The Origins and Original Language of Manchu Bannermen Tales (Zidi Shu)

CHINOPERL Papers No. 30 (2011)©2011 by the Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature THE ORIGINS AND ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF MANCHU BANNERMEN TALES (ZIDI SHU) ELENA SUET-YING CHIU University of Massachusetts, Amherst Zidi shu ᆀᕏᴨ (bannermen tales) was a popular storytelling genre created by the Manchus in the early eighteenth century. Although most Chinese literary historians have asserted that the genre emerged during the Qianlong era (1736± +DWDQR7DUǀ ⌒ཊ䟾ཚ䛾 and Guo Xiaoting 䜝᳹Ⴇ claim that zidi shu appeared during the earlier Yongzheng era (1723±1735).1 More recently, Cui Yunhua ፄ㰺㨟 and Tian Geng ⭠㙅 went further to claim that this genre arose during the Kangxi reign (1662± This paper was first presented at the International Conference on New Horizons in MingQing Studies, held by the Research Centre for Ming-Qing Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, in December 2010. I would like thank all the participants, in particular Hua Wei and Yu Siu Wah for their helpful comments for revision. I am grateful to David Rolston, the two anonymous reviewers, and members of the editorial board of CHINOPERL Papers for their helpful suggestions and meticulous corrections. 7KDQNV DUH DOVR GXH WR 5LFKDUG 6WUDVVEHUJ IRU EULQJLQJ .DQJ[L¶V 0DQFKX SRHPV RQ Bishu shanzhuang to my attention. To explore the issues discussed here, I would like to acknowledge the encouragement given by Richard Strassberg, Mark C. Elliott, and David Rolston. Research support for the completion of this article has been generously provided by a Faculty Research Grant/Healey Endowment Grant of UMass Amherst. 1 6HH +DWDQR ³0DQ-.DQ NHQ VKLWHLVKR µ+ǀNDL GDQML¶ NDLGDL´ ┯╒ެᆀᕏᴨ³㶳㸩⇥‫´ނ‬ 䀓乼 (On the Manchu-Chinese Bannerman Tale, Eating Crabs), in Hatano, Chnjgoku bungakushi kenkynj6KǀVHWVXJLN\RNXURQNǀѝ഻᮷ᆨਢ⹄ウ: ሿ䃚ᡢᴢ䄆㘳 (Studies in the History of Chinese Literature: Essays on Fiction and Drama; Tokyo: Ofnjsha, 1974), p. 552. See aOVR *XR ³4LQJGDL ]LGL VKX [LQJVKXDL VKLMLDQ NDR´ ␵ԓᆀᕏᴨ㠸㺠ᱲ䯃㘳 (An Examination of the Rise and Decline of Zidi shu in the Qing Dynasty), Dongfang luntan ᶡᯩ䄆໷ (The Oriental Forum) 2010.1: 34. CHINOPERL Papers No. 30 2 1722).2 *LYHQ WKDW ³=KXDQJVKL MLDQJ[LDQJ´ 㦺∿䱽俉 (Madam Zhuang Lowers Herself to Burn Incense), the earliest extant printed example of the genre, dates back to 1756,3 the suggestion that zidi shu began to take shape in the Yongzheng era and matured in the Qianlong reign is quite plausible. Deeply rooted in the Manchu-Han hybrid culture in Qing Beijing, this genre sheds light on the role of Manchu language in Qing literature, amateur theater in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Beijing, and the social and cultural relationships between Manchu bannermen and the Han Chinese population in late imperial China. Due to its significance in Qing dynasty literature, zidi shu has increasingly attracted scholarly attention from both Chinese and international researchers. Yet despite the work that has been done on specific zidi shu writers and texts adapted from wellknown Chinese novels and plays, the more fundamental question of the JHQUH¶V RULJLQV LV VWLOO EHLQJ GHEDWHG4 As more zidi shu texts are discovered and published in mainland China and Taiwan, it is important to find a more satisfying answer to the question of whether it derived from 2 &XL DQG 7LDQ ³0LQJ 4LQJ VKLTL VDQ GD OLX\X MLDQ GH ZHQKXD KXGRQJ´ ᰾␵ᱲᵏйབྷ⍱ฏ䯃Ⲵ᮷ॆӂअ (Cultural Interactions Among the Three Major Delta Regions [Yangzi, Pearl River, Yellow River] in the Ming-Qing Period), Suzhou daxue xuebao 㰷ᐎབྷᆨᆨ๡ (Journal of Suzhou University) 2009.5: 99. 3 7KHWH[W³=KXDQJVKLMLDQJ[LDQJ´KDVEHHQSUHserved in different versions. A sixchapter manuscript version was included in the Prince Che Palace (Che wang fu 䓺⦻ᓌ) collection and the text has been reproduced. See Beijing shi minzu guji zhengli chuban guihua xiaozu ेӜᐲ≁᯿ਔ㉽ᮤ⨶ࠪ⡸㾿ࢳሿ㍴ ed., Qing Menggu Che wang fu cang zidi shu ␵㫉ਔ䓺⦻ᓌ㯿ᆀᕏᴨ (Zidi shu Collected by the Mongolian Prince Che of the Qing), 2 vols. (Beijing: Guoji wenhua chuban gongsi, 1994), 2: 978±86. The 1756 printed edition, published by Wencui tang ᮷㨳า (The Essence of Literature Publishing House), does not contain any chapter divisions. Derived from the Ming novel, Shuo Tang yanyi 䃚ୀ╄㗙 (The Romance of the Tang Dynasty), the text tells how Madam Zhuang 㦺∿ prays for the return of her husband Luo Shixin 㖵༛ؑ from the battlefield. The printed text is preserved in the library of...