his narrative dem onstrates the passion o f his convic­ tions, if not his consistent success in m aintaining the ironic detach­ m ent o f a satirist. T h e next scene could hardly be m ore significant for its contrast. W hen Y iieh Fei appears, M onkey hastens to do him honor, vowing to be his disciple and to serve him as he does "pripitaka. Y iieh Fei (110 3 -1 14 1) was a Sung general and fierce proponent o f military resistance to foreign invaders; he was executed at C h ’in K uei’s com ­ m and for this view. Som e critics argue that this scene proves T u n g Y iieh ’s religious eclecticism, which it does, although its political sig­ nificance— as a call for arm ed resistance to the M anchu m enace— must not be overlooked.20 T h e political satire in The Tower of Myriad Mirrors, even in its harshness, reflects T u n g Y iieh ’s .public concerns; again, in the role o f sage, he attempts to warn his readers o f im pending disaster, al­ though his is not a clear call to action. His leisured readers, even if they understood T u n g Y iie h ’s message, would be likely to consider

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military preparedness som eone else’s business, not their own. (A l­ though military com m anders regularly were recruited from the scholar-gentry, it was only in times o f extrem e adversity— such as du rin g the M anchu sweep through central China— that literati in any num bers took up arms and organized military forces.) A n d yet such concerns, albeit strongly held, w ere o f secondary im portance to T u n g as novelist. His attention was focused rather on the personal level; exploration o f the self through the vehicle o f dream analysis is the m ore noticeable achievem ent o f his work. T h is is closely linked with the novel’s them e o f the quest o f the mind for Buddhist em an­ cipation. T u n g chose with great acum en the spot in Journey to the West to attach his novel. D uring his struggles with M adame Rakshasa, M on­ key had changed into an insect and flown down her throat; he had thrashed about in her belly until she could no longer stand the pain, w hereupon she gave him the magical fan he sought. T h e fan was a fake, however. O n his last attem pt to secure it, M onkey assumed the form o f her husband, even drinking wine and engaging in sexual preliminaries to win the real fan away from her.21 O ne must ju stifi­ ably assume that here M onkey has had a close encounter with sexual desire fo r the first time, since this episode is without precedent in Journey to the West. T u n g begins his Tower of Myriad Mirrors as fol­ lows: All things from the begin n in g spring from a single body, O n e body that has within it com plem entary duality; Dare one to open enlightened eyes to view this finite world, A n d put aside views o f nature as separately derived from mind? T h is chapter narrates how the M ackerel stirs up trouble to confuse the M ind M onkey in order that we can perceive how the sources o f worldly desires are m erely floating clouds and the illusion o f dreams. . . _22

T h ereu p o n the band o f pilgrim s enter a springtim e scene o f bright* red peonies and lusty maidens, m any with small children. Spring is a time fo r sexual passion; red traditionally was seen as the color o f emotion, particularly o f jo y . T h e young wom en are virtually super­ fluous; the setting is symbolically as sexy as a natural scene can be in old Chinese literature. T h e chapter title’s first h alf is “W hen Peonies A re Red the M ackerel Casts Its Spell ”； later references clarify what the quick-witted read er would have guessed on his own; that M on­

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key loses, at least tem porarily, his Buddhist apprehension o f non­ duality and falls prey to the attachments o f hum an emotions, partic­ ularly that o f sexual desire. Emotion, or desire (ch'ing) thus is symbolized by M onkey’s antagonist, the M ackerel (chfing-yu) spirit. T h ro u g h o u t the novel T u n g Y iieh uses a variety o f images to represent “desire” in its m any m anifestations, identified by words hom ophonous with “desire,” particularly the color green-blue (ch'ing). T h u s, the m onk describes the setting in C hap ter 1 as a “green, green spring countryside” (ch'ing-ch’ing ch’un-yeh); M onkey wanders seemingly endlessly in the W orld o f Greenness [Ch’ing-ch’ing shih-chieh); the M ackerel ultimately adopts the guise o f a new disciple for the T ’ah g m onk with the name W u-ch’ing (Enlightened-toGreenness— to parallel M onkey’s B uddhist name, W u-k’u n g or Enlightened-to-the-Void). T u n g also uses num erous synonyms for green and/or blue to extend his allegory. T h e flag o f N ew T ’ang is green brocade (lu-chin); M onkey exits from the W orld o f the Future when he is pushed into a pool o f green w ater i\\x-shui)\ Tripitaka marries a woman nam ed M aid K ingfisher-Cord (T s’ui-sheng Niang, ts， ui denoting a shade o f bright green); “ja d e green ” occurs in the name o f the Green-coated Com m issioner m entioned in C hapter 2 (pi-i shih-che) and in a variety o f descriptions. Indeed, most mentions o f color ih The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors are o f a shade o f green— “desire” confronts M onkey at every turn.23 T u n g Y iieh even breaks the ideograph for “desire” into its com ponent parts to form the name o f one character, K ing Little M oon (Hsiao-yueh wang). A p ­ propriately, when M onkey attempts to assault this personage in Chapter 11 he strikes only emptiness; the figure is an illusion caused by M onkey’s attachm ent to objects o f the senses/ In his introductory verse and the prose passage quoted above, T u n g Yiieh not orily identifies the place in the earlier Journey to the West his original creation was to follow; he also subtly stresses the aspect o f the earlier novelist’s protagonist most relevant in this new setting. T h a t is, the magical simian most frequently identified in the earlier work as Sun W u-k’u n g or Sun the Pilgrim (Hsirig-che) is in­ troduced here as “the M ind M onkey.” T h e usage o f this term, hsinyuan, goes back in time beyond even the venerable legends sur­ roun ding the historical T ’ang pilgrim to Buddhist texts translated into Chinese du rin g the Six Dynasties period and to even earlier In ­ dian writings. T h e Samyutta-nikdya (Book o f the K indred Sayings) is

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an early B uddhist text in the Pali language that likens thought, mind, and consciousness to a m onkey in their swift m ovem ents from one object to another; in K um arajiv^s (d. a . d . 413) translation o f the VimalaBrti-nirdesa Sutra the parallel is again drawn between the hum an m ind and the effervescent ape. Late Six Dynasties poets m ade use o f the term “m ind m onkey,” always coupled with “ horse o f the will” (i-ma), likewise later a Journey to the West character ， Tripitaka’s mount. By the Y iian period, the im age had passed beyond the limits o f B uddhist usage and was used in plays. T h e re the m dnkey becomes a personification o f a m ore specific aspect o f mind, sexual attraction. T h e m eaning rem ained the same when the terms “mind m onkey" and “horse o f the will” passed into the colloquial language d u rin g the sixteenth century. In this usage it can be found in C h ap ­ ter 26 o f Feng-shen yen-i (Investiture o f the G ods), a sixteenthcentury novel: In the lamplight King Chou could see Hsi-mei two or three times part her lips— a little dot o f cherry— to exhale a lovely cloud o f her sweet breath; she turned her liquid eyes— two pools o f living water— and gave him a myriad kinds of captivating and wanton glances, until King Chou could not suppress the Mind Monkey and the Horse o f the Will strained at the reins.24 T h e term appears as well in the longer versions o f Water Margiri dat­ ing from the M ing.25 M onkey in The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors therefore logically p er­ sonifies in B uddhist terms the hum an m ind obsessed by sexual d e­ sire, a fram e o f mind consistent with the Journey to the West character only after his dalliance with M adame Rakshasa. In C hapter 1 o f his novel, T u n g Y iieh sets the stage fo r his m onkey’s fu rth er confusion: upon entering the spring scene, M onkey debates with his master on his perception o f the peonies. M onkey insists that they are red, re­ vealing his weakness for the passion they represent; the m onk Tripitaka, here m uch m ore spiritually steadfast than in the earlier novel, insists that they are red only because o f M onkey’s false perceptions. A crowd o f children and their m others surrounds and taunts the m onk. M oved by sym pathy fo r his master, M onkey drives them away. W hen some resist, he loses his tem per and kills them all. Re­ penting, he hurriedly composes a prayer begging forgiveness from their shades, a docum ent hum orous in its pomposity. T h e other pilgrim s know nothing o f this; M onkey leaves them asleep while he

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goes to beg for food. T h is is the beginning o f M onkey’s enchant­ ment by the M ackerel Spirit: H ereafter he is quite alone, cut o f f from the support o f his fellows and the reassurances even o f fam iliar sense data. His subsequent adventures draw him deep er into illusion and closer to K ing Little Moon, the personification o f an aspect o f emotional attachments. T h e furth er M onkey proceeds, the m ore fa­ miliar the figures in his dream become, and yet the furth er they are rem oved from his experience in Journey to the West. Chapters 2 and 3 o f The Tower of Myriad Mirrors chronicle M on­ key's investigation o f N ew T ’ang.26 C onfused by this geographical anom aly，he summons the local earth gods for an explanation; but they do not respond. M onkey charges o f f to H eaven to com plain to the Jade Em peror; there he learns that the Celestial Palace is missing and that he him self has been charged with the theft. H e returns to New* T ’ang to explore, hearing an account o f riotous living there from the serving woman. Soon afterw ard he encounters- the space walkers (t'a-k'ung-erh) who, by order o f K ing Little M oon, are chisel­ ing a hole in the sky in order that pilgrims m ight pass through di­ rectly to the W estern Paradise o f the Buddha. Unfortunately, a mis­ calculation has caused the palace to fall through. ’ A nxious to find his master, M onkey sets out. Reportedly T rip i­ taka is in the W orld o f Greenness, a strange walled city with no gates or windows. M onkey breaks through the wall only to find him self in the T o w er o f M yriad M irrors, each m irror o f which reflects a dif­ ferent universe. From one, a man warns: “Y o u ’re in someone else’s world and I ’m in your world. T h e y ’re not the same place at all!” 27 It is in a m irror here that M onkey witnesses the outcom e o f the civil service examination. C han gin g him self into a grub, he bores into a m irror labeled “W orld o f the Ancients， ” w here he finds ladies having a party. M onkey disguises him self as a m aidservant to play a jo k e on them; it backfires as they mistake him for Beauty Yii. H e can only fulfill their expectations by telling an anecdote about his “husband， ” H siang Y ii, -and by com posing poetry that has a distinctive Buddhist flavor. In C hapter 6 M onkey finds H siang Y ii, with disastrous results for the real lady, as described above. But then he becomes the object o f H siang’s amorous attentions. Finally M onkey escapes by rolling down a long em bankm ent into the W orld o f the Future. M onkey’s “fu tu re” holds fo r him m ore fam iliar characters— to him or to the reader-— from history and earlier fiction. First he has a

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second encounter with the Six Thieves, personifications o f the body’s six sense organs that he “slew” in the earlier novel.28 N o sooner has he pounded them to bits than he is invited to serve as Yen-lo, king o f the N ether Regions. T h e re he ju d ges, and punishes, C h ’in Kuei. Later he meets Hsin the A ncient who, in an effort to help Monkey find Tripitaka, pushes him into a stream. M onkey falls, chattering, once m ore into the T o w er o f M yriad Mirrors. W hile trying to escape he becomes entangled in a window lattice until released by an old man. T h e latter identifies himself, inexplicably to M onkey, as tl^e simian’s “ real spirit” (chen-shm), calling out: “T h is is called saving o n e’s self by oneself— a pity that you take it as unreal. . . .” 29 Still in the W orld o f Greenness, M onkey discovers a Chastity H exagram Palace30 with an announcem ent on its wall o f T rip itaka’s im pending m arriage. M onkey changes some o f his hairs into like­ nesses o f him self in order to search m ore places quickly; one spends his time in drunken dalliance with a woman. Finally in C hapter 12 he finds Tripitaka drinking tea with the mysterious K ing Little Moon; a blind singing girl perform s Hsi-yu t’an (Anecdotes on the Journey W estward), a narrative o f the pilgrim s’ earlier adventures that concludes with M onkey in the tower. Convinced o f the king’s treachery, M onkey lashes,out— only to strike thin air. T ripitaka also seerns"oblivious to his presence as he proceeds to explain that he has retired from his religious quest. A n old man calls M onkey away, then tells his fortune: that he will m arry and have a son and, in addi­ tion, will commit a m urder. O n M onkey's return to watch his master further, he sees the latter’s bride, Maid Kingfisher C ord. T rip itaka’s other disciples likewise appear, only to be given bills o f divorcem ent and driven away. T h en a m essenger comes with a commission fo r Tripitaka as general in the king’s army; in her grief, his bride apparently drowns herself. M on­ key hastens to jo in his master*s arm y in disguise. A ppointed leader o f the vanguard, he rides against the enem y com m ander, Prince Paramita (Fo-lo-m i W ang). A fte r an inconclusive contest o f arms, the challenger identifies h im self: by his own account the prince is the son o f M adame Rakshasa, born as a result o f M onkey’s banging around in her belly. M onkey is transfixed with astonishment. T h e prince beheads both T ripitaka and the king in quick succession, driving M onkey to becom e a mindless em bodim ent o f rage who strikes blindly at the survivors o f the carnage.

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T h e final chapter begins with the B ud dh a aw akening M onkey from this nightm are, explaining that he has been u nder the spell o f the M ackerel Spirit. Furtherm ore, he reveals, There is no mackerel (Ch’ing Fish); It is but Monkey’s desire (ch’ing).31

*

M onkey rushes back to his sleeping com panions, arriving ju st in time to save Tripitaka from being deluded by a handsom e you n g acolyte, ^actually M ackerel in disguise. M onkey strikes him dead on the spot, then returns to his original mission, to beg fo r food. T h u s it is that he overhears an old scholar *instructing his students on 及 line from Changes: “W hen [knowledge] encompasses . . . H eaven and Earth, then there is no erro r.’’ 32 T h e novel ends as it began, with T u n g ’s assertion o f his fu n ­ dam ental Buddhist them e o f philosophical nonduality. The Tower of Myriad Mirrors is packed with images sym bolizing M onkey’s spiritual weakness, his “desires,” particularly his potential attachm ent to plea­ sures o f the flesh. Despite his supernatural characteristics, T u n g ’s M onkey clearly was intended to represent the hum an mind, his ad­ ventures a serious exploration o f dreams and their significance. M onkey’s adventures in The Tower have, after all, m ade him m uch m ore hum an than he is in the “parent” novel; fo r the first time this figure has to cope with physical desires, with family, with responsi­ bilities in situations w here even his magical powers are insufficient. As the m odern scholar T . A . Hsia has described T u n g Y iieh ’s ac­ complishment: His method is the creation o f dreams, dreams with features familiar to dreamers all over the world: distortions, discrepancies, inconsequence, irrelevance, and preposterous happenings imbued with emotional ten­ sions.33 M onkey’s initial reaction to New T ’ang is confusion; he offers first one explanation* then another until he can no longer bear the suspense and ascends to H eaven to learn the truth. His inability to do sol—and the accusations against h im ~ cau se him anxiety thdt builds, with little relief, to his utter dum bfounding in battle late in C hapter 15. His im personations brin g anything but the desired con­ sequences; M onkey’s powers, even his projections o f himself, be­ come unreliable as he searches for, then tries to destroy, K in g Little

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Moon. Transitions from place to place make no sense to M onkey, nor d o his m ovem ents backward and forw ard in time. H e finds wom en and symbols o f sexual activity at every turn: the servant in N ew T ’ang, Beauty Y ii, Trip itaka’s beautiful bride, a singing girl— even prophecies o f his own m arriage and a you n g m an w ho p ro­ fesses to be his son! M onkey moves, but gets nowhere (as when entangled in a living lattice); he stands still and yet finds h im s e lf, transported from place to place (by view ing various m irrors in the Tow er). Indeed, Hsia’s observation is well supported. The Tower of Myriad Mirrors does em body features com m on to all dreams. Curiously too, it admits som ething o f a Freudian interpretation to produce results consistent with M onkey as readers knew him from Journey to the W est 34 Freud's m ajor w ork on dreams, The Interpretation o f Dreams，appeared in 1900. T h e re he theorize 沒 that m an in dream ­ ing replaces thoughts by visual images from which situations are constructed. T h ese events take place, as far as the dream er knows, in external space; all powers o f critical detachm ent norm ally are sus­ pended in consciousness. D ream elements can be wildly contra­ dictory; they can include elements that in w aking life one would con­ sider impossible.35 Similarly, M onkey is plagued with illusions that appear to be concrete; he cannot determ ine the cause o f his difficul­ ties. Freud is best known fo r his hypothesis that each dream fulfills a wish on the part o f the dream er, wishes that either through con­ scious restraint or unconscious repression are not fulfilled in waking life. Repressed wishes can cause anxiety dreams, and the later often have a sexual content.36 Freud would have dream s interpreted sym­ bolically. A staircase m ay represent the sex act (significantly，M onkey can find no staircase in the tower); landscapes, such as those M onkey views on his way to having his fortu ne told, describe the genitals in Freud’s scheme (at the time M onkey interprets them as grave mounds). B eating a child (as in C hapter 1) and decapitation (as in the C hapter 15 battle scene) may symbolize masturbation and castra­ tion, respectively. Houses and pavilions indicate the hum an body aWd places fo r intercourse to o ccu r;37 M onkey encounters many pal­ aces in the W orld o f Greenness and elsewhere. T h e palace o f New T ’ang he sees first em phatically is the site o f erotic adventures, the rest are certainly suggestive as projects o f K in g Little Moon. Even a superficial analysis o f M onkey’s adventures here as

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dream using Freudian approaches uncovers ever m ore relevant symbols— all o f which confirm the novelist’s assertion that M onkey suffers deep em otional attachments: From the psychological per­ spective, one can only conclude that M onkey must be torm ented by an unfulfilled sexual urge. T h e y m ight also indicate a serious at­ tem pt on T u n g ’s part to reveal truths about the dream ing mind through the vehicle o f the novel. W hile it is possible to pursue psy­ choanalytic approaches fu rth er， 38 as tools from a d ifferen t time, place, and ideology they ought to be applied only with circum spec­ tion. In this case, available biographical inform ation provides a con,siderably m ore relevant approach. This requires a step backward: we 丨must see M onkey’s dream s not as the unconscious revelations o f a real dream er, but as the conscious fiction o f a real seventeenth-cen­ tury literatus. T u n g Y iieh was seriously interested in dreams around the time he wrote The Tower. A pparently he often had dreams that he could rem em ber upon waking; in his collected poems there are frequent references to his night visions. In addition, T u n g wrote fou r short prose pieces dealing with dreams during or about the year 1643. T h e y are Meng-hsiang chih (A Record o f Dreamlands), “Chao-yang meng-shih hsii” (Preface to a History o f Chao-yang Dreams), “Cheiigm eng p ，ien” (On T esting Dreams), and Meng-she yiieh (A C harter for the Dream Society).39 H ere T u n g draws parallels between dream ing and the state o f alcoholic inebriation; in both the mind wanders freely, experiencing illusory perceptions. Like the daydream er look­ ing at clouds, to T u n g Y iieh the dream er projects interpretations upon appearances. Echoing the Taoist philosopher Chuang-tzu two millennia earlier, T u n g reports that his dream s seem ed utterly real to him until he awoke.40 H e also classifies dream experiences into seven varieties, m etaphorically describing them as d ifferen t “ dreamlands ”； incongruities (such as hum ans with horns), natural images (mountains, rivers), dem ons and gods, purely mental fabrications (embodiments o f ideas), objects wished for (riches, comforts, music), m emories o f past events, and premonitions o f things to com e.41 In these writings as in his novel, dreams are illusory, a function o f the mind. H owever, they do have at least a tenuous link with real­ ity in the form o f recollection, wish, and premonition. A p p ro p ri­ ately, the illusions perceived by his fictional M onkey are no m ore illu­ sory than those experienced by T u n g him self— in fact, exam ples o f

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each o f his “dream lands” are readily apparent in The Tower of Myriad Mirrors. T h e re are strange incongruities such as the intangible K in g Little M oon, the natural w onders o f the peonies, the dem ons o f Yenlo’s court in Hell, the symbolic representations o f desire everywhere, the sensual pleasures with Beauty Y ii and her friends, the W orld o f the Ancients, and the W orld o f the Future.42 In short, The Tower of Myriad Mirrors was to T u n g Y iieh precisely what he calls for in the statement that prefaces this chapter: a dream fo r a world in disor­ der, a dream that imposes order, justice，and revelation on a chaotic age. Despite its wry hum or, The Tower treats with seriousness ques­ tions and observations that T u n g also presented in his nonfictional essays. T u n g Y iieh ， s rem arkable success in presenting a convincing e x ­ amination o f the dream ing m ind is a function o f his superlative un­ derstanding o f the possibilities intrinsic to the art o f narrative. In­ deed, The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors explores and comm ents directly on the w riter’s craft. M onkey’s confusion is accom plished by a shifting narrative voice in the novel, the product o f T u n g ’s awareness and deliberate manipulation o f various levels o f narrative. O f the first order here is the pilgrim age story adapted from the earlier Journey to the West, in which M onkey in The Tower is identified com pletely with his predecessor. A second level is to be found in those segments o f the novel in which M onkey’s tale is im peded while the function o f narrator is ostensibly shifted to a fictional character: the palace m aid’s soliloquy, the spacewalkers’ complaint, and H siang Y ii’s boastful recollections exem plify this level. T h e third level appears as the palace maid quotes characters not even present in th e narrative proper— the Licentious E m peror, fo r exam ple. Most such discontin­ uities not only confuse M onkey; they also pointedly draw attention to statements m ore directly relevant to the reader than to the novel’s protagonist— as noted above, M onkey fails to com prehend their sig­ nificance. (One m ight add that by using M onkey as surrogate reader-cum -audience fo r these messages, T u n g Y iieh undoubtedly sought to disguise the seriousness o f his political attacks and thus es­ cape possible official censure.) Similarly, T u n g Y iieh presents his material in a variety o f modes o f expression: as gossip, as chantefable (the t’an-tz’u narrative o f Monkey’s further adventures he hears in C hapter 12)，and as drama (Chapter 13). But M onkey ignores the patently fictional nature o f

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such narrative that is implicit in the form at; these “fictions” become fact as T ripitaka marries and M onkey meets his own son, events predicted in the theatricals. W hile clearly related to the novel’s Buddhist message that all perceptions are illusory, the products o f mind, these manipulations o f veracity within the context o f the novel dem onstrate all the m ore clearly the plight o f the dream ing m ind in its futile search for rational explanations. Furtherm ore, The Tower demonstrates the act o f creating fiction: the absent M ackerel Spirit conjures up images and situations that are symbolically significant and that have a life o f their own beyond the “reader” (including Monkey); H siang Y ii romanticizes historical fact in his self-indulgent memories; M onkey’s punishm ent o f C h ’in Kuei is a kind o f "rectified history” 一 and simultaneously wish fulfillm ent for the novelist as dream er! M onkey’s dream becomes all the m ore realistic through T u n g Y iie h ’s exploration o f language as he d e­ taches signs from what they norm ally signify. Pools o f water become exits; windows do not allow escape. Tripitaka no longer represents clerical steadfastness but the opposite; m irrors no longer reflect but now reveal new worlds. Various scenes are literalizations o f figures o f speech. T h e punishm ent suffered by C h ’in Kuei dem onstrates classic expression o f culpability: “even with a hundred bodies he couldn’t atone” (pai-shen nan-shu); M onkey burrows into the W orld o f the Ancients in the form o f a bookworm (chu-ch’ung)_ the past exists only in rem aining records. Likewise, rupa, “form ” am ong the five skandhas that constitute the self in Buddhist thought, is trans­ lated as se in Chinese; T u n g Y iieh played upon the jA ore conven­ tional meanings o f the term, “color” (in the polors o f T rip itaka’s robe in C hapter 1, the colors o f the battleflags in C hapter 15) and **sensually attractive," specifically “sexy,” in the num erous appealing women to be found in The Tower. O n every page T u n g Y iieh has presented fu rth er proofs o f his extrem e self-consciousness as a writer and o f his skill as an am ateur psychologist in the area o f dream s.43 Early in this chapter I discussed T u n g ’s position on particular jpolitical questions o f his age— border problems, national defense, the recruitm ent o f new officials through examinations. In the still broader context o f his ideological milieu, T u n g presents in this novel an investigation o f self as mind. T h a t is, to T u n g Y iieh the self had obvious obligations to society, to r ig h t~ o r at least to expose and cri-

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ticize— its wrongs. B eyond this, T u n g does not even m ention obliga­ tions inherent in social role; a b rie f bow to Y iieh Fei is the sum o f Confucian concerns expressed here. Instead, T u n g ’s “m ind” as pre­ sented in fiction is a jum ble o f images, many having symbolic signifi­ cance in the context o f the novel. B ut what o f images significant to T u n g Y iieh as the man behind the self-conscious writer? It is inter­ esting to note that old men figure prom inently as speakers o f truth in The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors. Liu Po-ch’in reveals the illusory na­ ture o f the mirrors; his “true self*’ in the guise o f an old man frees M onkey from the treacherous lattice; Hsin the Ancient tells him (al­ beit hum orously) o f the T artars on the frontier o f the future; an old man predicts his fate— and reveals his past (M onkey, by Prince Paramita’s subsequent testimony, did “m arry” or at least im pregnate Ma­ dam e Rakshasa; M onkey does later m urder the M ackerel Spirit in his monkish disguise). T h u s T u n g Y iieh reasserts the traditional faith in the wisdom o f the aged. Certainly no iconoclast, he also reaf­ firms the traditional ju d g m en t o f historians on the arrogant Hsiang Y ii, the traitorous C h ’in K uei, and the valiant patriot Y iieh Fei. Ch’ing， em otional attachment, could apply to any object or state in his world, but to T u n g it applies most frequently to sex. T h ere is no need to repeat the lengthy list o f sexual symbols in The Tower of Myriad Mirrors, but only to draw attention to their plentitude. By contrast, there are few tem ptations o f any other kind. G reat wealth is m entioned in passing (the m agnificent building projects o f K ing Little Moon in C hapter 1 1), but M onkey shows no interest in it. N or does position hold m uch charm ; M onkey functions as a ju d g e in Hell, but gladly leaves there as soon as possible. Literary fame like­ wise is empty; M onkey’s feeble attempts at verse draw laughter, and he comments in C hapter 4 that the art o f w riting is at a low ebb, dis­ missing the subject at that. E m peror Y an g was constantly banqueting on delicacies and wine in The Merry Adventures; M onkey happily setties for tea with the fortuneteller in C hapter 13. N or has he any desire fo r art and music beyond the inform ation it conveys (as in the narrative ballad perform ed in C hapter 13). The Merry Adventures of h Emperor Yang dem onstrates the emptiness o f sexual dalliance; Monkty energetically avoids it while disguised as a woman. T o ju d g e these aspects o f the fictional dream in accordance with the dicta presented at the beginning o f this chapter, we must con­ clude that the “dream er” here could only have held a favored social

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position; he dreams not at all o f wealth, rank, fam e, or sensual plea­ sure_ as he would if he lacked them. Instead, as presented in The Tower, T u n g Y u e h ’s fictional mind is preoccupied with the return to fam iliar stability, personal and social stability being intimately in­ terrelated as traditionally defined. Furtherm ore, he is extrem ely anxious over his inability to achieve this goal. As T u n g Y iieh consciously portrays it, however, the self ulti­ mately is mind, rem oved from body, subject to endless torments fo r its attachments to anything. B ut mind here is both torm entor, as source o f anguish, and savior; M ackerel is a function o f M onkey’s mind, his “ s e lf” releases him from the window, and with the B ud dh a’s help he “ destroys” the dem on by his own efforts. T h e Buddhist allegory here is not m erely a literary device; T u n g obviously saw all mental constructs as illusory, w hether in dreams or awake, w hether in fic­ tion or reality. T h e state o f spiritual peace from which the fictional M onkey slips is precisely that to which the historical T u n g Yiieh aspired. In The Tower the sources o f discord and oppression are not those abusing positions o f authority in society as they are in the novels discussed earlier; fo r T u n g the villain is the self, the mind. T h e Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment he read in childhood points th e way to release from em otional attachments through the realization o f nonduality. T u n g wrote about ju st this in novel form , then spent h alf his life in search o f spiritual freedom as an itinerant Buddhist monk. T h e w eight o f m ental encum brance was as great as the ob­ ligations o f Confucian sagehood fo r others; like m any o f his clasi fa­ miliar with Buddhist philosophy, T u n g Y iieh ’s return to emotional stability after the M ing fall came as the result o f total denial o f all conventional responsibility to society, an act prefigured by The Tower of Myriad Mirrors.

The Prayer Mat o f Flesh:

Sensuality and Salvation The Tower is a com plex novel, easily adm itting interpretation on a variety o f levels. T h e preceding discussion has ignored the levels o f myth it contains as well as its unusually effective use o f suspense in revealing the true nature o f the M ackerel only in the final chapter. In addition, the work is profoundly hum orous in m any respects; the

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reader can only laugh at poor M onkey’s reactions to his bew ilder­ m ent and at the blunders he som ehow cannot avoid. A similarly h u ­ m orous seventeenth-century novel is the satirical Jou p ’u-t， uan (The Prayer Mat o f Flesh, literally “T h e M editation Cushion o f Flesh” ） at­ tributed to the professional w riter Li Y ii (16 11-16 8 0 ). Both are short novels; the latter has only twenty chapters. A literary jo k e as well as a brilliant satire, The Prayer Mat is superficially didactic fiction that uses erotic description as its raw material. Its fantasy, although not ascribed to a dream ing mind, is similarly illogical and, in the context o f the novel, serves the same function as the Buddhist message in ThefTower. A n d, like T u n g Y iieh , its author was unusually conscious o f the range o f possibilities in the art o f fiction. The Prayer Mat o f Flesh begins with a chapter-long hom ily on manners and morals, particularly those relating to sex.44 C ontrary to some accounts, sex is good fo r a person, the narrator announces; it extends life and prolongs physical vigor— i f enjoyed in moderation. B ut in contrast to medicinal herbs, only “hom e-grow n” sex (with one’s wife o r concubine) is efficacious; the “store-bought” variety (with prostitutes) can be harm ful. W orse yet are illicit affairs with m arried women, which can bring disaster in their wake. This novel was written to set a m odel fo r its age (wei shih-jen shuo-fa), to urge people to restrain their lusts rather than to indulge them. Readers must not m isunderstand, the narrator counsels; since nowadays peo­ ple w oyld rather read fiction than moralistic tracts, this is m eant to be moralistic fiction, made m ore effective by its titillating details. T h e narrative itself begins in C hapter 2. D uring the Y iian period a baby begins reciting Buddhist scriptures; as he grows to m aturity he is drawn ever m ore to the life o f a cleric. A fter his parents die he becomes a solitary m onk, eccentric in his insistence on extrem e physical denial. His religious name is Solitary Peak the Elder (K u-feng Chang-lao), although those lacking in discrimination call him Leathersack the M onk (Fi-pu-tai Ho-shang) on the basis o f his sole possession. O ne m orning, as he sits in meditationy a young scholar approaches; his eyes are lively and bright, skilled at distin­ guishing fem inine beauty and m aking assignations with equally w orldly women. N ow traveling through the lower Yangtze valley, the scholar, nam ed N ot Y et Spent (Wei-jang sheng)， 45 is extrem ely in­ telligent. His imm ediate com prehension o f all that he says makes the m onk lam ent that such outstanding perception should have been

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coupled with the good looks that lead only to sin. T h e m onk invites him to cast aside his attachm ent to sensual pleasure and to jo in him in spiritual cultivation. H owever, N ot Y et Spent has two wishes to fulfill before cutting his ties to the world: to becom e the greatest ge­ nius (ts'ai-tzu) o f the age and to m arry the w orld’s most beatitiful woman (chia-jen). T h e you n g scholar then sets out to find this perfect lady, m arry and have a son with her, his ears rin gin g with the m onk’s warnings against retribution fo r debauching the wives o f others and the dangers o f repenting too late. N ot Y et Spent’s search brings him to the daughter o f a stern Confucian hermit. A ll the om ens seem good, and he finally con­ vinces the old man to m arry h er to him. A lth ou gh the girl, Yiihsiang，is beautiful beyond com pare, her strict upbringin g makes her em otionally the exact opposite o f the you n g rake. O nly through her husband’s tutelage with sex manuals and erotic pictures does she becom e fully aroused and their m arriage truly consum m ated. T h e girl’s father can never approve o f the youth, however. Soon N ot Y et sets out again for m ore “education.” W hile traveling he meets K ’unlun’s Rival (Sai K ’un-lun)， 46 a professional burglar w ho has seen all the beautiful wom en in the area; he vows to search on N ot Y et’s b eh alf for the best choices. Soon he finds three o f acceptable qual­ ity— i f the scholar’s organ is up to the task. It is not, nor are Not Y et’s intentions up to Rival’s expectations: w hy should he seduce only to abandon and w hy go to the bother unless the m an is able to give pleasure to his partners? D riven to desperation, N ot Y et finds a Taoist adept w ho surgically enlarges his penis. T h e n hfe tries his luck by seducing a silk m erchant’s w ife, Yen-fang, but she turns the tables by having her anxious neighbor try him out before she risks h er own reputation. T h is begins a series o f graphic descriptions o f sexual combat, although all are brief. Y en-fang’s husband, C h ’iian Lao-shih (Honest C h ’iian)，returns from his business trip; fearing that h er param our is K ’un-lun’s Rival, he sells hef-to the burglar in an effo rt to protect his own life. Rival in turn passes h er on to N ot Y et Spent. B efore long she becomes p reg­ nant; when she can no longer com fortably engage in violent sex, Not Y et burrows through a wall to fhe neighbor’s house, w here he dis­ covers a lovely lady relieving h er bladder. T h is lady, Hsiang-yiin, he woos with verse. H owever, while he gets h er com plicity in furth er sexual adventures, Y en -fan g’s form er husband, by a clever ruse,

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gains entry to Yii-hsiang’s house to cuckold N ot Yet. Soon the man achieves his aim; w hen Yii-hsiang becomes pregnant, the errin g pair elope. N ot Y et Spent*s latest conquest, Hsiang-yiin, has three good friends: H ua-ch’en ，a widow, and the latter’s two nieces, Jui-chu and Jui-yii. W hen their husbands set o f f to take the civil service exam ina­ tions, H siang-yiin moves in with Jui-chu and Jui-yii, as does Not Yet. T h e three wom en share him equally, separately or simultaneously, until A u n t H ua-ch’en discovers the arrangem ent and dem ands a share o f his attentions. She kidnaps him fo r h er own use, although ultimately she is chastened fo r h er selfishness and the fo u r women come to share the man. A ll this time Y en -fan g has supposed him away traveling. Finally he rem em bers that he is overdue and returns to h e r ~ o n ly to find him self physically depleted and unable to p e r­ form the sexual role o f husband. Soon after Yii-hsiang, N ot Y et’s form al wife, and h er param our C h ’iian flee, she suffers a m iscarriage. C h ’iian then reverts to his original plan fo r revenge and sells h er to a w horehouse in the capi­ tal. Filled with rem orse as a consequence, C h ’iian shaves his head to becom e a Buddhist m onk, a disciple o f Solitary Peak. Yii-hsiang for her part learns the secret techniques perfected by the procuress and becomes the most sought-after prostitute in the city. A m o n g h er cus­ tomers are the husbands o f Hsiang-yiin, Jui-chu, and Jui-yii, all o f whom are sexually rejuvenated by h er therapeutic methods. W hen Not Y et learns o f their increased vigor from their wives, he sets out fo r the capital him self fo r a cure. N ot Y et locates the appropriate brothel, although Yii-hsiang hangs h erself before he can learn her identity. N ot Y et is beaten and hauled o f f to court by h er enraged customers, but he is absolved o f guilt when the entire m atter is disclosed. B y now his second w ife Y en -fan g has eloped with another man. N ot Y et repents, to becom e a disciple o f Solitary Peak, taking as his religious nam e U npolished Stone (Wan-shih). W hen ultimately he realizes that his unnatural organ is the source o f his suffering, he cuts it o ff. In a confession scene, C h ’iian and N ot Y et reveal their in­ terwoven adventures. K ’un-lun， s Rival comes with news o f the deaths o f Not Y et’s twin daughters and their m other, Yen-fang; he had m urdered the latter fo r h er adultery. N ow he too takes Buddhist vows. A t last all sin stands redeem ed, three years after the start o f N ot Y et’s sensual quest.

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It will be obvious from this extended synopsis that The Prayer Mat of Flesh does in fact dem onstrate the retribution for lechery it warns against in the first chapter. Solitary Peak’s declaration that debauching other wom en will lead to being cuckolded has been ex­ em plified. Not Y et has gained— and lost— several o f the w orld’s most beautiful women. H aving been thought a genius at the beginning o f the narrative，he is reduced to a fool and an object o f scorn in the courtroom near its conclusion. In ord er to fulfill his lusts he initially enlarges his penis through grafting on sections o f a dog’s organ; when finally he repents, N ot Y et Spent relieves him self o f his unnat­ ural appendage. T h e plot has m oved inexorably to this conclusion. Balance is achieved as each sinner is repaid, particularly the hero. Not Y et is an orphan at his first appearance in the novel; in its final chapter, his param ours are either all dead or reclaim ed by their rightful husbands (who have extracted their own revenge, even though unwittingly, with his first wife in the brothel), and even his children are gone. T h e y died without sickness follow ing dream vi­ sions o f a figure who explained to their wetnurses that “the family account is cleared— there is no need for them ” and took the souls o f the sleeping infants away.47 Forcibly detached from those he cares for (or could care for), the young scholar physically removes the prim ary symbol o f his em otional ties to the world. As does Morlkey at the end o f The Tower of Myriad Mirrors, N ot Y et saves him self by his own efforts when finally awakened to the true nature o f his ear­ lier concerns. M onkey’s dilemm a was mental. Despite Prince Param ita’s tes­ timony on his own ancestry, the simian has not had intercourse; he is not a slave to the pleasures o f the flesh. With him, a seed o f carnal de­ sire is enough to cause him great suffering. N ot Y et, by pointed con­ trast, has been led by active physical participation into even greater delusions. O thers may consider him a genius, and yet initially his w hole identity is realized through his sexual prowess. He gives no p ro o f o f 'his intellectual capacities: he writes no poetry (winning Hsiang-yiin with poetry by the eighth-century T ’ang w riter Li Po, not his own); he takes no examinations; the comm ents that so im­ press Solitary Peak are not recorded for the reader to appreciate. Instead, he does have to prove him self in bed. Indeed, this character is the em bodim ent o f sensuality; his self-concept and his ultimate salvation from self are both o f the body, not o f the m ind— he is a

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“genius” only o f the bedcham ber arts, and limited even in this category! Buddhist doctrines include physical sensations as one o f the five skandhas that constitute the self. A ll are illusory, transitory, products o f m ind.48 Hence even though the distinction between m ind and body in the two novels may not be justified philosophically, surely it is in terms o f literature. T h a t is, neither novel is simply a morality tract, despite the B uddhist theme in The Tower and the lon g hom ily with which The Prayer Mat begins. Both novelists use the values o f their day fo r literary ends, as u nifying devices in their narratives. N either novel is limited to one specific philosophical or religious m eaning; neither is wholly serious in its conventional didacticism, even though both authors undoubtedly agreed with the moral mes­ sages o f their works. T h e re is no ironic distance between the narra­ tors and the explicit teachings o f these novels. The Tower of Myriad Mirrors satirizes the exam ination system; The Prayer Mat o f Flesh sets its sights both higher and broader. A lthough known in the past m erely as a pornographic novel, The Prayer Mat is prim arily a work o f literary parody in at least three areas. First is its irreverent references to classical texts. In C hapter 1, d u rin g the in­ troductory discussion o f the theraputic value o f sex, it notes: “But because there is no entry in the Materia Medica (Pen-t^ao kang-mu) for this preparation, there has been no standard interpretation o f its e f­ ficacy.n49 T h e Materia Medica was com piled by Li Shih-chen (15 18 -15 9 3 ), but tradition accorded it, or at least parts o f it, the weight o f highest antiquity, as originally the work o f the semi-divine sage-king and progenitor o f culture, Shen N u n g (c.2700 b . c ). Fur­ therm ore, the narrator claims that the plan o f The Prayer Mat，to en­ tice the reader by indulging his prurient interest in ord er to strengthen its didactic effect, derives from the Confucian philoso­ pher Mencius, who used this m ethod to win over a sensualist feudal ruler. T h e point is appropriately stretched for hum orous effect: as any educated Chinese o f the time would know, the ancient philoso­ pher went only so far as to deny that sex and m oney are inherently evil; they become so, he insisted, only when hoarded by the ruler to the detrim ent o f his people’s livelihood and contentm ent.50 The Prayer Mat ends with a similarly facetious reference to the same philosophical text fo r its very last line. This time the novelist paro­ dies M encius as the latter quotes Confucius, distorting the classic al­

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most beyond resemblance. T h e Mencius, in a stern condem nation o f tyrannous rule, reads: “W hen Confucius said, ‘T h e inventor o f burial figures in hum an form deserves not to have any progen y’ (shih-tso yung che, ch， i wu-hou hu ) ， he was condem ning him fo r the use o f som ething m odeled after the hum an form . How, then, can the starving o f this very people be countenanced?’’ 51 T h ro u g h time the phrase “m aking burial figures” (tso-yung) came to m ean “setting a bad exam ple,” “corruptin g,” and the like. The Prayer Mat ends with the lines: Generally speaking, the sages who divided the Heavens from the Earth ou gh t not, in their m eddling, to have produced wom en or to have created m oney to reduce man to such a state. Allow me, then, to borrow two lines from the Four Books as a verdict o f guilty in this case: “T h e in­ ventors o f vice must have been none other than the sages themselves” (Shih tso-yung che ， ch ’i wei sheng-jen Aw)!52

A lth ough the term literally m eaning “m aking burial figures” appears here, it is used for its extended sense. T h e novelist thus refers to m oney and sex as the m isguided creations. T h e novel is not about the lust fo r wealth, o f course, but only that fo r sexual pleasure. K ’un-lun’s Rival, the burglar, em bodies the desire for m oney, albeit none too well— he may steal, although only from those w ho can af­ ford the loss (see The Prayer Mat, C hapter 4)， 53 and he is absent through m uch o f the narrative. His reintroduction at the novel’s end serves as a means to settle the fates o f several characters quickly; it also makes a second reference to wealth relevant, to tie the begin­ ning and end o f the novel together. T h is adulterated quotation from the Confucian classic, despite traditional sanctions against such heresy, serves again to increase the levity o f th e entire work. N ot to be outdone, the novel’s unidentified annotator goes one step furth er at this point, again by paraphrasing Mencius from the Four Books: “A t the very beginning he was m oved by the sages; here at the end he harbors resentm ent against them— the sages cannot be wholly pleased o r wholly exasperated by it. This is a book that pokes fu n at the times. B ut i f I w ere to take two lines from the Four Books as a means to save it from criticism, they w ould be: ‘Those who understand me will do so th rough The Prayer Mat of Flesh; those w ho condem n me will also do so because o f The Prayer Mat of Flesh.’ ’’ T h is com m entator has facetiously quoted C onfucius’ fam ous rationale fo r his w ork in editing Ch’un-ch’iu (The Spring and A u-

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tum n Annals), the chronicles o f his hom e state, substituting only the nam e o f the novel fo r that o f the chronology.54 By tradition, C o n ­ fucius is responsible fo r the value judgm ents inherent in the words used to describe rulers and their actions in that w ork; the novelist is jokin gly equated with the sage him self fo r his value ju dgm en ts on the trends o f his times. „ From a broader perspective it is obvious that The Prayer Mat of Flesh is n^ ant to parody a type o£ fiction that was very popular from the early seventeenth through the m iddle o f the eighteenth cen­ turies. T h ese were “genius and beauty rom ances” (ts’ai-tzu chia-jen hsiao-shuo), tales o f virtuous and talented youn g people and their com plicated struggles to be m arried despite all obstacles. A bout fifty such works were written. T h e ir characters are wooden, on the whole, with stereotyped features, aspirations, and talents. A ll the men, and usually the wom en too, are brilliant writers; all are e x ­ traordinarily attractive. T h e form er are o f f on “study tours” (yuhsiieh) to learn about the world at large; at home the latter fen d o f f the aggressive advances o f villains who want the lovely ladies for themselves o r fo r their sons. T h e final union through m arriage o f the genius with the beauty is seen as fated; the actions o f the hero and the heroine thus are justified as serving to restore the proper order in society, symbolized by the form al w edding at the conclusion o f each romance. The Prayer Mat m akes clear its novelist’s intention to p aro d y such works in C hapter 2. T h ere, N ot Y et Spent tells Soli­ tary Peak: "Since antiquity the two words ‘genius’ and ‘beauty’ have been insepara­ ble. W henever there’s a genius, then certainly there m ust1be a beauty to match him. I f there’s a beauty, then certainly there must be a genius to make a pair. I need not speak o f m y brilliance, nor is m y face lacking in handsomeness. From time to time when I look at m yself jn the mirror, I ’m another P’an A n or W ei Chieh. O f those alive today I need not yield to many. Since H eaven has given m e the life o f a genius, how could it not have m ade a wom^n to be m y match? In the present age, i f there were no beauties at all, then that w ould be that. B ut should there be one, w ho should it be if not I w ho seeks that beauty for m y mate?” 55

N ot Y et’s arrogance is hum orous in this context alone, given its con­ sequences later in the novel. Y et viewed against the background o f popular romances o f the day, this im age is comic indeed— N ot Y et is a parody o f the self-righteous young gentlem en who serve as moral

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exem plars in the romances. His conviction that he is destined to find an equally outstanding mate parodies the conventional heroes as well. T h e heroes o f “genius and beauty” romances, like N ot Y et Spent, are from families o f substantial social standing and are unu­ sually proud, often to the extent o f being condescending toward those o f lower status.56 Geniuses and beauties are young, rarely over twenty, and individualistically competitive in literary contests. O n such occasions, these young men drink a bit o f wine and perform with their pens to the am azem ent o f all present. View ed against a long tradition o f genius and beauty legends that spawned the ro­ mances, perform ance in bed fo r N ot Y et Spent is m eant to be a hi­ larious m ockery o f these m ore ethereal pastimes, a transposition into the physical realm o f conventional intellectual pursuits. T h e sexual contests in which fou r ladies draw cards to determ ine the position to adopt in intercourse caricature the selection o f theme or rhym e scheme for verse contests. T h e geniuses’ conventional know ledge o f elaborate Confucian ritual is carnally caricatured by N ot Y et’s broad and ever grow ing know ledge o f sexual techniques, devices, and the etiquette o f m anaging num erous women in bed simultaneously. The Prayer Mat analogue fo r the geniuses’ prodigious literary talent scarcely needs identification. T h e beauties in these popular romances have m ore common sense than their male counterparts. Many villains wish to arrange m arriages for them; with calm resourcefulness, the beauties fend o ff the m ultifarious plots against their virtue. A ppropriately, in The Prayer Mat N ot Y et’s conquests use their own wits to get him into their beds_ this comic hero is as often prey as h e ’is hunter. Likewise, these beauties, as devoted to adultery as their conventional counter­ parts are to chastity, have to scheme to get their husbands (the “villains” in this parody o f the romance) out o f the way. In the ro­ mances both genius and beauty have an implicit mutual understanding that each must be wholly devoted to the other be­ cause only true love can survive, while beauty fades with time. T h ere is neither love nor talk o f love in The Prayer Mat; age brings greater sexual experience, and hence intensified enjoym ent— this N ot Y et learns from A un t H ua-ch’en. Not Y et’s liaisons are all strictly o f the flesh. W hen a consort becomes too heavy with c^hild for easy copula­ tion, he leaves her; w hen he no longer is capable o f an erection, she

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elopes with one who is. A n d despite his great beauty, the m arried wom en am ong N ot Y et’s param ours cling to him only because he gives them m ore physical satisfaction than do their husbands. W hen Not Y et is sexually depleted, his various relationships come to an im­ m ediate halt, the exact opposite o f the conventional romances. “Genius-beauty” writers intended their heroes and heroines to be behavioral models for you n g people o f their time— hence their characters’ sternly m oral personalities. T o that didactic end, the names o f characters often indicate the virtues they em body. T h e hero o f Hao-ch’iu chuan (The Fortunate Union, 1683?), fo r exam ple, is nam ed T ’ieh Chung-yii (Iron H idden within Jade), to represent his firm resolve despite his beautiful, almost fem inine, exterior; its heroine is Shui Ping-hsin (W ater with H eart as Pure as Ice).57 But com edy also plays a m ajor role in the intricate plots o f these ro­ mances. T h e ruses by which resourceful heroines foil villains’ plots on their virginity are a prim e exam ple;58 m istaken identities also abound. T h e ir didacticism is a logical product o f the Confucian liter­ ary tradition in which most w riting em bodies a m oral message; it is not their only raison d'etre. T h e ir interest today lies in their histori­ cal place in the developm ent o f the n o v el59 and as a popular enter­ tainment form am ong the elite. Like the comic fiction and dram a o f most cultures, the seven­ teenth-century Chinese genius and beauty romances utilized simple characters in com plicated plots. T h e y tend to be form ulaic and vir­ tually identical in length (from sixteen to twenty chapters). A t the beginning o f each rom ance a genius meets and falls in love with a beauty. A fte r overcom ing m any obstacles— presented by fate or by hum an design— the genius passes the civil service examinations, marries the beauty, and they live happily ever after. T o enliven this basic plot, the writers regularly inserted repetitious domestic scenes into the narrative, scenes o f drinkin g o r poetry matches. T h e fu n ­ dam ental concern o f these rom ances is with sentiment: love is the goal o f the worthy heroes and heroines who “love talent as m uch as life itself” (ai ts’ai ju ming). Consequently, a m ajor character can m arry only one o f greatest genius; each work assumes that physical beauty is the necessary correlate o f virtue and talent. T h e moral stance o f the anonym ous novelists is orthodox Confucian; the un­ flinching emphasis on the governm ent examinations as the norm al rite o f passage fo r the upright and cultured youn g man furth er

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identifies the values o f the reading audience for which these works were intended.60 The Prayer Mat of Flesh makes subtle references to the novelistic conventions o f this genre, twisting each into a caricatured version o f the original. Its length is similar. N ot Y et’s obstacles are placed in his path by fate— his physical norm ality is seen as a m isfortune when coupled with unusual beauty. N ot Y et’s “exam ination” is not literary; it requires physical— not intellectual— stamina and resourcefulness. Not Y et fails as his vitality wanes; his ultimate success as a B uddhist m onk jo in ed in enlightenm ent with the old priest does foreshadow “happiness ever after” in B uddhist terms. The Prayer Mat parallels the poetry contests in rom ances with sexual bouts; N ot Y et assumes that physical beauty is coupled with stupendous sexual appetites in a woman. N ot Y et Spent is on a quest to find the p erfect mate, as are the “geniuses ”； like them, he is a student traveling to learn. The Prayer Mat capitalizes on this rom antic tradition to present an extended m etaphor com paring N ot Y et Spent with a student facing a tutor or a prospective scholar in the civil service examinations— with the sub­ ject m atter limited to bedroom matters. A prim e exam ple occurs in C hapter 6. K ’un-lun’s Rival is questioning N ot Y et rather pointedly about his qualifications to be a corruptor o f chaste wives: I f you can’t rem em ber your stroke count, surely you can rem em ber the am ount o f tim e， ” K ’un-Vun’s Rival said. “In general, how m any

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hours can you hold out?” In point o f fact N o t Y e t’s endurance was limited to an hour, but since he wanted K ’u n-lun ’s Rival to arrange this matter on his behalf, he was afraid to acknow ledge too short a time. H e co u ri only exaggerate a bit and add another hour to the total. T h u s he answered, “ M y strength is sufficient to keep it u p for two hours.” “W hat you describe is m erely ordinary power, not w hat could be called the height o f strength,” Rival said. “T h is m uch capacity w ould be fine for relations between husband and wife. B ut if you want to go from house to hcJuse and place to place to plunder the fortifications and rob the encam pm ents o f others, I ’m afraid this is no task for ordinary strength.” “You n eedn’t be concerned, elder brother,” N ot Y et said. “Some time ago I bought an especially fine aphrodisiac. It’s over there. A t the m om ent th efe’s no woman to make it worth gird in g m y hero for battle. B ut if this m atter can be settled, before I begin I ’ll ju s t rub it on— there’ll be no reason to fear that I can’t last.”

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"Aphrodisiacs can only make it last; they can’t m ake it b ig ， ’，Rival «aid. “I f your equipm ent were thick and lo n g and you were to use your aphrodisiac, it would be like an exam ination candidate with both talent and learning who takes a little gin seng supplem ent ju s t before the examinations. T h e n when he walks into the exam ination chamber, natu­ rally his spirit will be redoubled and he will be able to write well. O n e who has thin and small equipm ent, even i f he uses an aphrodisiac, will be like a low-level student with a head full o f nothing. H e too m ight take a.gin sen g supplem ent ju st before the exams, but even if he eats a pou nd o f it, when he gets inside the exam ination cham ber he w on’t be able to write a word. N ow I ask you— ju s t how b ig is this thing? H ow m any inches lon g is it?” 61

N ot Y e t’s organ is wanting, o f course; he is a student o f Rival’s sec­ ond variety. Ironically, not lon g before, in C hap ter 3, N ot Y e t serves as his first w ife’s patient and resourceful tutor in the arts o f love, only to have the tables turned here. Indeed, in contrast to the young “geniuses” w ho grow in experience, resolution, and reputation through the “genius-beauty” rom ances ； N ot Y et is at his peak as the narrative begins. T h e n he is renow ned fo r his talents and his out­ standing appearance, although the novelist provides him with none o f the literary tours de force around which many popular romances w ere built. In the late M ing, erotic literature became extrem ely popular am ong the social elite. M any works w ere am ply illustrated, having little i f any plot and focusing instead on stages o f sexual excitem ent and positions for coitus. T h e prim ly m oral genius-beauty rom ances may have been in part a reaction to this tendency, escapist reading that prom oted self-control in sexual matters, that dem onstrated the substitution o f poetry fo r passion and the happy consequences thereof. The Prayer Mat m akes obvious reference to this fashion for erotic w riting in its introductory comments. M oreover, one such text is quoted extensively in C hapter 3 o f the novel as N ot Y et attempts to arouse his w ife’s dorm ant passion— the sort o f em otional response buried far beneath the poetry o f the beauties in romances! The Prayer Mat may well be deliberately satirizing both literary fashions， J by com bining the straightforw ard descriptions o f seduction and copulation o f erotic writings with the conventional characterization and plot outline o f genius-beauty romance^.62 A t the broadest level o f relevance, The Prayer Mat o f Flesh sati­ rizes the m ores o f its day. It is on this level that characters, twists o f

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plot, and even the w ord plays on the Confucian classics m entioned earlier ultimately becom e m eaningful. Its introductory chapter is riie most serious despite its tone o f gentle m ockery; it begins by praising sexual intercourse. T h e sages who created this world, it says, fortu ­ nately created two sexes and emotional attraction between them as a means to ease m an’s unrem itting toil and care. A lth ou gh the Confucians warn against the deleterious effects o f sex, still those who regularly exercise their sexual functions retain health and vitality as the years go by— notice how hard the years are on eunuchs. A ged monks can look young, but this is because few are really celibate; they enjoy the services o f others’ wives o r their acolytes to preserve their vigor. T h e narrator rem arks that as with ginseng, one can use sex only as a dietary supplem ent; by itself it is not sustaining, and overdoses can be harm ful. T h e n he enters into a dialogue with his audience: T h e person who wrote this novel used all the m otherly compassion in his heart to set a m odel for the people o f the age, to encourage them to restrain their lusts, not to encourage them to indulge their lusts. H e wishes to hide people’s lasciviousness, not to publicize it. Readers must not mistake his intention. B ut if he wishes to help people to curb las­ civiousness and restrain their lusts, w hy did he not write a morality text to uphold the norms instead o f an erotic novel? H ere is som ething you readers 'might not understand. In general, the m ethod for chan ging . fashions and reform ing customs is to enter into the flow o f them and then to guide them appropriately. T h e n one’s words are readily ac­ cepted. People’s feelings are such that nowadays they fear r e a d in g the classics o f the sages and the biographies o f the worthies; instead, they enjoy fiction and informal history. A n d even within these categories they dislike hearing tales o f loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and altruism, enjoying instead books that entice and mislead. Morality at the present time has reached the extrem e o f depravity.63

C hapter 2 introduces a total paragon, the Buddhist m onk Soli­ tary Peak. So pure is he that he secretes him self a'way in un­ frequented mountains, living alone, avoiding even the sight o f women and other sensual pleasures. But, as the novelist hints in his introduction, this is unnatural behavior; instead o f strength o f re­ solve on the part o f the m onk, .one could easily infer that his exile betrays his weakness— if even the sight o f a woman m ight set him o ff his monastic course. Like C h u K uei-erh did fo r her suicide at the end o f The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang, Solitary Peak here gains

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status and reputation through his austerities, which is w hy Not Y et visits him in the first place. His retreat thus becomes an act o f self-^5sertion, not the obliteration o f self prom oted by his avowed religious teachings. His position in life differs little in selfishness from that o f C hu Kuei-erh; he even takes delight in the vindication o f his p roph­ ecy as N ot Y et finally renounces the world. “H ow can the world have such unfeeling people!” N ot Y et m utters abbut him as he embarks on his quest.64 O th er paragons o f virtue in the novel em body similarly biting social comm entary. Iron Door, N ot Y e t’s father-in-law (named T ’ielishan— “Iron H alf-a-D ouble-D oor” in the literal translation), is the Confucian answer to Solitary Peak. A lso a recluse, he holds him self aloof, devoting him self to his classical studies. N aturally he is fam ous for liis eccentricity; a hopeful visitor had given him this nicknam e to express his frustration over being denied an interview with the old man. His daughter Yiirhsiang is his only pupil; like her father, she is learned in a limited range o f topics, a skillful poetess in a variety o f styles, and strictly moral. Furtherm ore, she has never been outside the house. N ot Y et discovers on their w edding night that she is fear­ ful o f intercourse; it is only after his careful tutelage that she be­ comes sexually awakened. Ultimately it is through their own naivete that father and daughter fall afoul o f C h ’iian’s plot to revenge him self on Not Yet. T h e man becomes Iron D oor’s tenant farm er; through his hard labor'the old scholar comes to trust him, even to the extent o f giving him Yii-hsiang's (Jiaid in m arriage. T h ro u g h the maid, C h ’iian se­ duces the mistress— an easy conquest since she has been languishing for lack o f a sexual partner in her husband’s absence. W hen Yiihsiang becomes pregnant, they try all possible means to induce abor­ tion; failing, |Jiey can only flee. O nce on the road, Yii-hsiang miscar­ ries. A lth ough the trio, mistress, maid, and man, lam ent the fick­ leness o f fate, Yii-hsiang is in fact, a victim o f the old m an’s morality. Despite his respect fo r C h ’iian ，he could never countenance this il­ licit relationship. Faced with his unavoidable rage, Yii-hsiang is pre­ pared to comm it suicide in shame; only the persist 成 it efforts o f her cohorts serve to dissuade her. W hen N ot Y et visits Iron Door at a later date, the self-righteotts old herm it pretends that the girl has died to cover any responsibility that m ight be attributed to him in the matter. Predictably，these same principles bring fu o h e r tragedy.

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C h ’iian’s revenge completp, he sells the two women into prostitution. U nd er the careful tutelage o f the most experienced m adam e in the capital, Yii-hsiang becomes the country’s most fam ous whore, the perfect opposite o f the conventional “beauty” she was when first in­ troduced. Finally, she hangs h erself in shame over h er new occupa­ tion rather than have h er husband discover her. She had had no al­ ternative to prostitution as an abandoned woman; the m adam e had threatened her with expulsion from the house i f she did not become m ore skilled in bed. As a single wom^n, she can accept this way o f life; nom inal obligations to her husband— even one who deserted her— make such a life intolerable. Yii-hsiang therefore is the victim o f selfishness from all directions— h er fath er’s sm ug morality, her husband’s lust for the freedom to explore sexuality further, C h ’iian’s obsessive drive fo r personal revenge, and finally, with yet tnore irony, her custom ers’ desire fo r the therapeutic effect o f coupling with her. N ot Y et has been utterly self-centered in his quest. H e is self­ ishly dissatisfied with the m onk’s advice, with his beautiful wife, with his natural “equipm ent， ” with anything less than total im m ersion in sensuality. His drive to be the preem inent lover o f the age reduces him to physical collapse. B ut his flight to the mountains, his aban­ donm ent o f the world— are these acts really any less selfish? T ra d i­ tionally, Confucians disparaged Buddhism fo r its stress on personal salvation, apparently to the utter exclusion o f concern fo r others. N ot Y et dem onstrates ju st this in his conversion. He ignores all his param ours, even the twin daughters he sired withQ^ne o f them. His retreat is prom pted by fear o f a bad reputation in C onfucian society should he try to prosecute C h ’iian，his own physical pain and mental anguish at being publicly beaten, and his em barrassm ent at the pros­ pect o f return in g to his native place. O nce a m onk, N ot Y et will do anything to ensure his Buddhist detachm ent, even to the point o f o f­ fering to drow n his daughters! A s in lay life, N ot Y et aspires to reach the ultimate in monasticism; like his m entor, he refuses any custom ary type o f clerical “re lie f” fo r sexual frustration. Instead, he cuts o f f the offen d in g organ— a total contradiction o f Buddhist doc­ trine that all desires are products o f mind，not o f body. M ore conven­ tional writings m ight condem n incelibate monks as hypocrites, the frequent object o f low-level m irth in vernacular literature. The Prayer Mat o f Flesh, Conversely, satirizes the inhum anity o f m oral paragons;

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in their utter selfishness they cause m ore sufferin g than they prevent by their exam ple. A n d to no end: society is not significantly bettered thereby. T h e o n ly relevant interpretation o f the sarcastic parody o f the C onfucian line with which the novel concludes is as I have translated it above: “T h e inventors o f vice must have been none other than the sages themselves!” Given its convincing argum ent in C hapter i for the beneficial effects o f sex in m oderation, and the tragic end it por­ trays for the unwitting victims o f prudishness carried to absurdity, The Prayer Mat o f Flesh is m eant to condem n all extrem es o f behavior, the self-styled moralists fo r their egotism no less than the selfindulgent sensualists o f its time.65 M ental morass b rought Buddhist clarity to M onkey in The Tower; th rough sensuality and satire, the reader is brought to a new understanding o f traditional teachings o f several persuasions in The Prayer Mat o f Flesh T h e re remains scholarly dispute concerning both the author­ ship and the date o f com position for The Prayer Mat. T h is is despite a com m ent by Liu T ’ing-chi (fl. 1675) in his Tsai-yiian tsa-chih (Tsaiyiian’s Random Notes, 1715) which lists The Prayer Mat along with other compositions by the professional w riter Li Y ii (also known as Li Li-weng).66 L iu was conversant with novels and novelists; in the same collection he praises the edition o f Chin P ’ing Mei with critical com m entary by C hang C hu -p ’o.67 A friend o f K ’u n g Shang-jen (16 4 8 -1718 ), the dramatist w ho eulogized the fall o f the M ing in his play The Peach Blossom Fan, L iu may well have known others in the­ ater circles, including even the m uch older Li Y ii himself. A t the lowest level o f reliability, L iu ’s inform ation was no m ore thkn sec­ ondhand, it would appear.68 T h e re is no furth er indisputable p ro o f o f Li Y ii’s authorship, but given the abundance o f circumstantial evi­ dence, I see no reason to doubt the veracity o f L iu ’s attribution. First, in both tenor and technique, The Prayer Mat shows wideranging similarities with L i’s attitudes and approaches as developed in his other works. Li Y ii was unconventional in his outlook, the sort to poke fun at the m oribund aspects o f Confucianism and B u d ­ dhism. A lth ou gh very bright by all accounts, he failed to pass any but the lowest o f the standard examinations. In his Hsien-ch'ing ou-chi (W here Random T h ou gh ts H appen to Lodge) he speaks frankly about sexual pleasure, but not overindulgence; m oderation is his watchword. His style o f living as well as his writings dem onstrate his

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delight in sensual pleasures. T h e strong sense o f individuality re­ vealed in his preface to One Man's Words (quoted in chapter 2) also demonstrates a degree o f iconoclasm consonant with that in the novel. In 1658 his Shih-erh lou (Twelve Tow ers, also entitled “ Clear W ords to Aw aken the A g e ,” Chiieh-shih ming-yen) was published, his second collection o f short stories in the vernacular; Li was exp eri­ enced in using the colloquial language as a literary tool. Likewise, several stories in this collection satirize hidebound moralists as well as r a k e s c le a r ly Li had sym pathy fo r neither and was a skilled sat­ irist. Li was also known fo r having produced erotic writings, prom pting the playwright and novelist Y iian Y ii-ling to comment: Li Y ii is filthy by nature, good at flattery. H e circulates am ong the gentry and is fond o f w riting verse, songs, and fiction that are sexually indecent. . . . His actions are extrem ely obscene, including matters that literati should not mention. I rhet him once, but I have avoided him ever since.69

It would appear logical to interpret this as a reference to The Prayer Mat, although Y iian mentions no work by name. C onsidering his moralistic exposure o f youn g urban rakes in Forgotten Tales o f the Sui, it is not to be w ondered that Y iian Y ii-ling should take offense at Li Y ii’s flippant attitude toward adultery. Internally, The Prayer Mat is similar to The Twelve Towers in terms o f style, particularly in its use o f personal pronouns and idi­ omatic expressions.70 Both are structurally innovative, The Prayer Mat for its introductory chapter addressed directly to the reader, and The Twelve Towers stories for their similar titles (all having the w ord “tower”）and division into chapters. In addition, there are sig­ nificant parallels between the structure o f the novel and o f a cKuanch’i play: dramatic action is preceded by a Active dialogue with the audience in which the intentions o f the writer are clarified; charac­ ters in the novel are as stereotyped as are role categories on the stage; scenes shift from place to place with change o f chapter/act, not within chapters as is conventionally the case in vernacular novels. M oreover, theater term inology occurs frequently throughout The Prayer Mat: its action is a play (hsi-wen), characters “com e onstage” (shang-t’ai)，the characters themselves are presented as "principal hero” (cheng-sheng), and the like. A n d yet this last fact in itself is in­ conclusive. T h e “genius-beauty” romances, im m ediately derived

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from a dramatic tradition, also occasionally utilize theatrical terms to describe action.71 It is possible that the novelist’s use o f such terms could be borrow ed from the rom ances that he parodied. H owever, it happens that The Twelve Towers is similarly laden with theatrical terms. Li brought his theater experience into the stu ff o f prose fic­ tion, both short stories and novels.72 Parallels o f another type may also be seen between works in­ disputably from the pen o f Li Y ii and The Prayer Mat o f Flesh, a simi­ lar tendency to m ake use o f conventions from the genius-beauty romantic fiction tradition. Li Y ii’s literary parody o f such fiction can be seen in his various short stories. His first collection, Wu-sheng hsi (Silent Plays, published probably 1657) contains the hum orous tale o f an ugly man with a disagreeable body odor who is m atched to three great beauties. T h e first in his The Twelve Towers collection follows the conventional genius-beauty plot outline precisely; the eighth story there join s a handsom e youn g m an with a beautiful youn g woman, only to have the m arriage fail on the w edding night— because the bride has no vagina! Indeed, Li Y ii regularly departed from genius-beauty sentimentalism to stress the necessity o f physical fulfillm ent in a relationship.73 Li Y ii was only eighteen when his father died in 1629. A lth ough he traveled widely, it was only as an adult and, fo r the most part, after the M anchu conquest. T h e fictional N ot Y et also sets out to travel after losing his parents; this rake’s interest in sensual en­ joym ent perfectly parallels the life o f com fort strongly advocated by Li Y ii in his form al writings. O ften scholars have hypothesized that the multiple rom ances carried on by the protagonists in Li Y ii’s shorter fiction are based on his own experiences. In one story (the third in The Twelve Towers), a hero’s forced sale o f his property has as its source Li Y ii’s loss o f his beloved retreat in 1647; in another, the ideals o f a scholar in seclusion correspond to those espoused by Li Y ii. N ot Y et thus m ay be som ething o f a self-portrait o f the younger Li Y ii.74 A t the least, the attribution o f The Prayer Mat to him is as justifiable as the identification o f most earlier novelists; I see no fu rth er reason to dispute it. Dating The Prayer Mat o f Flesh is m ore problematic, however. T h e earliest printed edition is lost, apparently; the oldest extant edi­ tion bears a preface dated with the cyclical characters kuei-yu, p re­ sumably either 1633 or 1693.75 Several scholars doubt that Li could

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have written a work o f this type by the tender age o f twenty-two, al­ though it would have required no m ore intellectual sophistication than did The Tower of Myriad Mirrors, written when T u n g , Y iieh was around twenty. Furtherm ore, the sensuality satirized in The Prayer Mat was m ore typical o f late M ing elite society than that o f the early C h ’ing. T h e Japanese edition o f 1705 identifies its author by a pseudonym , although it identifies the work as having been written du rin g the M ing; the title page o f the oldest extant copy (see the frontispiece) contains an advertisem ent fo r the novel, as did certain other late M ing novels.76 It is tem pting fo r these reasons to deduce that kuei-yu means the earlier date, 1633. H owever, the preface o f the oldest copy reportedly identifies the reign period o f the preface as K ’ang-hsi.77 T h u s the w ork must have been printed with its present preface in 1693, m ore than a decade after Li Y ii’s death. It should be noted, too, that the genius and beauty romances so clearly parodied in The Prayer Mat were m ore com m on after the change o f ruling fam ily than before. In fact, the earliest extant rom ance, Yii Chiao Li, dates from the time o f the M anchu conquest. W hile Li Y ii m ight have had in m ind a parody o f conventions already popularized on the stage, the m ore likely conclusion that he wrote The Prayer Mat in reaction to prose romances requires a date later than 1633 fo r its com position.78 Consequently, The Prayer Mat must have been written w hen Li was o f a m ature age, around 1660, when his reputation was w idespread, w hen m any o f his works, in­ cluding short stories, first saw print, and at a time when other writers such as Y iian Y u-ling would have felt called upon to mention him .79 A s the product o f a m ature writer, iconoclast, and individ­ ualist, it is not surprising that The Prayer Mat of/Flesh is penetrating and witty. Li Y ii, as m entioned in chapter 2 above, m ade only rare political references in his writings after the M ing fall. The Prayer Mat thus reflects his conscious choice in its object o f satire, the riotous liv­ ing and absurd scruples o f the scholar-gentry. Assum ing that he wrote the novel in his m iddle or later years, Li Y ii wrote from a position in society other than that o f the class into which he was born. H e never attained any official position; he sup­ ported him self and his household through w riting and the p erfor­ mance o f his plays, by soliciting donations from the gentry, and by selling his writings. Li was born to a m odestly wealthy and educated family in m odern Kiangsu. A s a youth he roam ed about the lower

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Y an gtze valley until rising brigandage m ade travel dangerous. H av­ ing no ideas fo r personally brin ging peace to the w orld, he lived in retirem ent, enjoying “life’s greatest pleasure.” His verse o f the 1640s contains num erous references to the depredations o f rebels and ram paging soldiers. H e and his fam ily fled as Yangchow and N an­ king fell to the M anchus in 1645, and he described their conquest o f his hom e town in these words: “For three days hum an heads fell like rain. . . .” 80 Li Y ii lost his house and library; he sold his rem aining p roperty and, after hiding in the mountains fo r some time, m oved to H angchow in 1648. H e lived there fo r the next ten years and wrote his first plays there. A publishing venture took him to N an­ king in 1657 to stop unauthorized reprinting o f his works, which by that time were selling well. His collection o f short stories Twelve Towers was first published there, but when C h en g C h ’eng-kung (Koxinga) attacked N anking, Li Y u and his fam ily fled again, to try their hand at farm ing. T h e y w ere very poor from then until 1666. In that year he visited Peking, hopin g to borrow enough m oney to set him self up in trade; a local m agistrate bought him a thirteenyear-old girl as a concubine. She becam e the prim a donna o f his op ­ eratic troupe. W ithin a year, the fam e o f Li Y ii and his singer began to earn him invitations and occasional generous stipends from pa­ trons in places as distant from each other as Sian, Kansu, Nanking, and K uangtung. His fortunes continued to vary considerably be­ tween commissions, however. In 1669 Li Y ii had constructed his fam ous M ustard Seed G ar­ den (Chieh-tzu-yiian pieh-yeh), a tiny but m eticulously landscaped residence on a hilltop in N anking. It became the site o f his book printing and publishing enterprise, know n for the suprem e quality o f its book illustrations.81 T h e years around his sixtieth birthday w ere a time o f broad contacts and wide acquaintance fo r L i Y ii; his friends included W u W ei-yeh, Y u T ’u n g ，K u n g Ting-tzu, and Y ii H uai, all highly respected gentry writers. Ill health began to plague him , however; du rin g the same period his favorite concubines, also the finest actresses in his troupe, died in succession. Li sold his N anking hom e to build another in H angchow in 1677 after the paci­ fication o f the T h re e Feudatories rebellion in south and southwest China. His household by then num bering forty, printers and per­ form ers included, Li Y ii had to sell his jew elry and clothes, even his p rinting blocks, to buy this new residence. H e could not afford even

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medical help for him self after he fell dow n stairs, and had to beg his m ore affluent friends fo r capital to begin publishing again. Success­ ful in this quest, he wrote profusely for the last few years o f his life, which ended, apparently, early in the year 1680. In effect a parasite on the scholar-gentry class, Li Y ii’s fortunes varied dramatically; there was no guaranteed income fo r those who, like Li, depended upon their wits and the generosity o f their ac­ quaintances rather than land and office fo r their income. His educa­ tion was equal in breadth and depth to that o f the m ore conven­ tional literati; his writings include discussions o f history and com pendia o f debates on political institutions. Li was highly re­ spected fo r his brilliance and quickness o f wit. A n d yet Li Y ii was a m arginal figure in certain respects. N ot strong enough in his loyalist feelings to fight fo r the M ing, unlike Y iian Y ii-ling he refused to curry favor with the M anchu governm ent— although he did not hes­ itate to cut his hair in accordance with the conquerors’ prescription. Li tasted poverty as well as affluence, albeit both briefly. O utside o f­ ficial society and seemingly beyond its social responsibility, Li Y ii went furth er toward exclusive self-expression than did most writers o f his age. H e was no self-styled Confucian sage in action, as was C hin Sheng-t’an. Consequently, Li Yu's writings are frequently m ore free in choice o f subject m atter and m anner o f expression than those o f his contem poraries, as his writings on the “arts o f living” show. This did not mean that Li Y ii blithely accepted m oral outrage. Several o f his short stories condem n in a virulent m anner the reckless disregard fo r hum an life exem plified by those in positions o f pow er.82 M oreover, he accepted the duty incum bent upon the Confucian writer to make all his work didactic to some degree. A bout his stage productions, he comm ented: T h e warrior’s sword and the writer’s brush are alike im plem ents for killing people. . . . the pain o f killing with the brush— how could it ever be over in ju st a matter o f hours? T h e ancients used strange tales [ch’uan-ch’i] 'lik e those o f mine as a w arning bell. Since few o f the foolish men and women know how to read and write, there is no way to en­ courage them to do good and to prohibit their d oin g evil. Consequently, I have provided writings o f this sort, relying on players to “preach the dharm a” for the masses to hear, telling them o f the rewards reaped by the virtuous and the consequences suffered by the unvirtuous, and m aking people know what to avoid. W riting serves as a medication for

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lon g life and progeny, as a tool for saving people from sufferin g and ca­ lam ity.83

Even in his introductory com m ent for Where Random Thoughts Hap­ pen to Lodge， Li Y ii stresses this same aim in writing: People’s customs are declining day by day; the reason for this decline is their delight in the new and their esteem for the unusual. I f the new and unusual are not to cause defiance o f accepted standards, then what is new must be virtuous and the unusual must be upright. I f the new and the curious do em body virtue and uprightness, then their aim never will be to lead beyond what is appropriate for emotions and pat­ terns o f behavior. Instead, they will expose heretical customs; surely in­ num erable people will be encouraged to return to the M ean thereby. . . . Ot hers may take jo y in activity; while what I assemble here are but peaceful thoughts, they are not without purpose. W hat I have as­ sembled here are the most new and unusual, and yet not one item am ong them wanders from the track o f proper virtue. Indeed, this is a w ork with which no one could take exception.84

Despite his light-hearted m anner in these prefatory remarks, Li Y ii took w riting seriously. His works reveal conscious literary polish; they also dem onstrate Li Y ii’s sense o f social responsibility. Surely The Prayer Mat’s introductory discussion o f sexuality ought not to be understood as frivolous m erely because o f its bantering tone; one may chuckle at N ot Y et’s m isadventures while acknow ledging the tragic plight o f Yii-hsiang. Li Y ii’s writings are as com plex m orally as was the man himself. H e could also reveal freely his escapist tenden­ cies in his various writings.85 W ho but a man so detached from the scholar-gentry class as Li Y ii could ridicule it so freely in The Prayer Mat o f Flesh?

Ch’in Shu-pao burns the warrant for his friend’s arrest while his companions watch for heavenly portents. Romance of the Sui and the T’ang，Edition A, preface dated 1695.

M Disaster and Renewal in an O rd ered Universe . . • though a mere reciter of tales, I am no sponging parasite. . . . I am like Yen-Io, King o f the Un­ derworld, with his enormous ledger with the names o f count­ less departed souls entered in it. Or, again, I am like a statue of the Laughing Buddha with his protruding belly filled with the endless sorrows and vicissitudes o f this world. I rap my drum and shake my castanets, and a thunderstorm brews and the rains descend; I open my lips and flip my tongue, and there unfolds a chronicle o f historical events, a veritable Annals of Spring and Autumn. The filial sons and loyal ministers who in their time have suffered injustice receive from my mouth redress and rehabilitation; and the wicked and depraved who occupied positions o f privilege and power now have disaster and punishment visited upon them. This is a slight case of private reinstatement, a mild exercise in the reversal of judg­ ment. _ • . Storytelling is my profession.

liu c h in g -t ’in g :

Peach Blossom Fan, 1684-16991

K ’u n g Shang-jen (16 48 -1718 ) w rote his classic o f Chinese dram a, the im m ortal T ’ao-hua shan (Peach Blossom Fan), decades after the fall o f the Ming; its third revision appeared in i6 g g . Set in 16 4 3-16 45 , the play condem ns self-interest on the part o f civil and military officials and the resul­ tant disorganization that doom ed the southern M ing court to failure as the M anchus pressed south th rough China. T h is form s the back­ ground fo r the romantic account o f a love affair between a poet o f the Revival Society, the historical H ou Fang-yii (16 18 -16 5 5 ), and the chaste and talented courtesan Li Hsiang-chiin. Both are paragons o f loyalty to the Ming; the vicissitudes o f their idealized rom ance paral­ lel the fortunes o f the Chinese state. T h e play concludes with their abandonm ent o f both political and sensual ties, to become m onk and nun in separate m ountain retreats. In the quotation above from scene 10 o f the play, the profes-

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sional storyteller Liu Ching-t’ing introduces him self and his profes­ sion: a specialist in historical tales, in fact particularly concerning C h ’in Shu-pao and other late Sui and early T ’ang figures, Liu is as stern a moralist as any historian o f old China. B ut as raconteur， Liu has the ultimate freedom to right wrongs— even when history does not record that all received their ju st deserts, L iu can “balance the account” with a twist o f plot, a key turn o f phrase. L iu Ching-t’ing thus serves as persona fo r the dramatist in his efforts to create “au­ thentic history， ” historical events m odified to ensure that all charac­ ters receive justice in his play. In the same way, various Chinese nov­ elists o f the seventeenth century felt free to borrow the outlines o f a story from history while observing no particular com punction to adhere strictly to historical fact. Y iian Y ii-ling is a prim e exam ple. W riting at the end o f the Ming, Y iian focused on the em otional de­ velopm ent o f his hero; however, moral balance was the greater con­ cern late in the seventeenth century, when writers turned to concep­ tions o f the harm onious alternation o f polar opposites in Y in -Y ang fashion as structuring devices fo r their works. It seems that at least one o f their num ber, like K ’u n g Shang-jen, had in m ind specifically the M ing fall; alternations o f opposites on the cosmic as well as the personal scale served to rationalize for C h ’u Jen-huo the calamitous events o f m idcentury.

Romance o f the Sui and the T ’ang:

Reassertion o f Moral Balance The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors is a sequel o f sprts, an expansion meant to be read as an interpolation into the older and well-known Journey to the West. Forgotten Tales of the Sui, on the other hand, uti­ lized a few sections o f the slightly older Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang to round out its narrative. Sui T ’ang yen-i (Romance o f the Sui and the T ’an g ， c.1675; first edition, 1695) is in a sense a sequel to both Merry Adventures and Forgotten Tales， since it narrates events subsequent to those recorded in the two earlier novels. B ut instead o f m erely adapting a theme or a few characters, its author, C h ’u Jenhuo (c. 1 6 3 0 - c i 705)，copied w ord fo r w ord m ajor portions o f these and other fictional works to form his own novel. U ndoubtedly C h ’u wrote in part from financial considerations: he held no official posi­

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tions and ran a publishing business, at least in his later years, proba­ bly as a source o f income. B ut his Romance is no simple case o f pla­ giarism. Romance recasts its extensive borrow ed material into an arrangem ent considerably differen t from that o f his sources; this structure and his pivotal original m aterial combine to im part new and broader m eaning to the w ork as a whole. A lth ou gh he wrote his­ torical fiction, C h ’u, like the stage version o f the professional story­ teller Liu Ching-t’in g，willingly strayed from recorded fact in order to create a m ore m orally significant effect. In structure and in m ean­ ing, C h ’u Jen-huo used his novel to point to the cosmic balance in so­ ciety that obtains from Y in -Y an g alternations through time. T o a cer­ tain extent, C h ’u used fiction consciously as a m irror fo r his times; his writing was intended to confirm the values o f his social stratum, although his vision o f reality is not com forting. His moral pro­ nouncem ents transcend platitude to address the hopes and fears o f a generation that survived a change o f ruling dynasty. Romance o f the Sui and the T an g is relatively long com pared to other novels o f its period, having 100 chapters. M odern editions comprise nearly 800 closely printed pages. Its narrative, spanning roughly the two centuries 570 to 770, breaks m anageably into eight sections: 1. T h e rise and reign o f the Sui im perial house (Chapters 1 - 3 ， 19 - 20, 27 - 3 1 ，34 - 36 , 39 —40 , 47 - 48 ) ii. T h e adventures o f C h ’in Shu-pao and other w arrior heroes (Chapters 3-4, 6 -18 , 2 1-2 6 , 3 1-3 3 , 37 - 3 9 , 4 卜 4 6) m . T h e rise o f the Li fam ily and the consolidation o f T ’ang power (Chapters 4 -6 , 46, 48-60) iv. Love affairs between male and fem ale warriors (Chapters 60-63) v. T h e reign o f Li Shih-min as T ’ai-tsung o f T ’ang (Chapters 63 - 70) vi. T h e adventures o f W u Tse-t’ien (Chapters 69-75) vii. T h e b rief career o f Empress W ei (Chapters 76 -77) v iii . T h e reign o f M ing-huang (Chapters 77-100) In addition to its protagonists, the Sui em peror Yang, Y an g Kuei-fei (d. 755), A n Lu-shan (d. 757), and those m entioned in the outline above, Romance is peopled with a large variety o f m inor char­ acters. Some, but far from all, are historical; a few are the original creations o f C h ’u Jen-huo. M uch o f his material was copied or lightly edited from a num ber o f fictional or unorthodox sources that are

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not accepted as reliable. T h ese sources are mostly o f fou r types: novels o f the late M ing, vernacular short stories published in the 1620s, short fiction in th e literary language written from the ninth through the eleventh centuries, and collections o f anecdotes that ap­ peared late in the T ’ang period. C h ’u seems to have copied nothing o f significance from the theater o r from other popular oral enter­ tainments in narrative form at. Instead, his sources, over twenty in num ber, w ere exclusively w ritten.2 Romance thus is som ething o f an anthology o f fiction concerning the Sui and the T ’ang periods. T h is fact makes the work unusual. T h e b rie f editorial comm ents that in­ troduce each chapter are similarly uncom m on in novels o f its time; these introductory statements establish the m oral standard applicable to the events o f each chapter precisely, as do the pream bles to short stories in collections by Feng M eng-lung and L in g M eng-ch’u (x5 8 0 -1644).3 Furtherm ore, C h ’u Jen-huo used the reincarnation o f certain characters to tie the beginning and end o f his novel together, am ong them the Sui em peror Yarig and his concubine C h u Kueierh, who are reborn as Y an g K uei-fei and E m peror M ing-huang o f the T ’ang (r. 7 1 2 -7 5 5 〉 .4 By the use o f this device, as well as by en d ­ ing his narrative in the middle o f a dynasty, C h ’u deliberately aban­ doned the form at fo r historical novels conventional in his day. T h a t is, Romance of the Sui and the Tan g does not either outline an entire dynastic period o r focus on a single event, person, or family. Instead o f tracing the fortunes o f the state from stability th rough decline and back to stability (like Romance o f the Three Kingdoms), this work ends am biguously, with a fragile respite in the ongoing civil strife. N or is its content directly depen dent on inform ation supplied by the standard histories— themselves the basis fo r m or 腎 orth odox histori­ cal fiction.5 M oreover, C h ’u Jen-huo experim ented with the episodic structure o f the traditional novel to produce a w ork that is innova­ tive, if not dram atically original. His experim ents appear in the bal. ance he maintains between self-contained episodes, story elements, , scenes, and vcharacters. Inherent in this balance is his vision o f the ，hum an experience. Most obviously, equilibrium is m aintained between differin g story types in Romance o f the Sui and the Tang 、 Sung-period literati, w riting guidebooks to the popular entertainm ent districts o f C hina’s em erging urban centers, noted five m ajor types o f oral narratives in which professional raconteurs specialized: history or rom anticized ac­

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counts o f historical persons and events, m oral tales based on B u d ­ dhist sutras (both types elaborated orally on the basis o f specific texts), and the m ore patently fictional areas o f rom antic love, o f m ar­ vels and the supernatural, and o f crimes, scandals, and knight-er­ rantry. Individual Romance segm ents include four o f these five: “history” (political intrigue and w arfare), love, m arvels, and knight-errantry. T h ose episodes that do not correspond to any o f these are o f two fu rth er categories, exem plary acts (of loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and altruism, corresponding to the Buddhist tales o f the Sung religious raconteurs), and records o f poetry contests (de­ signed to appeal to literati readers). E xcept fo r the last, C h ’u m ain­ tained a rough num erical balance am ong these categories, creating original stories w hen needed to supplem ent his written sources.6 Furtherm ore, each episode regularly differs in story type from those preceding and follow ing it. A few exam ples will suffice to illustrate the diversity in its sub­ je ct matter. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 19 narrate the power struggles at the found ing o f the Sui; C hapters 64 to 67 those o f the T ’ang; Wu Tse-t’ien arrogates pow er to h erself in C hapters 69 to 71 and 72; m iddle T ’ang civil wars take up Chapters 87 to 88 and 89 to 92 (these qualify as “history” by the old Sung definitions). Love affairs occur on the battlefield in C hap ter 63 and between a youn g scholar and an anonym ous seductress in C hap ter 80. M arvels include Li C h in g ’s rainm aking (Chapter 3) ， C h ’in Shu-pao’s encounter with a seer (Chapter 24)，and Li Shih-min’s magical rescue by the m onk T ripitaka (Chapter 57). K nights-errant include C h ’in Shu-pao, a central character in the novel’s first half, and the fam ous T ’an g poet Li Po in the second, Chapters 82 and 83. C h u K uei-erh sacrifices her own flesh to save E m peror Y an g in C hap ter 3 7，and W ang I com ­ mits suicide at his em peror’s tomb to dem onstrate his loyalty in C hapter 67— both acts w orthy o f em ulation. Poetry contests occur in C hapters 29 to 31 and 74. T h e regular alternations between story lines a:re easily visible in C h ’u ’s m anipulation o f material culled from his longer sources. U sing segments copied o r condensed from Forgoitm Tales of the Sui as his base, C h ’u interpolated disruptive elements from a T ’ang period ch’uan-ch’i tale and from The Merry Adventures, as well as an original anecdote about C h ’in Shu-pao’s second benefactress, into Chapters 4 to 25, thereby introducing love, politics, and a selfless act

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into this knight-errant tale. T hose referrin g to E m peror Y an g are the only scenes o f m ore than m om entary relevance within the con­ text o f the novel as a w hole. Chapters 48 to 60 describe the T ’ang unification; their source is the sixteenth-century historical novel Sui T'ang Hang-ch’ao chih-chuan (Chronicles o f T w o Courts, Sui and T ’ang，only extant edition dated i6ig)_ Y et C h ’u interrupts the in­ cessant battles it narrates with scenes o f m odel behavior (a general, Y an g I-ch ，e n ，saves the infant Sui crown prince in C hapter 48; two widows attempt suicide on their husbands’ graves in C hap ter 55)，a battlefield rom ance in C hapter 49, combat by sorcery and a fantastic rescue (Chapters 53 and 57)，and altruistic deeds by individual knights (Ch’in Shu-pao shifts his loyalties to the T ’ang in Chapters 51 and 52 and subdues Y ii-ch’ih Ching-te in C hapter 57). Such alternations occur even m ore frequently in the novel’s sec­ ond half, given the greater num ber o f shorter written sources used there. C h ’u’s first sixty chapters are copied extensively from earlier novels; the last forty are based on num erous short stories and collec­ tions o f anecdotes. For exam ple, late in C hapter 83，A n Lu-shan flees the capital to establish a rival pow er base on the frontier; this political event is o f the “history” category. T h e next chapter narrates the warning Y an g K uo-chung receives from spirits about the conse­ quences o f sexual excess, a “ m arvel.” T h e n com e tales o f Em peror M ing-huang's magical voyages through space and a contest between conjurers, followed by a description o f rivalry at court between A n and Yang, o f the vows o f love taken by the em peror and his mistress, and o f court amusements. T h ese seven episodes or elements o f nar­ rative are o f fo u r differen t categories and are from at least four written sources; together they comprise only foup’chapters. T h e balancing act C h ’u Jen-huo perform s in m aintaining ele­ ments from a variety o f sources in a constantly varied pattern is mechanical, and o f no imm ediate significance in itself other than to prove the breadth o f C h ’u ’s reading. B ut when this balance o f con­ trasting elements is com pared to the m anner in which the novelist structured scenes and to his characterization scheme, all these ar­ rangem ents serve to deepen the inherent m eaning o f his work. W ithin its scenes and characters, Romance of the Sui and the Tang bal­ ances 'virtue with vice again and again to achieve a sort o f moral equilibrium. T h rough out, C h ’u Jen-huo utilizes to the fullest extent conventional archetypal characters, an obvious function o f a strat-

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ified society and its historiographical tradition o f grou p ing biogra­ phies by shared moral attribute.7 Villains serve as foils for the heroes and vice versa, although a ro u gh balance o f right and w rong is main­ tained th rough their interaction. W ang I serves this function in relation to E m peror Yang, fo r ex­ ample. C h ’u Jen-huo m odified this segm ent adopted from The Merry'' Adventures of Emperor Yang to a surprising extent: no longer does the dw arf emasculate h im self; instead, he is stopped before the knife can fall and the em peror gives him a w ife from am ong his harem. W ang I outlives his sovereign-— he is no longer the em bodim ent o f pathetic infatuation in this novel— in o rder to bear the crown prince away to safety. O nly then does he comm it suicide. By sim plifying his character in this way, W ang I is m ade the paragon o f pure loyalty to his lord. Balance is maintained between the two by juxtap osin g epi­ sodes narrating acts characteristic o f both extrem es o f morality. In Chapter 27, fo r exam ple, E m peror Y an g, utterly without thought for the consequences, orders the construction o f an extensive plea­ sure park, at staggering cost in hum an su fferin g ； W ang I then at­ tempts castration out o f loyalty.8 T w o female characters borrow ed from Merry Adventures serve as well to point out E m peror Y an g ’s excesses. Both are m odified con­ siderably for this role in Romance of the Sui and the Tang. Y iian Paoerh and C h u K uei-erh are talented and beautiful palace maidens in the earlier novel, although only the second differs in importance from the tens o f other such characters introduced there. In C hapter 36 o f Romance the lady Y iian observes Y u Shih-nan as he drafts a proclam ation fo r E m peror Y ang; the sovereign chides h er for her attention to this handsom e youn g man. C h ’u Jen-huo has the lady interpret his comments as a veiled accusation o f infidelity, and she attempts suicide to vindicate her honor.9 In Romance this act follows Y an g ’s declaration o f war against K oryo, a decision that again has di­ sastrous effects on the poor o f northeast China. In The Merry Adven­ tures, when Y an g falls ill with a crushing headache the imperial phy­ sician cures him. N ot so in Romance; here the doctor’s ministrations are to no avail. T h e palace ladies are thrown into a panic as the ruler's condition worsens, until Y iian Pao-erh suggests they all pray that the gods transfer his pain to them . In order to prove her sincer­ ity, C hu Kuei-erh slices a bit o f flesh from her arm; later this flesh is m ixed into a medicinal broth fo r the em peror, w ho recovers as soon

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as he drinks it. W hen he learns o f her sacrifice, Y an g and she vow to be husband and wife through successive generations. T h is scene is flanked by Y an g ’s com m and to rebuild the G reat Wall, ultimately causing thousands to be w orked to death, and his totally self-in­ dulgent excursions along the newly constructed im perial highway. C h u Kuei-erh’s selflessness serves to dem onstrate all the m ore dearly the opposite characteristic in E m peror Y an g.10 Many other loyal subjects appear in Romance, all o f them one­ sided exem plars, to o ffe r faultless conduct, w ell-grounded censure, and sound advice to their respective sovereigns. In each case, the depth o f the rulers’ transgressions is revealed by their presence; usually they su ffer for their adherence to principle. Such loyal sub­ jects include General Y an g I-ch’en, who is banished from the Sui court in C hapter 39; C h ’u Sui-liang, a trusted minister o f the T ’ang em peror 丁 ’ai-tsung, exiled fo r his censure o f the ruler’s lust; Su Liang-ssu, who opposes Em press W u on the same grounds; C h an g Chien-chih, the leader o f T ’ang loyalist opposition to the W u 丁 set’ien faction in C hapter 75; and W ei Chien, an innocent casualty o f L i Lin -fu’s pow er struggle at the court o f M ing-huang.11 A n Lu-shan, most treacherous o f villains in Chinese tradition, is m ade to appear so by behavioral models in C hapter 93. Lei Haich’ing is a musician in the T ’ang em peror M ing-hu^ng’s Pear G ar­ den Academ y; like most others in service at the court, he is left behind as the em peror and his party flee before a rebel advance. M any musicians w eep as A n crows over his victories. T h is drives the rebel into a rage, and he orders the execution o f anyone w ho ex­ presses sorrow. Lei cries aloud at this, bewailing the weakness o f the T ’ang state. A n has him slain on the spot. A ll wKo hear o f the out­ rage are awed, including the official and poet W ang W ei (70 1-761). Stranded in C h ’angan as rebels take the city and fearfu l o f being forced to serve in A n Lu-shan’s governm ent, this poet ingests a con­ coction that brings incapacitating dysentery and dumbness. T h e selfinflicted suffering o f Lei and W ang serve to clarify and to counter­ balance the m oral outrages com m itted by A n Lu-shan.12 N ot all such contrasting pairs o f m inor characters d iffer on strictly moral grounds, although they do all serve to reveal the per­ sonalities o f m ajor figures in the work. In C hapter 24, in an original scene, C h ’in Shu-pao is playing host to a num ber o f his martial acquaintances w ho have com e to celebrate his m other’s birthday

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when a tall Taoist priest appears at the gate, apparently to beg for food. N o sooner do local soldiers stationed there try to drive him away, than the priest knocks them to the ground. H e warns C h ’in Shu-pao, w ho o f course rushes to welcom e such a doughty fighter, against a m inor disaster about to occur; through his protective magic a fire breaks out— not there but n ext d o o r o n l y to be extinguished by a rainstorm that the stranger seems to have conjured. T h is in­ cident provides ironic contrast to the character C h ’in Shu-pao: at this point, C h ’in has neither the perspicacity nor the ability to cope with crisis so clearly dem onstrated by his visitor.13 M orally contrasting scenes serve most significantly as C h ’u Jenh u o’s means o f m aking his principal characters m ore com plex. (This also provides a literary counterpart to the cosmic Y in and Y an g, in which the poles are m utually interpenetrating, the transition fro m one to the other being gradual.) E m peror Y an g o f the Sui, here as in The Merry Adventures, is selfish, licentious, and megalom aniacal. Y et C h ’u Jen-huo presents this same character as being so profoundly m oved by C hu K uei-erh’s sacrifice o f flesh fo r his benefit that he vows eternal love fo r h er with a degree o f tender feeling he certainly d oes.not show in the earlier version.14 It m ight be argued that this particular scene accords with his reincarnation device, but other scenes C h ’u Jen-huo com posed using this character do not— they serve only to make Y an g appear m ore hum ane. A case in point occurs in C hapter 36: W hen Lady Sha miscarries, Y an g entrusts to h er his son by another woman in o rder that she m ight raise a child, as she longs to d o .15 C h ’u Jen-huo likewise deleted explicit scenes revealing Y an g ’s bestiality from borrow ed sections o f The Merry Ad­ ventures, while interpolating an original gam e o f innocent hide-andseek between the em peror and his ladies.16 C h ’u ’s purpose is not by any means to m ake Y an g into a positive character; m any selfish and destructive deeds are attributed to him here. H owever, by illustrat­ ing m ore than one side o f Y an g ’s personality, C h ， u Jen-huo imparts a degree o f realistic m oral com plexity to this character that was lack­ ing in the earlier novel, deliberately disregarding the verdict o f his­ tory thereby. Li Shih-min is introduced as a man destined to rule all China; gods and m en alike recognize his greatness. W hile serving as com ­ m ander o f his fath er’s T ’ang forces, it is his uprightness, resolve, and strength that turn the civil wars am ong various factions into the

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T ’ang conquest. A fte r peace is restored, Li returns to the capital, only to discover his two brothers disporting themselves in their fa­ ther^ harem . Li Shih-min warns them against pursuing these inces­ tuous affairs further; given his wide popularity, the brothers are apprehensive for their safety and plot against him. T h e plot is foiled (unlike that o f Y an g o f the Sui), and the brothers are killed in the fighting. Li Shih-min becomes crown prince and soon takes the throne in his own right. A fte r ten years as a ju st and capable ruler, this em peror, now called T'ai-tsung, takes a fourteen-year-old girl into his cham bers and abandons him self to lust. W hen he establishes simultaneously a liaison with Empress Hsiao o f the defun ct Sui state, Y an g’s form er consort, the physical strain is too great for him and he dies.17 T ’ai-tsung’s young lover then becomes the object o f his succes­ sor^ desire; and she brings on the latter’s dem ise years later. Ul­ timately, this woman, the crafty and resourceful W u T se-t’ien, rules China in her own right, the only woman in Chinese history to do so. W hen her long-time param our, the m onk Feng Huai-i, breaks o ff their relationship in favor o f younger ladies, she has him beaten to death and his tem ple burned to the ground. H owever, this incident is followed by one o f a totally d ifferen t moral tenor: w hen the aging general C h ’in Shu-pao serves meat dum plings to celebrate the births o f twin grandsons in deliberate violation o f her interdiction against the killing o f animals, she declines to punish him. O n the contrary, she bestows names on the infants— a great h onor.18 In the case o f these rulers, C h ’u Jen-huo seems not to wish to change history’s ver­ dict on their general m oral stance, but instead to grant these charac­ ters m ore realistic com plexity by dem onstrating ^their m oral ambi­ guity. The Prayer Mat o f Flesh pokes fun alike at saint and sinner; am ong Romance o f the Sui and the Tang protagonists, each is shown to have elements o f the other. T h is is not true o f any but the characters central to C h ’u ’s Romance，o f course，although it does dem onstrate his consistent^pproach to the organization o f fictional materials. T h e great period o f time spanned by the events in Romance gave C h ’u Jen-huo the opportunity to com m ent seriously on the flow o f history as well (history conventionally conceived as the acts o f prom i­ nent people and their effects on society as a whole). T o this end, C h ’u m odified only slightly the deluded ruler m otif borrow ed from

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The Merry Adventures. Repeated again and again throughout his work, it embodies his them e that decline inevitably follows strength and consolidation, both being transient in the constant process o f change. C h ’u Jen-huo thus presents five versions o f a single model character, the dynasty founder, each with significant variations from the others. (O f course, Romance narrates events o f only two dynastic periods, Sui and T a n g , but severa 】 subsequent T ’ang rulers— by re­ establishing central governm ent authority and high moral stan­ dards— function here as i f they had founded states on their own.) T h ese are E m peror W en o f the Sui and Kao-tsu (Li Yiian), T ’aitsung (Li Shih-min), M ing-huang (Hsiian-tsung), and Tai-tsung o f the T ’ang. A ll are gam blers in the gam e o f court politics, all are indi­ vidualistic, talented, and determ ined. A ll five gather around them capable ministers and generals. A ll com e to power through bloody struggle, often internecine. Furtherm ore, all share a particular flaw o f character that brings their ultimate downfall, a weakness for sex­ ual pleasure that distracts from , or worse yet, supplants, their inter­ est in political matters. T h u s the com m on people’s hopes for tran­ quillity are never realized fo r any extended period o f time— a harsh indictm ent o f the im perial institution. T h e Sui em peror W en, fo r exam ple, wins out over his rivals through intrigue and w arfare to fulfill the destiny predicted at his birth: to rule over a China united fo r the first time in centuries. His em press T u -k u deprives him o f other fem ale com panionship, and his moral degeneration after her death makes it possible fo r his unscrupulous son to take the throne as E m peror Yang* Li Yiian, his­ torically credited with founding the T ’ang, from birth bears on his body signs o f future greatness; he is born with three nipples. H e is a capable w arrior and a benevolent administrator, with trem endous charismatic influence over others. H e has no designs on the throne h im self; it is his second son, Li Shih-min, who plans the T ’ang con­ quest. T h e latter is extrem ely intelligent, with a consum ing interest in history and great skill in strategy. Ironically, Li Yiian comes to pow er through a ruse that prefigures the bane o f his house; Li Shihmin has one o f his father's advisors ply him with wine until he loses consciousness; then he dresses the older man in im perial robes and puts him into bed with two concubines o f the Sui em peror. U pon awakening, Li Yiian can only rebel; since his unwitting act o f lese

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majeste merits the exterm ination o f his entire clan, he has nothing to lose. Li Shih-min becomes his com m ander-in-chief, and so the two in Romance share the function o f the dynasty founder. Li Y iian ’s wife is puritanical, but as he grows older he devotes m ore and m ore time to sensual pleasures. A t her death he expends his energy with the two Sui im perial concubines; the same pair later attract Li Shih-min’s brothers to their doom . Li Y iian too dies o f exhaustion. Li Shih-min begins his reign as a virtuous ruler, al­ though in later years~ o n ce m ore after the death o f his empress— he dallies, to his own distraction and the detrim ent o f his official re­ sponsibilities, with form er Empress Hsiao, the corrupting influence o f E m peror Y an g’s reign personified.19 T h e m aiden W u, the favor­ ite o f E m peror T ’ai-tsung’s later years, becomes the seed o f yet m ore corruption, follow ing Empress Hsiao’s m odel. B efore his death, Li Shih-min sends W u away; his successor, Kao-tsung, recalls h er upon ascending the throne. A fte r this folly ultimately causes his demise, he is followed on the throne by her son, Chung-tsung. T h e latter reigns only briefly before he is deposed in favor o f an even m ore malleable puppet for Em press W u. W hen C hung-tsung’s followers stage a coup, he becomes as m uch the pawn o f his Empress W ei as he earlier was o f Empress W u.20 T h u s, w hen Li Lung^chi stages yet another coup to reestablish T ’ang power, he becomes in effect an­ other dynasty found er and is portrayed in this mold in Romance of the Sui and the T'ang. Li Lung-chi reigns fo r a num ber o f years as a capable and d e­ voted adm inistrator, using the title M ing-huang. W hen he finally feels secure in his position, his fancies begin to stray from official business toward the harem . First C hiang T s ’ai-p’in g，the Plum C on ­ sort (borrowed from a late T ’ang romantic tale), captures his atten­ tion; then he appropriates the concubine o f one o f his sons, Y an g Yii-huan, who becomes his “ Precious Consort,** the Kuei-fei. By this act he doom s him self to becom ing a pure sensualist. C uckolded, be­ trayed by his favorite courtier A n Lu-shan, M ing-huang nearly loses his em pire through utter dereliction o f duty. H e is heartbroken at the death o f his lady and abdicates soon afterward. His successor falls prey to his own schem ing wife; on the last page o f Romance the new em peror Tai-tsung exterm inates this latest plague to p u rify the T ’ang house anew. Considering the political disruption caused by A n Lu-shan’s rebellion, Tai-tsung m ay be construed as another sur-

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rogate dynasty founder; like his predecessors, he starts o f f with a strong, upright, and conscientious regim e.21 Given the pattern o f initially capable but soon to become irre­ sponsible rulers C h ’u Jen-huo establishes in Romance o f the Sui and the Tang, there can be little hope fo r betterm ent u n der the new e m ­ peror. T h e novel’s final note 6 f optimism is gratuitous. Each o f these five m en falls prey to sexual license th rough his vown weakness, .not as a result o f any outside intervention (Li Y iian ’s life o f sensuality begins only years after the trick that forces him to rebel). Indeed, in matters o f the bedroom , only stern wives are able to keep any o f these rulers on the path o f responsibility. Significantly, each falls into especially illicit sex, not simple adultery o r fornication, but incest o r~ w o rst yet by Chinese standards— sex with an im perial consort. Most o f these m onarchs are m arried to w om en near their age whose early passing each celebrates with youn ger women; for each, free-\ dom and security in his role invite dereliction o f duty and personal, if not political, destruction. T h is sequence o f befuddled rulers stretches from the novel’s first chapter to its final page— and by implication, beyond. T h e re is no reason to believe that Tai-tsung will be able to avoid the weakness o f his predecessors. N or, by extension, will the M anchu sovereigns o f the author’s own day avoid the cor­ ruption that ruined the M ing. Romance allows no exception to C h ’u Jen-huo’s expose o f the m oral bankruptcy inherent in the im perial institution; responsibility will be supplanted by dereliction o f duty and self-indulgence as soon as the m onarch no longer has to strug­ gle to keep his throne. W hile this vision o f the hum anity o f the ruler is inescapably bleak fo r those living in periods o f misrule, it did hold out the hope that either through a change o f dynasty or o f ruler the business o f the realm m ight ultimately be m anaged well— at least for a b rie f period. B efo re exam ining the specific political relevance o f Romance of the Sui and the Tang, let us return to the reincarnation o f characters with which C h ’u Jen-huo tied beginning to end. Its inspiration is to be foun d in the two fantastic events copied from The Merry Adven­ tures: the divine retribution suffered by Y a n g Su (in Romance, C hap­ ter 20) and T i C h ’ii-hsieh’s jo u rn e y u n derground, d u rin g which the latter witnesses E m peror Y an g’s alter ego, a m onstrous rat, being punished fo r debauchery (Romance, C hap ter 34). A s m entioned al­ ready, this scene takes place as Y an g ’s body lies in a coma; C h ’u

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m odified his source to have Y a n g return to his senses when C hu Kuei-erh sacrifices a portion o f h er flesh fo r him. T h e em peror and the maid vow eternal love. T h e y die together, the em peror strangled with a length o f white cloth moments after his lady is cut dow n by the assassins (Romance, C hapter 47). In C hapter 68 o f Romance o f the Sui and the Tang, after Li Shihmin has ruled fo r many years he falls ill, also to lapse into a coma. H e awakens in the N ether Regions; there he observes a youthful em ­ peror being escorted by a num ber o f ministers. T h is is C h u Kueierh, soon to be reborn in o rd er to fulfill her vow o f fidelity. He learns too that E m peror Y an g will go through the W heel o f T rans­ m igration (an im age borrow ed from Buddhism and conceived liter­ ally in the popular imagination) to serve penance in an animal exis­ tence. Later he will be reborn as a woman nam ed Y ang, a spirit official reports without fu rth er elaboration. (Appropriately, Li Shihmin is credited with no understanding o f this vision).22 M any m ore years later, M ing-huang and his lady Y an g K uei-fei take refu ge from the late sum m er heat in the Palace o f Longevity (Ch'ang-sheng-tien). It is the seventh o f the seventh m onth, the annual celebration o f the reunion between the star spirits, the C ow herd and the W eaving Maid. M oved by the romantic m ood o f the evening, the em peror and his lady vow to be husband and wife through successive genera­ tions. By 755 A n Lu-shan has rebelled; both M ing-huang and Y an g Kuei-fei have nightm are visions o f their earlier selves, he as a woman and she as a man. Y an g K uei-fei awakes as she dreams o f strangulation by a white sash.23 As the court flees the capital, their escort o f troops rebels, forc­ ing Lady Y an g to hang h erself with a sash and thfen killing the rest o f her clique. A n Lu-shan captures the city, loots it, and burns the T ’ang ancestral shrine. B ut as the smoke begins to billow, some gets into his eyes, eventually blinding him .24 Years pass; the lonely em peror M ing-huang commissions a spirit m edium to exp lore the world o f the shades fo r his beloved Y an g Kuei-fei. T h e m edium encounters three immortals who ex­ plain the causal links between characters: originally M ing-huang was the K ’ung-sheng Im mortal in Heaven; fo r having ignored a lecture on spiritual cultivation in o rder to tease B udding Pearl (Jui-chu Kung-jen), a maid in the Palace o f the G reat Ultimate, he had been sentenced to a mortal existence in fem inine form . Like C h u Kuei-

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erh, he had earned enough m erit to escape transmigration, but he had been reborn to fulfill his earthly vow. E m peror Y an g had been a divine rat in H eaven’s C hu ngnan M ountains who was im prisoned in a stone cham ber fo r 1,300 years for stealing an elixir. Its release had come about through the K ’ung-sheng Im m ortal’s pity; this was the beginning o f their jo in ed destinies. T h e rat had been reborn as Y an g to rule thirteen years, an em blem o f its heavenly confinem ent. As furth er punishm ent, it was reborn as the woman Yang, to suffer strangulation a second time. T h e Plum Consort C hiang T s ’ai-p’ing had been B ud ding Pearl; her own lust had been kindled by the Im­ m ortal, and as a consequence she had been reborn twice as neglected wom en— first as Lady H ou, the poetess who never sees E m peror Yang, and second as Y an g K uei-fei’s rejected rival. D ue to h er ex­ ceptional virtue in both lives, she has been restored to her form er position in Heaven. Em press W u was the reincarnation o f Li Mi, the unsuccessful contender fo r the realm at the fall o f the Sui; as the em press he had gained revenge on the royal house that had laid his own hopes to waste. A n Lu-shan and other traitors will su ffer in Hell for an eon, only then to be reborn as animals, the m edium learns.25 C h ’u Jen-huo used the reincarnation device rather m echani­ cally. Presenting his fram e story only on the final pages makes it less effective; no appreciable suspense is generated, since the equation o f the two key couples is divulged lon g b efo re the last chapter. C h ’u ’s contribution lies only in his recognition and elaboration o f the attri­ butes shared by the pairs o f characters that he presents as reincarna­ tions one o f the other. T h e names he fabricates, K ’ung-sheng and B udding Pearl, parallel those whose avatars appear as protagonists in Journey to the West 3.nd other novels. U nconvincing and contrived as they m ay seem to m odern readers, the devices clarify C h ’u Jenh u o’s moralistic purposes. As they do am ong Sui and T ’an g rulers, cycles repeat themselves in this fictional world, but always with due recom pense fo r mortal shortcomings. C h ’u posits no omniscient being as final ju d g e ; C hina’s folk pantheon had none beyond Yen-lo, ruler o f the underw orld (as in The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors), Rather, it is the moral order o f the universe that maintains itself through time to right w rongs and to repay wickedness beyond the grave. N or does this force have individual agents as such; hum an events effect a bal­ ance without specific control through natural alterations o f o p p o­ sites.

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In this reincarnation device C h ’u em bodies morals referred to in a num ber o f his chapter introductions. Retribution is a frequent theme (Chapters 29, 34, 68, 87, 94 ， 100); cyclical alternations in the cosmos govern the fortunes o f m en, he declares on occasion (Chap­ ters 1 ，4, 5, 14, 20, 26, 4 1, 49, 57, 70, 75, 80, 97). Furtherm ore, peo­ ple must conscientiously tend to the duties o f their social roles (Chapters 21, 27, 33, 37, 40, 42, 56, 66, 77, 84, 85, 91). In other words, C h ’u offers wholly conventional advice in his chapter intro­ ductions, although fo r deliberate effect consistent with that o f his structuring o f the narrative.26 T h e didactic w eight o f Romance o f the Sui and the V ang is therefore great. C h ’u Jen-huo clarifies his original intention in his preface to the work: In the past m en considered T zu -ch ih t’u ng-chien (T h e Com prehensive Mirror for A id in Governing) as the great account book (chang-p’u 、o f past and present. It is decidedly that. It follows, then, that having as the greater account books such com prehensive histories, there should also be miscellaneous records as lesser account books. It is for this reason that works o f historical fiction (chih-chuan yen-i) d o serve a useful func­ tion in the w orld.27

C h ’u ’s stance here is identical to that attributed, probably quite accurately, to the storyteller Liu Ching-t’ing in the play Peach Blossom Fan. Like Liu, in Romance C h ’u keeps an “account book” on hum an affairs, evaluating them fo r their m oral weight, recording their ebb and flow in endless repeating cycles. Retribution and recurrence are the key elements in reincarnation as C h ’u Jen-huo presents it. T h e balance preserved throughout the w ork between scenes and charac­ ters em bodies his message: that every decline to chaos, either on the personal or national level, will be followed naturally by a return to virtue and stability. Consciously o r inadvertently, then, Ch*u Jen-huo spoke to his age, absolving the m en o f his class o f guilt in the M ing fall and in the foreign conquest, predicting by implication that the firm hold o f the K ’ang-hsi em peror on the reins o f pow er m ay like­ wise falter through time. B ut with cosmic forces at work in the es­ tablishment and decline o f states, C h ’u ’s readers needed not feel responsible either for the fall o f the M ing o r fo r failing to w ard o f f foreign dom ination. N o r should they hope fo r any perm anent im­ provem ent in the quality o f political institutions, given the moral fiber o f those in power. W hile other novelists sought to involve their readers in the moral, social, and political problems they probe, C h ’u

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Jen-huo’s aim was to distance the reader from these elements o f hum an experience, to provide a broader view o f experience as his­ tory, not m erely as biography. Individuals thus becom e less capable o f effectin g change in the world; instead, they ate m ore the pawns o f change. W hile not encouraging in any narrow sense, this vision must have provided some release fo r literati sham ed by their politi­ cal weakness. It is relevant at this point to return to an episode original to Romance o f the Sui and the Tang based on a legend already a thousand years old by that time. T h is concerns M u-lan, a youn g wom an from C hina’s northern frontier who, disguised as a man, takes the place o f her ailing father when conscripting officers com e to their door. O riginally the tale was simply one o f exem plary behavior, filial re­ spect in the extrem e, rew arded by success in battle and concurrent renown; according to the legend, M u-lan turns dow n h er sovereign’s o ffe r o f wealth and rank in o rder to return to h er parents. C h ’u Jenhuo altered the tale considerably to im bue it with w hat can only be symbolic significance. First, he shifts its setting from the Six Dynas­ ties period, w hen a variety o f nom adic tribes controlled m uch o f N orth China, to the end o f the Sui, a Chinese period. H e gives h er a surnam e, H ua, an alternate form o f an ideograph m eaning “flow er,” or, significantly, “C hina.” 28 L iu W u-chou, a Chinese contender fo r the realm at the fall o f the Sui, allies with the T u rk ic khan to move into C hina proper. A man nam ed H ua, a T u r k with a Chinese wife, is am ong those to be conscripted. H ua has two youn g daughters, M u-lan and Yu-lan, but he is too old to serve in battle and too poor to bribe another to go in his place. M u-lan dons h er fath er’s arm or and rides away, despite her parents’ protests. So scandalized are the neighbors that they berate the elder H ua until he dies o f shame. H er penniless m other can only rem arry. A fte r a series o f adventures, M u-lan returns to locate h er m other and youn ger sister. U pon hear­ ing that she is in fact a woman, the khan summons M u-lan to jo in his harem and sends an escort to bring her: N o t show ing the least bit o f fear, M u-lan finished dressing and then w ent outside to speak to those w ho had com e for her. “T h e orders o f your fierce ruler are nothing that we com m on people w ould dare to dis­ obey. B u t I wish you to take me to m y father’s grave in order that I may bid him farewell. O n ly then will I accom pany you into the palace.” T h e guard agreed; calling W u L ian g to accom pany her m other to the grave,

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she climbed into the carriage. M u-lan bowed four times to the grave m ound, w ept loudly for a time, then stabbed herself and d ied .29

This certainly is not a m ajor scene in the context o f the whole novel, It serves here to introduce the continuation o f a love affair between m en and wom en warriors begun previously in battle, a min­ iature genius-beauty rom ance within the novel apparently m eant to capitalize on the popularity o f works o f that genre 、 C h ’u Jen-huo thus lessened the potential political im pact o f the scene by placing it in an innocuous context. B y itself, the scene dem onstrates graphi­ cally that even a half-Chinese woman would prefer death by her own hand to serving a foreign ruler. Death is not the only possible solu­ tion to her dilemma: the progress o f the narrative toward the culm i­ nation o f the rom ance could have been m anaged by having the girl become a nun, fo r exam ple, o r by m erely having her retire to serve h er parents, as she does in the legend. C h ’u Jen-huo’s choice for her fate is unnecessarily startling; the simplistic rom ance that follows m ust have been intended to disguise this episode as som ething other than anti-Manchu feeling. T h e scene m ay also be read as an intima­ tion o f what Ch*u Jen-huo would have done had he been an adult at the time o f the M ing fall. Chinese rulers may all be, in the final anal­ ysis, fools or worse, but surely there is no praise at all fo r nonChinese leaders in Romance o f the Sui and the Tang. It is worthy o f note that in m aking the borrow ed character W ang I yet m ore m orally positive, C h ’u Jen-huo rem oved from this character the stigma o f being a eunuch. In The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang W ang I is a pathetic figure in terms o f hi 彡 affection for the em peror, but in political terms he has been derelict in his chosen duty to advise E m peror Y an g conscientiously. Irreffect, W ang I had been as 5^/^-serving as were his historical counterparts at the M ing W an-ll court. T h erefo re, C h ’u Jen-huo’s o fferin g no eunuch charac­ ter that is positive in any way may very well be yet another veiled p o­ litical comment. Anti-M anchu sentiments are anything but com m on in C h ’u Jenhuo’s writings; nor was he an active M ing loyalist. H owever, there is other evidence indicating that he secretly held M ing sentiments. C h ’u was a native o f C h ’angchoiTin the Soochow district o f the lower Yangtze valley, a center o f loyalist sentiment. His recent ancestors had been o f the educated elite, trained u nder the Ming; the local

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history lists published works by several o f them .30 C h ’u C h ’eng-tz’u ， his great uncle, earned the chu-jen degree in 16 12 .31 Furtherm ore, C h ’u C hu an (1607-1700), his uncle, was recognized by the K ’ang-hsi em ­ peror on his im perial progress to the Y an gtze valley in 1699, one o f several excursions specifically designed to am eliorate rem aining anti-M anchu feelings am ong *the literati there.32 C ould this mean that the fam ily had some reputation fo r passive resistance even then, fifty years after the M ing fell? C h ’u Jen-huo was the second son o f C h ’u Chi, who in 1636 purchased the lowest d egree.33 Ch*u Jen -h u a probably purchased or earned a low er degree, although he never served in any official capacity; nor did he earn any higher degree under the M anchus.34 T h is may have been due to political choice or m ere lack o f talent (although the latter seems unlikely, given the range o f his reading and his writings), but it is clear that the pen names C h ’u Jen-huo adopted for him self have political significance. T h e nam e Chia-hsiian duplicates that o f Hsin C h ’i-chi (1140 -120 7), the patriot poet who served as a general in the Sung wars against the invading Tartars. C h ’u ’s other pen nam e, Hsiieh-chia, presumably means ‘‘L earn from [Hsin] Chia-[hsuan]’’一 hardly an innocuous ap­ pellation in a country only newly conquered by the descendants o f those same T a rta rs!35 B ut most o f C h ’u ’s writings are frivolous, or at least not point­ edly political. His scholarly works include Ting-chia Kao (Researches on Bronzes and O racle Bones) and Tu-shih sui-pi (Random Reading Notes on the Histories), both o f which are now lost. T h e y were never printed, w ere deem ed unw orthy o f preservation, or were deliber­ ately suppressed; there is no evidence to indicate what happened to them. His extant works include Hsii Hsieh p*u (A Continuation o f T h e C rab Collection), a sequel to the Sung com pilation o f inform ation and literary pieces concerning crabs by Fu K ung. C h ’u created a ri­ diculous com m entary on a “crab hexagram ,” a parody o f Changes, to introduce the w ork.36 His volum inous collection Chien-hu chi (Hard Gourds, 16 9 1-170 3 ) compiles am using reminiscences and b rief an­ ecdotes concerning monks and priests, spirit m ediums, prostitutes and entertainers, animals, and writers. Most contain at least one poem , song, or piece o f doggerel. M any o f these entries were copied from a vast num ber o f earlier and contem porary works; the range o f the m an’s reading is startling.37 T h e collection was printed by the

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Ssu_hsiieh-ts，ao-t’an g ， the1 Four Snows Cottage, in Soochow. T h is is C h ’u ’s own studio name; it refers to fo u r poems, one each by Li Po (701—762)，Su Shih (10 3 7 -110 1), Yiian C h en (779-831),- and Y an g W an-li (1x27-12 0 6 ), that com pare a flow er to snow. C h ’u grew all fo u r varieties in his garden .38 In addition to his collected writings, his publishing house printed Romance of the Sui and the T ’ang and another novel, Feng-shen yen-i (Investiture o f the Gods), in the same year, 1695. T h e latter two w ere exquisitely printed and m ust have been very expensive; both have been the standard editions ever since. A lth ou gh he did travel north in 16 7 2 -16 73 , apparently C h ’u Jen-huo spent most o f his life in Soochow.39 It was there that he met num erous well-known literati o f his day, including the poets Sun Chih-m i (1642-170 9) and H sii K ’o (1627—1700, the son o f a m artyr for the M ing cause), the H anlin Academ ician C h an g C h ’ao, the nov­ elist Yiian Yii-ling, the dramatist H u n g Sheng (1646-170 4), the historian-critic Y u T ’u n g ，and the fiction critic Mao Tsung-kang. T o ju d g e from the references to him self to be foun d in Hard Gourds， C h ’u Jen-huo spent a great deal o f time with such m en, drinking, exchanging anecdotes, and m aking quips in verse.40 His contem po­ raries praised his keen m ind and broad, learning. R eferences to the man after 1691 describe him as old and im poverished;41 his publish­ ing venture may not have been a financial success. T h ere are no re f­ erences to his offspring; i f he had any, they must have slipped into obscurity as the fam ily declined. B ut although several o f the late M ing novels discussed here virtually disappeared, Romance o f the Sui and the T ’ang has m aintained its popularity to the present. This is despite its linguistic choppiness, a product 6 f 1台ss than totally consci­ entious editing, which makes Romance far inferior in style to the others. His was the vision that appealed to Chinese readers o f the C h ’ing. It was a rather simplistic although com forting one o f a moral universe in which all wrongs ultimately becam e righted— i f only tem ­ porarily. Ih the Words o f his friend M ao Tsung-kang, “Em pires wax and wane; states cleave asunder and coalesce， ” 42 in endlessly repeat­ in g cycles well beyond m an’s p o w e r~ a n d responsibility— to control. Its political relevance deliberately obscured, Romance of the Sui and the Tang could be read fo r its m arvels，its rom ance, its intrigues, its adventures, and its confirm ation o f ideals and values shared by reader and novelist alike.

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Structural Concerns in Maturing Criticism o f the Novel Several am ong C h ’u Jen-huo’s circle o f friends com piled an­ thologies. Sun Chih-m i collected K orean poetry by im perial com ­ m and; C h an g C h ’ao edited, with the assistance o f C h an g C hu -p ’o, the inform al writings o f his contem poraries to form Chao-tai ts’ung-shu (Collected W ritings from T h is Illustrious A ge) and com piled a num ­ ber o f fictitious and inform al biographies to form his Yii Ch'u hsin-chih (Yii C h ’u ’s N ew Records), with random com m ents by Y iian Y ii-ling and others. C h ’u Jen-huo’s Hard Gourds, then, was a fashionable u n ­ dertaking; his Romance o f the Sui and the Tang, a virtual anthology o f earlier fiction concerning the Sui and the T ’ang, becomes less sur­ prising for its debt to earlier writers w hen viewed in this context. Originality was not the fetish it is in the W est today; a w riter’s con­ tribution was recognized and appreciated even i f it was only the skill­ ful adaptation o f earlier materials. In a nostalgicunood，C h an g C h ’ao com m ented: "It is m ore profitable to review old lessons than to read new books; similarly, it is better to repair an old tem ple than to build a new shrine.” 43 Preserving the past, preserving the works o f others, even contem poraries, fits well with the greater conservatism in m oral matters early in the C h ’ing. It is not in its catholicity o f contents but in its conscious struc­ ture that Romance o f the Sui and the T ’ang accom m odated itself m ore to current fashions in literary criticism. G iven C h ’u ’s friendship with Mao T su n g-kan g and probably with C h an g C hu -p ’o as well (through the latter’s uncle C h an g C h ’ao)，the two outstanding critics o f the early C h ’ing, it is not surprising that they shared views on structure in fiction. B efo re the seventeenth century, criticism o f vernacular fiction had been a haphazard affair, consisting o f short prefaces and b rief comments that praised o r condem ned a w ork in general terms. Li C hih (1527-160 2) and Y iian H ung-tao (1568-1610)* were am ong the first to view novels as serious literature, followed by C h ’en Chi-ju (1558 -16 39 , assuming that he w rote the prefaces attributed to him) and finally C hin Sheng-t’an. Som ething o f an eccentric in behavior fo r his time, C hin was the first to provide long, truly critical in­ troductions fo r novels; he also originated interlinear com m entary fo r his edition o f Water Margin in imitation o f that fo r the classics

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and conventional w riting in poetry and prose. C hin Sheng-t’an’s work both acknowledged and encouraged the new position o f the novel as a vehicle fo r serious political, social, and philsophical com­ m entary addressed specifically to C hina’s educated and leisured elite. T h e later seventeenth-century critics Mao T su ng-kang and C hang C h u -p ’o were heavily indebted to him for the standard he set in critical analysis. Chin Sheng-t’an adhered to an expressive theory o f writing. In his view, creativity comes only as a product o f sincerity; it is the spontaneous expression o f the self. This is not to deny the responsi­ bility o f a Confucian to play the sage, however: In writing poetry, one must express what is felt sincerely in the heart and what is felt in com m on with others in the heart. It is because poetry expresses w hat is felt sincerely in the heart that tears can fall in re­ sponse to o n e’s brushstrokes; and it is because it expresses what is felt in com m on with others in the heart that it can make on e’s readers shed tears in response to on e’s utterance.44

C hin ’s topic here is verse, o f course, but these views are hardly foreign to his approach to fiction— or to that o f novelists o f his gen­ eration, as has been dem onstrated above. Y et the bulk o f Chin Sheng-t’an’s analyses, both o f verse and o f fiction and dram a, has to do with, technique, with the style and structure o f writing. Chin Sheng-t’an’s criticism is practical criticism, tied to specific chosen texts for the most part. In general he was convinced that writing topk large amounts o f time, fo r planning as well as for execution. T h e writer must work to exhaustion. T o him, a Igenius” is one whose w ork is so polished that it appears spontaneous and effortless. Likewise, all things occur naturally in patterns (fa) due to the causal relationships in the world. A man having two sons will find them both similar to him and to their m other but not necessarily identical to each other. This is his simple dem onstration o f the inherent struc­ turing principles in all things and events: ideographs have their proper patterns, as do lines, chapters, volumes. O n ly when a writer establishes these patterns d e a rly is his work w orthy o f preservation for the ages.45 C hin Sheng-t’an’s emphasis on tight construction in creative w riting is most likely a product o f the civil service exam ination sys­ tem. T h a t is, the prescribed exam ination essays, in addition to being restricted to precisely eight sections, w ere severely limited in overall

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length to around five hundred words. Essays thus had to be ex­ trem ely tightly knit, with nothing superfluous. Literati writers— ^nd readers as well— learned to pay great attention to stylistic details as a consequence; it is no w onder that critics o f the novel would apply there what they learned in m ore orth odox writing. W riting in gen­ eral was taken to be a craft; a novelist must be a fine craftsman i f his w ork is to be worth reading.46 C h in Sheng-t’an outlined a num ber o f narrative techniques exem plified by Water Margin (particularly after his own emendations), mostly o f a structural nature. T h e y include prestatem ent, inserted speech, recurrent images with variations, ironic contrast or emphasis through juxtaposition o f elements hav­ ing opposite value, the use o f coincidence, and the creation o f sus­ pense through discontinuous narration. In his interlinear com m en­ tary C hin repeatedly draws attention to these and similar techniques to point out, by his appreciation o f the smallest detail, ju st how p re­ cisely the novelist constructed his work. Chin Sheng-t’an’s critical approach is best dem onstrated by a specific exam p le: In C hapter 22 o f Water Margin, the hero W u Sung is on his way to visit his brother when he passes through a town renow ned for the potency o f its wine. W u Sung samples it all too lib­ erally, then leaves to cross C hing-yang Ridge, hom e o f a notorious m an-eating tiger. T h e innkeeper’s w arning leaves him unruffled, as does the first written proclam ation o f danger he sees. T h e second makes him consider returning to the inn— a sign o f weakness, Chin comments, intended to clarify the h ero’s real valor. As W u Sung proceeds, the wine goes to his head and he takes his hat off. His flush is in pointed contrast to the winter’s cold, Chin Sheng-t’an notes (the im age o f an overheated m an in a cold setting is twice m ore pointed out here). T ire d and groggy, W u Sung lies down on a rock to sleep, only to have the tiger charge at ju st this moment. W u is terrified— again, to point up his bravery, Chin notes. W u swings his club at the tiger— the weapon having been m entioned fifteen times already in this scene to increase suspense, C hin observes— only to have it break in two as it hits an overhead branch on the dow n­ swing. W u has no choice but to kill the beast with his bare hands; with the cat finally subdued, h e finds him self lim p and utterly powerless— again, pointed contrasts that clarify his strength and courage in fighting the tiger. In the com m entary C hin repeatedly draws attention to the careful structuring o f the scene, its juxtap osi­

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tion o f opposites, and suspense. T h ese contrasts create an effect akin to realism. W u Sung is no simple superhero capable o f m eeting any challenge. His stubbornness and vanity bring him to this place, while pure self-preservation drives him to destroy the tiger. T h is “weakness” significantly reduces the ironic distance between reader and character; as C hin quite correctly observes, it makes the scene both m oving and entertaining.47 C hin ’s com m entary on the play cycle The Western Chamber pays greater attention to larger structure, particu­ larly the balance maintained between scenes o f entrance and exit, o f union and separation, o f anticipation and disappointm ent.48 Mao T su ng-kang applied C hin ’s critical approaches to C hina’s best-known historical novel, San-kuo chih yen-i (Romance o f the T h re e Kingdom s, attributed to L o Kuan-chung, C.1330-C.1400). Three Kingdoms narrates events o f the period from the fall o f the Han, starting around a.d. 200, to the establishment o f the C hin late in the third century. A ttention is focused on the various groups struggling for control o f the em pire, as pow er first slips from the feckless Han rulers, through decades o f civil war and shifting alliances between three m ain contenders. T h e novel is firm ly based on the official his­ tory o f that period and the volum inous annotations, culled from a vast range o f inform al writings, which flesh out its spare narrative. M ing literati had praised Three Kingdoms fo r its historical accuracy; Mao was the first to analyze the w ork as literature. Mao T su ng-kang was youn ger than C h ’u Jen-huo, to, ju d g e from his preface to C h ’u ’s Hard Gourds; he must have been born be­ tween 1630 and 1635. A preface dated 1644 and attributed to C hin Sheng-t’an appeared in M ao’s edition o f Three Kingdoms, but surely this is at least to some d egree a forgery: the date is given by the C h ’in g reign title Shun-chih at a time when the Soochow area, where these men must have been (since M ao was a C h ’angchou native), w^s still u nder nominal M ing control. T h is identification can only in­ dicate backdating by w hoever w rote it some time after the M anchu conquest was com plete, M ao was in his teens d u rin g the period o f transition; he was in his twenties o r slightly older w hen he w rote his com m entary and edited the text in the 1650s or 1660s. His father Mao Lun took part in this work and perhaps even in w riting the preface. T h is spurious Three Kingdoms preface notes the total agree­ m ent o f “m aster M ao” and C hin Sheng-t’an in their views on fiction;

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this indeed seems the case, regardless o f whose com m ent it really is.49 In his introductory essay to the novel, “T u San-kuo chih fa” (How to Read The Three Kingdoms) t Mao T su n g-kan g specifies a num ber o f narrative techniques w orthy q f note; significantly, they can be iden­ tified in Romance o f the Sui and the T ’ang structure and in C hin Shengt’an’s Water Margin com m entary as well. T h e y include significant variations on similar or repeated character types and situations, de­ liberate discontinuities o f plot, and the juxtaposition o f scenes con­ trasting in dom inant character type, tenor, and the like. Mao also praises the w o rk fo r its overall design, for the devices th at tie beginning and end together effectively, enclosing a cycle o f disunity in the em pire by starting and end in g with descriptions o f a unified state.50 B u t in his m ore specific, practical criticism, Mao Tsung-kang falls short o f his m odel. T h a t is, M ao m ore often records his per­ sonal reflections and m oral pronouncem ents in his interlinear com ­ m entary than any analysis o f the stylistic o r structural features o f the work (although this tendency is m ore pronounced in the earlier chapters o f Three Kingdoms). In this M ao approaches C h ’u Jen-huo’s insistence on identifying the moral w eight o f each chapter.51 C h an g C hu-p’o was the first to write a detailed critique o f a novel, apparently as a sublimination o f his desire to write a novel o f his own: W hy have I written a com m entary on the C h in P ’in g M e i? I was im pressed by the way in which the thousand stitches an d ten thousand threads that m ake u p the hu ndred chapters o f this vast w ork are consti­ tuted from a single strand, and yet despite a thousand twists and ten thousand turns not a single thread is exposed to view. A s I sat in soli­ tude by m y lonely window, reading the histories and standard authors, I occasionally took the time to glance at it and said to myself, “I f someone does not d ivulge the golden needle b y means o f which such a superb w ork o f literature was w rought, will people not fail to do justice to the infinite pains exp en d ed by the author.” Some time passed d u rin g which I was afraid to undertake the task, not d aring to take u p m y pen in haste. . . . M ore recently, oppressed by poverty an d grief, and goaded by “heat and cold,” w hen time lay heavily on m y hands, I came to regret that I had not m yself com posed a book about the way o f the world in order to relieve m y depression. Several times I was on the point o f setting pen to paper but was deterred by the am ount o f planning which the overall structure required. A n d so I laid

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aside m y pen and said to myself, “W hy d on ’t I carefully work out the means by which this predecessor o f mine constructed his book on ‘heat and cold’ ？ In the first place this task will relieve m y depression; and in the second place, m y elucidation o f the work o f m y predecessor can count as an equivalent for m y own planning o f a book in the present. A lth o u gh I may not have created anything o f m y own, will I .not be required to do as m uch in order to ascertain the means by which this book was created in the past?” T h u s I have created a C h in P ’in g M ei for myself. H ow could I spare the time to write a com m entary on the C h in P， in g M ei for anyone else?52

T h e term C hang uses here for “ planning” o r “m anagem ent,” chingying, in m odern usage denoting the m anagem ent o f business transac­ tions, refers to the accumulation or creation, selection, and struc­ tural arrangem ent o f materials. His “w orking out” or “com puting,” suan, reveals an approach akin to C h ’u Jen-huo’s “account book,” a term C h an g also uses. Such “shopkeeping” refers to the mechanical process o f balancing a narrative in terms o f m eaning. T o an even greater extent than C hin Sheng-t’an and Mao Tsung-kang, C hang C hu-p’o ’s attention is focused on elements o f structure on a variety o f levels. C h an g C hu -po’s approach to the Chin P ’ing Mei, a long late six­ teenth-century novel narrating events in and about the household o f the wealthy young m erchant nam ed Hsi-men C h ’in g，an incurable rake, was also one o f practical criticism. Hsi-men accumulates six wives and num erous lovers as his wealth and rank in society in­ crease. V irtually all his dealings are o f the shady sort. The Prayer Mat of Flesh may have parodied its h ero’s sexual conquest^, but that satire has no genuine analogue fo r the greed exem plified by so many char­ acters here. T h e central fem ale character is P’an Chin-lien，an ut­ terly self-centered woman w ho works constantly to im prove h er posi­ tion in the household by winning ever m ore o f her husband’s affection and sexual attention. T h e work was condem ned du rin g the M ing and、 the C h ’ing; its num erous rather graphic descriptions o f sexual encounters were m ethodically exp un ged from m odern edi­ tions. But, as C hang C hu-p’o so clearly stated，to read Chin P ’ing Mei as pornography is tantam ount to a total m isunderstanding o f its m eaning. T h e work is an expose o f the m oral decadence o f the late Ming, its message m ade abundantly clear by its internal structure.53 T o explain why his d iffered from Chin Sheng-t’an’s criticism o f

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Water Margin, C h an g C hu-p’o introduces his com m entary with this statement: T h e bulk o f C hin S hen g-t’an’s com m entary on W ater M a rg in consists .of short subjective comments. A fte r several tens o f chapters o f m y com ­ m entary had been p u b lish e d ,气 om eone m entioned this to me. I laughed and said, “T h e W ater M a rg in is a successful com position in which the large structure is com pletely explicit. Each o f the one hundred and eight characters has his own biography, and although these are in­ terwoven, their sequence is perfectly clear. T h erefo re, C hin Shen g-t’an m erely com m ented on individual words and phrases. In the C h in P ’i n g r M ei, on the other hand, the fine points o f the large structure are con­ cealed amid a welter o f details. I f one were to confine oneself to analyz­ in g the subtleties o f individual words and phrases, one w ould lose sight o f the fine points o f the larger structure.M54

Indeed, while structural balance was o f interest to Chin some d e­ cades earlier, it becomes a consum ing passion late in the seventeenth century. C h an g exam ines every m eaningful level o f structure in Chin P ’ing Mei, and some that are not. H e starts with the typical chapter structure. Each chapter is divided into two episodes hinted at by h alf o f the couplet that serves as chapter title.55 T h is was the conven­ tional form at from the late M ing onw ard; the anonym ous author o f this novel did not necessarily originate it. C hang notices too the division o f the novel in half, the first part containing predom inantly “cold” images, the second “hot.” T h is is fo r the sake o f contrast, he explains: Hsi-men C h ’ing is “hot” in his quest for sensual pleasure in the first half, but he is becom ing exhausted in the second part.56 Characters often appear in contrasting pairs, each revealing the other thereby (F an Chin-lien and M eng Yii-lou, for example); some contrast ironically through the om niscient stance accorded the reader.57 O pposites interpenetrate each other, in scene and in characterization.58 T h e novel begins and ends in a temple, having com e a full circle from start to finish.59 Retribution serves the same function, to maintain a m oral balance from beginning to end; Hsi-men’s son is born at the h our o f his death and becomes a m onk in order to atone fo r his father’s profligacy.60 A lth ou gh C h an g C hu-p’o pursues his analysis as far as the sig­ nificance o f word choice— despite his disclaimers (the narration o f F a n Chin-lien’s winter spent as a virtuous wife is punctuated frequently by the w ord “shutter,” which separates her from the out­

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side world symbolically and literally; ironically her dow nfall begins as she accidentally drops it on Hsi-men C h ’ing’s head)— his emphasis is on moral teaching, particularly that balance will be maintained as sinners pay o f f their “debts” either in this world or the next.61 As C hang comments, ■the author brings his w ork to a conclusion with Hsiao-ko [Hsi-men C h ’ing’s son and reincarnation] which sig­ nifies the fact that filiality has the pow er to transform all evils. , • , T h e Chin P ’ing Mei is a book which is intended to correct people’s faults. . . .” 62 T h e question o f balance in Romance o f the Sui and the Tang seems closely related to contem porary events, particularly the alternations o f political strengtK and weakness in C hina’s central governm ent. C h ’u Jen-huo must have witnessed the change o f dynasty as a youth; w hether one agrees on its effect in his fiction, it is indisputable that such climactic events miist have affected him and his thinking. Thus, w hether consciously or inadvertently, C h ’u reveals his b elief in the instability o f stability, in the inevitability o f recom pense. His w ork is directed toward heads o f state; personal m orality is not as relevant to him as it was to late M ing writers. C h an g C hu-p ，o ，on the other hand, probably had little m em ory o f the change o f reign. H e wrote at about the same time as C h ’u ，around 1675. B ut while C h ’u was in his forties by that time, C h an g wrote his com m entary at the age o f twenty-six.63 T h is means that C hang, a native o f Anhw ei, probably was born after the M anchu conquest, although surely the M anchu wars against K oxinga and the T h re e Feudatories rebellion occurred well within his memory. Y et C h an g’s w ork is criticism, not fiction; it embodies what C hang— and his readers— felt to be universal truths o f overpow ering significance, not political com m entary specifically conceived. C h an g C hu -p ’o was analyzing a text from an earlier cen­ tury, from a time when m orality am ong the elite was “declining” by Confucian standards; apparently he foun d little to disagree with in this. Beyond''its m oral message, the m eaning C h an g C hu -p ’o read into Chin P ’ing Mei through the structure he foun d there m ay have little direct connection with its author’s deliberate intentions. It does, however, speak to the early C h ’ing. T u n g Y iieh ’s field o f vision en­ compassed heaven and earth through the m ind o f an individual character; C h an g C hu -p ’o found contem porary truth in an older w ork o f fiction. M onkey becomes confused when he discovers his

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world awry; C h an g C hu-p’o, Mao T sung-kang, and their contem po­ raries sought o rd er and balance in their w orld, reflected in literary works, even i f their interpretations do sound a bit forced. T h e fic­ tion o f the late M ing traced political and social decline; that o f early C h ’ii>g was made to show predictability through the em bodim ent o f traditional m oral principles. T o writers in the late seventeenth cen­ tury, m oral am biguity and psychological analysis w ere o f far less consequence than o rd er in society. C learly defined "structure in liter­ ature was sought as an affirm ation o f the age-old Confucian need fo r d ea rly defined socia} structure. B y tradition society’s leaders, lit­ erati trained in the C onfucian classics w ho h^d w eathered political cataclysm and m oral chaos could only attem pt to bring order back into their world— and thereby ensure the stability o f their ow n posi­ tion in it. D eprived o f political means to effect this change, they turned to the vernacular literary novel to propagate their social and political concerns.

Reincarnation and retribution are revealed to a spirit medium in trance. The Romance of the Sui and the T’ang, Edition A, illustration dated 1684.

暮

Literary Innovation and the Legacy o f Seventeenth-C entury Novels If you read the Chin P ’ing Mei as a description o f actual events, you will be deceived by it. You must read it as a work of literature in order not to be deceived by it. If you read the Chin P ’ing Mei as a work o f literature by the author, you will be deceived by it. You must read it as though it were a work of your own in order not to be deceived by it. Though you should certainly, read it as though it were a work o f your own, it is even better to read it as a work that is still in its early planning stages. Only if you start out with the as­ sumption that you will have to work out every detail for yourself in order to avoid being deceived will you avoid being deceived. Chang Chu-p’o, c.16751

Social Displacement and the Novelistic Tradition In the last years o f the M ing period C hin Sheng-t’an had set out to teach others how to read a novel through his painstaking exegesis o f Water Margin. C h an g Chup’o’s analysis is the finest early C h ’ing application o f his approaches and certainly one o f the highest accomplishments in Chinese criti­ cism o f fiction before the twentieth century. C h an g in his triticism, like Chin, insists on reading creatively, on individual interpretation. T h is is not surprising, given the educational system o f the time, with its emphasis on close reading o f texts, the growth o f philosophical exam ination o f the self, and the moral questioning as social distinc­ tions and regulations came to be ignored. C au gh t in the flow o f po­ litical and econom ic change, m embers o f the scholar-gentry found themselves cut adrift, searching fo r new identity. C hin Sheng-t’an used the revised Water Margin and his extensive comm entaries to express his own political and social concerns 沒s forthrightly as som e­

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one w riting du rin g th e.T 'an g would have done in shih poetry. Enter­ tainment the w ork m ight still be, but C h in ’s intention toward Water Margin was to teach with it, to com m ent on his age, to warn against the perils o f brigandage— and against its cause, the socially irrespon­ sible greed o f administrators^ T h e anonymotis author o f The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang similarly used the novel as a vehicle for self-expression, to equate the im perial institution in his own time with that o f a period widely acknow ledged as a low point in kingly responsibility. W hen xhose who were supposed, according to C onfucian teach­ ings, to behave as models for society disregard their obligations to lead and nourish and instead indulge themselves in sensual plea­ sures, then social disharm ony, disorder, widespread suffering, and civil war w ere the logical outcom e. In both novels their literati au­ thors retreated a step from their age to endorse traditional concep­ tions o f responsibility through social role and, implicitly, o f self de­ fined by social function. Both C hin Sheng-t’an and his (presumably) slightly older contem porary thus were m oved to write by political and social concerns— like countless other Chinese writers before them. T h e ir heritage would inevitably include T u Fu (712 -770 ), one o f C hina’s greatest poets and one comm itted to social and political com m entary in carefully w rought verse. W riting in this vein, albeit in an unconventional form at in the novel, these literati firm ly es­ tablished identities fo r themselves both as innovators and as inheri­ tors o f what was generally considered the finest C onfucian tradition, stern moral conservatism. Y iian Y ii-ling used fiction to voice a somewhat d ifferen t con­ cern, but in similar fashion and to a similar end: T h ro u g h his char­ acter C h ’in Shu-pao he exam ines various role m odels presented to this young man o f martial bent. Y iian’s background was not that o f his hero; as a consequence, probably, C h ’in Shu-pao is held at a sub­ stantial ironic distance from the narrator in the latter’s、function as the au th o rs persona. Forgotten Tales o f the Sui thus is less impas­ sioned than The Merry Adventures and Water Margin. B ut only in parts, because, as has been dem onstrated earlier, Y iian Y ii-ling bit­ terly condem ned the excesses o f his own class, the leisured and pam ­ pered youths o f wealthy families. A seduction can be hum orous and mildly erotic fo r the reader (for exam ple, the scholar’s abduction in C hapter 81 o f Romance o f the Sui and the T ’ang); Y iia n ’s scene is b ru ­

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tal ， frightening, and grotesque. His attem pt to lighten its tenor through an editorial aside is ineffective and distracting; Y iian nar­ rates C h ’in Shu-pao’s punishm ent o f the rapist with too m uch speed and vigor to be anything but sincere. T h is act Was an outrage d e­ m anding imm ediate retribution in his eyes. A fte r all, the logic o f pure fabulation dem ands thatJthe novelist could have presented the scene quite differently had he chosen to do so. T h e yet imm ature C h ’in Shu-pao could have failed in his attem pt,on the villain’s life, ju st as he fails subsequently to capture the silver thieves. Th ose who clearly stated their personal feelings in novel form at were idealistic m en whose illusions about the smooth functioning o f society had been dashed, whose hopes o f restoring a C onfucian uto­ pia w ere soaring, who w ere angry over the irresponsibility and moral depravity o f society’s supposed leaders. T h e y w ere also am ong seventeenth-century C hina’s finest novelists. Interestingly, both C hin Sheng-t’an and Y iian Y ii-ling w ere you n g w hen they com pleted their riovels, forty years o f age o r less. T u n g Y iieh was even younger. Not content with simple slaughter o f his personal enemies-cum-fictional villains, T u n g Y iieh has the traitor C h ’in K uei tortured, crushed, ripped apart, and m utilated in a bloody scene o f orgiastic revenge. T h e hum or o f The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors softens the effect o f this carnage somewhat; and the bulk o f this short novel is directed to­ w ard psychological and spiritual，instead o f political, concerns. T h ese facts do not obviate his seriousness in writing, however, nor his deliberate use o f the novel to express his perspnal concern with public matters. T o speak eartiesily in a novel constituted a form o f self-expression fo r seventeenth-century writers; appropriately, what they said was conceived at least in part as being on b eh alf o f society as a whole, in fulfillm ent o f Confucian" duty from a conservative ideological stance. B ut o f these three known authors, only one, Chin Sheng-t’an ， took action to correct abuses by an ineffectual public dem onstration that brough t m erely personal disaster. Y iian Y ii-ling espoused loyal service to the best am ong the contenders fo r power, or at least his hero C h ’in Shu-pao was finally successful in a quest o f this sort, only to serve the M anchus him self a decade later. Y iian seems to have been in Peking at the right time: he could have chosen to support th e M ing o r to jo in the rebel forces led by Li T zu -ch ’eng. Fortu­ nately fo r him, he chose wisely, although his record o f public service

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indicates^ that he soon lost interest, or perhaps repented his choice. T u n g Y iieh had strong loyalist feelings; despite his role in calm ing disorder at a religious center, he otherwise avoided active partici­ pation in righting.the w rongs o f his age. Th ese writers had been innovators, pushing the novel forw ard into new realms o f expression and significance, and yet they were unwilling to rest squarely on the traditional values o f their social class. At. one time or another, each w ithdrew because “the W ay did not prevail” iii the Confucian sense. Certainly none was a rebel against received values to any real degree, although all w ould have considered themselves political and social reform ers, like most members o f the Revival Society. T h e same could probably be said fo r Li Y ii, C h ’u Jen-huo, and the critics C h an g C hu -p ’o and Mao Tsung-kang. AH started along the tim e-honored road to social and econom ic success through the exam ination system; all were men o f considerable talent and learning. C h ’u Jen-huo, Li Y ii, and C hang C hu-p’o apparently died in relative poverty and obscurity. T o o little is known o f Mao Tsung-kang to determ ine what happened to him. However, had he been successful in any conventional m anner, this fact would have been recorded. O ne can only assume, then, that each in his way was som ething o f an outcast from his class, by his own deliberate choice left out o f the great happenings o f their age. Li Y ii as satirist in The Prayer Mat o f Flesh was a cynic, debunking traditional wisdom, out o f harm ony with the nominal values o f his age, laughing from the perspective o f an outsider, although in his personal life his mirth must have been tinged with bifterness as his fortunes declined. (T h ere is, after all, reason to interpret Li Y ii as being utterly disillusioned with his times, a man Whose energies went instead to creating a private world o f personal esthetics and deepest emotional attachments to his leading ladies, to his gardens, and to his w ritings.)2 W hat o f the critics Mao and Chang? Presumably both chose novels to annotate on the basis o f esthetic criteria; both dem ­ onstrate th'e-artistic quality o f their chosen texts. B ut in an era when artistic criteria had an acknowledged political and social aspect— the Confucian responsibility to serve as exem plar by w ord i f not by deed— one ou gh t not to view their critical analyses as exercises in po­ litical escapism. Indeed, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, to which Mao T sung-kang devoted his attention, reveals a China w racked by civil war that culminates in unity accom plished by unscrupulous rulers;

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Chin P ’ing Mei condem ns the privileged classes for their moral and em otional bankruptcy. Detached em otionally fo r the most part, C h ’u Jen-huo m odified villains from earlier fiction to make them m ore hum ane in his Romance, his attention fixed philosphically on the ebb and flow o f events through the centuries. Y et even he was unable to portray a worthy ruler, or at least one who remains so through time. C h ’u ’s view o f hum an history was pessimistic at best, rarely broken by bright spots o f borrow ed hum or、A n d what is the tiny tragedy o f the lady w arrior Mu-lan, if not his condem nation o f service to bar­ barian ru lers~ ech o in g the torture scene in T u n g ’s Tower? O ne can only conclude that those seventeenth-century novelists whose works are exam ined here viewed the novel as a serious exer­ cise in writing, one requiring careful planning and deliberateness in execution, a vehicle w orthy o f the most profou nd political, .social, and psychological insights. Each presents here a penetrating vision o f his age and his social class; together, their works constitute some o f the finest achievem ents o f seventeenth-century Chinese fiction. Not that these novelists w ere w riting in a literary vacuum ; the origi­ nal effect o f Chin P ’ing Mei, published late in the sixteenth century, must have been patently clear to those readers able to see the work as m ore than simple pornography. In the edition annotated by C h an g C hu-p’o, the novel begins with a chapter-long hom ily on the deleterious consequences o f a life devoted to sex, money, and wine. It was m eant as pointed social criticism, m ade relevant through its vast amounts o f com pellingly realistic detail; likewise, its references to the blatant favoritism and personal accom modations am ong o f­ ficials at all levels leave little doubt about the anonym ous novelist’s opinion o f the political system o f his time. A lth ough this work easily can be read as a blanket condem na­ tion o f a system or o f a social stratum or o f unscrupulousness in gen ­ eral, the seventeenth-century novels discussed here are rather m ore specific in their objects o f attack. T h e ir censure is m ade mor^ urgent as a consequence. T h e longer, older versions o f Water Margin con­ dem n excesses by individual m embers o f the ruling class, o f course, but they also reveal the em peror as the powerless dupe o f self-seek­ ing ministers. C hin Sheng-t’an’s truncated version focuses on the ministers, stressing his conviction that chaos is generated from above, while protecting the institution o f em peror in an approp ri­ ately conservative m anner, by condem ning all rebellion against the

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throne. Earlier M ing historical novels tend only to embellish the bare outlines provided by the official histories, either those recording the events o f a single dynasty or the m ore general Comprehensive Mirror fo r Aid in Governing. Readers could and, to ju d g e from contem porary references, did form their opinions abut C hina’s past from such works. A lth ou gh parallels and models could always be found, none was interpreted as speaking specifically to one’s own age. Until the seventeenth century, as far as written records reveal, people read novels fo r w hat they said, not fo r what they meant. Sui Tan g liangch’ao chih-chuan (Chronicles o f the T w o Courts, Sui and T:ang), from about 1550, is a case in point; its pages are crow ded with tum ultuous battles，civil wars between contenders at the Sui fall, and T ’ang’s foreign wars. It lacks any overarching concern either with the forces o f history o r with specific questions; it is an adventure novel quite lacking in m oral seriousness. Investiture o f the Gods， from around the same period, narrates successive contests using m agic between ever m ore fantastic figures. Journey to the West, too, was read fo r its fan­ tasy, its hum or, and its adventure; see, fo r exam ple, the rationales two o f these novelists gave fo r reading them. First, C h ’u Jen-huo’s preface to Investiture from his 1695 edition o f that work: This book is a “great swindle” [to the extent that it draws no clear dis­ tinction between fact and fantasy] in precisely the same manner as are W ater M a rg in , Q u e llin g the D em ons' R evolt, and the Lost History. But it will serve to while away long summer days and to dispel the demons of sleep. Despite its great breadth, there are subjects [such as those nar­ rated ip this novel] that even the School o f the Sage will not discuss. Why, then, should we even bother to question whether or not the mat­ ters described in this book took place?3 Y iian Yii-ling, w riting late in the M ing, praised Journey 4 o the West fo r its wit, its facetious use o f Buddhist concepts fo r hum orous effect, and its style. “ N o scholar living in idleness should be without this book fo r even a single day,” he concludes.4 In other words, nei­ ther o f these novelists saw any serious m eaning in these two works, any didactic intention worth m entioning. A n d yet their own novels do contain serious social and political com m entary, a deliberate change in the literary function o f the novel, a developm ent from the general expose o f Chin P ’ing Mei and the Buddhist conception o f the void referred to at various’ points in Journey to the West to m ore pene­ trating observation, m ore biting exposure.

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N or is there any precedent in novel form fo r T u n g Y iieh ’s e x ­ ploration o f the psyche in The Tower of Myriad Mirrors, Surely his is the first truly serious Chinese analysis o f dream s and the u ncon­ scious in extended fictional form at; his is the first to identify the role o f sexual urges in the com position o f dream s. E arlier works tend to use dream s as means o f conim unication between the living and the dead, as vehicles for prophecy o r m oralization. Similarly, E m peror Y an g ’s dream visions in The Merry Adventures put him in direct con­ tact with the deceased ruler o f C h ’en whose dereliction o f duty and licentiousness doom ed his state. Y a n g is not enlightened by tlus m eeting, although the reader is m ade aware o f Y an g ’s destiny. In well-known ch’uan-ch’i tales o f the T ’an g period, conjurors had used dream visions to reveal the consequences o f blind attachm ent to the world; The Merry Adventures m erely follows in this tradition.5 M on­ key^ escapades in The Tower also have a prem onitory effect. Like the earlier stories, they present to him graphically the consequences o f fu rth er pursuit o f illusory attachments to the flesh: the end o f his religious career, separation from his fellow pilgrims, perhaps m ar­ riage, and finally the death o f his offsprin g. In sum, tragedy. O n the level o f simple Buddhist allegoty, T u n g Y iie h ’s novel thus uses a conventional m otif, that o f a dream leading to enlightenm ent. H ow ­ ever, earlier stories w ere short and straightforw ard, having none o f the suggestive symbolism that characterizes The Tower. Certainly T u n g Y iieh was unusual fo r the depth to which he pursued dream analysis in his other writings as well. Th ese writers’ unconventional choice o f the novel as the me­ dium fo r expressing concerns previously revealed in verse and fo r­ mal prose writings, the seriousness with' which these concerns were expressed, the stridency o f their condem nations, and the overriding clarity o f vision concerning m oral dilemm as o f their age present similarities between most o f these writers’ that indicate a com m on cause and a shared notion o f their m edium . Surely all experienced similar frustration over the condition o f society and literary practice. Significantly, all cam e from the same area and from a similarly high station in society; all shared the same educational background and had no real political status. Clique struggles late in the M ing m ade political involvem ent dangerous; inept rulers frequently m ade lower administrators ineffective. T h e M anchu conquest b rough t m ore stringent limits on the num bers w ho w ere allowed to earn degrees at

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any given examination. Consequently, throughout the seventeenth century in China there was a surplus o f educated people fo r a shrinking num ber o f positions. A lth ou gh trained to expect positions o f leadership as their due, these m en found that route either strewn with pitfalls or closed to them. T h ese novelists may not have written fiction about the M ing fall as such, but its effect may well have been instrum ental in bringing to their novels new levels o f seriousness, penetration, and artistry. T h e lack o f opportunity to serve in governm ent seems to have prom pted the rise o f another literary form earlier in Chinese his­ tory. T h e dram a had its beginnings du rin g the Southern Sung, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in South China. Soon after the M ongol conquest was com plete in 1280, a new and fully developed dramatic form appeared in T atu , the city now known as Peking. This, the tsa-chu, was an im m ediate com m ercial success, appreciated by people o f all sodial classes. Certain o f the leading playwrights are known to have been m en o f great talent and broad learning who had turned to the theater as a means o f livelihood after the M ongols sus­ pended the civil service examinations, severely lim iting the num ber o f Chinese allowed into the bureaucracy. T h ese literati are credited with the high artistic level o f the tsa-chu.6 W hile the M anchus for their part did not do away with the exam ination system, they did curtail this avenue to prom inence at a time when econom ic changes had produced a relatively greater num ber o f educated men. D uring the seventeenth century m any were left to firld new places fo r them ­ selves in society. T h e literati were concentrated in the lower Yangtze valley, in the Soochow area w here the Chinese novel came o f age. Facetious as it may seem, the apologia fo r writing in C hapter 1 o f The Prayer Mat of Flesh is probably perspicacious: in an age when few read didactic history or moralistic texts, one must put his mes­ sage in the sort o f w riting that attracts a wider audience, fiction. Li Y ii’s message is politically slight, o f course. B ut not so the teachings o f other novelists exam ined here. Because they occupied a favored position in society while being deprived o f the intellectual’s timehonored social function, they turned to a new literary form , the novel, to express their fears and frustrations to a degree that was rare earlier in the Ming. In so doing they increased the novel’s moral significance precisely at the time when critics w ere draw ing attention

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to its artistry. T h e seventeenth century thus was a watershed in both the reading and w riting o f novels am ong old C hina’s elite.

The Legacy o f Seventeenth-Century Novels N ot all the novels discussed here shared the same fate. Water Margin in C hin Sheng-t’an’s version becam e so popular that it nearly drove all earlier, longer versions o ff the m arket. It has been reprinted innum erable times since his death, while the fuller edi­ tions have become com m on again only in the last few decades. The Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang was reissued du rin g the C h ’ing and subsequently, despite its prohibition by the M anchus and exp u rga­ tion since. M ore effectively proscribed was The Prayer Mat o f Flesh, a rare item until this century. For several possible reasons, Forgotten Tales o f the Sui was published only once, although m uch o f it is pre­ served verbatim in Romance o f the Sui and the Vang. T h e latter has •been reprinted regularly through the centuries, rem aining a work on the second level o f popularity (below Water Margin and Three Kingdoms). The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors seems not to have been widely read until recently，appearing in only a few editions. But to assess properly the w ork o f these men, we should take note that the edition o f Investiture o f the Gods published by C h ， u Jenhuo, another secondary classic, has been the standard ever since. M ao’s and C h an g’s editions o f Three Kingdoms and Chin P ’ing Mei, have been considered the standard, and both are widely acknowl­ edged as m asterpieces.7 Y iia n ’s friend Feng M eng-lung edited the version o f Quelling the Demons’ Revolt that totally supplanted earlier versions. Thus, even though most novels seemed to be popular for only a short time in M ing and C h ’ing C hina (few in fact were ever reprinted), seventeenth-century writers, critics, and editors gave final shape to m any o f those earlier works that were to haVe a con­ tinuing influence am ong Chinese readers. In general terms, however, several novelistic approaches and devices given form o r brought to critical attention during the seven­ teenth century were to be instrum ental in shaping later C h ’ing fic­ tion, particularly its masterpieces, Hung-lou meng (Dream o f the Red C ham ber)8 and Ju-lin wai-shih (The Scholars).9 A ccord in g to its fram e

228

Legacy of Seventeenth-Century Navels

story, the lovers central to the form er, Pao-yii and Tai-yu, are incar­ nations o f heavenly beings whose emotibns were stirred by each other, bringing attachments and obligations requiring a m ortal exis­ tence to fulfill. How similar this is to the reincarnation sequence as finally explained in Romance of the Sui and the T ’ang. T s ’ao Hsiiehch’in ( i7 i5 ? - i7 6 3 ) author o f Dream, seems to have been strongly in­ fluenced by C h an g C hu -p ’o ’s criticism o f Chin P ’ing Mei and to have structured his own narrative in response to it.10 Pao-yii suffers em o­ tional tensions over conflicting role expectations and desires to be freed from them , although he m erely imitates w hom ever he hap­ pens to be closest to— as does the youthful C h ’in Shu-pao in Forgotten Tales. Tai-yii perceives h erself as alone and helpless am ong those o f the elite dom inated by pure self-interest, reverberations o f attitudes explored by Li Y ii and the anonym ous author o f The Merry Adven­ tures. In its exam ination o f the psyche o f its characfters, Dream is reminiscent o f The Tower; in its pointed denigration o f popular ro­ mantic novels, it shares another concern with The Prayer M a t A n d in its general condem nation o f the civil service exam ination system , The Scholars continues the tradition o f social and political com m entary begun by Chin P ’ing Mei and developed d u rin g the seventeenth cen­ tury. Satire th rough literary parody in The Pra^r Mat becomes out­ spokenly political in The Scholars, in turn the precursor fo r the series o f novels d u rin g the late Ch*ing that bitterly castigate the incom pe­ tence and inhum anity am ong C hina’s privileged classes. Th ese in­ clude the works o f Liu E (1837-190 9), Li Pao-chia (1867-1906), and W u W o-yao (18 6 7-19 x0 ).11 Furtherm ore, the tradition o f scholar-novelist begins in earnest during the seventeenth century. T h is is not to sa)^that Chinese nov­ elists writing earlier in the M ing did not include literati, but by this time members o f the scholar-gentry not only wrote novels, they also willingly took credit fo r doing so. W ith the exception o f Lo Kuanchung, early in the fourteenth century, most novelists are either anonym ous, disguised behind untraceable pseudonym s, or unknown because nothing is recorded about nam ed authors or compilers. O b ­ viously the latter were not m en o f social prom inence. W u C h ’eng-en attem pted to hide his authorship— i f indeed he did write Journey to the West; the author o f Chin P ’ing Mei has never been identified. B ut some seventeenth-century writers were overtly proud o f their ere-

Legacy of Seventeenth-Century Novels

22Q

ations in fiction; C h an g C hu -p ’o wished he could have written a novel himself. In fact, it seems that the new pride in authorship and the new spirit o f m oral seriousness with w hich these novels were written may Well have provoked T s ’ao Hsueh-ch*in to write Dream of、 the Red Chamber, an expose o f his class, am ong other things, embellished with autobiographical detail.12 T h e application o f scholarly skills in novel form later in the C h ’ing produced novels seem ingly designed to dem onstrate their authors’ erudition. A case in point is the early nineteenth-century Ching-hua yiian (Flowers in the M irror) by Li Juchen (c.1763-1830), w ho in addition to his m ore scholarly concerns, advocated progressive social causes such as the abolition o f footbinding. Li Ju-chen was no advocate o f revolutionary change in his soci­ ety; instead, from a position in it m ore secure than that o f Chin Sheng-t’an ， C h ’u Jen-huo, and the other seventeenth-century writers, he took refu ge in traditional arts and letters, as Li Y ii had in his nonfiction some two centuries earlier. For Li Ju-chen and others, the novel became a m eans o f artistic escape.13 Some years ago, H erbert Franke rem arked: “T o play with liter­ ary form s and genres is perhaps only possible w here a leisure class has, out o f a certain saturation, developed play instincts or w here traditional and accepted form s becom e the vehicle o f satire. B ut both play and satire o f this kind can be understood and appreciated only by those who are fam iliar with the serious form s and genres. Literary play-form s are definitely a Vart pour Part phenom enon, writ­ ten for tHe chuckling enjoym ent o f the connoisseur and therefore seldom i f ever popular.” 14 Li Y ii’s parody o f the “ genius-beauty” romances m ight on one level be beyond the understanding o f any reader unfam iliar with that genre o f Chinese novels. Y iian Y ii-ling’s Forgotten Tales m ay also have been conceived as a parody o f his­ toriography, given the sarcastic references in his C hapter 1 to m ate­ rial customarily om itted from standard biographies. B ut the other novels discussed here are not satires, except fo r b rie f sections o f The Tower o f Myriad Mirrors (for exam ple, the description o f the exam ina­ tion essay and the varied reactions o f candidates for the degree). H owever, all are built firm ly and specifically upon their literary tra­ dition, implicitly or explicitly extendin g their significance by allusion

230

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to or quotation from earlier works o f Chinese literature, philosophy, and history. A ll address matters o f consequence to their particular social stratum at their particular time. D ivorced from th eir specific context they tend to lose m eaning, to appear as satires (if discernible as satires at all) o f some unknow n phenom enon. Consequently, critics o f Chinese fiction have tended to lose sight o f their seriousness and to dismiss most Chinese novels before Dream of the Red Chamber as frivolous, unw orthy o f detailed study. The Prayer Mat o f Flesh has been rejected by scholars as pornography, the others ignored or read only superficially. T h is study has been an at­ tem pt to treat these works with the gravity they deserve. B ut does their specificity mean, then, that these works exist now only as m u­ seum pieces, irrelevant to any but historians o f China and its litera­ ture? M y reading o f these novels over the past decade prompts me to answer this question firmly in the negative. A s I have endeavored to illustrate, although an understanding o f the intended significance o f these works requires viewing them in their original setting, the con­ cerns they express and their narrative techniques are not so foreign to a W estern reader in the twentieth century. In fact, these works in ­ vite comparisons with the developing novel in the West as a means to better understand extended narrative as a general literary phenom e­ non. A lth ough it has not been my intention here to present a com ­ parative study, the follow ing comments m ay serve those who seek to do so. Patrick H anan has noted that Chinese vernacular fiction utilizes an exhaustive and denotative prose style (in contrast to w riting in the classical literary language, which tends far m ofe toward sugges­ tiveness). T h e rem arkable concern for tem poral and spatial setting in vernacular fiction likewise gives “ the impression o f presenting the totality o f experience within an accepted fram e o f reference.” 15 A product o f the training these literati novelists had in reading and w riting history, this impression is one o f realism, a “form al realism” that Ian W att has discussed as a characteristic o f the W estern novel. T h e social and econom ic factors coincident to the rise o f the novel, which I have dem onstrated in chapters 1 and 2，have certain ele­ ments com m on to both E urope and China: urbanization, com m er­ cialization, the growth o f a literate elite, and the developm ent o f the publishing industry. B ut while critics assume that the novel ap­

Legacy of Seventeenth-Century Novels

23

peared in Europe in response to the rising bourgeois class, the same does not seem to be true in the Chinese experience. T h e analyses above, coupled with w hatever inform ation exists concerning book prices and the obvious quality o f workm anship in book production, lead to the inescapable conclusion that serious novels— in contrast to lengthy popular adventure Yales— w ere produced by and fo r the literati, the scholar-gentry o f im perial China. A n drew Plaks has gone so far as to identify the Chinese classics in novel form as “m ajor doc­ uments in the mainstream o f M ing and C h ’in g literati culture.” 16 T h e novels o f both traditions dem onstrate a new degree o f con­ cern for the individual in prose narrative. B ut there is no Chinese analogue for the fiction in the guise o f autob iograp h y~ diary, p er­ sonal correspondence, or confession— that appears am ong early Eu­ ropean novels (the works of D efoe and Richardson, fo r example). Instead, the Chinese novelists regularly resorted to a set o f explicit rhetorical devices that separate the narrator, and hence the author, from the subject m atter at hand. T h is “storyteller’s m anner” theoret­ ically allows a degree o f objectivity similar to that o f Fielding’s narra­ tor in Tom Jones. It is from this ironic distance that the Chinese nov­ elist could perform his “sagely” function o f dispensing “ praise and blam e” to characters and actions w hen appropriate— in precisely the m anner o f the historian. (The relationship between historiography and the w riting o f vernacular fiction becomes even m ore obvious here. Notice, however, that the simple preponderance o f historical fiction in Chinese vernacular fiction is virtually incidental to this fact.) Furtherm ore, the “storyteller’s m anner” is a late addition to the Chinese novel, having become conventional only late in the six­ teenth century,17 at a time when realistic description o f hum an behavior and thought w ere first seriously explored, specifically in Chin P ， ing Mei and Journey to the West. T h e term “ realism” in the Chinese context obviously must be utilized with qualifications; by the seventeenth century the Chinese novel shares with its E uropean counterpart an emphasis on “credi­ bility in motivation and personality， ” even w hen the subjects o f the narrative are patently fantastic— a m onkey, for exam ple. Convincing causal links between events is a second shared featu re.18 A n d yet this degree o f realism presents the novelist with a contradiction: I f in­ deed he presents genuine hum an experience in a fictional form at, the ironic distance defined by the explicit rhetorical devices must

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break down as the novelist becomes directly involved in the events he narrates.19 A pparently aware o f this paradox, C hin Sheng_t， an re­ moved him self com pletely from his borrow ed narrative, leaving its form at unm odified while m aking his pointed political asides under the rubric o f commentary. M ight not the prom pt retribution for rape in Forgotten Tales o f the Sui, the curious death o f Mu-lan in Romance of the Sui and the T ’ang, *and the flaying o f C h ’in Kuei in The Tower of Myriad Mirrors be scenes their respective authors were unable to nar­ rate with detachment? A n drew Plaks characterizes this fallacious objectivity as “the paradox that objective reality presupposes a perceiving subject, and hence an ultimately subjective and relative point o f view.” 20 A s a consequence o f the m utually contradictory aspects o f the novelist’s stance, the literary novel in C hina tends m ore toward an exploration o f m ind than an investigation o f m ere external reality. Intangibles o f hum an relationships and spiritual em ancipation are the focuses in the two greatest sixteenth-century novels; by the seventeenth, the scope o f the novel had been enlarged to encom pass the nature and extent o f hum an responsibility to and fo r one’s fellow creatures, the im portance o f social role, the m aturation process, the unconscious mind, and even the nature o f the self. Despite their ostensible at­ tempts to maintain objectivity, the novelists o f the seventeenth cen­ tury ultimately reveal their own minds through serious discussion o f the hum an problem s nearest their own experience. N ot surprisingly, considering their Confucian heritage, most often these questions are o f a political or social nature. Novelistic structure em phasized alike by novelists and critics had as its goal the presentation o f truth, o f hum an experience in m eaningful patterns. Later /hovelists, particu­ larly T s ’ao Hsueh-ch*in and W u Ching-tzu in the eighteenth century, were to continue this tendency by including m ore autobiographical detail in their fictional narratives. P ro o f o f their awareness o f this process can be foun d in these noveUsts’ self-conscious handling o f conventional rhetorical devices. C h ’u Jen-huo utilized them at every possible opportunity, even in­ corporating a moralistic pream ble in virtually every chapter— as did Yiian Yii-ling: Li Y ii parodies such devices in the ram bling disquisi­ tion on morals that constitutes C hapter 1 o f The Prayer Mat of Flesh; T u n g Y iieh used few such devices, providing virtually no editorial asides to highlight the intended m eaning o f events in his narrative.

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233

Later, T s ’ao H siieh-ch’in was to capitalize on this conscious m anipu­ lation o f convention to build layer upon layer o f distance between the narrator and the action o f the narrative.21 Significantly, the com ­ m entary printed in the first editions o f these seventeenth-century novels— to dem onstrate each novelist’s desire to have his w ork read c r itic a lly r e a c h e s a culmination later in Dream b f the Red Chamber as well, early editions o f which carry com m entary by several individuals privy both to the real events presented there in fictional form and to the process o f w riting itself. T o conclude, an analogy: Frederick M ote has com m ented that the essence o f the city in im perial C hina was not perceived as a clus­ ter o f aging buildings, as it was in the West; instead, “the real past is a past o f the mind; its im perishable elements are m oments o f hum an experience.” 22 Study o f the seventeenth-century Chinese novels should at least dem onstrate the applicability o f this statement to Chinese literature. Historical fact is often irrelevant in its historical fiction; its characters need not even be hum an in external form . T h e y may be presented as m ore heroic than norm al, on the same level, or beneath the reader, to be laughed at for their stupidity. T h e quintessential aspect o f hum an experience is the m eaning it is given by the hum an mind; Chinese novelists endeavored with all possible seriousness to im part to their fiction significance readily appreciable by their readers. T h a t their fiction can be com prehended and en­ jo y ed even across the “cosmological g u lf” that separates their culture from that o f the W est in the twentieth century is in itself eloquent testimony to their success.

APPENDIX I

Literary Source Materials for Several Seventeenth-Century Novels

Note: T h e use o f written source materials for novels did not begin in the seventeenth century, o f course. Romance of the Three Kingdoms draws heavily on the standard history o f the period, San-kuo chih (Chronicles o f the T h re e Kingdom s), edited by C h ’en Shou (233-297), with annotations by F e i Sung-chih (fl. 400-430). O ther works o f historical fiction com piled du rin g the M ing m ade frequent use o f either the standard histories or The Comprehensive Mirror fo r Aid in Governing by Ssu-ma K uang (1019-1086). Journey to the West is based on earlier versions o f the M onkey-Tripitaka legends. Chin P ’ing Mei drew m aterial fronl a num ber o f works— a novel, short stories, plays, jokes, and the like. It is only the latter, however, that begins to exploit the rich resources available to the literate novelist; seventeenth-century writers received and developed this tradition, which reached its culmination in the scholarly novels o f the eigh ­ teenth and nineteenth centuries. T h is is not to say that novelists rem ained alo o f from popular tales, but to view the Chinese novel strictly as a product o f the storytelling tradition— the fashion am ong scholars o f Chinese literature until only recently— is to m isunderstand totally the purpose and significance o f m any o f these works. O f the novels discussed here, little needs to be said o f the sources fo r some o f them. Water Margin is a truncated and edited version o f an earlier novel; C hin Sheng-t’an’s w ork in this regard has been discussed adequately in English by Richard G. Irwin ( Evolution o f a Chinese Novel) and John W ang (Chin Sheng-t’an). The Prayer Mat o f Flesh is a literary parody in part; the written objects o f its satire have been identified in chapter 5 above. The Tower of Myriad Mirrors has as its prim ary source Journey to the West; that relationship has been reviewed in chapter 5 as well. (A specific written source for this w ork has not yet been m entioned: the official record o f C h ’in K uei’s crimes from which M onkey reads in C hap ter 9 is adapted from the biography o f the historical villain as recorded in Sung shih, chuan 473; fo r a w ord-for-w ord com parison o f the two texts, see H egel,

236

JLiterary Source Materials

“M onkey Meets Mackerel/* pp. 67-68 and 79-83.) Consequently, only the sources fo r the rem aining three novels will be listed here.

Sui Yang-ti yen-shih (T h e M erry A dventures o f E m peror Yang) T h ere are fo u r m ajor sources fo r The Merry Adventures，discon­ nected bits o f narrative dating from the T ’ang and perhaps the Sung, usually classified as ch’uan-ch’i fiction although totally lacking in the careful attention to plot usually associated with works o f that genre. T h e y are: Hai-shan chi (Tales o f the Seas and Mountains) K ’ai-ho chi (Tales o f the O p en in g o f the Canal) Mi-lou chi (Tales o f the M aze Palace) Sui i-lu (Forgotten Records o f the Sui) M ing com pilers o f such materials attributed the first three o f these to Han W o (chin-shih 889)，a poet and official, although m ore re­ cently scholars have dated them m uch later. T h e fourth m ay well be the earliest; attributed to Y en Shih-ku (581-645), it has appeared u nder the titles Ta， yeh shih-i chi and Nan~pu yen-hua lu as well. T h e anonym ous author o f The、 Merry Adventures rem olded this written material in a consistent style. Elements in com m on with these fou r collections are listed below; m any appear as well in the late M ing hua-pen story “Sui Yang-ti i-yu chao-ch*ienn (Em peror Y a n g ’s Reckless Pursuit o f Pleasure Provokes a Divine Reprim and), the twenty-fourth in Feng M eng-lung’s Hsing-shih heng-yen, first pub­ lished in 1627. Clearly both are based on the same sources, although there is no p ro o f that the hua-pen served as don or to the novel; The Merry Adventures contains a num ber o f incidents A dapted from the earlier works that do not appear in the short story. In the list below, each source is represented by the initials o f its title in Chinese, with page num bers o f versions given in Lu Hsun, e d ” T an g Sung cKuanch， i chi (H ong Kong: Chin-tai t’u-shu kung-ssu, 1968). O ne scene from C hapter 30 appears to be adapted from a late M ing cKuan-chJi play; that is f a n g ’s encounter with a Taoist priest and nun who reprim and him fo r his excesses and invite the em peror to escape the w orld’s entanglem ents by leaving with them. T h e source is Shnang-chung chi (T h e D oubly Loyal) in 3& scenes, probably com posed by Lii T ’ien-ch’en g and published du rin g the Wan-li reign. T h e text can be found in Ku-pen hsi-chii ts’ung-k’an，First Series (Peking and Shanghai, 1954), No. 23. (I am indebted to Katherine

M erry A dventures

chapter 4

6

6 7 9 10-1 1 12

13 14 14

15

16 !7 18-19 19 2 0 -2 1

22-23 22,24-25 24 25

25 . 27 26 26 27 28 28 29 30

Incident

Source

Yangs birth Yang gains the throne Yang fishes with Yang Su ’ Yang releases the golden carp Wang I castrates Kimself Yang Su dies of fright Yang’s pleasure park is built Visions o f the dead Ch’en ruler Carriage for intercourse during travel Great Wall rebuilt An inauspicious dream Lady Hou’s suicide Ominous blooms in the park Yang reminisces about the South Digging of the Grand Canal

HSC, p. 195 HSC, pp. 195-96 HSC, p. 203 HSC, p. 204 HSC, p. 204 HSC, p. 196 HSC, pp. 197-201 HSC, pp. 202-3 SIL, p. 187 KHC, p. 221 HSG, p. 204 MLC, pp. 211-12 HSC, p. 203 KHC, p. 214 SIL, p. 187; KHC, pp. 214-15 KHC, p. 216 KHC, pp. 217-19 KHC, pp. 218-19 KHC, pp. 219-20 KHC, pp. 219-20 SIL, p. 188 KHC, pp. 222-24 SIL, p. 188 HSC, p. 205 SIL, p. 188 SIL, p. 189 KHC, p. 223 HSC, p. 205 SIL, p. 192; MLC, p. 209 MLC, p. 2x0 MLC, pp. 212-13 MLC, p. 210 SIL, pp. 191-92 SIL, p. 192; MLC, p. 210 SIL, p. 193 SIL ， t>. 192 HSC, p. 204 SIL, pp. 189-90 MLC, p. 213 HSC, pp. 206-7 HSC, pp. 207-B A/fT.fT rv 9 1 Q

Diggers encounter divine phenomena Journey underground Ma Shu-mou begins cannibalism Ma alters the canal route Ma’s encounter with spirits Yang receives a rare flower Yang has flotilla assembled Yii Shih-nan writes a memorial Yang leaves Loyang Yang’s infatuation with a girl Empress Hsiao’s jealousy Ma Shu-mou executed Mournful song of protest against Yang Yang has the Maze Palace built

33 33 35

Yang’s vehicle for deflowering virgins Illness from aphrodisiacs Yang tries abstinence Yang and Empress Hsiao reminisce A Palace Lady rocks Yang to sleep

36 36 37 37 37 38 39 40

An ill-fated word game Omens of separation The giant carp reappears Dream vision of the dead emperor Inauspicious song upsets Yang Wang I’s suicide Chu Kuei-erh curses the assassins The Maze Palace is destroyed

31 32

238

Literary Source Materials

Carlitz for this reference.) Monks and pseudo-m onks dispensing aphrodisiacs are to be found in several o f L ing M eng-ch’u’s short stories written about the same time, including the eighteenth and thirty-fifth in Erh-Ko P ， ai~an ching-cKi (1632; Taipei: Shih-chieh shuchii, 1969) ，pp. 395—412 and 681-96; see also John Scott, trans., The Lecherous Academician and Other Tales by Master Ling Mengchu (Lon­ don: Rapp and W hiting, 1973) ，pp. 9 5-130 , 63-94.

Sui shih i-wen (Forgotten Tales o f the Sui) A t various places in its com m entary, Forgotten Tales of the Sui contains references to an older version o f the text. B ut no such text has been found; indeed, except fo r portions preserved in Romance of the Sui and the Tang, the entire novel came very near extinction. In his preface to its only recent reprinting, C. T . Hsia speculates that Y iian Y ii-ling drew heavily from the narratives o f professional story­ tellers. This is entirely likely; it is known that Liu C hing-t’in g，the raconteur who later became an im portant character in the play Peach Blossom Fan，told tales o f C h ’in Shu-pao. B ut it is not known whether there was a school o f tellers who m ight have specialized in this char­ acter's exploits. Hsia further speculates that the “earlier version” re­ ferred to was none other than a prom ptbook used by such story­ tellers that Y iian somehow obtained and used as the basis for his own work. W hile this is well within the realm o f possibility, there are certain problems with this hypothesis. First, a prom ptbook would logically have only the barest outlines o f a story. T h e “quickness o f tongue” for which C hina’s storytellers w ere fam ous was not a func­ tion o f their ability to read aloud— they improvised orally, as do all artists in oral narrative. T o have printed such a thing, as Hsia specu­ lates Y iian did, would m ean that he would have had to embellish it considerably him self first. T h erea fter he m ight have rewritten the novel with all the care evident in the finished product. B ut then the original version would have to have been Y iian ’s，as is the final. I strongly suspect that Professor Hsia is partially correct in assuming that Y iian borrow ed at least outlines o f episodes from the work o f professional raconteurs. B ut in its written fo rm ，the w ork seems to be entirely his, except for several sections borrow ed from The Merry Ad­ ventures of Emperor Yang: Forgotten Tales, C hapter 2 and 24, E m peror Y an g’s rise to power, from Merry Adventures, Chapters 2 to 4.

Literary Source Materials F o r g o tte n T a le s ， Chapter

26, poems from

239 M e r r y A d v e n t u r e s ， Chapter

11. F o r g o tte n T a le s ， Chapter

34, the undergrou nd adventure that re­ veals E m peror Y an g’s previous self as a rat, from M e r r y A d v e n ­ tu res, Chapters 20-21.

Several episodes are also reminiscent o f W a te r M a r g in tales (the con­ voy o f birthday gifts adventure that ends in C h ’in Shu-pao comm it­ ting m urder, for exam ple), although this may well be evidence o f oral origins fo r segments o f the novel rather than o f literary borrow ­ ing-

S u i T ’a n g y e n -i

(Romance o f the Sui and the T ’ang)

As I have indicated above, R o m a n c e approaches an anthology in its catholic use o f written source materials. Below is a list o f major written sources divided by literary form ; follow ing each entry is one or m ore num bers indicating the R o m a n c e chapter(s) drawn wholly or in part from that source. For a detailed exam ination o f what C h ’u Jen-huo drew from each source, see H egel, “ Sources and Narrative "Techniques,” pp. 19 -13 5 ; this list has been adapted from H egel, “Aesthetics,” pp. 127-29. N OVELS (Lost History o f the Monks and Immortals), at­ tributed to Fang Ju-hao, m iddle Ming): the reincarnation de­ vice. J o u r n e y to th e W est: C hapter 68. S u i T ’a n g lia n g - c h ’a o c h ih -c h u a n (Chronicles o f the T w o Courts, Sui and f ’ang): Chapters 48-52, 54, 56-58 , 64, 66-67, 69-7 4 , 77- 78, 8 o - « i ，83, 88, 9 1-9 2 . T h e M e r r y A d v e n t u r e s o f E m p e r o r Y a n g : Chapters 1-2 , 19-20, 27-32, 3 4 , 36 , 3 9 - 4 0, 4 6 - 4 7 * F o r g o tte n T a le s o f th e S u i: Chapters 1-2 5, 33 -4 7, 53 -55, 58-60 ， 63—66. C h ’a n -c h e n i-sh ih

V E R N A C U L A R S H O R T S T O R IE S “C h ’iung Ma Chou tsao-chi mai-tui-wen” (T h e Im pecunious Ma Chou Meets his O pportunity through a D um pling Seller) (No. 5 in Feng M eng-lung's K u - c h i n h s ia o -s h u o ) : Chapter 69. “ Li Che-hsien tsui ts’ao hsia-man-shu” (While D runk Li, the Banished Im m ortal, Drafts a Docum ent to Intim idate the Barbarians) (No. 9 in Feng’s C h in g -s h ih t ’u n g -y e n ): Chapters 8o, 82-83, 96. 、

240

Literary Source Materials

“Kuan-yiian-sou wan fen g hsien-nii” (An O ld G arden er E ncoun­ ters a N ym ph O ne Evening) (No. 4 in Feng’s Hsing-shih heng-yen): C hapter 73. L IT E R A R Y L A N G U A G E T A L E S “Li Mo ch’ui-ti chi” (Tales o f Li Mo and his Flute) by Y an g Chiiyiian (fl. c.8oo): Chapters 86, 95. “C h ，ang-hen chuan” (The T ale o f Everlasting Regret), by C h ’en H un g (fl. 800-825): C hapter 100. “ Mei-fei chuan” (The Plum Consort), attributed to T s ’ao Y eh (fl. 850): Chapters 79, 81. “C h ’iu-jan-k’o chuan” (The K night with the C urly Beard), by T u Kuang-t’ing (850-933): Chapters 16, 50. “ Hsii Yu-kuai lu” (Further Records o f the M ysterious and Strange), by Li Fu-yen (fl. early ninth century): C hapter 3. “Y an g T ’ai-chen wai-chuan” (Unofficial B iography o f Y an g Kueifei), by Y iieh Shih (930-1007): Chapters 79-84, 87, 89, 91, 98. C O L L E C T IO N S O F A N E C D O T E S Kuo shih pu (Supplem ent to the History o f the State), by Li Chao (fl. 82o)?Chapter 95. Ming-huang tsa-lu (Miscellaneous Records concerning Minghuang), by C h en g C h ’u-hui (fl. early ninth century): C hapter 93 . K ’ai Tien ch’uan-hsin chi (T rue T ales from the K ’ai-yiian and T ’ienpao Periods), by C h en g Chi (late ninth century): C hapter 85. Chin-luan mi-chi (Secret Records o f the Palace), by H an W o (fl. 900): C hapter 74. K'ai-yiian T ’ien-pao i-shih (Forgotten Incidents o f the K ’ai-yiian and T ’ien-pao Periods), by W ang Jen-yii (880-963): C hapter 87. Shen-hsien kan-yii chuan, (Encounters with Gods and Immortals), by T u K uang-t’ing (850-933): C hapter 85. ’ Sui Tang chia-hua (Fine T ales about the Sui and the T 'ang), by Liu Su (fl. 750): Chapters 2-3.

A P P E N D I X II

Textual Histories of Various Seventeenth- Century Novels

Note: Textual histories are provided for only four of the novels discussed here. Richard G. Irwin has provided this material for Water Margin] see his Evolution of a Chinese Novel. Hellmut Martin has done the same for The Prayer Mat of Flesh] see his Li Li-weng iiber das Theater, pp. 280-86. Those interested may find similar investigations Concerning Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Chin P ’ ing Mei in Cheng Chen-to, “ San-kuo chih yen-i te yenpien， ” Chung-kuo wen-hsiieh yen-chiu^ pp. 164—240, and Patrick D. Hanan, “ The Text of the Chin P， ing Mei^ Asia Major (1962) n.s. 9:1-57, respectively.

Sui Yang-tiyen-shih (The Merry Adventures of Emperor Tang) Sui Yang-ti yen-shih 隋場帝絶史 was first printed in 1631; its author is not identifiable from the pseudonyms given in the novel itself. Major editions include: A. Jen-jui-tsang 人瑞堂，in 8 chuan, edited by Ch’i-tung Yeh-jen 齊東 野 人 (The Rustic from the Sticks, whom Lu Hsiin identifies with Feng Meng-lung for no explicit reason; see Sun, Chung-kuo, p. 43), an­ notated by Pu-ching Hsien-sheng 不經先生 （ Mister Heresy). Prefatory material: Sui Tang-ti yen-shih hsti 叙 in 288 ideographs, signed and sealed by Hsiao-ch’ih-tzu 咬 癡 子 （ The Mad Giggler) at To-to-chii 咕咕居 (Wailing Lodge), undated. Yen-shih hsii 序 in 450 ideographs, signed by Yeh-shih Chu-jen 野 史 主 人 (Master Heretical History— whom Sun K ’ai-ti iden­ tifies with the author of the work, rightly labeling this an “ author’s preface;*5 see his Chung-kuo, p. 43) at Hsii-pai-t'ang 虛白堂（ The Hall of Void and Purity), dated Ch’ung-chen hsinwei-sui ch3ing-ho-yiieh 崇稍辛未歲清和月 （ the fourth lunar month; that is, between M ay 1 and M ay 30，1631).

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Yen-shih fi-tz^u 題辭 in 246 ideographs, signed by Tsui-\i yu-jen Wei-i Chii-shih 梢 李 友 人 委 虼 居 士 （ The Layman Carefree，a friend from Tsui-li— — ancient name for a place near modern Kashing 嘉興 in Chekiang, the site of Kou Chi6n， s defeat of the king of Wu during the C h’un-ch， iu period) at T ’ao-t’ao-kuan 陶陶館 (Sunny Smiles Residence) on Ch’ung-chen hsin-wei chu-ming chiwang 崇賴辛未朱明既望 （ the sixteenth day of, probably，the fifth lunar month— the middle month of summer— or June 15 ，1631). Yen-shih fan-li 凡 例 (General Introductory Statements), 12 items. Sui Yen-shih chiieh-li hsing-shih 爵 里 姓 氏 （ Persons，with Titles and Native Places, Appearing in The Merry Adventures of the Sui), 7 folios. Illustrations: 77 half-folio finely executed action scenes, captioned with lines from chapter titles and facing quotations in various calligraphic styles from famous poems. See figure at beginning of chapter 3. Full title: Hsin-chiian ch’ Uan-hsiang fung-su jen-i Sui Tang-ti yen-shih 新錄全像通俗演義（ The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang of the Sui, A Historical Romance in the Popular Style) Newly Engraved). C om m en ts ：A very finely printed text. Copies in the East Asian Libraries at Columbia and Stanford and in the Graduate Library of the National Taiwan University, Taipei; Harvard-Yenching’s rare book collection also has the first fascicle containing prefatory material and illustrations from this edition. There is commentary at the ends of chiian 1，3-8 [tsung-p3ing 總評)；the edition has an interlinear commentary.

B. (Publisher unidentified), in 8 chiian^ editor and annotator as above. Prefatory material: / Sui Tang-tiyen-shih hsii、signed by Hsiao-ch’ih-tzu at To-to-chii，without seal. . Yen-shih signed as edition A ，undated, with two seals. Yen-shihfan-li, seven items. Illustrations： 20 relatively crude copies of edition A illustrations with captions along the top of each，facing quotations from poems. Full title: As in edition A. C om m ents: Printed pages of the text are indistinguishable from those of edition A; probably this is the second seventeenth-century edition using the same printing blocks for the text. Prefatory material and illustrations were newly carved for this edition, obviously. Copies in

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the Fu Ssu-nien Memorial Library at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, and the Harvard-Yenching Rare Book Room. C. (Publisher unidentified), in 8 chiian^ editor and annotator as above. Prefatory material: Sui Yang-ti yen-shih hsii in 288 ideographs, signed and sealed by Hsiaoch5ih-tzu at To-to-chu. Yen-shihfan-li, seven items. Suiyen-shih chiieh-li hsing-shih, 6 folios. Illustrations: none. Full title: As in edition A. Com m ents: The printing here is less precise than in edition A and different blocks were used, but probably dates from the seventeenth century, early Gh’ing period (see Liu, London, pp. 259—60). Has an interlinear commentary. Copies in the British Museum and the University of California, Berkeley, Library (see Wright, “ Sui Yang-ti: Personality and Stereotype,” p. 341, n. 59). Copies in the Naikaku Bunko and elsewhere in Japan may be! slightly different from both editions B and C.

D. Shanghai shu-chii 上海書局，dated Kuang-hsu 光緒 25 (1899), in ten fascicles, illustrated, written by C h’i-tung Yeh-jen. Full title: As in edition A. C om m en ts ：Noted in Hsi-t’ i shu-mu, 4.59b.

E. Shanghai shu-chii 上海書局，dated Kuang-hsti ting-wei (190 7 )，in 6 chiian. Prefatory material: Yen-shih hsii. Fan-li. Illustrations: 14 single page portraits of individual characters. Full title: Hui-i5u Sui Yang THen-tzu chuan 鳍'圓隋場天子傳{The Life of Tang, the Sui Son of Heaven, Illustrated) C om m ents: Copy in the Harvard-Yenching Library.

F. Chu-chi shu-chii _ 記 書 局 (Shanghai), dated 1915, in 8 chiian, il­ lustrated, by Ch’i-tung Yeh-jen, annotated by Pu-ching Hsien-sheng.

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Prefatory material: Hsii 序，by Hu-shang Li-weng 湖 上 莖 翁 （ The Rain-hatted Old Man by the Lake, a pen name of Li Yii; obviously the preface was written for this edition). Illustrations: Single character portraits. Full title: Hsiu-hsiang ting-cheng Sui Tang yen-shih 输 像 訂 正 （ Illustrated and Corrected … ） C om m ents: Chiian i, p. i notes: “ Revised and lithographed by the

Reformed Fiction Bookstore (Kai-liang hsiao-shuo shu-chii 改 良小 説 書局） ，Shanghai，in the ninth month of autumn of the ping-chen 丙辰 year (1916).’’ The Harvard-Yenching copy of this edition is missing chiian 3. This seems to be the first expurgated edition. G. Chung-yang shu-tien 中央 書 店 (Shanghai), dated 1936, by Ch’i-tung Yeh-jeh, annotated by Pu-ching Hsien-sheng, two volumes in one, illustrated. C om m ents: Copy in the Hoover Library, Stanford University.

H. Wu-kuei-t’ang 五 桂 堂 （ Hong Kong), undated edition of ca. 1955, in one paperbound volume. Prefatory material: HsUy attributed to Hu-shang Li-weng, as in edition F. Fan-li. Illustrations: Four pages of portrait drawings. Full title: Hui-fu Sui Yangyen-shih 鳍' 圖 （ Illustrated ...) Com m ents: This is a very cheap edition with small type printed closely; it is the most heavily expurgated of recent editions— — see Chapters 27, 30, 31 ，33.

I.

T ’ien-i ch’u-pan-she 天一 出 版 社 （ Taipei)，datfed 1974, by C h’i-tung Yeh-jen, annotated by Pu-ching Hsien-sheng, two volumes in one. C om m ent: N o prefatory material or illustrations, but otherwise ap­ parently a photoreprint of edition G above. This edition is expurgated more drastically than its Shanghai source (see Chapters 27 and 31 ， from which portions were reset in new type), but the wording is still considerably closer to edition A than to edition H.

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Sui shih i-wen [Forgotten Tales of the Sui) Sui shih i-wen 隋史遺文 was first printed in 1633; apparently it was never reprinted with different blocks, since all surviving copies appear identical in every respect. Few copies remain. The novel did not disappear, of course; instead, the compilation of Sui T 3ang yen-i in the 1670s gave the bulk of its narrative further 《 life, albeit in condensed and somewhat distorted form. Thereafter, a further condensation of much of Sui T^ang yen-i produced the first of the anonymous Shuo T ’ang 說 唐 (Tales of the T ’ang) series of adventure novels. The work entitled Sui shih i-wen and the role of Yiian Yii-ling in the shaping of C h’in Shu-pao, its central character, became forgotten, however; students of Chinese fiction specu­ lated that the genius behind Ch’in Shu-pao was that of China’s nearly mythical first novelist, Lo Kuan-chung. Fortunately, James I. Crump of the University of Michigan discovered and microfilmed portions of the work for his film series, Chinese Novels in Japanese Collections (Tokyo, 1955), which was reproduced for major university libraries in the United States. During my dissertation research I obtained a complete microfilm of the Waseda University copy and then had a hard copy made by xerographic process. This became the basis for the recent Taiwan typeset edition published by the Yu-shik ytieh-k’an (English title: Youth Monthly) press, with whom C. T. Hsia kindly put me in contact. This, then, is the complete textual history of this work. A. Ming-shan-chii 名 山 聚 (Hangchow?), in 12 chuan^ critically annotated {p’ i-p’ ing 批評）by Chien-hsiao-ko 劍 喻 閣 （ Whistle of Swords Studio, the studio name of Yiian Yii-ling 袁于令，1599-1674). Prefatory material: Sui-shih i-wen hsii 序 in nine folios, signed and sealed by Chi-i Chu-jen 吉衣主人（ Master of the Auspicious Robe) at Yen-yiian 冶園 (Garden of Delights), West Lake 西 湖 （ near Hangchow) on Ch’ung-chen kuei-yu hsuan-yiieh wu-i-jih 癸面玄月無射日 on the wu-i day of the ninth lunar month— between October 3 and November 1， 1633. The designation wu4 is something of a classicists’ puzzle; as the last of the six Yang notes in the twelve lii 律 or pitches, it probably denotes the twelfth day in the ninth lunar month, or October 14，1633.) This preface also bears the seal Ling-chao-shih 令 昭 氏 (Mr. Ling-chao, an alternate name, 妙 ，for Yiian Yii-ling, as Sun K ’ai-ti pointed out several decades ago; see his Chung-kuo、p. 44). Illustrations: Sixty finely drawn action scenes, one per chapter，on thirty folios. See figure at beginning of chapter 4.

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Full title: Chien-hsiao-ko p3i-p3ing mi-pen ch，u-hsiang 劍嘯閤批評 秘本出像 Sui shih i-wen (Forgotten Tales . . . ，Special Edition with Critical Commentary by Whistle of Swords Studio). Com m ents: Copies to be found in the Waseda University and Im­ perial Cabinet Libraries in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan and in the Talien Library, Liaoning Province, China (see Sun, Chung-kuo, p. 44).

B. Yu-shih wen-hua shih-yeh kung-ssu 幼 獅 文 化 事 業 公 司 （ Taipei， Taiwan Province)，in one volume, J975. Prefatory material: Sui shih i-wen ch’ ung-k， an hsii 重刊序，by C. T . Hsia 夏志清■ Sui shih i-wen k3ao-lueh 考略 and Chih-hsieh 諸謝，by Robert E. Hegel 何谷理 . Sui shih i-wen hsii, by Chi-i chu-jen. Illustrations: Sixty action scenes, photographically reproduced from edition A. Com m ents: This newly typeset edition exactly reproduces edition A ， including its commentaries [tsung-p’ing 總評)，with a few exceptions. Characters obscured or missing due to the deterioration of the Waseda copy were supplied, when possible, by reference to Sui Yang-tiyen-shih， one of its sources, and Sui T 3angyen-i, into which major portions were copied verbatim. Such emendations are indicated by ideographs in parens. Marginal notes in the copy of edition A used for this version were illegible and therefore have been omitted. There is also an Afterword {Ch'ung-k'an hou-chi) 重刊後記 by Ms. Tung Wan-hua 董挽華 recounting the process by which this version was produced and a brief critical essay introducing the novel by the late Professor Feng Ch’eng-chi 碍承基 entitled “ Sui shih i-wen she-lieh chi” 涉職記 .

Hsi-yu pu {The Tower of Myriad Mirrors) Hsi-yu pu 西遊補 first appeared in 1641 as Liu Fu 劉 復 (1891 —1934) demonstrated^ Liu discovered the poem in which Tung Yiieh 董説 (1620-1686) both acknowledged his authorship and identified the date of its composition as 1640. Previously, scholars had been happy to find antiManchu sentiment in the work, and hence to date it later, after the Manchu conquest. However, the date on the preface attached to the first edition invalidates this hypothesis; see Frederick Brandauer5s summary of these arguments，Tung Yiieh, pp. 19-20. All editions are substantially

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identical. Later versions differ from the original only in individual ideo­ graphs. Extant editions include: A. Original edition, publisher unknown, illustrated: Prefatory material: Hsii 序 signed by I-ju chii-shih 巍如居士 (The Layman Cognizant of Suchness) at Ch'ien-ch'ing-yiin 千 喷 雲 （ Miles of Clouds) atop Mount Hu-ch， iu 虎 丘 (in Wuhsien 吳縣，Kiangsu province) and dated hsin-ssu chung-ch’ iu 辛已中秋 ，midautumn (the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month), or September 19, 1641. Illustrations: Eight folios, half in precisely carved action scenes facing illustrations of divine objects’ not all of which are mentioned in the text itself. See figure at beginning of chapter 5. Hsi-yu pu ta-wen 答 問 (Questions and Answers Concerning The Tower of Myriad Morrors) signed by Ching-hsiao-chai Chu-jen 靜嘯齋 主 人 (The Master of Silent Whistle Studio,) most likely another pseudonym for Tung Yiieh; see Brandauer, Tung Tiieh, p. 20. Com m ents: This edition was photoreprinted by Wen-hsiieh ku-chi k’an-hsing-she 文 學古 藉刊行 社 (Peking) in 1955 and thereafter pro­ duced in pirated reprint by Shih-chieh shu-chii 世 界 書 局 (Taipei) in 1962. The former contains Ch’ ung-k， an wen-hsiieh ku-chi yilan-cUi 重子 文學古藉緣起（ Reasons for Reprinting Old Literary Texts) and a “ Publisher’s Explanation55 (Ch ， u-pan shuo-ming 出版説明）as well as the biographical sketch of Tung Yiieh; see edition F below. The latter substitutes an untitled introductory note identifying the edition re­ printed (edition A); the Liu biography of Tung Yiieh was printed separately by the same Taiwan publisher.

B. K ’ung-ch， ing-shih 空青室，large-format edition with commentary by San-i Tao-jen 三 一 道 人 (The Taoist Three-in-One). Prefatory material: Hsii 序 by T'ien-mu-shan C h’iao 天 目 山 樵 （ The Woodcutter from Mount T ’ien-mu，a peak near Lin-an 臨安 county in Chekiang province) and dated kuei-ch’ou meng-tung 癸妥孟冬 ，the tenth lunar month of a kuei-ch3ou year. Since this preface (partially quoted in Liu, London3 p. 218) mentions another Hsi-yu chi sequel entitled Hsi-yu chen-ch， iian 真& ，the earliest extant edition of which dates from 1780, Liu Ts’un-yan suggests that this kuei-ch3ou year was 1793 (London, p. 94)，assuming without clear cause that

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because this edition is the oldest available it must be the first. However, Sun K 3ai-ti {Chung-kuo, p. 167) while citing the 1780 Chieh-tzu-yuan 界 子 園 （ Mustard Seed Garden) edition of the latter work, notes too that its author was Ch’en Shih-pin 陳士織. C h’en was alive around 1690 (T ’an Cheng-pi, Wen-hsueh-chia^ p. 1431); Sun refers to a preface to Ch’en’s work written by Yu T ’ung 尤個. Yu, a poet, playwright, and compiler of the Ming dynastic history, died in 1704, so there is no reason to doubt the date on that preface, K ’ang-hsi ping-tzu 丙子，or 1696 (see Liu, London, p. 217). This information indicates a compilation date for the work well before 1700; -Cheng Chen-to had a K ’ang-hsi edition in his library {Hsi-fi shu-mu, p. 4.66a). Thus the date on this Hsi-yu pu preface most likely indicates 1733, and probably not 1793 as Liu and Brandauer conclude (see Brandauer, Tung Yiieh、 p. 22). Liu T s’un-yan [London、p. 217) further identifies Hsi-yu chen-ch’iian as merely an annotated version of the early Gh’ing novel Hsi-yu cheng-tao shu 證道書 by Wang Hsiang-k’uei 汪象旭 (about whom see Sun, Chung-kuo, p. 89, and T ’an ，Wen-hsueh-chia, p. 12^9); he gives no evidence to support this conclusion，nor does Sun {Chung-kuoyp. 166). Hsi-yu pu ta-wen. Tu Hsi~yu pu tsa-chi 讀 西 遊 補 雜 記 （ Miscellaneous Reading Notes on ■••)，dating from early C h’ing (see Brandauer, Tung Yiieh, p. 23). Here mention is made of Hou 後 Hsi-yu chi、a novel mentioned by Liu T ’ing-chi 割 廷 璣 （ fl. 1675) in his Tsai-yiian tsachih 在 園 雜 諸 Consequently these notes may be as early as 1700— and they ijiclude the identification of Tung Yiieh as the author of Hsi-yu pu. Com m ents: Described in Sun, Chung-kuo, p. 16.8:

C. Shen-pao-kuan 申報館，typeset edition，dated the first year of Kuanghsti, 1875. Prefatory material: Hsii, by T ’ien-mu-shan Ch’iao. Tu Hsi-ytLpu tsa-chi. Hsi-yu pu ta-wen. Hsi-yu pu tsung-shih. C om m ents: Copies described by Sun (Chung-kuo, p. 168) and Liu

(London，pp. 218—19) in the collections of Cheng Chen-to mu, 4.66b) and the British Museum,

shu-

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D. Shuo-pu ts’ung-shu 説部叢書，typeset edition, dated the third year of Hsiian-t'ung, 1911, in 2 chiian. C om m en ts ：Entitled Hsin 新 Hsi-yu chi; see H si-fi shu-mu, 4.67a.

E. Shuo-k’u 説庠，a collection of works edited by Wang Wen-ju 王文潔 (twentieth century). Shanghai: Wen-ming shu-chii, 1915; Taipei: Hsin-hsing shu-chii, 1963. Prefatory material: Hsii, by T ’ien-mu-shan Ch’iao. Hsi-yu pu ta-wen, as in edition A, minus the last six ideographs of the final answer. Hsi-yu pu tsung-shih 總 释 (General Explanations of • • .)，a summary of the novel with interspersed explanatory comments based on the Yin-Yang theory by Chen-k’ung Chii-shih 眞 空 居 士 （ The Layman True Void). Tu Hsi-yu pu tsa-chi. F. Pei-hsin shu-chu 北 新 書 局 （ Peking)，typeset edition. Prefatory material: Tung Jo-yii chuan 董若雨傳 ，by Liu Pan-nung 割 半 農 （ Liu Fu 復 ， 1891-1934) G. Shang-wu yin-shu-kuan 商務 印 書 館 （ Commercial Press， Hong Kong), 1958, typeset edition, collated and punctuated by Wang Yuan-fang 汪原放. Prefatory material: Hsuyby I-ju Chii-shih. Hsi-yu pu ta-wen. Hsii 續 ’Hsi-yu pu tsa-chi; the title here contains a typographical error, hsii for tu; see edition B above. Brandauer, Tung Tiieh, p. 23，also reads hsii. Hsi-yu pu tso-che 作者 Tung 让chuan, by Liu Fu. C om m ents: A translation has finally appeared, by Shuen-fu Lin and Larry Schulz, entitled The Tower of Myriad Mirrors: A Supplement of Journey to the West by Tung Yiieh (1620—1686、 (Berkeley: LancasterMiller ，1978).

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Sui T 3angyen-i (Romance o f the Sui rind the T'ang)

Sui Tang yen-i was compiled around 1675; prefatory comments indicate that it circulated in manuscript and was lost for a long time before its 1695 publication. There has never been any question of authorship, nor has there ever been any substantial variation among texts. For a fuller discussion of the date of composition and earlier scholarly misunder­ standings in this regard, see Hegel, “ Sources and Narrative Techniques,” pp. 6-10. Major editions include; A. Ssu-hsiieh-ts’ao-t’ang 四雪草堂，edition in 20 cM’aw，annotated. Prefatory material: Hsu 序，by Ch’u Jen-huo of Ch’angchou，dated November 22，1695. Sui T1angyen-iyiian-hsii 原序 by Lin Han 林潇，undated. Fa-fan 發凡 by the manager 主人 of Ssu-hsueh-ts'ao-t^ang, undated. Illustrations: 100 half-folio action scenes, many signed by Chao T ’ungwen 趙同文 ；the last is dated 1684. Many were copied from Forgotten Tales of the Sui illustrations. See figures for chapters 6 and 7. Full title: Ssu-hsueh-ts}ao-1iang chyung-pien t， ung-su 重.編通俗 Sui T ’ang yen~i (Ssu-hsiieh-ts’ao-t， ang’s Newly Revised Romance of the Sui and the T ’ang Done in Popular Style). C om m ents: Copies in Peking and in the Rare Books Section，National Central Library, Taipei.

B. Ch'ung-te-shu-yiian 崇德書院 edition，dated 1793; one copy in the literature section of the Kyoto University Library. C. Tzu-hou-t’ang 自厚堂 edition, “ newly engraved” in 1805, in 20 chuan, annotated. Prefatory material: Hsii 序 by Ch’u Jen-huo, dated 1695; nearly identical to that in edition A. Lin Hsii 林序 by Lin Han, dated 1508. Fa-fan, uu^ated, as in edition A. Illustrations: 44 half-folio portraits of characters. Full title: Hsiu-hsiang Sui T^angyen-i (The Illustrated Romance .. Com m ents: One copy in the Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts Reading Room, the British Museum.

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D. Kuei-pi-t， ang 室壁堂，undated edition. C om m en ts ：T h e nam e o f this printer can be found on the centers o f a few folios in the E edition; presu m ably this publisher sold the printin g blocks to another, w ho n eglected to alter them all approp riately.

E. Lien-yiian-ko 連元閣 edition，in 20 chiian, 1866, annotated. Prefatory material: Hsu, by Ch’u Jen-huo, identical to that in edition A. Tuan-ksii, by Lin Han. Fa-fan, undated, as in edition A. Illustrations: 44 half-folio portraits of characters. Full title: As in edition A. C om m ents: Except for minor misprints, this text is identical to edition A; one copy in the Fu Ssu-nien Memorial Library at the Academia Sinica, Taipei.

F. (Publisher unidentified), edition of 1896, 10 chiian. Prefatory material: Hsii by Ch*u Jen-huo, dated 1695 and 1896. Fan-li 凡例，dated 1896. Full title: Hui-t3u fung-su Sui T ’ ang yen-i (The Popular Romance … ， Illustrated). C om m ents: Copy in the Wason Collection, Cornell University.

G. Chin-chang t’u-shu-chii 錦章围書局 ，edition in 10 chiian, published in Shanghai in 1914, annotated. ' Prefatory material: Hsii, by Chsu Jen-huo, dated .1695 and 1914. Illustrations: 14 half-folio portraits o f characters. Full title: Hui-t’ u Sui T ’angjen-i (The Illustrated Romance .. •) C om m en ts ：Copy in the Chinese-Japanese Library, Harvard Univer­ sity; an excellent edition.

H. Shanghai Shang-wu yin-shu-kuan 商務印書館，edition of 1933 in one volume, annotated.

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Prefatory material: Hsii by Pu-sheng To-hen-jen of Ku-wu 古 吳 補 生 多 恨 人 （ Full of Sorrows，the Part-time Student from Soochow), Illustrations: 20 quarter-page and one full-page illustrations, portraits of characters. Full title: Sui T^angyen-i C om m en ts ：Appears to be a reprint of edition G; copies in the East Asiatic Library’，University of California, Berkeley, and in the East Asian Library, Columbia University.

I.

Shanghai Ku-tien wen-hsiieh ch’u-pan-she 古 典 文 學 出 版 社 ，edition of 1956, two volumes. Prefatory material: Ch3u-pan shuo-ming by the Editorial Board of Shanghai Ku-tien wenhsiieh ch’u-pan-she，dated 1955. Illustrations: 100 full-page action scenes reprinted from edition A. Full title: Sui T^angyen-i. Com m ents: A modern punctuated edition of edition A omitting the original annotations. Pirated by Shih-chieh shu-chii 世 界 書局 in Taipei in 1962 as a two-volume hardcover edition, reissued in 1963 as a three-volume paperback. Also photoreprinted by Hsiieh-lin shu-tien 學林書店 in Hong Kong, 1966, in two volumes.

J.

Hong Kong (?) Kuang-wen 光文 edition, undated, in two volumes. C om m en ts ：A cheap edition, rife with misprints, on low-quality paper, probably from the late 1950s.

K . Hong Kong Kwong Chi Bookstore 廣 智 書 局，edition in two volumes, unillustrated, unannotated. , C om m ents: This 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. Probably from the early or middle 1960s.

L. Taipei, Li-ming ch’u-pan-she 黎 明 出 版 社 ，undated edition in one volume.

Textual Histories

253

C om m en ts ：An inexpensive edition including only the text without prefatory material, annotations, or illustrations, apparently based on edition A without major textual alterations. Probably from the middle or late 1960s.

Glossary

a i愛 ai ts^aiju ming 愛才如命 An Lu-shan 安祿山 “ C h’an ballads” 禪樂府 Ch'an-chen i-shih 禪眞逸史 Chang Ch’ao 張潮 Chang Chien-chih 張束之 Chang Chii-cheng 張居正 Chang Chu-p’o 張竹坡 Chang Hsien-chung 張廉忠 Chang Hsiieh-ch’eng 章學誠 Chang Jan 張然 Chang Lien 張連 Chang P’u 張薄 chang-p3u 帳薄 • Ch’angchou 長洲 “ Ch ， ang-hen chuan” 長恨傳 Chao-tai ts’ ung-shu 昭代叢書 “ Chao-jang meng-shih hsii” 昭陽夢

史序 chen (truth)眞 Chen-chu-shan 珍珠衫 “ Chen-chung chi” 枕中記 chen-shen 眞却 Ch’en Chi-ju 陳繼•(需 C h’en Ch’i-yii 陳奇瑜 Ch’en Hung 陳鴻 Ch’en Shou 陳壽 Cheng Ch’eng-kung 鄭成功 Cheng Ch’i 鄭啓 Cheng Ch’u-hui 鄭處錄 “ Cheng-meng p’ien” 徵夢篇 cheng-ming 正名

cheng-sheng 正生 Ch’eng Hao 程顥 Ch’eng I 程頤 Ch’eng Yao-chin 程咬金 “ Chi” (a Kuei Chuang poem ) 飢 chi-chii 集句 ch’ i 氣 起

氧

Ch}i-kuo k’ ao 七國考 Ch’i-tung Yeh-jen 齊東野人 Ch3i~tungyeh-yii 齊東野語 Chia-erh ssu-yii 家兒私語 chia-jen 佳人 Chia-shen chi-shih 甲申紀事 Chiang Ts’ai-p’ing (Mei-fei)

江采蘋， 梅妃 chieh 節 Chieh-kua kung 節补宮 Chieh-tzu-yiian hua-ckuan 茶子園晝傳 Chieh-tzu-yiian pieh-yeh | 子園

别業 Chien-hsiao-ko 劍脅閣 Chien-hu chi 怒紙集 Chien-she te wen-hsiieh ko-ming 建設的

文學革命 chien-sheng^ 生 C h ’ien Ch’ien-i 錢謙益 Ch’ien-lzu wen 千字文 chih-chuanyen-i 志傳演義 Chin Chiin-ming 金俊明 Chin.P’ ing Mei 金瓶梅 Chin Sheng't’an 金聖嘆 Chin-luan mi-chi 金變密記

256

chin-shih 進士 C h’in Kuei 秦檜 C h’in Shu-pao 秦权寶 Ching-huayuan 鏡花緣 Ching-shih tfung-yen 警世通言 ching-tso 靜坐 ching-ying 經營 chHng (blue-green) 青 ch， ing (desire) 情 ch’ing-ch’ing ch’un-yeh 青青春舒 Ch’ing-ch’ing shih-chieh 青青世界 ch3ing4 清義 Ch’ing-yii ching 鯖魚精 “ Ch ， iu-jan-k’o chuan” 此餐客傳 “ Ch’iung M a Chou tsao-chi maitui-wen” 窮馬周遭際賣f 追媼 Chou，king of Shang 商纣王 Chou Ch’i-sheng 周綺生 Chou M i 周密 Chou Shun-ch’ang 周順昌 Chou T u n -i 周敦頤 Chu Ch’ang-lo 朱常洛 Chu H si 朱鲁 Chu I-chun 朱舜I鈞 Chu I-tsun 朱弈尊 Chu Kuei-erh 朱貴兒 Chu Sui-ch’u 朱遂初 Chu Yu-chiao 朱由校 Chu Yu-chien 朱由檢 Chu Yu-sung 朱由寂 Chu Yii-chien 朱幸鍵 chu-ch’ ung 故 A Chuang-tzu 莊子 chung 忠 Chung ching 忠經 chung-i 忠 義 、 Chung-tsung, T ’ang emperor 唐中宗 Chung-yung 中庸 Ch’u Ch’eng-tz’u 豬承慈 Ch’u Chi 褚笈 Ch’u Chuan 褚篆

Glossary

Ch’u Jen-huo (Ch’u Chia-hsiian, Ch’u H siieh-chia) 褚人穫， 稼 軒 ，學稼， Ch’u Sui-liang 褚遂良 Ch’u-chiang ch’ ing 楚江情 ch， uan-ch3i (plays) 傳奇 ch’uan-ch3i (stories)傳奇 chu-jen 舉人 Chiieh-shih ming-yen 覺世明言 Chiin fien-le 鈞天樂 chiin-tzu 君子 ch’ ii (poetry) 曲 Ch’iian Lao-shih 權老實 Crab hexagram 蟹补 Erh-k3o P3ai~an ching-ch3i 二刻桕案

驚奇 Jo.法 fa-chia 法家 “ Fan Chii-ch’ing chi-mai ssu-sheng chiao ”范巨卿雞黍死生交 Fang I-chih 方以智 Fangju-hao 方汝浩 Fang Pao 方苞 Feng Meng-lung 馬夢龍 Feng-1丨 u huang-ti 風流皇帝 Feng-shenyen-i 封神演義 fu (district)府 fu (rhymeprose) 職 Fu K u n g 傅肱 Fu-lin 福臨 Fu-she 復社 Fu-she hsing-shih lu 復社姓氏錄 Green-coated Commissioner

碧衣使者 Hai-shan chi 海山記 Han W o 韓4屋 Han-kung ch’iu 漢宮秋 hao-chieh 豪储 . Hao-ch’ iu chuan 好迷傳 Hei pai w ei 黑合衛 Ho Ch’ou 何糊 Hou Fang-yu 侯方域

Glossary

Hou Han shu 後漢書 Hsi-hsiang chi 西肩記 Hsi-lou chi 西樓記 hsi-wen 戲文 Hsi-yu chi 西遊記 Hsi-yu 西遊補 Hd-yu ifa n 西遊談 hsia 侠 Hsiang Yii 項羽 hsiang-kung 相公 Hsiang-yiin 香雲 hsiao 孝 Hsiao, Sui empress 莆后 Hsiao ching 孝經 Hsiao-yiieh-wang 小月王 hsien (county) 縣 hsien (immortal) 仙 Hsien-ch3ing ou-chi 間情偶寄 Hsin the Ancient 新古人 Hsin Ch’i-chi (Hsin Chia-hsiian)

辛棄疾，稼軒 Hsin-ching 心經 hsin-hsiieh 心學 hsin-yiian 心據 Hsing-shih heng-yen 輯■世怪言 hsiu-ts’ai 秀才 Hsiung Wen-ts’an 熊文燦 Hsii C h’ang-tso 狳昌神 Hsii Ch’ien 徐济 Hsii Ching 許靖 Hsii Fang 徐■枋 Hsii Fu-tso 徐'復作 Hsii Hsieh-p3u 續蟹譜 Hsii K ’o 徐柯 Hsii Shao 許 勁 Hsii Ting-tso 徐源祚 Hsii T z ’u-yiin 僚紫雲 Hsu W e i 除渭 “ Hsii Yu-kuai lu” 續幽怪錄 Hsiian, king of Chou 周宣王 Hsiian-ho i-shih 宣和遺事 Hsiian-yeh 玄哮

257 Hu S h ih 胡適 Hua M u -la n 花木蘭 Hua Y u -la n 花又蘭 Hua-ch’en 花晨 hua-pen 話本 ‘‘Hua-yin Tao-jen chuan”

花隱道人傳 huan (fancy) 幻 Huang Tsung-hsi 黃宗羲 “ Huang-liang meng” 黃粱夢 Hung Sheng 洪界 Hung-chu 弘儲 Hung-lou meng 紅樓夢 Huo-yen-shan 火焰山 i (chivalry, altruism )義 / ching易經 I-chiayen 一家言 i-hsiieh 義學 i-ma意馬 Jen Wei-ch’u 任維初 Jou p’u-tuan 肉蒲團 jou-ts， ung-jung 肉蓰袭 Ju-lin wai-shih丨需林外史 Juan Ta-ch’eng 阮大錢 Jui-chu 端珠 Jui-chu Kung-jen 蕊珠宮人 Ju i-yu 瑞玉 Jui-yii chi 瑞玉記 K ’ai T ’ ien ch， uan-hsin chi 開天傳信記 K， ai~ho chi 開河記 K 3ai-yuan Tien-pao i-shih 開元天寶

遺事 K ’ang Hai 康海 Kao P ， an-lung 高擎龍 “ Kao-t’ang fu” 高唐武 K ing Little Moon 小月王 ksou 口 K o xin ga 國姓筆 K u Chen-kuan 顧貞觀 K u Hsien-ch’eng 顧憲成 K u L in g 類琴 K u Y en -w u 顧炎武

258

Ku-chin hsiao-shuo 古今小説 Ku-feng Chang-lao 孤參長老 uKuan-yiian-sou wan feng hsiennii” 灌園臾晚逢仙女 Kuei Chuang 歸莊 Kuei-Jan 闇凡 kuei-yu 务 胃 “ K ’un-lun nu” 鼠备奴 Kung Ting-tzu H ■孳 kung-kuo-ko 功過格 kung-sheng 贡生 K ’ung Shang-jen 孔尚任 K ’ung-sheng Immortal 孔异眞人 Kuo shih p u 國史補 Lei Hai-ch’ing 雷海凊

"禮 Li C h a o 李肇 tfLi Che-hsien tsui ts’ao hsia-man shu” 李謫仙醉草赫蠻書 Li Chih (Li Cho-w u) 李 卓吾 Li Ching 李靖 Li Fu-yen 李復言 Li Hsiang-chiin 李香君 Li Ju-chen 李汝珍 Li K ’uei 季連 Li L in -fu 李林甫 Li Lung-chi 李隆基 Li M i 李密 “ Li Mo ch’ui-ti chi” 李綦吹笛記 Li Pao-chia 李寶嘉 Li P o 李白 Li Shao-wen 李紹文 Li Shih-chen 李時珍 Li Shih-min 李世民 Li Tzu-ch’eng 李自成 Li Yen-nien 秦延年 Li Yii (Li Li-weng) 李漁， 笠翁 Li Yiian 李淵 Li-chi 禮記 li-hsiieh 理學 Hang 兩 Liang Ch’i-ch’ao 梁啓超

Glossary

Lin Ch’ung 林冲 Ling Meng-ch’u 凌蒙初 Ling-yen monastery 靈嚴寺 Liu Ching-t’ing 柳敬亭 Liu Cking-fing chuan 柳敬亭傳 Liu E 到鶉 Liu S u 劉铼 Liu T ’ing-chi f'J 廷璣 Liu Wu-chou f'J 武周 liu-lin 六林 Liu-shih-chung ch3u 六十種曲 liu-tsei 六賊 L o l (Li I ) 羅 ( 李 ） 藝 Lo Kuan-chung 羅f 中 Lo Shih-hsin 羅士信 Lo-sha N i i 羅刹女 Lu Chih-shen 魯智深 Lu T z ’u-yiin 陸次雲 Lii K ’un 呂坤 Lii T ’ien-ch’eng 呂天成 lii-chin 綠錦 lii-lin 綠林 lii-shui 綠水 “ Luan tzu shang tso” 亂自上作 “ Lun hsiao-shuo yii chun-chih chih kuan-hsi”論小說與羣治之

闞係 Lun-yii 論語 Ma Shu-mou 麻叔謀 Mackerel S p ir it ， 鯖魚精 Mao Chin 毛晉 Mao L u n 毛伶 Mao Tse-tung 毛澤東 Mao Tsung-kang 毛家崗 “ Mei-fei chuan” 梅妃傳 men-skeng 門生 Meng-hsiang chih 夢鄉志 “ Meng-she yiieh” 夢社約 Meng-tzu 孟子 M i-lou 迷樓 Mi-lou chi迷樓記 min-shih 民士

Glossary

Ming-huang, T ’ang emperor

唐明皇 Ming-huang tsa-lu 明皇雜錄 Ming-i tai-fang lu 明夷待訪錄 Ming shih 明史 M onkey 孫、 悟空 M u-lan 木蘭 JVa-ju shan-fang shuo-yu 娜如山房

説尤 Nan-chien (Tung Yiieh )南潜 “ Nan-k’o t’ai-shou chuan” 南柯太 字傳

Nan-puyen-hua lu 南部煙花錄 Nan-yiieh 南徵 New T ’ang 新唐 nien-chia fung-hsiieh 年家同學 pa-ku wen八股文 Pai-chia hsing 百家姓 pai-shen nan-shu 百身難贖 P’an An-jen (P’an Y iie h ) 海安仁， 岳 pao-en報恩 Pao-yu 寶玉 Paramita，Prince 波羅密王 P’ei Sung-chih 裴松之 F e i T i 裴廸 Pen-tfao kang-mu 本草綱目 pi-kengyen-fien筆耕石見田 “ Pi-luan” 避亂 P’i-pu-tai Ho-shang 皮布袋和尚 Ping-ch3en cha-chi 丙辰莉記 PHng-yao chuan 平妖傳 po-hsiieh hung-ju (々 u ) 博學

鴻儒（ 詞） Po-lo-mi w a n g 波羅密王 P’u Sung-ling 蒲松龄 Rakshasa, Madame 羅刹女 Sai K ’un-lun 赛氣备 san-chiao 三敎 San-kuo chih 三國志 San-kuo chihyen-i 三國志演義 San-tzu ching 三字經 San-wu ■.三五歷記

259 se色 Shan Hsiung-hsin 單雄信 shan-lei 善類 shan-shu 善書 shang-fai 上台 Shao M i 邵彌 Shen Hsin-yu 沈心友 Shen Nung 神農 Shen T ’ai 沈泰 Shen T e -fu 沈德符 Shen T ’ung-ho 沈同和 Shen-hsien kan-yii chuan 神仙感遇傳 Sheng Ming tsa-chu 盛明雜削 sheng-yiian 生員 shih (poetry)詩 Shih chi 史記 Shih ching 詩經 Shih Nai-an 施耐疼 shih-ch’ing shu 世情書 Shih-erh lou 十二樓 shih-hua 詩話 Shih-t^o 石濤 Shih-fou chi 石頭記 ‘‘Shih tso-yung che, ch’i wei shengjen hu ”始作俑者其惟聖人乎 ‘‘Shih-tso yung che, ch*i wu-hou hu ”始作俑者其無後乎 shih-yiin 時運 Shu ching 書經 shu-yiian 書院 Shuang-chung chi 雙忠記 Shui Ping-hsin 水冰心 ‘‘Shun T ’ien-i，ying jen-hsin， ，

顺天意， 應人心 Shuo Tang hou-chuan 説唐後傳 Shuo T 3ang san-chuan 説唐三傳 Shuo T angyen-i 説唐演義 Sou-shen chi 捷神記 Ssu-hsiieh-ts’ao-t’ang 四雪草堂 Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遂 Ssu-ma Kuang 司馬光 Ssu-shengyiian 四聲辕

260 Ssu-shu 四書 Su K ’un-sheng 蘇敦生 Su Liang-ssu 蘇良關 Su Shih (Su Tung-p’o ) 蘇試，東坡 suan 算 Sui i-lu 隋遺錄 Sui shih i-wen隋史遺文 Sui shu 隋書 Sui Tang chia-hua 隋唐嘉話 Sui Tang liang-ch’ao chih-chuan 隋唐

兩朝志傳 Sui Vang yen-i 隋唐演義 “ Sui Yang-ti i-yu chao-ch’ien”

隋蜴帝逸遊召譴 Sui Yang-tiyen-shih 隋場帝絶史 Sun Chih-mi 孩玫彌 Sun Wu-k’ung，Pilgrim 孫悟空行者 Sung Chiang 宋江 Sung shih 宋史 Ta-hsiieh 大學 Ta~yeh shih-i chi 大業拾遺記 fa-k3ung-erh 踏空兒 Tai-tsung ，T ’ang emperor 唐代宗 Tai-yii 黛玉 T^ai-p’ ing kuang-chi 太平廣記 T'ai-tsung, T ’ang emperor 唐太宗 Tao-chi 道濟 Tao-hua shan 桃花扇 T ’ao-huayiian 桃花源 T i Ch'ii-hsieh 狄去邪 tiao-kuei 吊說 Tiao p’ i-p’a 弔乾琶 T ’ieh Chung-yu 鐵中玉 T ’ieh-shan 鐵扇 T， ien-tu Wai-ch， en 天都外臣 Ting Yao-k5ang 丁耀尤 Ting-chia k}ao 鼎甲考 Tou Chien-te 竇建德 Trip itaka 三藏， 唐僧 tsa-tzu 雜字 Tsai-yiian tsa-chih 在園雜諸、 ts3ai-tzu 才子

Glossary

ts3ai-tzu chia-jen hsiao-shuo 才子佳人

小説 ts3ai-tzu du 才子書 . Tsang Mou-hsun (Tsang Chinshu) 藏懋循， 晉叔 . Ts’ao Hsiieh-ch’in 曹雪芹 Ts’ao Jung 曹容 Ts’ao Y eh 曹鄴 Tso chuan 左傳 tso-jen pu-ch?eng 作人不成 tso-shih 座師 Ts’ui-sheng Niang 翠繩娘 “ Ts’ui-ya-lou” 萃雅樓 Tu Chiin 杜淳 Tu Kuang-t’ing 杜光庭 Tu “ Li-sao” 讀離騷 “ Tu San-kuo chih fa” 讀三國志法 Tu-ku，Sui empress 獨孤后 Tu-shih sui-pi 讀史隨筆 “ Tuan fa” 斷髮 Tung Ch’i-ch’ang 董其昌 Tung C h ’iao 董樵 Tung Chou lieh-kuo chih 東周列國志 Tung Fang 董肪 Tung Han 董含 Tung Hsi Han fung-suyen-i 東西漢 通 俗漬 義

Tung Hsiang 董庠 Tung Huan 董環 Tung Lei 董 耒 ' Tung M u 董牧 Tung Pin 董份 Tung Ssu-chang 董斯張 Tung Tao-ch’un 董道醇 T u n g T s’un 董村 Tung Y ii 董漁 Tung Yueh (Tung Jo-yii) 董説， 若雨 Tung-lin Academy 東林書院 fung-hsin 童心 t’ ung-nien 同年 Tzu-chih fung-chien 資治通鏗 “ Tzu-ch’ao” 自嘲

Glossary

tzyu (lyrics) 詞 Wa-kang 瓦崗 Wan-erh 碗 兒 Wan-hua-lou 萬 花樓 “ Wan-ku-ch’iu chsii5J萬古愁曲 Wan-shih 頑石 Wang Ghiu-ssu 王九思 Wang Gho-shan 王新山 Wang Fu-chih 王 夫 之 Wang Hsiu-ch’u 王 秀 楚 Wang Hui 王翬 Wang I 王義 Wang Jen-yii 王 仁 裕 Wang K ai 王 概 Wang Ken 王艮 Wang Po-tang 王伯當 Wang Shih-chen (1634-1711) 王士稍

Wang Shih-chen (1526-1590) 王世眞

Wang Tao-kun 王道昆 Wang Wei 王維 W ang Yang-ming (Wang Shouje n ) 王 陽 明 ，守仁 W ei3 empress of T ’ang 章洽 Wei Cheng 魏徵 Wei Chieh 衛蛣 Wei Chien 章堅 Wei Chung-hsien 级 忠 賢 wei shih-jen shuofa 爲 世 人 説 法 Wei-yang Sheng 未央生 Wen, Sui emperor 隋文帝 Wen Chen-heng 文震亨 Wen Tien 文點 Wen T ’ien-hsiang 文天祥 wen i tsai tao 文 以 载 道 wen-jen 文人 World of the Ancients 古 人 世 界 World of Fools 緣目篕世界 World of the Future 未 來 世 界 World of Greenness 青 青 世 界 Wu, empress of T ’ang 武后

261 Wu Wu Wu Wu Wu Wu

Ch’eng-en 吳承恩 P in g 吳烟 San-kuei 吳 三 桂 S u n g 武松 Tse-t5ieu 武 則天 Wei-yeh (Wu Mei-ts3un) 吳 偉 業 ，梅村

W u W o -y ao 吳 沃 堯 Wu Ying-ch’i 吳 應 箕 Wu-ch’ing 悟青 wu-hsia hsiao-shuo 武 侠 小 説 Wu-k’ung 悟空 Wu-sheng hsi 無 聲 戲 wu-yiin 五兹 Yang, Sui Emperor 隋場帝 Yang Ai (Ho-tung-chun) 揚 愛 ’ 河東君

Yang Chii-yiian 揚巨 源 Yang H o 揚鶴 Yang I-ch’en 揚義臣 Yang Kuang 揚廣 Yang Kuei-fei 揚 貴妃 Yang Kuo-chung 揚 國 忠 Yang S u 煬素 “ Yang T ’ai-chen wai-chuan” 煬太眞外傳

Yang Wan-li 揚 萬 里 Yang-chou shih-jih chi 揚 州 十 日 記 yeh ch}engyiieh-tan Ch3un-ch3iu 也成月旦春狄

Yen Shih-fan 嚴 世 蕃 Yen Shih-ku 顏師古 Yen-fang 絶芳 Yen-lo, king of Hades 閻羅王 yin-shu 淫書 yin-tsei 陰賊 Yin-Yang 陰陽 ying-yii se-fi 硬 語 遞 體 Y u T ’ung 尤侗 yu-hsiieh 遊學 Yii, Beauty 虞 美 人 Tu Chiao L i 玉綠梨

262 Tii Ch’ u hsin-chih 虞初新志 Y ii Huai 余懷 Y ii Shih-nan 虞世南 Yii-ch’ih Ching-te 尉 遲 敬 德 Yii-chung tsa-chi 獄 中 雜 記 Yii-wen Hua-chi 宇 文 化 及 Yii-wen Hui-chi 宇 文惠 及 Yuan Chen 元模 Yiian Chiung 袁装 Yiian Hung-tao 袁宏道 Yiian Nien 袁年 Yiian Pao 袁褒 Yiian Pao-erh 袁寶兒

Glossary

Yiian Ting 袁鼎 Yiian Yii-ling (Yiian T Jo-an) 袁 于 令 ，蘀菴

Tuan ch， ii hsiian 元油逯 Tuan-chiieh ching 圓覺經 yiian-pen, pen-chuan 原 本 ，本傳 “ Yiian-yiian chuan” 圓圓傳 Yiieh Fei 岳飛 Yiieh Shih 樂史 yileh-fu (b allad ) 樂府 Yiin Jih-ch’u 揮日初 Yiin Shou-p’ing 惲壽平

Notes

I. The World Behind the Novel: China in the Seventeenth Century 1. Kuei Chuang, K u e i C h u a n g chi, pp. 44-45. Line 7 contains a quota­ tion from the S hih ch in g (Book o f Songs)，poem 194，“wide and great Heaven， ” line 8 from Songs, poem 191，“to d r iv e .T h e first laments the calamities sent by Heaven; its singer complains that his talents have been overlooked by those in power. “Harassed” is my substitution for “driving” or “driven;” this second allusion is to one o f the few signed poems in Songs, and one of the many that lament the chaos caused by inept rulers. 2. Robert Scholes and Robert Kellogg, T he N a tu re o f N arrative ， p. 83. 3. Frederick Mote, “The Cosmological Gulf between China and the West， ’’ p. 16. 4 . See, for example, the comments o f Chang Hsiieh-ch’eng (1738—1801), who in his P in g -c h ’en cha-chi allows that although novels that are either all fact or all fiction cause no harm, those that combine fact with fancy cause confusion and delude the reader. Quoted in K’ung Ling-ching, ed., C h un g-ku o hsiao-shuo shih-liao, pp. 30-31. Others simply dismissed much vernacular fiction as lewd; see comments by Tung Han concerning the works o f his contemporary Li Yii in Wang Hsiao-ch’uan ，comp., Y u a n M in g C h ’in g san-tai chin -h u i hsiao-shuo hsi-ch’ii shih-liao, p. 311, and so on. However, as Andrew H. Plaks has recently observed, this low opinion of the novel seems to be exclusively a Ch’ing phenomenon not widely shared by thinkers o f the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. See his “Full-length hsiao-shuo and the Western Novel: A Generic Reappraisal,” p. 168. 5 . Note the comments in this regard in Liang Ch’i-ch’ao’s 1902 essay “Lun hsiao-shuo yii chiin-chih chih kuan-hsi/* in C hun g-ku o ch ’u -p an shih-liao pu-p ien ; in Hu Shih’s “Chien-she-te wen-hsiieh ko-ming lun/' H u S h ih wents'uriy 1:55-73. Such sentiments are echoed in Pearl S. Buck’s T he Chinese N o vel, pp. and Feng Yuan-chiin, A Short History o f C lassical Chinese L it­ erature, pp. 90-91 ， 95, etc. 6. This is a major point o f emphasis for Mao Tsetung in his 1942 “Talks at the Yenan Forum on Art and Literature， ’’ Selected W orks o f M a o T setung ， 3:69-98; Mao there stresses the reexamination o f old popular litera­ ture to find forms appropriate for reaching the mass audience with new val­ ues. C. T. Hsia discusses this movement briefly in his T h e Classic Chinese N o v el ， pp. 3ff” particularly the negative views o f old novels held by twen­ tieth-century writers. In this regard, see Jaroslav Prusek, “Introduction， ” Studies in M o d e m Chinese Literature ， p. 19. 7. See, for example, Wu Hsiao-ju, C h un g-ku o hsiao-shuo chiang-hua chi ch ’i-t’a ， p. 32; Liu Ts’un-yan，“Social and Moral Limitations of Chinese Fic­

264

The World Behind the Novel

tion Before the Republic， ’’ Selected Papers fr o m the H a ll o f H arm onious W ind, esp. pp. 358- 5 9 * 8. This theory has been advanced selectively by the Western scholars Patrick D. Hanan in his “The Development of Fiction and Drama， ” esp. 5(2 )： 63-97. _ _ r “ A Tower of Myriad Mirrors: Theory and Practice of Narrative in the Hsi-yu pu.” In Wen4in: Studies in the Chinese Humanities, Vol. 2. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, forthcoming. Kao, Yu-kung. “ A Study of the Fang La Rebellion,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (1962- 1963)，24: 17-63. Keng Hsiang-yiian 狀湘无 . Kyung Shang-jen Tao-hua shan yen-chiu 孔尚任 桃花扇研宄 • Taipei: Chia-hsin shui-ni kung-ssu，1975. Kessler，Lawrence D. “ Chinese Scholars and the Early M ancha State.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (1971), 31: 179-200. K’ang-hsi and the Consolidation of Ch’ ing Rule, 1661-1684. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 19*76. K u Chieh-kang. “ A Study of Literary Persecution during the M ing.” L. C. Goodrich, trans. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (1938), 3: 254- 3 1 】. 、 K ’ung Ling-ching 孔另境 . Chung-kuo hsiao-shuo shih-liao 中國小説史料 . 1936；reprint Taipei: Chung-hua shu-chii, 1957. K sung Shang-jen yen-chiu tz’u-liao hui-pien 孔， 尚任研究資料棄編 • Reprint Hong Kong: Tao Chai Bookstore, 1974. Laing，Ellen Johnston. “ Wen Tien and Chin Chiin-ming.” Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1976), 8(2): 411-22.

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Index

Fate, 106, 1 0 9 - 1 1 , 118 , 13 7 -3 9 F en g M eng-lung: short story collections, x , 4 8 ,5 9 , 1 2 1 ， 19 2 ,2 3 6 ,2 3 9 -4 0 ; novels, 1， 59, 14 1, 227, 241; oth er writings, 25, 59-60 , 121; relationship with Y u an Y u -lin g, 121 Feng-shen yen-i, see Investiture o f the Gods Filial piety (hsiao), 35, 89, 124 Forgotten Tales o f the Sui (Sui shih i-wen): social criticism in, 112 , 120, 2 2 1 ， 232; as source f o r later novels, 123, 190, 193, 227, 239; editions, 123, 2 2 7 ，245-46; w ritten sources fo r, 124 ，190, 238-39; C h ’in S h u -p ao’s choice o f social role, 12 4 -3 2 , 220, 228; C h ’e n g Yao-ch in as com ic h e ro , 13 2 -3 7 ; fate in, 13 7 -3 9 Franke, H erb ert, 229 F reud , Sigm u nd , see D ream s Fu-she, see Revival Society “ G enius and beauty” h e ro types (ts’ai-tzu chia-jen), 168 ，1 7 3 -7 7 “ G en ius and beauty” rom ances (ts’ai-tzu chia-jen hsiao-shuo), 1 7 3 -7 6 , 182-83, 184; p a ro d ied in Prayer M at of Flesh, 17 6 -7 7 , 229; as m odel fo r a Romance o f the Sui and the T ’ang episode, 206; see also Hao-ch’iu chuan, Yii Chiao L i G ran d C an al, in fiction, 90, 92, 127 H anan , Patrick D .，230 H an W o, 236 hao-chieh, see “ Stalw art” h e ro type Hao-ch’iu chuan (The Fortunate Union), 175 H eaven， x x i, 33, 1 ^ - 3 9 H erm its: historical, 2 1 ， 3 6 -3 7 , 39, 4 2 ,4 9 , 50; in fiction, 91 H ierarch y in society, 34, 35,. 39 H istory and historians, 8 6 -8 7, 108 ，109, 224 Hsia, see “ Sw ordsm an” h ero type H sia, C . T ” 238 H sia, T . A ., 160 H siu n g W en-ts’a n ，83 Hsi-yu chi, see Journey to the West Hsi-yu pu, see Tower o f Myriad Mirrors H sii C h ’ang-tso, 283 H sii C h ’ie n ，49 H sii Fan g, 49 H sii Fu-tso, 283-84 H sii K ’o, 50, 208

Ind ex

H sii T in g -tso, 283 H u a n g T su n g-h si, 30, 44, 79, 265, 273 Hua-pen vern acu lar short stories, x ’ 2 , 】 21,

239-40 H u n g -ch u , 146 Hung-lou meng, see Dream o f the Red Chamber H u n g S h en g ，208, 278 H u Shih, 263 Illustrations, in novels, 10, 1 1 , 2 42-47, 250 -52; exam ples, 66 ，104 ，140 ，188, 218 Incom e o f gen try, 8 -9 , 12, 269 In com e o f w o rk in g p eop le, 7 -8 , 266 Individualism , 4 3 -4 4 , 5 2 -56 , 69, 106 ff. Investiture o f the Gods (Feng-shen yen-i) t 10, 157, 208, 224, 286, 287 Jou p^u-t'uan, see Prayer M at o f Flesh Journey to the West (fisi-yu chi), ix, xiii, 14 2-4 4 . 203, 324, 235, 239 Ju-lin wai-shih, see Scholars K ’ang-hsi, C h ’in g em p eror, x , 29 -30 ,20 4 , 207 K ian gn an , see Y a n g tze valley K n igh t-erran t, see “Stalw art ” ；“Swordsm an” K u ei C h u an g , 1, 46, 50, 53, 62, 78, 2 71, 278 K ’u n g Shang-jen, 181; and Peach Blossom Fan (T’ao-hua shan)t x , 25, 67, 189 K u n g T in g -tzu , 48, 185 K u Y en -w u , 18, 30, 44, 50 L a n g u a g e style, o f novels, xi, 17, 85, 134, 144, 20B, 230 Legalism , 39-40 L i (ritual a n d p ropriety), 35 L ian g C h ’i-ch’ao, 263 Li C h ih , 43, 209, 270 L i Ju -chen , 229 L in g M en g-ch’u , xi, 192, 238 Li Pao-chia, 228 Literacy, see B ooks; Literate grou p s in society; Population L iterary borrow in g, 8 5 ， 1 4 1 ， 19 0 -9 1,

235 ff*

Literary conventions, xi, 230, 231 L iterary criticism , see N ovel criticism

333 Literary language tales, see C h’uan-ch’i Literate grou ps in society, 2, 3, 12-22 U tera ti (wen-jen), 3, 28, 30, 37, 44-52 Literati novels, xii, 2, 3, 58 ff. Literati values, 12, 28, 30, 3 1 , 36, 39, 4 0 -4 1， 4 4 -4 5 , 52 ff. L i T zu -ch 'e n g , 2 5 -2 7 , 77, 83, 122, 221 Liu C h in g-t’ing: biograph ical data, 2 1,4 8 , 5 1 , 238 ，268; as a character in Peach Blossom Fan, 189-90, 19 1, 204 Liu E, 228 L iu T 'in g -ch i, 181 L i Y ii: stories, xi, 18 2-8 3, 185, 289; and Prayer Mat o f Flesh, 1 ，16 7 ，228 ，229; biograph ical data, 2 1, 46, 5 0 -5 1 , 1 2 1 ， 1 8 1 -8 7 ，278; o th e r writings, 21, 48; views on literature, 6 2 -6 3 , 78, 222, 232; see also Prayer M at o f Flesh Loyalty (chung)'. to a state, historical, 37, 49; in Water Margin, 75 , 82, 84; in Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang, 98 -99 , 102; in Forgotten Tales o f the Sui, 105, 124; in Tower o f Myriad Mirrors, 15 3 -5 4 ; in R o­ mance o f the Sui and the T ’ang, 196; to a person , in Water Margin ， 74, 9 6 -9 7; in Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang, 97-98 ; see also M in g loyalists Loyalty, Classic o f (Chung ching), 96, 287 M anchus: ru le in C hin a, ix , 8, 26, 4 5 ,4 6 ; invasion o f C hin a, 2 5 -2 6 ，6 7 ， 123, 1 5 0 -5 1 ，15 4 -5 5 , 225, 2 7 4 -7 5 , 279 M ao C h in , 59, 267, 268 M ao L u n , xii, 212 , 305 M ao T se -tu n g , 263, 284 M ao T su n g -k a n g ：Romance o f the Three Kingdoms com m entary, xii, xv, 60, 6 1, 20 9-10 , 2 1 2 -1 3 , 214 , 21*7，223; bio­ grap h ical data, 1 ， 60, 208 M arxist literary analysis, 7 5 -7 8 Mencius (Meng tzu), 33, 35, 3 8 ,4 2 , 57, 17 1 , 172 M erchants, 6, 9, 20, 272 Merry Adventures o f Emperor Yang, The (Sui Yang-tiyen-shih): auth orsh ip and dating, 85; w ritten sources, 85, 9 1, 236-39; political com m en tary in, 8 5 -10 3 , 220, 225; social com m entary in, 10 6 -11,2 2 0 , 225, 228; as source fo r o th e r novels, 124, 190, 193, 195, 197, 199, 201; edi­ tions, 227, 2 4 1-4 4

334 M in g loyalists, 26-29, 30 ，123 ，146-48, 189, 222, 304 M in g politics, ix, 2 2 -2 7, 6 6 -6 7, 9 1-9 6 , 148 -49, 225 M odels ， 挪 B eh avioral m odels; Role m od­ els M onks, 2 1, 27, 69 M ote, Frederick W ., 233 M urder, 18; in fiction, 9 1 ,1 0 0 - 2 ,1 1 0 ,1 1 8 N eo-C on fucian ism , 4 1 -4 4 , 58, 96 N ovel criticism , xii, 3 3 ,5 8 ,6 1 ,7 8 ,2 0 9 - 1 6 , 2 ig ff. Novelists, i, 38, 45, 6 0 -6 1, 225; see also C h ’u Jen-huo; F en g M en g-lun g; Li Yii; T in g Y ao-k’ang; T u n g Y u eh ; Yiian Y ii-lin g Novels: as elite art form , 2, 3, 1 1 ，60; as p op u lar read in g m aterial, 2, 264 O m en s, in fiction, 7 8 -8 1 ，88, 89, 90, 97, 100, 10 9 -10 P'ing-yao chuan, see Quelling the Demons’ Revolt Plaks, A n d rew , 23 1, 232 Plays, 46, 4 7, 53, 59, 7 1 - 7 2 , 12 1 -2 2 ; see also Ck'uan-chi plays; Tsa-chii plays Poetry, 46, 4 7 ，5 3 ，57, 6 1 - 6 3 ， in novels, 85, 94-95 P opulation o f C h in a in the seventeenth cen tu ry, 6, 14, 264-65; literate pop u la­ tion, 1 7 ,2 7 0 - 7 1 Prayer Mat o f Flesh, The (Jou p ’u-t’uan): authorship, 167, 18 1-8 3; synopsis, 16 7-6 9 ; B udd hist m oral, 1 7 0 - 7 1 ; ele­ m ents o f p arod y and satire, 1 7 1 -8 1 , 198, 214, 222, 228, 232; view ed as p orn ograp h y, 171,2 3 0 ; dating, 183-85; p roscription, 227; editions, 241 Prices: o f boolcs,^2, 10; o f w om en, 272 Prostitutes, 2 1, 53, 1 2 1 -2 2 ，169，180 Protest against political abuses: d u rin g the M in g, 23-25, 26 7 ，2 7 3 -74 ; d u rin g the C h ’in g ， 28 -29, 3 3 —3 4 , 7 ° ； in fiction ， 28, 38, 56 ，64, 224; in dram a, 46-48 ; in Water Margin, 77, 7 9 ，8 2-83; in Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang, 9 1 -1 0 3 ; in Forgotten Tales o f the Sui, 119; in Tower of Myriad Mirrors, 15 3 -5 4 , 163; \n Romance

Index

of the Sui and the T'ang, 199, 201, 216; 5^ also Rebellion; Social protest Publishers, see B ooks . Quelling the Demons1 Revolt chuan)y 59, 14 1, 224, 227

(P'ing-yao

Rakshasa, 144, 295 Rape, 26, 1 1 3 - 1 9 Readers, see A udiences Realism , 231; in Merry Adventures o f Em­ peror Yang, 95, 106; in Forgotten Tales of the Sui, 1 1 9 ，130, 139, 291; in Tower of Myriad Mirrors, 151; 'mRomance o f the Sui and the T'ang, 198; in Water Margin, 212; in Chin P ’ing Mei, 223 Rebellion, historical, 1 5 ,2 3 ,2 5 - 2 6 ,3 3 ,3 7 , 70, 77, 83; in fiction, 70 -8 2, 85, g i , 110, 128 R eform ism , in novels, xii, 7 7 -8 4 , 85 f f ” 220 ff. Reincarnation, in fiction, 192, 20 1-3 Revival Society (Fu-she), 24, 37, 47, 146, 222, 274, 304 Role m odels, 3 5 ，130, 19 9 -2 0 1, 220 Romance of the Sui and the T a n g (Sui T a n g yen-i): authorship and dating, 190; ou t­ line o f contents, 191; w ritten sources, 19 1 -9 2 , 193, 195, 227, 239-40; balance in structure, 19 2 -9 7 , 216; character o f the dynasty fo u n d er in, 19 7 -2 0 1, 223; reincarnation m otif, 2 0 1-4 , 228; and ethnic loyalty, 205-6,. 222; style, 208; and literary criticism , 209, 214; rom an ­ tic elem ents 19 1, 206, 220; editions,

250-53 Romance o f the Three Kingdoms (San-kuo chih yen-i), xii, xiii, 60, 6 1, 7 1 , 2 1 2 -1 3 , 222, 227, 235; editions, 241 Rom ances, see “ G enius and beauty” ro ­ mances San-kuo chih yen-i, see Romance o f the Three Kingdoms Scholarly novels* see Literati novels Scholars, The (Ju-lin wai-shih), x , xiii, 227, 228 Schools, 1 5 ，16 Self-concept am on g literati, 36 ff.; d e­ velo p ed b y fictional characters, 1 0 7 - 1 1 ， 124 -32

Ind ex

Self-expression, 34, 4 5 ，5 2 -56 , 60 ，70 ， 186, 210, 220, 221 S erfd o m and th e “m an orial” system , 7, 8, 2 65 -66 Shen T e -fu , 18 Sh ort stories, see Hua-pen vern acu lar short stories Shui-hu chuan, see Water Margin Social protest in fiction, 112 -2 0 , 124 ff., 17 7 -8 1 Social stratification and literacy, 1 1 - 1 8 ， 2 1-2 2 Soochow , 4 - 6 ，18, 23, 24, 28 -29, 33, 46,

5 2 ^ 7。 Sources, textu al, fo r novels, see Literary b orrow in g Spirits and ghosts, 90, 108 “Stalw art” h ero type (hao-ckieh), 130-32,

135- 37* !39

Storytellers, 2 1 ，y ， see also Liu C h in g-t’ing Stru cture in narrative, 6 1, 6 3 -6 4 , 102, 209, 2 11 ff. Sui shih i-wen, see Forgotten Tales o f the Sui Sui T ’ang liang-ch’ao chih-chuan, see Chroni­ cles o f the Two Courts Sui T'angyen-i, seeRomance of the Sui and the T ’dng Sui Yang-ti yen-shih, see M^rr^/Ui从 of Emperor Yang Su K ’u n -sh en g ，2 1 ， 46, 51 Sun C hih-m i, 59, 208, 209 Suppression o f novels by officials, 77, 85, 227 “Sw ordsm an” fiction (um-hsia hsiao-shuo), 3 “ Sw ordsm an” h ero type (hsia), 13 0 -3 7,

!39 T ao -ch i (Shih-t'ao), 22, 55 T 'a o C h ’ien, 39, 46 T ao ism , 38 -39 , 4 1, 43, 56 T a x a tio n , 6, 7, 8, 23, 24, 28, 265 T in g Y a o -k ， a n g ，1 ，50 Tower o f Myriad Mirrors，The (Hsi-yu pu): relationship to Journey to the West, 142; authorship and datin g, 144; M onkey’s dream , 148, 15 5 -6 3 , 225, 228; satirical elem ents, 14 9 -5 5 , d 223, 229, 232; B u d d h ist them e, 157, 1 6 0 ,16 5 -6 6 ,17 0 , 203; narrative art in, 163-64; editions, 227, 246-49; sources, 235

335 Tsa-chu plays, 6 1, 7 1; rise o f, 226 ts'ai-tzu chia-jen, see “ G enius and beauty” h ero types ts'ai-tzu chia-jen hsiao-shuo, see “ G enius and beauty" rom ances T s ’ao H sueh-ch’in ， 228, 229, 232-33 T u C h iin , 46 1 8 ,1 9 ,4 9 ,5 0 ,145,280, T u n g C h ’i-ch’a n g ， 288 T u n g -lin academ y and political faction, 23, 3 7 , 4 4 , 273 T u n g Ssu-chang, 145 T u n g Y iie h ： biographical data, 1 ,5 0 , 141, 144-48, 184; anti-M anchu sentim ents, 146, 14 9 -5 1, 166, 2 2 1-2 2 ; on traitors, 15 1 -5 4 ; narrative art, 1 6 3 -6 5 ,2 1 6 ,2 2 5 , 232; see also Tower of Myriad Mirrors

U n d e rw o rld (Hades), ^o, 111

V e rn a cu lar language fiction, see Hua-pen short stories; N ovels; Literati novels

W ages, o f w orkers, 7, 8, 266 W an g C hao-chiin , 287-88 W an g Fu-chih, 30, 44, 278 W an g H u i, 52 W an g Shih-chen, 58 W an g T a o k u n , 77 W an g Y ang-m in g, 16, 42, 4 4 ，111 W an-li, M in g em peror, ix, 22-23, 9 1_ 9 4 ,

149

Water Margin (Shui-hu chuan): revision with com m entary by C h in Sheng-t’a n ， xii, 32, 60, 6 i , 68 -69, 7 7 -8 3 , 20 9-13, 2 19 -2 0 , 223, 227; sources and earlier versions, 7 0 - 7 1 ,8 5 ,2 3 5 ; subject m atter, 7 1 - 7 5 ; condem nation o f rebellion, 7 5 - 7 7 , 220; proscription, 77; influence on later fiction, 13 4 -3 5; editions, 241 W ei C hu n g-h sien , 23-24, 47, 273 W en C h en -h en g, 279 W om en , position of, 21 W riters, see Literati; Novelists Wu Ch， eng-en, 228; see also Journey to the West W u C hin g-tzu , x , 232 ； see also Scholars W u W ei-yeh, 28, 47, 4 8 ，185, 274, 278 W u W o-yao, 228

3 36 Y a n g , Sui em p eror, 8 6 -10 3 , 1 0 6 - 1 1 , 149 Y a n g tze valley, low er (K iangnan), 2, 4 -6 , 1 1 ，15, 16, 24, 30, 167 Y e n Shih~ku, 236 Y u a n H u ng-tao, 204, 280 Y iia n Yu -lin g: biographical data, 1, 120 -23, 208, 209, 221, 224; plays, 47, 120 -22; novels, 60, 124, 14 1, 190, 220,

In d ex

229, 232; political standards, 105 ，112 , 12 3 ，148 ，292; attitude tow ard Li Y ii, 1 8 2 ,184; see also Forgotten Tales o f the Sui Yii Chiao L i, 184 Y u H u ai, 46, 185 Y iin Jih-ch’u , 275 •Yiin Shou -p’in g ，275 Y u T ’u n g ， 4 6 - 4 7 ,5 5 ,6 3 ,7 8 ,1 8 5 ,20 8 ,280