Spirit and Self in Medieval China: The Shih-shuo hsin-yu and Its Legacy

7. Things and Intent: Ming and Ch’ing Imitations

∫ Chapter 7 Things and Intent: Ming and Ch’ing Imitations Most Shih-shuo imitations emerged in the late Ming and the early Ch’ing, from the 1550s to the 1680s. These works covered a longer time span (from antiquity to the early Ch’ing) and a broader range of Chinese social and intellectual life (with up to ninety-eight categories in one work) than previous Shih-shuo t’i works. The subgenres also expanded from general or dynastic surveys of gentry life to works focusing on specific groups, such as Chiao Hung’s Yü-t’ang ts’ung-yü on scholars of the Han-lin Academy and Yen Ts’ung-ch’iao’s Seng Shih-shuo, culled from three biographical works about eminent monks.1 There were also two works on women, which I shall discuss in the next chapter, and a work about precocious children. Not only did this Shih-shuo frenzy span a particular time period; it was also imbued with a strong regional flavor. Ming-Ch’ing Shih-shuo t’i authors and their proponents came overwhelmingly from the lower Yangtze region known as the Chiang-nan area (south of theYangtze River), as shown in the following table: table 8. dates and native places of ming-ch’ing shih-shuo t’i authors and major proponents Name Dates Native Place Connection with the Shih-shuo t’i Ho Liang-chün 1506–1573 Sung-chiang Author, Ho-shih yü-lin (1551) Hua-t’ing (Soochow)1 Wen Cheng-ming 1470–1559 Ch’ang-chou Preface writer, Ho-shih yü-lin (Wu-hsien, Kiangsu) Wang Shih-chen 1526–1590 T’ai-ts’ang Complier, Shih-shuo hsin-yü pu (1556, 1585) (continued) dates and native places of ming-ch’ing shih-shuo t’i authors and major proponents (continued) Name Dates Native Place Connection with the Shih-shuo t’i Wang Shih-mao 1536–1588 T’ai-ts’ang Preface writer, Shih-shuo hsin-yü and Shih-shuo hsin-yü pu Chiao Hung 1541–1620 Chiang-ning Author, Chiao-shih lei-lin (Nanking) (1585, 1587) Yü-t’ang ts’ung-yü (1618) Li Chih 1527–1602 Chin-chiang Commentator, Shih-shuo hsiny ü pu Editor, Ch’u-t’an chi (1588) Li Shao-wen fl. 1600–1623 Sung-chiang Author, Huang-Ming Shih-shuo Hua-t’ing hsin-yü (1610) Cheng Chung- fl. 1615–1634 Hsin-chou Author, Lan-wan chü ch’ing-yen k’uei (Shang-jao, (1615, 1617) Kiangsi) Chang Yung fl. late Ming Ch’ien-t’ang Author, Nien-i shih shih-yü (Hangchow) (late Ming) Lin Mao-kuei fl. 1591–1621 Chang-p’u Author, Nan-Pei ch’ao hsin-yü (1621) Yen Ts’ung-ch’iao fl. ca. 1639 Wan-ch’eng Author, Seng Shih-shuo (1639, (Ch’ien-shan, 1640) Anhwei) Liang Wei-shu 1589–1662 Chen-ting Author, Yü-chien tsun-wen (1654, (Cheng-ting, Hopeh) 1657) Ch’ien Ch’ien-i 1582–1664 Ch’ang-shu Preface writer, Yü-chien tsun-wen Wu Wei-yeh 1609–1671 T’ai-ts’ang Preface writer, Yü-chien tsun-wen Li Ch’ing 1602–1683 T’ai-chou Author, Nü Shih-shuo (1650s, 1670s) Wang Wan 1624–1691 Ch’ang-chou Author, Shuo-ling (1659, 1661) Wu Su-kung fl. 1662–1681 Hsüan-ch’eng Author, Ming yü-lin (1662, 1681) Chiang Yu-jung early Ch’ing Ch’ang-sha Coauthor, Ming-i pien (early Ch’ing) Tsou T’ung-lu early Ch’ing Heng-yang Coauthor, Ming-i pien (early Ch’ing) Wang Cho b. 1636 Jen-ho Author, Chin Shih-shuo (1683) (Hangchow) Mao Chi-k’o 1633–1708 Sui-an (Ch’un-an, Preface writer, Chin Shih-shuo Chekiang ) Chang Fu-kung early Ch’ing? Ch’ien-t’ang Author, Han Shih-shuo (early Ch’ing) Name Dates Native Place Connection with the Shih-shuo t’i Chang Chi-yung early Ch’ing? Hangchow Author, Nan-Pei ch’ao Shih-shuo Yen Heng 1826?–1854 Jen-ho Author, Nü Shih-shuo (1854, 1865) 1. Today’s name in parentheses if different from the past. In addition to showing temporal and spatial affiliations, this table also reveals that Ming-Ch’ing Shih-shuo t’i authors and proponents constituted the core of what was then the most prestigious gentry group, the Chiangnan intellectual elite, including: Wen Cheng-ming, a famous mid-Ming literatus-artist and the head of the “Four Talents of Wu...