Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection

Translators’ Note

Translators’ Note This translation follows the text of the 1620 Tianxuzhai edition of Gujin xiaoshuo as reprinted in the 1987 facsimile edition by Shanghai Guji Chubanshe . The interlinear and marginal comments in the original text appear in italic within parentheses in this translation. Chinese proper names are rendered in the pinyin system, the only exception being “Taoism” (pinyin: Daoism). For the convenience of those readers who are more accustomed to the Wade-Giles system of romanization, we have provided the following short list of di‹cult consonants: c = ts’ q = ch’ x = hs z = tz zh = ch Information about previous translations (in varying degrees of completeness and accuracy) of stories in this collection is provided in the endnotes for individual stories. Names of people in the border states are rendered following the spelling system used in The Cambridge History of China, vol. 6, ed. Denis Twitchett and John K. Fairbank (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). Frequently Encountered Chinese Terms chi, a unit of measurement, translated as “foot” jin, translated as “catty,” equals one-half of a kilogram jinshi, one who had passed the imperial civil service examinations at the metropolitan level li, approximately one-third of a mile liang, translated as “tael,” equals one-sixteenth of a jin shi, a married woman known by her maiden name, e.g., Wang-shi xiucai, translated as “scholar,” a successful candidate at the local level zhuangyuan, a jinshi who ranked first in the palace examination zi, translated as “courtesy name,” the name by which an educated person was addressed by people of his/her own generation probably more often than by his/her o‹cial name xxvii Among the reference works we have consulted are: Bishop, John L., ed. Studies of Government Institutions in Chinese. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968. Chen Xizhong, ed. Yushi mingyan: Xinzhu quanben. Beijing: Beijing Shiyue Wenyi Chubanshe, 1994. Cihai. Shanghai: Shanghai Cishu Chubanshe, 1989. Ciyuan. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan, 1989. Hanyu da cidian. Shanghai: Hanyu Da Cidian Chubanshe, 1994. Ho, Ping-ti. The Ladder of Success in Imperial China: Aspects of Social Mobility, 1368–1911. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1962. Hucker, Charles O. A Dictionary of O‹cial Titles in Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985. Soothill, W. E., and Lewis Hodous. A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, with Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987. xxviii ...