The Model in the Sequels to the Jin Ping Mei: Sanxu Jin Ping Mei 三續金瓶梅

CHINOPERLPAPERS No. 17 his master listening to a prostitute sing for him in the pleasure quarter. She sings one song, but is interrupted in the "Chongzhen" version before she can sing another one. Zhang Zhupo, presumably unaware of the editor's hand in this, comments "Wonderful. Another song would have been like chewing wax" (50.740, interlineal comment). Although he thus favors a less varied narrative when it comes to the incorporation of oral performing literature, he also insisted on finding great subtlety on the part of the author in his uses of oral performing literature. In terms of influence on later commentators of fiction and authors, Zhang Zhupo is second only to Jin Shengtan. Terms used by him in his commentary tum up in many later commentaries and influenced the conception of many later novels. The Model in the Sequels to the lin Ping Mei: Sanxu lin Ping Mei -=*J~zJfEL~ Sanxu lin Ping Mei (The Third Sequel to the lin Ping Mei)167was written under the pseudonym Nayin jushi ~.:g m±. The only extant copy is a manuscript version from the Daoguang reign period (1821-1850). There is no evidence that the author was familiar with the cihua version of the lin Ping Mei; rather, his conception of the novel is highly colored by the Zhang Zhupo (1670-1698) commentary on it, which uses basically the same text as the "Chongzhen" edition. Like many sequels in traditional Chinese fiction, this one tries to correct perceived weaknesses in the original, iron out any ambiguities, and provide a happy ending in which everybody gets their "just" desserts. Instead of following Xu lin Ping Mei's lead in dealing with the reincarnations of characters already dead before the close of the original, in this sequel Ximen Qing and Pang Chunmei are brought Ximen household. Invited in, he sings several songs critical of Ying Bojue. For a discussion of this edition, see Lu Ge ~~ and Ma Zheng J~1lE, "Tan lin Ping Mei de sizhong banben ~s1Z*ELmS~lmtl~&* ," in their lin Ping Mei zongheng tan ~*ELm~f£ti ~ (Beijing: Beijing Yanshan, 1992), pp. 58-68. 167 We presume Xu lin Ping Mei and Gelian huaying (and not Yu liao Li and Xu lin Ping Mei) to be the first two sequels. Only Gelian huaying is mentioned in the author's preface ("Zixu §J¥;"). 52 Rolston lin Ping Mei cihua back to life. According to the author's preface, one of the motives for writing the sequel was to give equal time to Pang Chunmei, whom the author thought had not appeared as prominently in the original as she deserved. The Ximen Qing household is restored and Ximen Qing ends up once more with six wives (Wu Yueniang is the only holdover from the original) before the end of the first decade of chapters in this forty chapter novel. Ximen Qing eventually becomes enlightened and leaves the profane world to become the disciple of the monk Pujing. Even though the author claimed in his preface that his sequel lacks the "obscene material" of the original, sexual congresses of a wide variety of types dominate this novel. The brief, hackneyed descriptions, however, are a far cry from those in the original. Sanxu lin Ping Mei is set almost entirely in the household of Ximen Qing or in brothels or the living quarters of a troupe of female actors treated exactly like a brothel by Ximen Qing. Descriptions of oral performing literature in Sanxu lin Ping Mei, although rather frequent in appearance, tend to be short and vague. Most of the types and venues of oral performing literature found in the Chongzhen version of the lin Ping Mei are found here, along with a few new ones such as temple plays (chapter 35) and plays jn the Kunqu style,168but often we are told little more beyond the fact that unspecified plays were performed at such and such a banquet or that nuns told some unspecified story about reincarnation and retribution. Named plays are generally rather straightforwardly related to the context of their performance, such as the plays about successful officials performed at banquets to celebrate the stages of the rise in official status...