Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2

Notes

Notes 745 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973), 76–86. 11. In his “Preface to Art Song Prosody” (Qulü xu), Feng complains that “the most abused literary genres today are classical poetry and prose.” In his preface to Hill Songs, he also says that “although there is an abundance of false poetry and prose, there are no false folk songs.” See Guo Shaoyu, Zhongguo lidai wenlun xuan (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1979), 3:194, 231. 12. Cyril Birch, “Feng Meng-lung and the Ku Chin Hsiao Shuo,” in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 18 (1956): 82. 13. Patrick Hanan, “The Nature of Ling Meng-ch’u’s Fiction,” in Andrew Plaks, ed., Chinese Narrative: Critical and Theoretical Essays (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1977), 87. 14. Hanan, “Nature of Ling Meng-ch’u’s Fiction,” 87. 15. David Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997), 232. Rolston also says that the simulated storyteller can be seen “as a functional attempt to deal with the absence of the ‘author’ in early vernacular fiction.” 16. The word huaben was adopted as the regular term for the traditional Chinese vernacular short story only in the twentieth century. On its early usage as simply “story,” rather than “prompt-book,” see Charles Wivell, “The Term ‘Hua-pen,’” in David Buxbaum and Frederick Mote; eds., Transition and Permanence: Chinese History and Culture (Hong Kong: Cathay Press, 1972), 295–306. The prompt-book theory has been criticized from another angle: because professional storytellers were more likely to have reIntroduction 1. For a detailed discussion of the Sanyan and its influence on Chinese fictions, as well as a bibliography of relevant works, see Feng Menglong , Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection , trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000), xv–xxvi, 778–794. 2. Lu Shulun, “Feng Menglong,” in his Feng Menglong sanlun (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1993), 7. 3. Pi-ching Hsu, “Celebrating the Emotional Self ” (Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota , 1994), 48. 4. Quoted in Lu Shulun, “Feng Menglong ,” 92. 5. The facsimile edition of Feng Menglong quanji (Complete works of Feng Menglong), published by Shanghai Guji Chubanshe in 1993, contains forty-three volumes that, when stacked together, are more than six feet tall. 6. Patrick Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981), 80–81. 7. Hanan, Chinese Vernacular Story, 80–81. 8. The moralistic and didactic tone of the three Sanyan titles (Illustrious Words to Instruct the World, Comprehensive Words to Warn the World, andConstantWords to Awaken theWorld) can probably also be understood in the same light. 9. Y. W. Ma, “Feng Meng-lung,” in William Nienhauser, ed., The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986), 381. 10. Hanan, Chinese Vernacular Story, 104; and Patrick Hanan, The Chinese Short Story: Studies in Dating, Authorship, and Composition liedonabstractsornotesintheclassicallanguage, the earliest extant huaben texts were perhaps also meant for reading, rather than reciting, as were theirlaterimitations;see AndréLévy,“Hua-pen,” in Nienhauser, ed., Indiana Companion, 443. 17. See W. L. Idema, “Storytelling and the Short Story in China,” in T’oung Pao 59 (1973): 3, 35–39. 18. W. L. Idema, “Some Remarks and Speculations Concerning P’ing-hua,” rpt. in his Chinese Vernacular Fiction: The Formative Period (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974), 72. 19. See, for example, Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, trans., The Courtesan’s Jewel Box (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1981). 20. See Hu Wanchuan, “Sanyan xu ji meipi de zuozhe wenti,” rpt. in his Huaben yu caizi jiaren xiaoshuo zhi yanjiu (Taipei: Da’an, 1994), 123–38. Preface 1. The Six Classics are The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Rites, The Book of Music, The Book of Changes, and The Spring and Autumn Annals. 2. “Daren fu” and “Zixu fu” are by the famous poet Sima Xiangru (179–117 b.c.e.). “Daren fu,” about the fictional character Daren, is a satire of Emperor Wudi (r. 140–87 b.c.e.) of the Han dynasty. “Zixu fu,” about the fictional characters Zixu, Wuyou, and Wangchi, is a criticism of the extravagances of the imperial court. 3. Qixiashan (Hill amid Rosy Clouds) is probably a reference to the Qixiashan located to the northeast of the city of Nanjing. 1. Yu Boya Smashes His Zither in Gratitude to an Appreciative Friend 1. For more on the friendship between Guan and Bao, see the prologue story...