NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 In the words of Patrick Hanan, “He saw the ‘authentic nature’ of the vernacular story as the here and now of human beings in society, and he wrote accordingly” (The Chinese Vernacular Story [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981], 148). Hanan concludes that to this end, Ling’s tales were overtly moralistic.
2 All three collections (Gujin xiaoshuo 古今小說, 1621; Jingshi tongyan 警世通言, 1624; Xingshi hengyan 醒世恆言, 1627) have been translated into English by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang and published by the University of Washington Press: Stories Old and New (2000), Stories to Caution the World (2005), and Stories to Awaken the World (2009).
3 But after a selection of forty of Ling’s and Feng’s stories began to circulate as the often-reprinted Remarkable Stories New and Old (Jin gu qiguan 今古奇觀) around 1640, Feng’s three collections and both of Ling’s disappeared in China. Ling’s original Suzhou Shanyou Tang 尚友堂 edition was rediscovered in a temple in Nikko, Japan, only in 1941. All Slapping the Table in Amazement editions printed in China during the Qing period were incomplete, filled with errors, and often expurgated. See Li Tianyi 李田意, “The Original Edition of the P’o-an chin-ch’i,” printed at the end of Ling Mengchu, Pai’an jinqi, ed. Li Tienyi (Hong Kong: Youlian, 1967), n.p. Eight of the Slapping the Table tales (stories 1, 11, 18, 20, 22, 27, 35, 38) appear in Remarkable Stories.
4 Hanan, Chinese Vernacular Story, 103–21.
5 Story 31, for example, varies greatly in details from historical accounts of a woman bandit and rebel; see Liu Bendong 劉本棟, “Pai’an jingqi kaozheng” 拍案驚奇考證, in Ling Mengchu, Pai’an jingqi, ed. Liu Bendon (Taipei: Sanmin, 1979), 5.
6 I refer to the stories of Li Yu 李渔 (1611–1679/80) in his collections Silent Operas (Wusheng xi 無聲戲) and Twelve Towers (Shi’er lou 十二樓) and those of his unidentifiable contemporary Aina Jushi (Aina the Buddhist Layman) in the collection Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor (Doupeng xianhua 豆棚閒話) (for an English-language translation, see Aina Jushi, Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor, ed. Robert E. Hegel [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017]).
7 See Michaela Bussotti, Gravures de Hui: Étude du livre illustré chinois de la fin du XVIe siècle à la première moitié du XVIIe siècle (Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient, 2001), 88, 363, fig. 114, and 364, fig 117. The exquisite polychrome illustrations for the 1640 edition of The Western Wing printed by Min Qiji, now preserved in the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, are considered some of the very finest examples of woodblock printing. For reproductions of its illustrations, see Sanwen8, accessed August 30, 2016, http://sanwen8.cn/p/2b52m9Q.html, and Ming Min Qiji huike Xixiang ji caitu, Ming He Bi jiao Xixiang ji 明閔齊伋繪刻西厢記彩圖, 明何璧校西厢記 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 2005). The less colorful 1640 edition of The Western Wing edited by Ling Mengchu was reprinted as Ling ke taoban huitu Xixiang ji 凌刻套板繪圖西厢記 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 2005), with illustrations by Wang Wenheng 王文衡, who also illustrated the Min edition.
8 For a biographical sketch of the rebel Li Zicheng, see Arthur W. Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1943–44), 491–93.
9 For biographical information on Ling, see Hanan, Chinese Vernacular Story, 140–45, and Feng Baoshan 馮保善, Ling Mengchu yanjiu 凌蒙初研究 (Beijing: Renmin Wenxue, 2009). The first extensive study of Ling and his work in a European language is Wolf Baus, Das P’ai-an Ching-ch’i des Ling Meng-ch’u: Ein Beitrag zur Analyse umgangssprachlicher Novellen der Ming-Zeit (Bern and Frankfurt am Main: Herbert Lang, 1974); I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for this reference.
10 With the appearance of the second collection, Slapping the Table in Amazement, Second Collection (Erke Pai’an jinqi), the first was given the title Slapping the Table in Amazement, First Collection (Chuke Pai’an jingqi 初刻), and together they were known as the “Two Slaps” Collection (Erpai 二拍 or Liangpai 两拍), to parallel Feng Menglong’s “Three Words” Collections (Sanyan).
11 For an excellent study in English, see Richard G. Wang, Ming Erotic Novellas: Genre, Consumption, and Religiosity in Cultural Practice (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2011). For an example, see Charles R. Stone, The Fountainhead of Chinese Erotica: The Lord of Perfect Satisfaction (Ruyijun zhuan) (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003).
12 Tan Zhengbi 譚正壁 and Sun Kaidi 孫楷第 have located most of the tales Ling adapted; see Tan, comp., Sanyan Liangpai ziliao 三言兩拍資料 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 1980), esp. vol. 2:573–759; and Sun, comp., Xiaoshuo pangzheng 小說旁證 (Beijing: Renmin Wenxue, 2000), 219–88. See also Tan’s Sanyan Liangpai yuanliu kao, vols. 6–7 of Tan Zhengbi xueshu zhuzuo ji 谭正壁學術著作集 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 2012). Hanan (Chinese Vernacular Story, 143–44) notes that he rewrote earlier stories for his plays as well.
13 Tan, Sanyan Liangpai ziliao, 661–62, and Sun Kaidi, Xiaoshuo pangzheng, 241–42. Another major difference between these stories and those by Feng Menglong is that Ling Mengchu regularly used longer and more overtly moralistic prologues, each made up of several brief tales and poems.
14 Tan, 662; Sun, 242.
15 Tan, 662–63.
16 Hanan, Chinese Vernacular Story, 148.
17 Stories 1 and 5 in this volume were published in English ninety years ago in E. Butts Howell, trans., The Restitution of the Bride (London: T. Werner Laurie, 1926). Four were published in Yang Hisen-yi (Yang Xianyi) and Gladys Yang, trans., The Courtesan’s Jewel Box: Chinese Stories of the Xth–XVIIth Centuries (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1957). Story 18 appeared in Y. W. Ma and Joseph S. M. Lau, eds., Traditional Chinese Stories: Themes and Variations (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978), and story 6 was translated in Victor Mair, ed., The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994). Four of the more erotic stories (stories 6, 26, 32, 34 in this volume) are from Ling’s Slapping the Table in Amazement, First Collection, and story 34, from Slapping the Table in Amazement, Second Collection, are in Ling Mengchu, In the Inner Quarters: Erotic Stories from Ling Menchu’s Two Slaps, trans. Lenny Hu, in collaboration with R. W. L. Guisso (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2003). Five stories each from Slapping the Table in Amazement, First Collection (stories 1, 11, 17, 20, and 33 in this volume) and Slapping the Table in Amazement, Second Collection that are described as “toothsome” and “fascinating” appear in Lin Mengchu, The Abbot and the Widow: Tales from the Ming Dynasty, trans. Ted Wan and Chen Chen (Norwalk, Conn.: EastBridge, 2004). A more extensive sample can be found in Lin Mengchu, Amazing Tales, First Series, trans. Wen Jingen (Beijing: Panda Books, 1998), which renders eighteen stories from Ling’s Slapping the Table in Amazement, First Collection.
PREFACE [1628 EDITION]
1 For the stories, see the following volumes compiled by Feng Menglong and translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang: Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection (2000), Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2 (2005), and Stories to Awaken the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 3 (2009).
FIVE EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES FOR THIS COLLECTION
1 On A Formulary for the Correct Sounds for an Era of Great Harmony (Taihe zhengyin pu), see Wilt Idema and Lloyd Haft, A Guide to Chinese Literature, Vol. 74 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997).
2 This is a reference to Feng Menglong’s practice of pairing the stories in his Sanyan collections.
3 On these two works, see Sidney Shapiro, trans., Outlaws of the Marsh (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1999), and Anthony Yu, trans., The Journey to the West, 4 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977–83).
1. THE MAN WHOSE LUCK HAS TURNED CHANCES UPON DONGTING TANGERINES; THE MERCHANT FROM PERSIA REVEALS THE SECRETS OF A TURTLE SHELL
1 A ci (lyric) poem differs from a poem (shi) mainly in that it is written to fit an existing musical tune.
Zhu Dunru (1081–1159), courtesy name Xizhen, was a hermit poet known today mostly for his “Songs of the Woodcutter” (Qiaoge).
2 The Seventeen Histories, all written before the Northern Song dynasty, are Historical Records by Sima Qian of the Western Han dynasty, History of Han by Ban Gu (32–92), History of Eastern Han, History of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou of the Western Jin dynasty, History of the Jin Dynasty, History of the Song Dynasty, History of the Southern Qi Dynasty, History of the Liang Dynasty, History of the Wei Dynasty, History of the Northern Qi Dynasty, History of the Zhou Dynasty, History of the Sui Dynasty, History of the Southern Dynasties, History of the Northern Dynasties, New History of the Tang, and New History of the Five Dynasties.
3 Wu Ji (d. 1142), courtesy name Yangao, a native of Jianzhou (present-day Jian’ou, Fujian), was a man of letters in the Jin dynasty.
4 Hui’an was a monk in the Southern Song dynasty.
5 Su Shi (1037–1101), courtesy name Zizhan, also known as Dongpo, was one of China’s greatest men of letters.
6 Bianjing is present-day Kaifeng, Henan.
7 A courtesy name is the name by which an educated person was addressed by people of his or her own generation; it was probably used more often than the person’s official name.
8 According to The Biographies of Fairies, Su Dan of the Han dynasty irrigated his tangerine trees with well water. One leaf from one of these trees taken with the well water was enough to cure illnesses.
9 Prefect Li Heng of Danyang, state of Wu, of the Three Kingdoms period (220–80 BCE), left a thousand tangerine trees to his sons as part of their inheritance.
10 A candareen is a unit of weight equivalent to one one-hundredth of a tael.
11 The four treasures of the scholar’s study are writing brush, ink slab, ink stick, and paper.
2. YAO DIZHU FLEES FROM DISGRACE ONLY TO INCUR MORE DISGRACE; ZHENG YUE’E USES A MISTAKE TO ADVANCE HER OWN INTERESTS
1 Shi Chong (249–300), courtesy name Jilun, made a huge fortune through highway robbery. Fan Dan (112–185), courtesy name Shiyun, was an upright scholar living in such poverty that he often ran out of food.
2 Zhou Zhimian, courtesy name Fuqing, sobriquet Shaogu, was a Ming dynasty artist known for his flower-and-bird paintings. Shi Dabin, sobriquet Shaoshan, was a famous Ming dynasty pottery master.
3 Song Yu was a disciple of the great poet Qu Yuan (ca. 340–278 BCE). He is described as strikingly handsome in the rhapsody “The Lascivious Mr. Dengtu” (Dengtuzi haose fu), which he is said to have written himself. Pan Yu (247–300), courtesy name Anren, popularly known as Pan An, was a man of letters in the Western Jin dynasty and reputedly very handsome.
4 In the Ming dynasty, the Southern Metropolitan Area (Nanzhili) consisted of what are now the provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu and Shanghai.
5 “Clouds and rain” is a metaphor for sexual encounters. The term was first used in “Rhapsody on the Gaotang Shrine” (Gaotang fu), attributed to Song Yu (ca. 290–ca. 223 BCE).
3. LIU DONGSHAN BRAGS ABOUT HIS PROWESS AT THE CITY GATE; EIGHTEENTH BROTHER LEAVES HIS MARK IN THE VILLAGE TAVERN
1 In the Ming dynasty, the Northern Metropolitan Area (Beizhili) consisted of what are now Beijing, Tianjin, large parts of Hebei, and some parts of Henan and Shandong.
4. CHENG YUANYU PAYS FOR A MEAL AT A RESTAURANT; LADY ELEVENTH EXPLAINS SWORDSMANSHIP ON MOUNT CLOUD
1 During the Jingkang period, Emperors Huizong and Qinzong were captured by the Jurchens, and the Northern Song dynasty perished.
2 The Double Ninth Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. On this day, the Chinese tradition is to drink dogwood or chrysanthemum wine, climb mountains, and deck one’s hair with dogwood sprays.
3 The Yellow Emperor is the legendary ruler and ancestor of the Chinese people.
4 Zhang Liang (d. 189 BCE), courtesy name Zifang, made a failed attempt to assassinate the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty. Later, he served as adviser to Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty.
Liu Wu, Prince of Liang and son of Emperor Jing (r. 156–140 BCE), had court minister Yuan Ang assassinated for advising the emperor against declaring him crown prince.
Gongsun Shu, a warlord toward the end of the Western Han dynasty (206–25 BCE), declared himself king of the Sichuan region and, later, emperor. Emperor Liu Xiu dispatched Generals Cen Peng and Lai Xi on a punitive expedition against him, and Shu’s assassins killed the two generals.
Li Shidao, a warlord in the reign of Emperor Xian (806–21), had an assassin kill Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng because the latter had tried to clip the warlords’ wings.
5 Officer Gu is featured in the story about the woman knight-errant Wushuang in Extensive Gleanings of the Reign of Great Tranquility (Taiping guangji), translated as “Wu-shuang the Peerless” by Dale Johnson, in Yau-Woon Ma and Joseph S. M. Lau, eds., Traditional Chinese Stories: Themes and Variations (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978), 52–57.
6 Zhao Yuanhao (r. 1032–48) was king Jingzong of Western Xia (1038–1227). Duke Han of Wei was Han Qi, a famous general of the Northern Song dynasty.
Miao Fu and Liu Zheng, both military officers of the Song dynasty, staged a failed coup d’état in 1131. Their failed assassination attempt against General Zhang Jun, courtesy name Deyuan, is recorded in “The Biography of Zhang Jun” in History of the Song Dynasty (Song shi).
7 Zhang Liang did escape after the assassination attempt.
8 The Grand Historian is Sima Qian (c. 145–87 BCE) of the Western Han dynasty, author of Historical Records (Shiji), which includes a section titled “Biographies of Assassins.”
9 Jing Ke (d. 227 BCE) tried to assassinate the First Emperor of Qin but failed.
10 Kunlun Mole, a character in a Tang dynasty romance story by Pei Xing, is a servant with magic skills who uses them to help his master, Mr. Cui, in the latter’s romantic conquest.
11 “The Curly-Bearded Knight” (Qiuranke zhuan) is a Tang dynasty tale written by Du Guangting (850–933).
5. ZHANG DERONG ENCOUNTERS A TIGER SENT BY THE GODS AS A MATCHMAKER; PEI YUEKE BECOMES THE LUCKY MATE JUST IN TIME FOR THE BLISSFUL DATE
1 The Old Man under the Moon is the god of marriage.
2 In Buddhist belief, a yaksha is usually an evil spirit.
3 Li Chunfeng, director of the palace library at the beginning of the Tang dynasty (618–907), was well versed in astronomy.
4 The four treasures of the scholar’s study are the writing brush, ink slab, ink stick, and paper.
5 From the Han dynasty onward, remonstrance officials were officials charged with scrutinizing and criticizing government policy decisions and the improper conduct of officials.
6 Yang Yuhuan (719–756) was a favorite consort of Emperor Xuanzong’s (r. 712–55), of the Tang dynasty.
7 Du Liniang is the heroine of the play The Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting) by the famous playwright Tang Xianzu (1550–1616).
6. ZHAO THE NUN DRUGS A BEAUTY INTO A STUPOR; JIA THE SCHOLAR TAKES REVENGE IN A BRILLIANT MOVE
1 Zhang Liang (d. 189 BCE) and Chen Ping (d. 178 BCE) were major advisers to Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty. Sui He and Lu Jia were political advisers of great eloquence in the Western Han dynasty.
2 Zhang Yi (d. 310 BCE) was an eloquent politician of the Warring States period. Su Qin (d. 317 BCE), another politician of the same period, was also known for his persuasive powers.
3 A wooden fish is a round, carved, wooden resonator that is struck by Buddhist monks and nuns to keep the rhythm while chanting sutras.
7. EMPEROR MINGHUANG OF TANG, A DAOIST DEVOTEE, SEEKS OUT EMINENT DAOISTS; CONSORT WU, A BUDDHIST DISCIPLE, WITNESSES CONTESTS OF MAGIC POWER
1 An Lushan (703–757), a regional commander of the Tang army, rebelled and, after a series of victories, seized Chang’an, the capital, and declared himself Emperor Xiongwu of Yan. Two years later, he was killed by his son An Qingxu. For a fictional account of An Lushan’s adulterous relationship with Imperial Consort Yang, see the prologue story of story 19 in Feng Menglong, Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005).
2 Geshu Han (d. 757), a member of the Turkish Geshu tribe, was a regional commander in the Tang army. He was defeated by An Lushan at the Tongguan Pass (in present-day Shaanxi).
3 In their flight from Chang’an, soldiers in the emperor ‘s procession blamed Consort Yang for the disaster that befell the empire and demanded her death.
4 The legendary Eight Daoist Immortals are Li Tieguai, Han Zhongli, Zhang Guolao, He Xiangu, Lan Caihe, Lü Dongbin, Han Xiangzi, and Cao Guojiu.
5 A ruyi scepter is S-shaped and is usually made of jade. It symbolizes good fortune.
6 Wu Sansi (d. 707) was Empress Wu Zetian’s nephew. Empress Wu Zetian (r. 684–704) of the Tang dynasty is the only female sovereign in Chinese history.
7 The famous tune “Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Robe Dance” (Nishang yuyi qu) was indeed composed by Emperor Minghuang (or Xuanzong).
8 Consort Wu, the great-niece of Empress Wu Zetian (r. 684–704), was a Buddhist believer.
9 The two characters dang gui, for the herb angelica, can also mean “should return.”
10 The Yangs are Consort Yang (719–756) and her power-abusing cousin Yang Guozhong (d. 756). The troops demanded the deaths of both during Emperor Minghuang’s flight to the Shu region.
8. GENERAL WU REPAYS THE DEBT OF ONE MEAL; CHEN DALANG REUNITES WITH TWO LOVED ONES
1 “Timely Rain,” according to the Ming dynasty novel Water Margin (Shui hu zhuan), is the sobriquet of Song Jiang, leader of a rebel bandit group.
2 Li She was a Tang dynasty poet and instructor in the Imperial Academy.
3 In a Yuan dynasty play set during a famine in the reign of Wang Mang (9–23), when starving people were driven to cannibalism, Zhao Xiao was captured by the bandits, but his older brother Zhao Li offered to die for him, saying that he was fatter than Zhao Xiao. The bandits were so moved that they not only set the brothers free but also rewarded them with food grains.
Zhang Qixian of the Song dynasty was prime minister during the reign of Emperor Taizong (r. 976–98). When he was down and out before his rise to power, he once lodged at an inn where he saw a group of bandits eating and drinking. Instead of fleeing from them, he engaged them in conversation. The bandits were so impressed with his looks and speech that they offered him lavish gifts.
4 In the Ming dynasty, there was one government courier station every sixty li for those traveling by road or water.
5 The Fountain of Greed is in present-day Guangzhou, Guangdong. Legend has it that anyone who drinks from it will become greedy.
6 Before Han Xin (d. 196 BCE) rose to power, an old woman washing clothes by the river noticed that he looked hungry and gave him some food. After he became commander in chief under Liu Bang (later to be the first emperor of the Han dynasty), he sought out the old woman and gave her a reward of a thousand pieces of gold.
9. IN THE DIRECTOR’S GARDEN, YOUNG LADIES ENJOY A SWING-SET PARTY; AT PURE AND PEACEFUL TEMPLE, HUSBAND AND WIFE LAUGH AND CRY AT THEIR REUNION
1 The story “Qianniang’s Departed Soul” and the zaju play based on it have been translated by Stephen West and Wilt Idema in Monks, Bandits, Lovers, and Immortals (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2010).
2 Extensive Gleanings of the Reign of Great Tranquility (Taiping guangji) is a compendium of early fiction printed in 981 in the Song dynasty.
3 The Clear and Bright (Qingming) Festival falls on April 5 or 6 and is the time when people visit the graves of their ancestors
4 Cao Zhi (192–232) was a gifted poet who, in his early youth, composed a poem in the time it took to take seven steps.
5 The Bureau of Remonstrance was an agency of the central government charged with scrutinizing and criticizing policy decisions.
10. SCHOLAR HAN TAKES A WIFE IN A WAVE OF PANIC; PREFECT WU MAKES A MATCH FOR A TALENTED SCHOLAR
1 Wei Gao (745–805), a general of the Tang dynasty, was humiliated by his father-in-law, Zhang Tingshang, but later rose through the ranks of officialdom until he replaced his father-in-law as regional commander of Western Sichuan, much to the latter’s mortification. His mother-in-law, Miao-shi, however, never failed to appreciate his worthy qualities.
Lü Mengzheng (944–1011) was prime minister for three terms under Emperors Taizong and Zhenzong of the Song dynasty. In his humble days, before he rose in the world, his father-in-law threw him and his wife out of the house.
2 On Wei Gao, see note 1.
3 Wang Xizhi (303–361) was a great calligrapher.
4 Hongfu was a palace lady in the service of Yang Su, prime minister of the Sui dynasty, when she abandoned him and followed Li Jing (571–649), who later helped Emperor Taizong found the Tang dynasty. Hongfu proved to be of great value to Li Jing in his career.
5 Cao Zhi (192–232), courtesy name Zijian, was a poet of the state of Wei in the Three Kingdoms period.
6 Pan An (247–300), or Pan Yue, courtesy name Anren, was a man of letters and an official in the Western Jin dynasty but is now better known as the personification of male attractiveness.
7 The eight characters of the natal chart are two for the hour of birth (one for the Heavenly Stem, one for the Earthly Branch), two for the day, two for the month, and two for the year.
8 The Four Books—The Great Learning (Daxue), The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), The Analects of Confucius (Lunyu), and Mencius (Mengzi)—were promoted by Zhu Xi (1130–1200) as essential texts and became the core of the Confucian curriculum.
9 In the Ming dynasty, students in government schools who were rated in the first and second classes were rewarded, whereas those in the fourth rank or lower were punished.
10 In fact, Bo Ziting was a Daoist in the Ming dynasty. Records Compiled After Retiring from the Farm (Chuogeng lu) was written by Tao Zongyi (1329–1410).
11 The six preliminaries are that the groom’s family (1) give presents to the prospective bride’s family to make the offer of marriage, (2) obtain written documentation of the prospective bride’s name and date of birth, (3) secure through divination a good omen endorsing the marriage, (4) send betrothal gifts to the bride’s family, (5) seek approval of an auspicious date for the wedding from the bride’s family, and (6) send the groom in person to bring the bride home.
12 According to the Ming dynasty novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi), Zhou Yu (175–210), military adviser to Sun Quan of Wu, devised a plan for capturing Liu Bei, Sun’s rival, by offering him Sun’s sister as wife so as to lure him to the Wu region to pick up the bride. But Liu Bei’s military adviser, the great strategist Zhuge Liang, saw through the plot and beat Zhou Yu at his own game by having Liu Bei take the bride away and return to his own territory safe and sound. Zhou Yu led his troops in chase but was defeated by Liu Bei’s general Zhang Fei. This story is invariably cited in reference to situations in which one ends up suffering a double loss through actions intended to produce a gain.
13 It is said that in his days of poverty, Lü Mengzheng (944–1011), later prime minister, used to join the monks at meals whenever he heard the meal bell of the nearby monastery. The monks grew so sick of him that they took to ringing the bell only after they had already eaten.
14 Gu Hong is a character in the Tang dynasty romance Biography of Wushuang. A champion of justice, he saved Wushuang from danger and brought about her marriage to Wang Xianke.
11. AN EVIL BOATMAN COMMITS BLACKMAIL WITH A DEAD BODY; A HEARTLESS SERVANT WRONGFULLY PRESSES MURDER CHARGES
1 Legend has it that the First Emperor of Qin (259–210 BCE) had in his possession a magic mirror in which he could see all the internal organs of the human body and therefore diagnose illnesses.
2 Xiao He (d. 193 BCE) was an early lawmaker. When he was prime minister under the first emperor of the Han dynasty, he formulated the larger part of the Han penal code.
12. MR. TAO TAKES IN STRANGERS SEEKING SHELTER FROM THE RAIN; JIANG ZHENQING GAINS A WIFE WITH A JEST
1 Yu, founder of the Xia dynasty, was a sage-king who led the people in controlling floods and succeeded Shun as ruler.
2 Legend has it that Yellow Stone Sage passed on a book on the art of war to Zhang Liang (d. 189 BCE), who would later serve as adviser to Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty.
3 The Shangshan hermits were four hermits of the early Western Han dynasty who began serving the imperial court when they were in their eighties.
4 Zhu Yuming (1460–1506), sobriquet Zhishan, was a famous calligrapher.
13. MR. ZHAO SPOILS HIS SON AND DIES AS A RESULT; MAGISTRATE ZHANG SENTENCES AN UNFILIAL SON TO DEATH IN AN IRONCLAD CASE
1 The Book of Songs (Shi jing) is China’s earliest collection of songs.
2 Wang Zhu of the Song dynasty wrote a number of poems that were later compiled in Child Prodigy Poems (Shitong shi), which became a popular children’s primer. Poetry from a Thousand Poets (Qianjia shi) is a collection of ancient poetry originally compiled by Liu Kezhuang (1187–1269), whose condensed version later became a popular poetry primer for children. The Great Learning (Daxue) is one of the Four Confucian Classics.
3 “Sixteen” (十六) may be a misprint for “sixty” (六十). Zhao the Sixth borrowed sixty taels of silver from Squire Chu.
4 A cangue is a wooden collar, usually three or four feet square, used in ancient China to confine the neck and sometimes also the hands of convicts.
15. WITH HIS MERCILESS HEART, SQUIRE WEI PLOTS TO SEIZE ANOTHER MAN’S PROPERTY; WITH HIS CLEVER PLAN, SCHOLAR CHEN WINS BACK HIS HOUSE
1 Liezi, a classic Daoist work collected at the beginning of the Han dynasty, is named after the Daoist Lie Yukou, or Liezi, of the Warring States period (475–221 BCE).
2 It is “Qinhuai Lake” in the Chinese original, but in fact the Qinhuai is a river. This mistake probably arose because “lake” and “river” are homophones in the dialects of the author’s native place, the Wu region.
16. ZHANG LIU’ER LAYS ONE OF HIS MANY TRAPS; LU HUINIANG SEVERS A BOND OF MARRIAGE
1 A green dragon symbolizes good luck, and a white tiger, misfortune.
2 “The Terrace” is a metaphor for a lovers’ tryst. It was first used in the prose poem “Rhapsody on the Gaotang Shrine” (Gaotang fu), attributed to Song Yu (ca. 290–ca. 223 BCE).
17. PRAYER SERVICES ARE HELD AT WEST HILL TEMPLE FOR A DEPARTED SOUL; A COFFIN IS PREPARED IN THE KAIFENG YAMEN FOR A LIVING CRIMINAL
1 Zhang Jiao was a leader of the Yellow Turbans Uprising, a large-scale peasant revolt that broke out at the end of the Western Han dynasty. The real founder of the Five Piculs of Rice Sect was Zhang Daoling.
2 A silencer was an oblong piece of wooden board with which a magistrate trying a case struck the table, to frighten the accused with the noise.
3 For more on Ren Daoyuan and the whip, see the prologue story of this story.
18. AN ALCHEMIST TURNS HALF A GRAIN OF MILLET INTO A NINE-CYCLE PILL; A RICH MAN SQUANDERS THOUSANDS OF TAELS OF SILVER TO WIN A BEAUTY’S SMILE
1 Tang Yin (1470–1524), courtesy name Bohu, was a painter and calligrapher of the Ming dynasty and is often featured as a romantic figure in popular literature.
2 Lü Chunyang, or Lü Dongbin, is one of the Eight Immortals in Daoist mythology.
3 For more on Du Zichun, see story 37 in Feng Menglong, Stories to Awaken the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 3, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009).
4 Tao Zhu, or Tao Zhugong, was Fan Li, who, after helping the king of Yue conquer the state of Wu toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period (772–481 BCE), became a rich businessman. Yi Dun sought advice from Fan Li on ways of gaining wealth and went from rags to riches.
5 Pei Hang is a fictional character featured in Tang dynasty romance stories.
6 Legend has it that Wang Zhi of the Jin dynasty (265–420) was chopping wood in the mountains when he stopped to watch two men play a game of chess. When the game ended, he saw that the handle of his ax had rotted away. On returning home, he learned that a hundred years had elapsed.
19. LI GONGZUO INGENIOUSLY INTERPRETS A DREAM; XIAO’E CLEVERLY SNARES PIRATES
1 Ban Jieyu was a poetically inclined imperial consort of Emperor Cheng of the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220). Cao Dagu, or Ban Zhao, was the daughter of Ban Biao of the Eastern Han dynasty, sister of Ban Gu, and wife of Cao Shishu; a learned and talented scholar, she helped finish Ban Gu’s History of the Han Dynasty (Hanshu). Yu Xuanji was the Daoist name of Li Yiqie, a woman poet of the Tang dynasty. Xue Tao was a celebrated courtesan-cum-poet of the Tang dynasty (618–907). Li Jilan was a woman poet and a Daoist priest. Li Yi’an was Li Qingzhao (1084–1151), China’s greatest woman poet. Zhu Shuzhen was a native of Hangzhou in the Song dynasty (960–1279); unhappy in her marriage, she wrote ci poems of a mostly melancholy nature.
2 Ban Gu was the author of History of the Han Dynasty; the work was completed by his sister Ban Zhao. Yang Xiong was a man of letters of the Han dynasty. Lu Zhaolin was a man of letters of the Tang dynasty. Luo Binwang was a poet of the Tang dynasty.
3 Lady Han was the mother of General Zhu Xu, who was assigned to guard the city of Xianyang against attack at the beginning of the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420); she led women in defending the city and routing the enemy. The Detachment of Women fought under the leadership of Princess Yangping, daughter of Emperor Li Yuan (r. 618–27) of the Tang dynasty. Lady Xian of Gaoliang (now the city of Yangjiang, Guangdong) was a tribal military leader in southern China in the Southern Dynasties (420–589). Mother Lü of East Sea, a native of East Sea County (now the city of Rizhao, Shandong), led a peasant rebellion in the Eastern Han dynasty.
4 Han Xin was instrumental in helping Liu Bang found the Han dynasty. Bai Qi (d. 257) was a leading general of the state of Qin in the Warring States period (475–221 BCE).
5 Guan Yu (d. 220), courtesy name Yunchang, a sworn brother of Liu Bei’s, is revered to this day as a central figure in the folk pantheon. He and Zhang Fei (d. 221), the other sworn brother of Liu Bei, helped Liu Bei found the Kingdom of Shu.
6 Zhuo Wenjun was renowned for her beauty, intelligence, and musical talent. For her elopement with the celebrated writer Sima Xiangru (179–118 BCE), see the prologue story of story 6, in Feng Menglong, Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005). Hongfu was a courtesan in the service of Yang Su, prime minister of the Sui dynasty, when she abandoned him and followed Li Jing (571–649), a military strategist; she later proved to be of great value to him in his career. Wang Hun’s wife, Zhong-shi, was a great-granddaughter of Zhong Yao’s, a famous calligrapher of the Three Kingdoms period (220–80), and was known for being a good judge of character. Wei Gao of the Tang dynasty had been humiliated by his father-in-law before his rise to prominence, but his mother-in-law, Miao-shi, never failed to appreciate his worthy qualities.
7 Sun Yi, prefect of Danyang in the Three Kingdoms period, was murdered by one of his subordinate. His wife, Xu-shi, sought revenge and stabbed the murderer to death.
Dong Chang of the Song dynasty (960–1279) was persecuted to death by Fang Liuyi. Fang then forced Dong’s wife, Shentu-shi, to marry him. Shentu-shi pretended to accept the marriage offer but killed Fang in the nuptial chamber on the wedding night.
Eqin of the Eastern Han dynasty was Pang Zixia’s wife. Her father, Zhao Jun’an, was murdered by Li Shou of the same county. In her resolve to avenge her father, she secretly bought a sword and later used it to kill Li Shou.
Zou Jingwen and his wife of the Later Liang dynasty (907–23) were both killed by bandits. Their servant’s wife feigned joy so as not to arouse the bandits’ suspicions but then reported the murder to the local police and had the bandits arrested and executed.
8 Mulan was a girl who disguised herself as a man and went into military service in her ailing father’s stead. For more on Mulan, see the first prologue story of story 28 in Feng Menglong, Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).
Lou Cheng of Dongyang of the Southern Qi dynasty (479–502) disguised herself as a man and became a civil servant in Yangzhou.
Madam Meng of the Tang dynasty was the wife of a subordinate of General Guo Ziyi’s (697–781). After her husband died, she posed as his brother and continued to serve in the military. Guo Ziyi later became prime minister, and after he died, she became an imperial inspector.
Huang Chonggu of the Five Dynasties was a learned woman scholar and, disguised as a man, rose to be head of a government bureau.
9 For more on the Ancient Sword Spirit who killed with wisps of incense smoke, see the third prologue story, about Fragrant Pellet, in story 4 of this collection.
10 Li Gongzuo (ca. 770–ca. 848) was the author of “The Biography of Xie Xiao’e,” on which this story is based.
11 Monkey King, a much beloved character in the Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West (Xiyou ji), is able to change the hair on his body into bugs that put people to sleep.
12 Extensive Gleanings of the Reign of Great Tranquility (Taiping guangji), one of three huge compendia of early fiction compiled by imperial order during the Taiping reign (976–83), is devoted to anecdotes and tales. The collection is also widely valued as a source for nonliterary disciplines.
20. LI KERANG SENDS A BLANK LETTER; LIU YUANPU BEGETS TWO PRECIOUS SONS
1 Pei Du (765–839), Duke of Jin and prime minister of the Tang dynasty, brought about the union of a young woman, Huang Xiao’e, in his service and a low-ranking official named Tang Bi. See story 9 in Feng Menglong, Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).
2 Fan Shi of the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220) rode at top speed over a great distance to offer help at his friend Zhang Shao’s funeral. This story appears as story 16 in ibid.
3 The Five Wutong Gods are five brothers and are believed to be evil spirits according to folk mythology in areas south of the lower reaches of the Yangzi River.
4 The Clear and Bright (Qingming) Festival falls on April 5 or 6 and is the time for visiting the graves of ancestors.
5 Yan Hui (521–490 BCE) was Confucius’s favorite student. He died at age thirty-two.
6 Zhao Xinchen, prefect of Nanyang in the Western Han dynasty, was lovingly called “Father Zhao” by the local populace. Du Shi, who held the same post in the Eastern Han dynasty, was called “Mother Du.”
7 A cangue was a wooden collar, usually three or four feet square, used in ancient China to confine the neck and sometimes also the hands and feet of convicts.
8 Xishi, a beauty of the state of Yue in the Spring and Autumn period, is believed to have been offered to Fuchai, King of Wu. She served as a spy for Yue and caused the defeat of the king.
9 Wang Qiang, or Wang Zhaojun, was a lady-in-waiting at the Western Han court. She volunteered to marry a Xiongnu chief in 33 BCE in order to bring about peace between the Xiongnus and the Han court. In popular versions of the story, she is unwilling to bribe the court painter, which leads to her being neglected in the imperial harem.
10 Chang’e is the Goddess of the Moon. Legend has it that she swallowed her husband’s elixir and flew to the moon.
11 In this poem, words enclosed in quotation marks are song titles.
12 Peng Zu is a legendary figure from the time of the sage-king Yao (before 2100 BCE) and is said to have lived for eight hundred years.
13 Yan Hui (521–490 BCE) was one of Confucius’s students.
14 Lü Wang—popularly known as Taigong Wang, Jiang Taigong, or Jiang Ziya—was a military strategist who did not rise to eminence until he was accosted by King Wen of the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1027–956 BCE) while fishing by Panxi Creek, which flowed into the Wei River. He was already about eighty years old at the time.
15 For more on Old Man Zhang, see story 33 in Feng Menglong, Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).
21. YUAN’S FACE-READING SKILLS IMPRESS THE HIGH AND MIGHTY; ZHENG’S GOOD DEED WINS HIM A HEREDITARY TITLE
1 The phrase “The mighty heroes of Yan and Wu” refers respectively to Gao Jianli of the state of Yan in the Warring States period and Zhuanzhu of the state of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period. Gao Jianli was a friend of Jing Ke’s (d. 227 BCE) and is famous for his failed assassination attempt against the King of Qin (later the First Emperor of Qin), which he undertook out of loyalty to the Prince of Yan; Gao Jianli hid a heavy piece of lead in his lute and hurled the musical instrument at the King of Qin but missed his target. Zhuanzhu (d. 515 BCE), acting out of loyalty to the Prince of Wu, hid a knife in a fish and used it to assassinate the king.
2 In the Tang dynasty, the nine classics were The Rites of the Zhou Dynasty, Rituals and Ceremonies, The Book of Rites, The Zuo Zhuan (The Spring and Autumn Annals with Commentaries by Zuo Qiuming), The Spring and Autumn Annals with Commentaries by Gongyang Gao, The Spring and Autumn Annals with Commentaries by Guliang Chi, The Book of Changes, The Collection of Ancient Texts, and The Book of Songs. The three histories were The Historical Records by Sima Qian, History of the Han Dynasty, and The History of Eastern Han.
3 Wu Daozi was a famous painter of the Tang dynasty, and Emperor Xuanzong (r. 673–756) often commissioned him to paint in the palace.
4 Lu Tong was a poet of the Tang dynasty and a connoisseur of green tea.
5 For the story about Pei Du of the Tang dynasty returning a jade belt, see story 9 in Feng Menglong, Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).
6 Tang Ju of the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) and Xu Fu, a woman of the Han dynasty, were both celebrated fortune-tellers.
22. WITH MONEY, A COMMONER GAINS AN OFFICIAL POST; OUT OF LUCK, A PREFECT BECOMES A BOATMAN
1 Huang Chao (d. 884) led a major peasant rebellion toward the end of the Tang dynasty. Chen Jingxuan (d. 893), a military commander, was Tian Lingzi’s brother. (Tian Lingzi was given away in childhood and assumed his adoptive father’s surname, Tian.)
2 For the remark on Confucius, see book 16 of The Analects. Sunshu Ao, an official in the state of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period, encountered a two-headed snake on the road in his childhood. Superstition had it that everyone who saw such a snake was going to die. In order to prevent the snake from harming more people, Sunshu Ao killed it and buried it then and there.
23. THE OLDER SISTER’S SOUL LEAVES HER BODY TO FULFILL A WISH; THE YOUNGER SISTER RECOVERS FROM ILLNESS TO RENEW A BOND
1 This line alludes to the poem improvised by Cao Zhi (192–232) when his older brother Cao Pi (187–226) allegedly threatened to have him killed. The shorter extant version of the poem reads: “As the beanstalks are lit to make a fire, / The beans in the pot burst into sobs: / ‘Didn’t we spring from the very same root? / Why torment us with such ruthlessness?’ ”
2 Yao and Shun were legendary sage-kings who ruled, one after the other, in high antiquity.
3 Images of a boy and a girl made of paper or clay used to be placed next to the shrine to the dead, one on each side.
24. THE OLD DEMON OF YANGUAN COUNTY INDULGES IN DEBAUCHERY; THE BODHISATTVA ON MOUNT HUIHAI PUTS THE EVIL SPIRITS TO DEATH
1 Wang Jun was prefect of Yizhou at the end of the Three Kingdoms period (220–80). On orders from Sima Yan (r. 265–90), emperor of the Jin dynasty, Wang Jun launched an attack on the state of Wu and burned the iron chains guarding the shore. Wu surrendered.
2 In fact, the poem was titled “Meditating on the Past at Western Fort Hill.”
3 It is impossible to see the Yangzi River from anywhere near Hangzhou. Perhaps Ling Mengchu had the Qiantang River in mind.
4 Shi Chong was a fabulously rich man of the Jin dynasty. For more on Shi Chong and Green Pearl, see the prologue story of story 36 in Feng Menglong, Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).
5 Sima Xiangru (279–117 BCE), one of the most celebrated fu (rhyme-prose) writers in the history of Chinese literature, is also known for his romance with the young widow Zhuo Wenjun. The two eloped after their first meeting. For more on them, see the prologue story of story 6 in Feng Menglong, Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005).
6 Pan An (247–300), or Pan Yue, courtesy name Anren, was a man of letters and an official in the Western Jin dynasty but is now better known as the man who personifies male beauty. He was walking down the streets of Luoyang one day when a group of women danced around him and tossed fruit at him as a way of expressing their admiration.
7 Lü Wang—popularly known as Taigong Wang, Jiang Taigong, or Jiang Ziya—was a military strategist who did not rise to eminence until he was accosted by King Wen of the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1027–256 BCE) while fishing by Panxi Creek, which flowed into the Wei River. He was already about eighty years old.
8 Fu Sheng was a Confucian scholar of the Han dynasty. Legend has it that he began to give lectures to Emperor Wen on Confucian classics when he was ninety years old.
9 According to legend, two young men, Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao, met fairy maidens in Peach Blossom Cave on Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang.
25. REVENUE MANAGER ZHAO LEAVES WORD FOR HIS LOVE A THOUSAND LI AWAY; SU XIAOJUAN ACHIEVES HAPPINESS WITH A SINGLE POEM
1 Li He (790–816), courtesy name Changji, was a famous poet of the Tang dynasty. Legend has it that when he was on his deathbed, he saw a red-robed celestial messenger ordering him to write a poem on the white jade tower that had just been built on orders from the Lord on High.
2 “A man of Tianshui” refers to the Zhao Bumin of the story. As a member of the royal Zhao clan of the Song dynasty, Zhao Bumin should be a native of Zhuozhou, in Hebei, not of Tianshui, which is to the southwest of present-day Jingning, Gansu. Since Li Yuan, founder of the Tang dynasty, claimed to be descended from Li Hao (351–417), founder of the state of Xiliang, and Li Hao was a native of Chengji, west of the Longshan Mountains in what was Tianshui County during the Tang dynasty, the author may have confused the native places of the founders of the Tang and Song dynasties.
3 Lady of Qianguo is Li Wa, or Li Yaxian, a character in “The Tale of Li Wa” (Li Wa zhuan) by Bai Xingjian (775–826) of the Tang dynasty. For the story of how Li Wa, a courtesan, helped her lover Zheng Yuanhe pass the examinations, see the prologue story of story 3 in Feng Menglong, Stories to Awaken the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 3, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009).
4 Cassia is a symbol of success on the imperial civil-service examinations.
5 A green dragon symbolizes good luck, and a white tiger, misfortune.
6 Su Xiaoxiao was a famous courtesan of Qiantang in the Six Dynasties period.
7 The four treasures of the scholar’s study are writing brush, ink slab, ink stick, and paper.
8 According to the prose poem “Rhapsody at the Gaotang Shrine” (Gaotang fu), attributed to Song Yu (ca. 290–ca. 223 BCE), King Xiang of Chu dreamed of having a sexual encounter with the goddess of Wu Gorge.
9 Lotus Blossoms out of Filthy Mud (Qingni lianhua ji) is a collection of literary sketches by Mei Dingzuo of the Ming dynasty.
26. IN A COMPETITION FOR SEXUAL FAVOR, A VILLAGE WOMAN IS MURDERED; IN CLAIMING CELESTIAL AUTHORITY, A JUDGE SOLVES A CASE
1 A wooden fish is a round, carved, wooden resonator that is struck by Buddhist monks and nuns to keep the rhythm while chanting sutras.
27. GU AXIU DONATES TO A NUNNERY WITH JOY; CUI JUNCHEN IS SHOWN THE LOTUS SCREEN THROUGH A CLEVER SCHEME
1 Hepu is a pearl-producing area in present-day Guangxi Autonomous Region.
2 This song, attributed to Lu Zhongyang of Zhenzhou (present-day Yizheng, Jiangsu), concludes “The Story of the Lotus Painting Screen” (Furongping ge), which is found in chapter 4 of More Stories Written While Trimming the Wick (Jiandeng yuhua), by Li Zhen (1376–1452), courtesy name Changqi.
3 Han Yi, a Tang dynasty poet, wrote a poem titled “The Willows of Zhangtai” (Zhangtai liu) in remembrance of his lover née Liu (Willow), who was abducted during An Lushan’s rebellion in 755. They were eventually reunited and became man and wife.
4 Wen Xiao, a distinguished scholar of the Tang dynasty, married a beautiful girl named Wu Cailuan. Both were believed to have become Daoist immortals.
5 Zhang Chang (d. 47 BCE), who served as magistrate of the capital under Emperor Xuan (r. 73–49 BCE), often painted his wife’s eyebrows and is held up as an example of a loving husband.
6 Huang Quan (934–965) was a famous painter whose subject was mostly flowers and birds.
7 Huaisu (725–785) was a monk of the Tang dynasty, famous for his “wild cursive” style of calligraphy.
8 The thirty-volume Catalogue of Inscriptions on Ancient Bronzes and Stone Tablets (Jinshi lu) is by Zhao Mingcheng (1081–1129), renowned epigrapher of the Song dynasty.
9 A jinshi is a scholar who passed the imperial civil-service examinations at the national level.
10 The term “Nine Springs” refers to the netherworld.
28. THE MASTER OF GOLDEN LIGHT CAVE RECALLS THE PAST; THE VENERABLE ELDER OF JADE VOID CAVE IS ENLIGHTENED ABOUT HIS PREVIOUS LIFE
1 “Letian” is the courtesy name of the great Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772–846). Both poems quoted on this page were written by him.
2 Tusita Heaven is the fourth layer of heaven in the Buddhist belief.
3 According to the Daoists, Penglai Island is an abode of the immortals.
4 Dongfang Shuo (154–93 BCE) was a man of letters of the Western Han dynasty. Stories about his wisdom abound.
5 Ma Zhou (601–648) was a Tang dynasty court minister. For more on Ma Zhou, see story 5 in Feng Menglong, Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).
6 Wang Fangping of the Eastern Han dynasty resigned from his position at the imperial court to enter the Buddhist order.
7 Zhen Dexiu, sobriquet West Hill (1178–1235), was secretary of the Department of Revenue and a Hanlin academician of the Song dynasty.
8 Su Shi (1037–1101), courtesy name Dongpo, was one of China’s greatest men of letters. For more on his previous incarnation as a Buddhist abbot, see story 30 in Feng Menglong, Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).
9 Bu Shang (b. 507 BCE), courtesy name Zixia, was one of Confucius’s students.
10 Guo Pu (276–324) was a man of letters of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
11 Tao Hongjing (456–536) was a Daoist thinker and a physician of the Southern Dynasties.
12 On Li He writing an ode to the White Jade Tower, see the prologue story of story 25 in this collection.
13 Li Linfu (d. 752) was a powerful evil prime minister of the Tang dynasty. Lu Qi (d. 785) was another evil Tang dynasty prime minister.
14 First Honors on All Three Levels of the Exams (Sanyuan ji) is a play written by Shen Ling, courtesy names Shouqing and Yuanshou, of the Ming dynasty.
15 The Story of the Lute (Pipa ji), by Gao Ming (ca. 1305–ca. 1370), is a forty-two-scene play. The protagonist, Cai Bojie, becomes a zhuangyuan by winning first place on the civil service examinations in the capital, and Grand Councilor Niu marries his daughter to him, but Cai already has a wife, named Wuniang, in his home village. While he is in the capital, his parents die of starvation, and Wuniang goes to the capital in search of her husband. Along the way, she sings out her story to the accompaniment of her lute (pipa). Cai’s new wife brings about a reunion between Cai and Wuniang, and in the end, Cai and his two wives receive imperial honors.
The West Chamber, a play by Wang Shifu (thirteenth century), is based on the Tang dynasty tale “The Biography of Yingying” by Yuan Zhen, courtesy name Weizhi. In the play, Student Zhang falls in love with Cui Yingying, who is betrothed to Zheng Heng. When an armed rebellion breaks out, Mrs. Cui promises her daughter to anyone who can protect her and her daughter. Student Zhang has his friend General Du put down the rebellion, but Mrs. Cui reneges on her promise. Student Zhang and Cui Yingying, with the help of the girl’s maid, decide to take things into their own hands. After Student Zhang passes the examinations, the general helps bring about the young lovers’ marriage. In the original tale, Student Zhang rejects Cui Yingying in the end, and both marry other people. For an English-language translation of the play, see Lili Chen, Master Tung’s Western Chamber Romance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976).
16 “The Return” (Gui qu lai ci) is the title of a poem written by Tao Qian (365–427), also known as Tao Yuanming.
17 Zhang Sengzhou (d. ca. 519) was a famous painter of the Liang dynasty (502–57) during the Southern Dynasties.
29. THEY REMAIN LOYAL TO EACH OTHER THROUGH THEIR TRYSTS; HIS SUCCESS IS ANNOUNCED AT THE JAILHOUSE
1 Bandit Zhi of Liu was a brigand who lived toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period (770–456 BCE). Zhou Xing (d. 691) and Lai Junchen (651–697) were cruel and ruthless officials of the Tang dynasty.
2 Lü Wang (popularly known as Taigong Wang, Jiang Taigong, or Jiang Ziya) was a military strategist who did not rise to eminence until he was accosted by King Wen of the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1027–256 BCE) while fishing by Panxi Creek, which flowed into the Wei River. He was already about eighty years old.
3 “The Yellow Springs” is a term for the netherworld.
4 Sima Xiangru (179–117 BCE), one of the most celebrated prose poem (fu) writers in the history of Chinese literature, is also known for his romance with Zhuo Wenjun. The two eloped after she heard him play the zither. See the prologue story of story 6 in Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005).
5 Song Yu (ca. 290–ca. 223 BCE) said in one of his prose poems that a beautiful neighbor girl stole furtive glances at him over the wall for three years.
6 Dongfang Shuo (154–93 BCE) was a man of letters of the Western Han dynasty. Stories about his cleverness abound.
30. COMMISSIONER WANG RIDES ROUGHSHOD OVER HIS SUBORDINATES; ADJUTANT LI GETS HIS COMEUPPANCE FROM A REINCARNATED VICTIM
1 Peng Sheng, prince of the state of Qi in the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), was killed by Duke Xiang of Qi.
Prince Ruyi of Zhao was the son of Qi-shi, concubine of Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty. Both Prince Ruyi and his mother were killed by the jealous Empress Lü-shi. Before she died, Empress Lü-shi is said to have complained that the spirit of Prince Ruyi was haunting her.
Dou Ying and Guan Fu, officials of the Western Han dynasty, were both killed by the evil Prime Minister Tian Fen.
2 Unofficial Histories (Yi shi), by Jiang Fu of the Southern Song dynasty, is no longer extant, but this story is preserved in chapter 125 of Extensive Gleanings of the Reign of Great Tranquility (Taiping guangji), which was compiled during the Taiping reign period (976–83) of the Song dynasty.
3 Records of the Listener (Yijian zhi), by Hong Mai (1123–1222), is the second-largest traditional collection of stories; Extensive Gleanings of the Reign of Great Tranquility is the largest. On Extensive Gleanings, see note 2.
4 On Empress Lü-shi, see note 1.
5 In Buddhist mythology, King Yama is the king of hell and judge of souls.
31. PRIEST HE COMMITS FORNICATION VIA BLACK MAGIC; REGISTRAR ZHOU WIPES OUT REBELS VIA FORNICATION
1 Zhang Jiao (d. 184) is said to have used black magic as leader of the Yellow Turbans Uprising
2 Zhang Liang (d. 189 BCE) served as adviser to Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty. Lu Jia was a political adviser of great eloquence in the Western Han dynasty.
3 On Zhang Jiao, see note 1. Zheng Ce and Zheng Er were sisters who rebelled at the beginning of the Eastern Han dynasty and were killed. Sun En was the leader of a peasant rebellion toward the end of the Eastern Jin dynasty. Lu Xun was Sun En’s brother-in-law and one of the leaders.
4 Quelling the Demons’ Revolt (Pingyao zhuan) is a novel allegedly written by Luo Guanzhong. Later expanded by Feng Menglong, it tells of Wang Ze’s short-lived rebellion in 1047.
5 Hereafter, the page boy is referred to as “Meng Qing.”
32. MR. HU CORRUPTS A FELLOW MAN IN A WIFE-SWAPPING SCHEME; A CHAN MASTER IN MEDITATION EXPLAINS THE PRINCIPLE OF RETRIBUTION
1 Xiang Yu (232–202 BCE) and Liu Bang (256–195 BCE) were rivals for the throne. Liu Bang became the first emperor of the Han dynasty.
2 Lay Yu was Xiang Yu’s favorite consort. Lady Qi was Liu Bang’s favorite consort.
3 The Five Buddhist Precepts are no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no falsehood, and no drinking.
33. SQUIRE ZHANG, IN HIS NOBLE-MINDEDNESS, ADOPTS AN ORPHAN; JUDGE BAO, IN HIS WISDOM, RECOVERS A DOCUMENT
1 The character fei 飛 (to fly) is a homophone of the character fei 非 (not).
2 Ancient writings in Chinese were unpunctuated, as is this will. Punctuation is up to the reader.
3 As prefect of Kaifeng, Judge Bao (999–1062) gained such fame as a wise and fair dispenser of justice that stories about him abound in folklore and traditional drama.
4 The Five Classics are The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Changes, The Book of Rites, and The Spring and Autumn Annals.
5 The Clear and Bright (Qingming) Festival usually falls on the fifth or sixth of April, a day on which people visit the graves of their ancestors.
6 The God of Mount Tai, or the East Mountain God, is the Daoist counterpart of King Yama.
34. SCHOLAR WENREN SHOWS HIS PROWESS AT CUIFU NUNNERY; THE NUN JINGGUAN GOES IN GLORY TO HUANGSHA LANE
1 Sima Xiangru (179–117 BCE), one of the most celebrated prose poem (fu) writers in the history of Chinese literature, is also known for his romance with the young widow Zhuo Wenjun. The two eloped after meeting when he was still in straitened circumstances. See the prologue story of story 6 in Feng Menglong, Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005).
2 Kunlun Nu is the main character in the classical tale “Kunlun Nu” by Pei Xing (825–880). The Yellow-Robed Sojourner (Huangshan Ke) is a character in “The Story of Huo Xiaoyu” (Huo Xiaoyu zhuan), by Jiang Fang (fl. early ninth century). Captain Xu (Xu Yuhou) is a character in the classical tale “The Story of Liu-shi” (Liu-shi zhuan), by Xu Yaozuo of the Tang dynasty.
3 Legend has it that Feng Zhi of the Tang dynasty repeatedly rejected the advances of a fairy maiden.
4 The man of Lu was a bachelor in the state of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period. He once refused to let in a neighboring widow who knocked on his door in a rainstorm because he was afraid he might not be able to control himself.
5 The eight characters on a natal chart, in four pairs of two characters each corresponding to one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch, represent, respectively, the year, month, day, and hour of a person’s birth.
6 Pan An (247–300), or Pan Yue, courtesy name Anren, was a man of letters and an official in the Western Jin dynasty but is now better known as the man who personifies male beauty. Cao Zhi (192–232), courtesy name Zijian, was a prodigiously talented poet of the state of Wei in the Three Kingdoms period.
7 Jia Wu, daughter of Jia Chong, a court minister of the Western Jin dynasty, fell in love with Han Shou, a subordinate of her father’s, and surreptitiously gave Han the incense that her father had received as a gift from the emperor.
8 Xishi, also known as Xizi, was a legendary beauty of the state of Yue toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period.
9 The Double Seventh Festival falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar and celebrates the annual meeting of the stars Herdboy and Weaving Maiden, who are reunited for a day when magpies form a bridge for them across the Milky Way.
The Ullambhana Festival, or Festival of All Souls, first observed in the time of Emperor Wudi of the Liang dynasty, is a Buddhist festival held on the fifteenth day of the seventh month for the purpose of releasing the souls of the dead from purgatory and feeding “hungry ghosts.”
10 According to Song dynasty folklore, Pan Bizheng, a native of Henan, fell in love with the Daoist priestess Chen Miaochang. The two were later joined in matrimony.
11 In Buddhist mythology, Sudhana, also translated as “Treasure Boy,” is one of the boy attendants serving the bodhisattva Guanyin.
35. A PAUPER KEEPS TEMPORARY WATCH OVER ANOTHER MAN’S MONEY; A MISER RESORTS TO TRICKS WHEN BUYING HIS NEMESIS’S SON
1 Ancient Chinese philosophers used the five-phases theory to explain the origin and transformations of the world. The five phases are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. They promote one another in the fixed order of wood, fire, earth, metal, water, and wood again but subdue one another in the order of water, fire, metal, wood, earth, and water again.
2 Literally, “When your time comes, the wind will send you to the Pavilion of Prince Teng.” This is from a Tang dynasty legend about Wang Bo (649–676), a famous poet and master of prose. The story goes that he was on his way to visit his father in Jiangxi when a gust of wind blew him to the prefect’s banquet in the Pavilion of Prince Teng, in the city of Nanchang by West River, and that was how he came to write his best-known piece, “A Preface to the Poem ‘On the Pavilion of Prince Teng.’ ”
3 Literally, “When your time goes, a thunderbolt will smash the stone tablet of Jianfu Temple.” This is from the following Song dynasty story: When the famous essayist and poet Fan Zhongyan (989–1052) was prefect of Raozhou, a poverty-stricken scholar went to seek his help. Fan Zhongyan offered to make him one thousand rubbings of a Jianfu Temple stone tablet with inscriptions by Ouyang Xun, the most popular calligrapher of the day, for each would be worth a thousand in cash. On the very night before the rubbings were to be done, the stone tablet was destroyed by a thunderbolt.
4 In the term zhenggong diao, gong refers to the note in the ancient Chinese pentatonic scale that corresponds to 1 in numbered musical notation and is equivalent to scale degree number 1 in major keys.
5 Han Yu (768–824) is a major figure in the history of Chinese literature. One of his poems mentions snow at Languan Pass (in present-day Shaanxi).
6 Meng Haoran (689–740) ranks among the most renowned poets of the Tang dynasty. He is said to have gone by donkey on a snowy day to look for wintersweet flowers.
7 Wang Huizhi (338–386) of the Jin dynasty, son of the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi, went to visit his friend Dai Kui on a snowy night. On reaching Dai Kui’s door, he turned back without going in. Later, when asked why, he replied that he had set out because of an urge and returned when that urge disappeared.
36. THE MONK OF THE EASTERN HALL INVITES DEMONIC SPIRITS DURING A LAPSE IN VIGILANCE; THE MAN IN BLACK COMMITS MURDER IN AN ABDUCTION ATTEMPT
1 Niu Sengru (779–848) was prime minister at the time and a major author of classical tales of the type adapted by Ling Mengchu.
37. QUTU ZHONGREN CRUELLY KILLS OTHER CREATURES; THE YUNZHOU PREFECT HELPS HIS NEPHEW IN THE NETHERWORLD
1 The six directions of reincarnation are divine existence, human existence, Asura spirits, the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals.
2 Liu Ling was a man of letters of the Jin dynasty (265–420). He had a propensity for drinking.
3 Li Bai (701–762), also romanized as Li Po, was one of China’s greatest poets.
4 “The Yellow Springs” is another term for the netherworld.
5 In the story “The Prefect of Nanke” by Li Gongzuo (ca. 770–ca. 848), a man called Chunyu dreams that he has become the prefect of Nanke in the Kingdom of Ants, only to wake up and see the cup of wine he had not finished before he fell asleep. Mr. Lu is a man in the story “The World Inside a Pillow” by Shen Jiji of the Tang dynasty. In it, a man dreams of a life of fame and fortune. When he wakes up, the yellow millet on the stove is still cooking.
38. TO STAKE HIS CLAIM ON THE FAMILY FORTUNE, A JEALOUS SON-IN-LAW PLOTS AGAINST THE RIGHTFUL HEIR; TO CONTINUE THE BLOOD LINE, A FILIAL DAUGHTER HIDES HER BROTHER
1 By the traditional Chinese method, a person is considered one year old at birth, and one year is added on each lunar New Year’s Day. Thus, the two boys, conceived fifteen years ago, are considered to be fifteen years old.
39. HEAVENLY PRECEPTORS, WITH THEIR THEATRICS, CLAIM TO SUBDUE DROUGHT DEMONS; A COUNTY MAGISTRATE, IN HIS SINCERITY, PRAYS FOR SWEET RAIN FROM HEAVEN
1 Ximen Bao was a magistrate of Ye County in the state of Wei during the Warring States period. A witch extorted money from the local people and sacrificed a maiden every year as a bride for the River God. Ximen Bao turned the witch’s trick against her and had her thrown into the river. Thereafter, he worked to bring the river under control and is regarded in Chinese history as the builder of the first canal irrigation system.
2 For more on King Qian Liu, see story 15 in Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).
3 He Zhu (1052–1125), courtesy name He Fanghui, was a Song dynasty poet.
4 Legend has it that Tang, the first king of the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600–ca. 1028 BCE), cut his fingernails to the quick in order to show his sincerity in praying for rain.
40. ON THE HUAYIN TRAIL, LI MEETS ONE EXTRAORDINARY MAN; THE JIANGLING COMMANDER OPENS THREE MYSTERIOUS ENVELOPES
1 Legend has it that every time Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072), a great historian, epigrapher, statesman, poet, and essayist, graded examination essays, he sensed the presence nearby of a red-robed man and gave a passing grade to each essay that received a nod from the man in red.
2 The Four Books are The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, and Mencius. The Five Classics are The Book of Changes, Collection of Ancient Texts, The Book of Songs, The Rites, and The Spring and Autumn Annals.
3 An examination sealer’s job was to seal the corner of an exam paper where the examinee’s name or number was entered.