Literati Use of Oral or Oral-Related Genres to Talk about History in the Late Ming and Early Qing: From Yang Shen to Jia Fuxi and Gui Zhuang, and from Education (Jiaohua) to Cursing the World (Mashi)

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Notes

1 I would like to express my gratitude to Professor David Rolston for sharpening the argument of this article and carefully editing my writing. I am also thankful to the anonymous readers for their helpful comments.

2 I use “popular literary form” to indicate genres that were consumed more widely and by broader audiences than the literary genres most closely associated with the literati.

3 Some versions of this title include shiduan jin 十段錦 (in ten sections of brocade [-like writing]) before cihua.

4 The zhu 筑 was an ancient kind of zither similar to the qin 琴. Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu shares a lot of text with another work of similar structure attributed to Gui Zhuang, Wangu chou 萬古愁 (Sorrow through the ages). Their relationship will be addressed below.

5 See his biography in Zhang Tingyu 張廷玉, ed., Mingshi 明史 (The history of the Ming dynasty; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), p. 192.5083. On the Great Rites Controversy, see Carney T. Fisher, The Chosen One: Succession and Adoption in The Court of Ming Shizong (Sidney: Allen and Unwin, 1990).

6 On Yang Shen and these events see Wang Wencai 王文才, Yang Shen xuepu 楊慎學譜 (Genealogy of the scholarship on Yang Shen; Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1988), pp. 56–64 and 113; and Zhang Tingyu, ed., Mingshi, pp. 191.5068–70 and 192.5082–83.

7 Zhang Tingyu, ed., Mingshi, p. 192.5083.

8 Liu Hui's 劉繪 letter to Yang Shen, cited in Sheng'an ji 升庵集 (Collection of Sheng'an), reproduced in Siku quanshu 四庫全書 (Imperial Quadtripartite Library; Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1987), v. 1270, p. 76 (juan 6, p. 10a).

9 Wang Shizhen 王世貞, Yiyuan zhiyan 藝苑卮言 (Random words from the garden of arts), juan 6, in Ding Fubao 丁福保, ed., Lidai shihua xubian 歷代詩話續編 (Sequel to Remarks on Poetry through the Ages; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), p. 1053.

10 Shen Tai 沈泰, ed., Sheng Ming zaju chuji 盛明雜劇初集 (The first collection of zaju drama from the high Ming), reproduced in Xuxiu Siku quanshu 續修四庫全書 (Continuation of the Imperial Quadtripartite Library; Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1995), v. 1764, pp. 461–67 (juan 14, pp. 1a–12b).

11 Wang Shizhen, Yiyuan zhiyan, p. 1054.

12 Qi Biaojia 祁彪佳, Yuanshan tang jupin 遠山堂劇品 (Gradations of plays by the [Master] of Remote Mountain Hall), included in Zhongguo gudian xiqu lunzhu jicheng 中國古典戲曲論著集成 (Collected works of criticism on classical Chinese theater; Beijing: Zhongguo xiju, 1959), v. 6, p. 144.

13 Chen Jiru 陳繼儒 (1558–1639), “Yang Sheng'an xiansheng Nianyi shi tanci xu” 楊升庵先生廿一史彈詞序 (Preface to Mr. Yang Sheng'an's Prosimetric Narrative of Twenty-one Histories), cited in Wang Wencai 王文才 and Wan Guangzhi 萬光治, eds., Yang Sheng'an congshu 楊升庵叢書 (Collectanea of Yang Shen's works; Chengdu, Tiandi chuban she, 2002), v. 4, p. 572.

14 Wang Wencai, Yang Shen xuepu, p. 352.

15 Cihua 詞話, often translated as “ballad-narratives,” is a generic title used most prominently in the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries for prosimetric narratives that mostly mixed prose and even-length lines of verse. Of around fifteen extant prosimetric narratives of this kind that date to the Ming dynasty, Yang Shen's is the only one that takes Chinese history as a whole as its subject. Various editions of Yang Shen's Ballad-Narrative were published in south China with the name of a different prosimetric genre, tanci 彈詞 (string-ballads), in their title. Some of these editions are basically the same as Ballad-Narrative or only slightly different, while others added new material, including verse of the kind more closely associated with tanci. On editions of Yang Shen's Ballad-Narrative and their relations to the genres of cihua, guci, and tanci, see Fan Xuefei 范雪飛, “Mingdai Lidai shilüe shiduanjin cihua banben yanjiu” 明代歷代史略十段錦詞話版本研究 (Research on the Ming dynasty editions of Ballad-Narrative on History through the Ages in Ten Brocade Sections), Master's thesis, Shanxi University, 2007.

16 Yang Shen's Ballad-Narrative has continuations such as The Prosimetric-Narrative of the Twenty-four Histories (Niansi shi tanci廿四史彈詞) that adds the history of the Ming and The Prosimetric-Narrative of the Twenty-five Histories (Nianwu shi tanci廿五史彈詞) that adds the histories of the Ming and Qing. See Yang Shen xuepu, pp. 351–56.

17 This refers to the Duke of Zhou of the Western Zhou, who helped King Wu found the Zhou dynasty and established the Rites of Zhou (Zhou li 周禮).

18 Part One, “Introduction” (“Zongshuo” 總說), Ballad-Narrative on History through the Ages (hereafter, Ballad-Narrative), Yang Sheng'an congshu, v. 4, p. 576.

19 Part Two, “On the Three Dynasties” (“Shuo Sandai” 說三代), p. 586.

20 Part Two, “On the Three Dynasties,” p. 586.

21 Burton Watson, tr., The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013), Chapter 2: “Discussion on Making All Things Equal” (“Qiwu lun” 齊物論), p. 11; Guo Qingfan 郭慶藩, ed., Zhuangzi jishi 莊子集釋 (Complete explications of Zhuangzi: Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), p. 70.

22 There are, of course, many accounts of dreams in which, against expectation, something physical is preserved from the dream.

23 Here I use fabrication to refer primarily to the written word, following Hannah Arendt's discussion of actions and deeds vs. fabrication in Greek philosophy, and how the written word falls into the latter category. See Hannah Arendt, “The Concept of History,” in her Between Past and Future (New York: Penguin Books, 2006), pp. 44–45. On p. 60, she says, “Compared to the futility and fragility of human action, the world fabrication erects is of lasting permanence and tremendous solidity.”

24 Arendt, “The Concept of History,” pp. 59–60.

25 Arendt, “The Concept of History,” p. 44.

26 Translation from Wai-yee Li, Enchantment and Disenchantment (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 166; for Chinese text see the version in Yan Kejun 嚴可均, ed., Quan shanggu sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen 全上古三代秦漢三國六朝文 (Complete prose from ancient times through the Six Dynasties; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1958; 1965), juan 26, pp. 5–7.

27 Ballad-Narrative, Part Four, “On the Three Kingdoms and the Two Jin Dynasties” (“Shuo Sanfen Liang Jin” 說三分兩晉), p. 597.

28 Part Seven, “On the Sui and Tang Dynasties” (“Shuo Sui Tang erdai” 說隋唐二代), p. 620.

29 Long before Yang Shen's time Chinese books were written on bamboo strips.

30 Part Eight, “On the History of the Five Dynasties” (“Shuo Wudai” 說五代史), p. 630.

31 Part Nine, “On Song, Liao, Jin, and [Xi-]Xia” (“Shuo Song, Liao, Jin, and [Xi-]Xia” 說宋遼金[西]夏), p. 640.

32 Part Nine, “On Song, Liao, Jin, and [Xi-]Xia,” p. 641.

33 Part Three, “On the Qin and Han [dynasties]” (“Shuo Qin Han” 說秦漢), p. 589.

34 Part Three, “On the Qin and Han [dynasties],” p. 594.

35 Part Six, “On the ‘Five Barbarian Kingdoms’ Bringing Disorder to China” (“Shuo wuhu luan Hua” 說五胡亂華), p. 611.

36 Included in Tao Zongyi 陶宗儀 (fl. 1360–1368), ed., Shuo fu 說郛 (Environs of fiction; Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1988), juan 8.

37 See, for instance, James I. Crump, Jr., Songs from Xanadu (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1983), “Tales by Woodsmen for the Fisher's Ear,” pp. 81–105.

38 Sui Shusen 隋樹森, comp., Quan Yuan sanqu 全元散曲 (Complete free-lyric verse of the Yuan dynasty; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1989), p. 201.

39 See Xiao Luan 肖鸞 (zi Xingzhuang 杏莊; 1487–1561), Xingzhuang taiyin buyi xu pu 杏莊太音補遺續譜 (Sequel to Addendum of Elegant Music by Xingzhuang; Beijing: Zhonghuo shudian, 2006), juan 4, p. 51, reprint of the 1559 edition.

40 The lyric is widely known because the critic Mao Zonggang 毛宗崗 (1632–after 1709) put it at the beginning of his edition of Sanguo yanyi 三國演義 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms).

41 Translation (slightly modified) from Xu Yuanchong 許淵沖, Shanyindao shang: Xu Yuanchong sanwen suibi xuanji 山陰道上: 許淵沖散文隨筆選集 (On shaded mountain road: Selected prose writings of Xu Yuanchong; Beijing: Zhongyang bianyi, 2005), p. 35.

42 Narrative-Ballad, Part Three, “Shuo Sanfen,” p. 588.

43 See Wang Wencai and Wan Guangzhi, eds., Yang Sheng'an congshu, v. 4, p. 657.

44 See Che Zhenhua 車振華, “Qingdai shuochang wenxue chuangzuo yanjiu”  清代說唱文學創作研究 (Research on the creation of speak and sing literature in the Qing dynasty), doctoral thesis, Shandong University, 2007, p. 3, where mashi is claimed to be one of the two most characteristic elements of Jia's work. Che (p. 170) also quotes the Woshi jushi 臥石居士 (Layman Lying on Stone) preface to a lithographic edition of Drum-Ballad under the title of Jianghu guci 江湖鼓詞 (Drum-ballad of the Rivers and Lakes), which describes it as “a book cursing the world” (mashi zhi shu 罵世之書).

45 Lu Xun, “Laodiaozi yijing changwan” 老調子已經唱完 (The old tune has been sung to the end), 1927, in Lu Xun quanji 魯迅全集 (Complete collected works of Lu Xun; Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 1981), v. 7, p. 311. Che Zhenhua also discusses this in his doctoral thesis, p. 165.

46 Che Zhenhua, “Qingdai shuochang wenxue chuangzuo yanjiu,” p. 167. On the same page, Che also quotes a passage in the “Preface” section of Drum-Ballad in which a “listener” raises an objection and on the next page quotes the rejection of literary language particles (zhi hu zhe ye yi yan zai 之乎者也矣焉哉) in the opening verse passage of the “Main Section” of Drum-Ballad. For these passages in Drum-Ballad, see Guan Dedong 關德棟 and Zhou Zhongming 周中明, eds., Jia Fuxi mupici jiaozhu 賈鳧西木皮詞校注 (Jia Fuxi's Clapper and Drum Ballads, collated and annotated; Jinan: Qi Lu shushe, 1982), pp. 13 and 24.

47 The image of the storyteller Liu Jingting 柳敬亭 (1592–-1674) in Kong's famous play, Taohua shan 桃花扇 (The peach blossom fan), was influenced by Kong's acquaintanceship with Jia and the narrative that Liu tells in scene 1 was actually written by Jia. On the relationships between the two men and the play, and a translation of Kong's biography of Jia, see Richard E. Strassberg, The World of K'ung Shang-ren: A Man of Letters in Early Ch'ing China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), pp. 33–40.

48 The year can be inferred from Jia Fuxi's poem “Entering the Gate of the Capital Again in the Year of Xinmao” (“Xinmao fu ru dumen” 辛卯復入都門). See Guan and Zhou, eds., Jia Fuxi mupici jiaozhu, p. 223.

49 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” in Guan and Zhou, eds., Jia Fuxi mupici jiaozhu, pp. 161–62.

50 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 161.

51 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 162.

52 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 162.

53 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 162.

54 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 162.

55 See Yu Ying-shih's 余英時 discussion of the changes in the relationship between the shi 士 (scholar-officials) and the merchant in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in “Ming Qing bianqian shiqi shehui yu wenhua de zhuanbian” 明清變遷時期社會與文化的轉變 (Social changes of the Ming and Qing and transformations of culture) and “Shi shang hudong yu ruxue zhuanxiang” 士商互動與儒學轉向 (Interactions of intellectuals and merchants and transformations of Confucianism), in Yu Yingshi wenji 余英時文集 (Collected writings of Yu Ying-shih), 10 vols. (Guilin: Guangxi shifan, 2004), 3: 155–61 and 162–212, respectively.

56 Lu You 陸遊, “Taishi gong xuxun” 太史公緒訓 (Remnant teachings of the Grand Historian”), quoted in Ye Sheng's 葉盛 (1420–1474) Shuidong riji 水東日記 (Diary of east of the water; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980), juan 15, pp. 157 and 151.

57 “Jie'an Fanggong mubiao” 節庵方公墓表 (Epitaph for Fang Lin), in Yangming quanshu 陽明全書 (Complete writings of Wang Yangming; Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1930), Sibu beiyao 四部備要 edition, juan 25.

58 Li Mengyang 李夢陽, “Ming gu Wang Wenxian muzhi ming” 明故王文顯墓誌銘 (Epitaph of the late Wang Wenxian of the Ming), in Kongtong ji 空同集 (Collected writings of Li Mengyang), Siku quanshu 四庫全書 edition, p. 46/4a.

59 Translation from James Legge, The Chinese Classics, 5 vols. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960), v. 1, Confucian Analects, p. 170 (Analects 4.16).

60 Translation and Chinese text from Legge, The Chinese Classics, v. 2, The Works of Mencius, p. 362 (5A.7).

61 Han Bangqi 韓邦奇, “Guozisheng Xihe Zhaozi mubiao” 國子生西河趙子墓表 (Epitaph of Imperial Academy Graduate Mr. Zhao of Xihe), Yuanluo ji 苑洛集 (Collected writings of Han Bangqi), Siku quanshu edition, p. 7/4a.

62 Chen Que ji 陳確集 (Collected writings of Chen Que; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), juan 5.

63 See Zhao Yuan 趙園, Ming Qing zhiji shidafu yanjiu 明清之際士大夫研究 (Studies of the scholar-officials of the Ming and Qing; Beijing: Beijing daxue, 1999), pp. 342–45.

64 “Chuan Yanzhai ji” 傳硯齋記 (Account of the passing on of Inkstone Studio), in Gui Zhuang ji 歸莊集 (Collected writings of Gui Zhuang; Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1962), p. 6.360.

65 Huang Zongxi 黃宗羲, Mingyi daifang lu 明夷待訪錄 (Waiting for the dawn: A plan for the prince; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), “Caiji san” (Finance, part three), p. 41. For an alternative translation, see Wm. Theodore de Bary, Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), p. 160.

66 On Confucian debates over righteousness vs. gain, and the status of commerce in Ming and Qing society, see Yu Ying-shih, “Zhongguo jinshi zongjiao lunli yu shangren jingshen” 中國近世宗教倫理與商人精神 (Religious ethics and the merchant spirit of late Imperial China), Yu Yingshi wenji, 3: 234–357, especially pp. 291–95.

67 Guan and Zhou, eds., Jia Fuxi mupici jiaozhu, p. 223.

68 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 161.

69 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 161.

70 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 162.

71 Kong Shangren, “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 162.

72 For translation and Chinese text, see Legge, The Chinese Classics, v. 1, Confucian Analects, p. 324 (Analects 17.13). “Good, careful people of the villages” refer to those whose actions are no less evil than others but who can please everyone with their actions. Yuan 原 and yuan 愿, as used by Confucius and Kong Shangren, are alternate forms of the same character.

73 Translation and Chinese text from Legge, The Chinese Classics, v. 2, The Works of Mencius, pp. 500–501 (7A.37).

74 Besides “The Biography of the Gentleman of Wood Clapper,” Jia Fuxi's poetry collection Poetic Draft of Danpu (Danpu shicao 澹圃詩草), which includes 158 poems, can also help us get a glimpse of his personality and his view of history. These poems include examples such as “Quiet Observation” (“Jingguan” 靜觀), in which his sarcasm toward human nature and history is in accord with Kong Shangren's description of him, and poems on the fall of the Ming such as two on the fate of Prince Lu, Zhu Yihai 朱以海 (1618–1662), and his family (“Two Poems on Prince Lu's Palace in the Desolate City” [“Fu huangcheng Ludian yu er shou” 賦荒城魯殿馀二首]). See Guan and Zhou, eds., Jia Fuxi mupici jiaozhu, pp. 208–209 and 241, for these poems.

75 While there were partial precedents such as Zhao Lingzhi's 趙令畤 (fl. 1051–1134) prosimetric adaptation of Yuan Zhen's 元稹 (770–831) “Tale of Yingying” (Yingying zhuan” 鶯鶯傳), identified in one of its titles as a guzi ci 鼓子詞, Jia Fuxi's text is the first one officially entitled as a drum ballad. It should be noted that the different versions of Jia's work in circulation can vary rather widely in terms of detail, including the title of the piece, but in this article I follow the text set by Guan Dedong and Zhou Zhongming, who provide almost 600 collation notes (Guan and Zhou, eds., Jia Fuxi mupici jiaozhu, pp. 99–148). In section five of their introduction (pp. 19–25; separate pagination from main text) they discuss the major differences among extant versions and how they edited their text and annotated it.

76 For a comparison of the two, see Che Zhenhua, “Qingdai shuochang wenxue chuangzuo yanjiu,” pp. 153–70, particularly pp. 154–56.

77 Kong Shangren worked this song-suite into the very last scene of Taohua shan.

78 “Main Section,” p. 24.

79 This couplet seems to be about making kowtows, while the previous one describes the headgear worn by emperors, which featured strings of pearls which hung in front of the wearer's eyes.

80 “Main Section,” p. 25.

81 “Watching a Puppet Play, Matching the Rhymes [of a Previous Poem]” (“Guan kuilei ciyun” 觀傀儡次韻), in Wang Yangming quanji 王陽明全集 (Complete works of Wang Yangming; Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1992), p. 19.711.

82 “Preface,” p. 12.

83 “Main Section,” p. 84.

84 “Preface,” p. 13.

85 Jia Fuxi's account of Shun's decision to yield the throne to Yu is similarly disrespectful of Shun in its depiction of Shun working through his options and deciding that it is most important to prevent Yu from taking revenge for the death of this father. See “Main Section,” p. 32.

86 De Bary, Waiting for the Dawn, “On the Prince” (“Yuan jun” 原君), p. 92; Huang Zongxi, Mingyi daifang lu, p. 2.

87 “Main Section,” p. 43.

88 Legge, The Chinese Classics, v. 3, The Shoo King, p. 315 (“Wucheng” 武成 [Completion of the war]): “But they would offer no opposition to our army. Those in the front inverted their spears, and attacked those behind them, till they fled, and the blood flowed till it floated the pestles about” 罔有敵於我師, 前途倒戈, 攻於後以北, 血流漂杵.

89 See Legge, The Chinese Classics, v. 2, The Works of Mencius, p. 479 (7B.3).

90 “Main Section,” p. 43.

91 “Main Section,” pp. 42–43.

92 “Main Section,” p. 62.

93 “Main Section,” p. 86.

94 “Main Section,” pp. 39–40. The ming of mandate of Heaven (tianming) is the same ming as “fate.”

95 “Main Section,” p. 14.

96 “Main Section,” pp. 39–40; “Main Section,” p. 14; and “Epilogue,” p. 92.

97 “Preface,” p. 13.

98 “Preface,” p. 16.

99 “Main Section,” p. 84.

100 “Main Section,” p. 24.

101 “Epilogue,” p. 92. The preface also says the song-suite is “ready-made” (xiancheng 現成), implying that it was composed for another purpose or by someone else. Xu Xudan 徐旭旦 (1656–1720), Kong Shangren's colleague in river management, included as his a song-suite entitled “Thoughts at the Old Pleasure Quarters” (“Jiuyuan you gan” 舊院有感) that some have argued was the basis for Kong's “Ai Jiangnan.” Recent studies on Xu Xudan show that he plagiarized other writers' works and included them as his own in poetry collections. See, for instance, Huang Qiang 黄强 and Shen Lingyan 申玲燕, “Xu Xudan Shijing tang chuji chaoxi zhi zuo shukao” 徐旭旦世經堂初集抄襲之作述考 (On Xu Xudan's appropriation of other's work in his First Collection of Poetry from Shijing tang), Wenxue yichan 文學遺產 (Literary heritage) 2012.1: 90–99.

102 “Epilogue,” p. 93.

103 “Epilogue,” p. 94. There are only four characters that differ between this version of the song and that which appears in The Peach Blossom Fan. They appear at the beginning of the second and third lines from the end.

104 “Epilogue,” p. 92.

105 Both are based on historical figures.

106 Wang Jisi 王季思, et al., eds., Taohua shan 桃花扇 (The peach blossom fan; Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 1980), pp. 259–60.

107 Qiu 秋 is a near homophone for chou 愁 (sorrow), which replicates it and adds a “heart” radical below it.

108 Wang Jisi, et al., eds., Taohua shan, pp. 257–58.

109 Guan and Zhou, ed., Jia Fuxi mupici jiaozhu, pp. 149–60. According to collation note 1 (pp. 156–57), some editions of Jia's Drum-Ballad included this piece as part of its first section, before the “Preface.”

110 Wang Jisi, et al., eds., Taohua shan, pp. 8–10.

111 An idyllic retreat from oppression created by Tao Qian 陶潛 (365–427) in his preface to a poem on it, “Record of Peach Blossom Spring” (“Taohua yuan ji” 桃花源記).

112 This last line alludes to a line in the ninth of Du Fu's 杜甫 (712–770) set of poems entitled “Autumn Stirrings” (“Qiuxing” 秋興): “Rivers and lakes fill the earth, one old man fishing” 江湖滿地一漁翁.

113 Guan and Zhou, eds., Jia Fuxi mupici jiaozhu, pp. 150–51.

114 Mi Heng famously castigated the warlord Cao Cao 曹操 (155–220) when the latter belittled him by making him beat the drum as entertainment. Cao Cao refrained from killing Mi himself but made sure that he was killed by someone else.

115 “Mupi sanke zhuan,” p. 186: “Those who laugh and curse others are always laughed and cursed at by others. Therefore his neighbors couldn't tolerate him” 夫笑罵人者, 人恆笑罵之, 遂不容於鄉里.

116 See Mao Xiang 冒襄 (1611–1693), “To Liu Jingting” (“Zeng Liu Jingting” 贈柳敬亭), cited in Xu Shichang 徐世昌, ed., Wanqingyi shihui 晚晴簃詩匯 (Poetry collection from the Bright Twilight Studio), reproduced in Xuxiu Siku quanshu, v. 1629, p. 177 (juan 13, p. 19b).

117 For an introduction to Liu Jingting and a translation of one of the biographies of him, see Rüdiger Breuer, “Storyteller and Advisor: Wu Weiye's ‘Biography of Liu Jingting’ (Liu Jingting juan, 1647),” in Roland Altenberger, Margaret B. Wan, and Vibeke Børdahl, eds., Yangzhou, A Place in Literature (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2015), pp. 36–50.

118 Gong and Zhou, eds., Jia Fuxi Mupi ci jiaozhu, only records two short (three–four lines long) premodern biographies of Jia, neither of which identify him as Mupi sanke, although both describe his interest in storytelling and one describes him as “often beating the drum and singing them [stories] among seated [guests]” 往往於坐間拍鼓歌之 (p. 169).

119 See Strassberg, The World of K'ung Shang-ren, p. 314 n100.

120 Wang Desen 王德森, “Kunshan mingxian huaxiang zhuanzan” 崑山明賢畫像傳贊 (Biographies and encomiums to accompany the portraits of illustrious worthies of Kunshan), collected in Gui Zhuang ji, appendix containing biographical accounts, p. 577.

121 Wang Desen, “Kunshan mingxian huaxiang zhuanzan,” p. 577.

122 Niu Xiu 纽琇, Gusheng xubian 觚賸續編 (Continuation of Leftovers from Drinking), quoted in Gui Zhuang ji, p. 577.

123 Kun Xin hezhi 崑新合志 (Combined gazetteer for Kunshan and Xinyang), collected in Gui Zhuang ji, p. 579.

124 See Quan Zuwang 全祖望 (1705–1755), Jieqi ting ji waibian 鮚埼亭集外編 (Collected writings of Quan Zuwang, external collection), juan 31, and “A Chronological Biography of Mr. Gui Zhuang” (“Gui Xuangong xiansheng nianpu” 歸玄恭先生年譜), notes on Wangu chou, collected in Gui Zhuang ji, pp. 589 and 576, respectively. Interestingly enough, Chen Hong 陳洪, “Gui Zhuang wenxue sixiang shuping” 歸莊文學思想述評 (An account and critique of Gui Zhuang's literary thought), Nankai xuebao 南開學報 (Nankai University journal) 1994.5: 21–27, despite also referencing the idea that the Shunzhi Emperor had Sorrow for Eternity played at his meals (p. 25), thinks that Sorrow was more of a rough draft improved upon in Remnant.

125 The most famous account can be found in Sima Qian 司馬遷, Shiji 史記 (Records of the historian; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1964), “Cike liezhuan” 刺客列傳 (Biography of the assassin-retainers), pp. 86. 2527–37.

126 A complete copy of Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu can be found in Gui Zhuang ji, pp. 161–66, and of Sorrow of Eternity on pp. 157–61.

127 See Stephen Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary Thought (Cambridge: Harvard Asia Center Press, 1992), p. 47.

128 Sima Qian, Shiji, p. 86. 2534.

129 Che Zhenhua, “Qingdai shuochang wenxue chuangsuo yanjiu,” p. 170, likens Jia and Gui in terms of their fondness for invective (xixiao numa de kouqi 嬉笑怒罵口氣). According to Zhang Bing 張兵, “Yimin xintai de juemiao zhanshi—Lun Gui Zhuang ‘Wangu chou’ qu” 遺民心態的絕妙展示—論歸莊萬古愁曲 (Excellent display of the mind of a remnant subject—On Gui Zuang's Sorrow for Eternity song-suite), Shehui zongheng 社會縱橫 (Excursions in social science) 1996.5: 47–49, p. 47, Wei Xi 魏禧 (1624–1681) described Gui Zhuang, whom he met in 1672, as “good at cursing people” and gave a description of Sorrow for Eternity that sounds just like what such a person would produce. Guo Jie 郭傑 and Qiu Fu 秋芙, Tuwen ben: Zhongguo wenxue shihua 圖文本: 中國文學史話 (Illustrated edition: History of Chinese literature), 10 vols. (Changchun: Jilin wenshi, 2008), Vol. 10, Qingdai wenxue 清代文學 (Qing dynasty literature), p. 126, speaks of Gui Zhuang as “famous for cursing the world” (yi mashi zhucheng 以罵世著稱).

130 Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu, p. 162.

131 Translation (slightly modified) and text from Legge, The Chinese Classics, v. 2, The Works of Mencius, pp. 281–82 (3B.9).

132 Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu, p. 161.

133 Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu, p. 163.

134 This is the name of the first poem of the Shijing 詩經 (Classic of poetry), traditionally interpreted as celebrating the virtue of the wife of the founder of the Zhou dynasty. The following three characters can be seen as a reference to another poem in this classic, one that praises the mother of the founder of the dynasty.

135 Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu, p. 163.

136 Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu, p. 164.

137 Four of the nine “provinces” (jiuzhou 九州) that China was broken up into according to an ancient system.

138 Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu, p. 164.

139 Xue Aocao 薛敖曹 (624–705) is said to have been selected as the lover of Empress Wu Zetian 武則天 (624–705) because of the size of his male organ.

140 Zhong Mountain dominates Nanjing, the first capital of the Ming dynasty, home of the tomb of the founder, and capital of the Southern Ming.

141 In the comparable line in Sorrow of Eternity (p. 160), the word for “barbarian” (hu 胡) does not appear.

142 The version of this line in Sorrow of Eternity has hun 褌 (clothing radical) instead of hun 渾 (water radical), which makes more sense, so I have translated the line as it appears in Sorrow of Eternity.

143 The text actually mentions Mr. Ten Thousand Dan (dan is a unit of measure for grain; officials were once paid in grain), the nickname of Shi Fen 石奮 (d. 124 BCE). He and his four sons were high officials, and their salaries added up to ten thousand dan. Here this nickname is just used to refer to officials enjoying high salaries.

144 The idea of calling paper Mr. Chu (“Chu xiansheng” 楮先生) comes from Han Yu's 韓愈 (768–824) playful and satiric mock-biography of a writing brush, “Biography of Mao Ying” (“Mao Ying zhuan” 毛穎傳).

145 Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu, p. 165.

146 In the immediately preceding song, he does talk about how he will use different genres for different audiences, including Lianhua lao 蓮花落 for beggars and Tianjia le 田家樂 for farmers.

147 This refers to the clothes of officials of high ranks.

148 Remnant Sound of Playing the Zhu, p. 165.

149 See Analects 17.9, in which shi 詩 (poetry) refers to the Shijing. In later use of the phrase about the poetry of the Shijing and resentment that occurs in the passage and that Qian Zhongshu uses for the title of his article (see below), shi refers to poetry in general.

150 Xu Yuangao 徐元誥, ed., Guoyu jijie 國語集解 (Collected explications of the Conversations of the States; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2002), “Zhouyu” 周語 (Conversations of the State of Zhou), part one, p. 15. On this general issue, see Qian Zhongshu, “Shi keyi yuan” 詩可以怨, in his Qizhui ji 七綴集 (Seven pieces; Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2002), pp. 115–32, translated as “Poetry as a Vehicle of Grief” by Wong Siu-kit, Renditions 21–22 (1984): 21–40 and Duncan M. Campbell, Patchwork: Seven Essays on Art and Literature (Leiden: Brill, 2014), pp. 189–210.

151 When Yang's Ballad-Narrative was evaluated during the literary inquisition of the Qing dynasty, the conclusion was this: “He took the events of the twenty-one official histories and set them to music to make a tanci narrative, in order that [the material] could be presented through a popular style. Its writing style is suitable for elementary students. Its content stops with the Yuan dynasty, and there is nothing sensitive [in it]. It should be put forward that there is no need to destroy it” 取廿一史内事迹, 谱作弹词, 以便通俗演唱. 其文颇便于初学. 所载迄于元代, 尚无干碍, 当请毋庸销毁. See Che Wenhua, “Qingdai shuochang wenxue chuangzuo yanjiu,” p. 170 n. 2.