Bannerman Tales (Zidishu): Manchu Storytelling and Cultural Hybridity in the Qing Dynasty by Elena Suet-ying Chiu (review)

Elena Suet-ying Chiu's new book is the first comprehensive study in English on zidishu 子弟書 (bannerman tales), a late Qing performance genre most closely identified with the banner community of Beijing. A full-length study of zidishu is long overdue. This one answers all the questions that arise from the fact that nearly all zidishu were composed in Chinese and that most are based on classic works of Chinese fiction, such as Hong lou meng 紅樓夢 (Dream of the Red Chamber) and Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋志異 (Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio). The first question, of course, is what this genre tells us about Manchu identity. Chiu situates her discussion within the discourse of current scholarship on Qing history, in which the idea that the Manchu conquerors were gradually "sinified" by their immersion in Chinese culture has been replaced by a more sophisticated conception of bannerman identity as a hybrid Sino-Manchu performance in which mastery of Chinese cultural forms was a sign of bannermen's elite status within Chinese society. She also disentangles language from literary culture, applying Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's insights on minor literatures to Manchu cultural expression. As she puts it, "Manchu language should not be treated as a decisive element in defining Manchu literature; rather, how the Manchus responded to the Chinese language as they interacted with Chinese literature is more crucial" (9).

Chiu starts with an illuminating discussion of zidishu's social and performance context, explaining the word zidi 子弟, literally "sons and younger brothers," as not only the scions of the Eight Banners but also as partakers in the amateur ideal of the Han elite. The word zidi overlaps with the term xuzi 鬚 子 (idlers), young bannermen who lived off stipends and family savings, which gave them the leisure to acquire immense amounts of knowledge about all sorts of pleasurable pastimes, especially theater and performance. The culture of the xuzi inspired the writers of zidishu, who may often have been xuzi themselves. We know little more than the names of the most famous zidishu performers, perhaps because in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century they performed only in private, for other aficionados who were often both audience and fellow performers. Chiu describes the development of zidishu clubs, or shushe 書社, which she usefully compares to the Haitang Shishe 海棠詩社 (Crabflower Club), the poetry club organized by the youthful members of the Jia 賈 household in Hong lou meng, a loosely organized group that met only occasionally and was primarily for the cultivation of friendly ties through a shared literary enthusiasm. She also describes the meetings of such groups in the more public setting of chaguan 茶館 (teahouse theaters), in which the audience might include both Han and Manchu people. One of the most delightful aspects of the book is that Chiu zeroes in on the actual locations in Beijing where these performances took place, whether it was in chaguan in the alleys (hutong 胡同) near Xizhimen 西直門 or in the more rustic rural teahouses (ye chaguan 野茶館) in the scenic country east of the city walls. She recreates the atmosphere of the performances: the bannerman's status both as an amateur performer and as a member of the ruling elite was marked by the deferential ritual of preparing a special table and meal for him and inviting him to take the stage, and of course there was never a hint of mercenary professionalism. We also learn that eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century fans of zidishu supported a lively trade in both printed and handwritten copies of their favorites. These were sold at temple fairs, at the famous bookstore Baibentang 百 本堂, and near the Huguosi 護國寺 (Temple for Protecting the Nation) but also side by side with more expensive books, brushes, and inkstones in Wencuitang 文 萃堂 in Liulichang 琉璃廠, which catered to Ji Yun 紀昀 (1724–1805) and the other academicians who worked on the Siku quanshu 四庫全書 (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries). This...