Journey to the West: Silk Road-Inspired Chinese Imaginings of the
Sacred and the Supernatural
The Silk Roads: Early Globalization and Chinese Cultural Identities
Robert E. Hegel, Washington University
The Tang Monk from
Journey to the West (ca. 1900)
The Monkey King from
Journey to the West (ca. 1900)
Earliest Narrative Models: Historical Records
Shangshu
尚書 (The Documents of Antiquity), 10th-6th cent. BCE, speeches and documents
Chunqiu
春秋 (Spring and Autumn Annals [of Lu], compiled by Confucius 孔子, 551-479 BCE?), events of 722-481 BCE
Zuozhuan
左傳(The Zuo
Tradition, compiled by Zuo Qiuming
左丘明, 5th cent. BCE), comments on
events of 722-463 BCEShiji
史記 (Records of the [Lord] Historian Sima
Qian
司
馬遷, c. 145-c. 85 BCE): 130 juan
from earliest times to present (Western Han)
Earliest “Fictional”
Models: Philosophical parables
Zhuangzi
莊子, by Zhuang
Zhou 莊周 (c. 370-300 BCE) and others, a Daoist 道家 text
Han Feizi
韓非子, by Han Fei
韓非 (c. 280-c. 233 BCE), a Legalist 法家 text
Premodern
Classical
Narratives: xiăoshuō
小説 in classical Chinese wenyanwen
文言文
Defined in contrast to parables in major philosophical texts as “lesser discourses”
Formal and generic distinctions established by imperial Han and Sui bibliographers (until late Qing period )
as a
subset of philosophy
Premodern
Classical
Narratives
Definitions: xiăoshuō
小説 vs. history
Liú
Zhījĭ 劉知幾 (661-721), in Shĭ tōng
史通 (“General Principles of Historiography”), 710, identified differences between history and xiăoshuō
(non-history narratives)
History more concise; xiaoshuo
more prolix, but shared narrative techniques: direct speech, description, evaluation/interpretation
Short classical language narratives from the Six Dynasties period, 3rd-6th
centuries
zhìguài
xiăoshuō
志怪小説 or “records of anomalous events”
zhìrén
xiăoshuō
志人小説 or “records of [exceptional] men”
Soushen
ji
搜神記 (“In Search of the Supernatural”), attributed to Gan
Bao
干寳 (fl. ca. 320)
Dong Yong 董永 and the Weaving Maid,
Han Wudi’s
漢武帝 Vision of Li Furen
李夫人,
The Man Who Sold a Ghost [宋] 定伯賣鬼.
Longer classical
language narratives from the Tang and Song periods, 7th-13th
centuries
Chuánqĭ xiăoshuō
傳奇小説, “tales of the curious,”
or “romances”
Subjects: Curious experiences, magic, and marvels; tales of knight-errantry and heroism (involving both men and women heroes); tales of romantic attachments:
“Kunlun nu zhuan”
崑崙奴傳 (“The Kunlun Slave”), “Du Zichun
zhuan”
杜子春傳
(“Du Zichun”),
eighth-ninth centuries.
Two traditions of pre-modern fiction
“Classical”
fiction, from the classical prose movement of middle Tang
vs.Vernacular fiction: written narratives based on or meant
to sound like oral storytelling (in contrast to true “vernacular”
written language from the spoken
language of Buddhist teachers recorded in yŭlù
語錄, or “records of conversations”)
Vernacular Language Fiction: Tang
Biànwén
xiăoshuō
變文小説, “texts on crucial moments:” long Tang Buddhist and other tales, in prose and verse,
from library in cave temples at Dunhuang, Gansu.
Mùlián
目連, the filial monk:Mùlián
jiù
mŭ 目連救母, “Mulian
Rescues his Mother”
Vernacular Language Fiction: Yuan-early Ming
Pínghuà
xiăoshuō
平話小説, “plain tales,”
historical fiction printed ca. 1280 through the 1330s in Fujian. Mostly on dynastic cycles.
Quanxiang
pinghua
Sanguo
zhi
全相平話三國志 (Fully Illustrated pinghua
from Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms),
ca. 1320
Fully Illustrated pinghua
from Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms), ca. 1320
Vernacular Language Fiction: Middle Ming-Qing
Huàbĕn xiăoshuō
話本小説, “short stories,”
Hangzhou ca. 1550, 1620s onward in Nanjing and east coast cities. Great range of subject matter.
Zhānghuí
xiăoshuō
章囘小説, “novels,”
from ca. 1500 on the basis of earlier long narratives; first history, then adventure, then crime cases, the supernatural, daily life.
The sì
dà
qĭshū
四大奇書, “The Four Masterworks”
of the Ming Novel
Sānguó
zhì
tōngsú
yănyì
三國志通俗演義 (“Romance of the Three Kingdoms”), printed 1522
Zhōngyì
Shŭihŭ zhuàn
忠義水滸傳 (“Tales of Loyalty and Devotion from the Margins of the Rivers,”
or
“Water Margin,”
or “Outlaws of the Marsh.”
The sì
dà
qĭshū
四大奇書, “The Four Masterworks”
of the Ming Novel
Jīn Píng Méi cíhuà 金瓶梅詞話, “Tale with Verse about Pan Jinlian, Li Pinger, and Chunmei,”
“The Plum in
the Golden Vase,”
or “The Golden Lotus,”
c. 1580
Xīyóu
jì
西遊記, “Journey to the West,”
c. 1580
Xīyóu
jì
西遊記, “Journey to the
West,” c. 1580; 1625 edition
illustrations
Chapter 3: Monkey gets his
staff from the Dragon King 東海龍王
Chapter 8: Guanyin
觀音recruits
Sand Monk 沙僧
Chapter 29: Sand 沙僧 and Pig
豬八戒 battle demons 妖魔
Chapter 100: The Pilgrims
Ascend to Heaven 五聖成真
Telling Stories
All apparent “realism”
in stories is a function of the way the story is told:
A story is only a representation in words of events, whether or not they actually happened, subject to the interpretive functions and the art of the teller
Gerard Genette, Narrative DiscourseHayden White, Figural Realism: Studies in the Mimesis EffectPeter Brooks, Troubling Confessions: Speaking Guilt in Law
and LiteratureDavid T. Wang, “Storytelling Context in Chinese Fiction”
Interpretations of vernacular literature
Language medium: “vernacular”
assumed to mean “for the masses;”
“classical”
for the “elite”
Authorship: anonymity meant “of the masses”Audiences were the uneducated masses, so must be
didactic or educational by designBut:Vernacular fiction was deliberately left anonymousIn content it overlapped with classical literatureDiffered only in formal features from classical fiction
Medieval Theatrical Entertainments
Han Baixi
百戲, circus arts, acrobatics6 Dynasties-Tang narrative dances:
Lánlíng
wáng
蘭陵王入陣曲 (“The Prince of Lanling Joins the Battle”)
Tàyáo
niáng
踏搖娘, “The Swaying Wife”Cānjūn xi 參軍戲 “Taunting the Adjutant”
Western Origins for Chinese Fiction?
Victor Mair, “The Narrative Revolution in Chinese Literature,”
1983:
Qualitative differences appear in the Tang, as a result of Indic influences:Greater imagination, more deliberately fictiveIntroduction of formulaic devicesEpisodic plot structureColloquial languageProsimetric
form reflecting oral performance
Picture Narration during the Tang
Guo
Shi 郭湜 (8th cent), Gao
Lishi
waizhuan
高力士外傳:
上皇在内。力士轉變説話以悅聖情。“When the Emperor [Tang Minghuang
唐明皇, r. 712-
756] was in the inner palace to the South, [eunuch Gao] Lishi
brightened His spirits by unrolling transformation
[scrolls] and telling stories.“
—in form of bianwen
變文 texts found in the Cave of the Thousand Buddhas
敦煌千佛洞, Dunhuang
Dunhuang
Cache of Texts
Religious context: Dunhuang
敦煌 monastic community 6th-10th
centuries
Important trade route city, with many cultures, languages, religions, offering opportunities for entertainment and religious education
Texts in Chinese, Tibetan, Turkish, Sogdhian; Buddhist, Daoist, Manichean, Nestorian Christian
Bianwen
變文 texts include few fictional/religious narratives, two illustrated, including: Xiangmo
bianwen
降
魔變文, “Sariputra
and the Six Masters of Heterodoxy”
Subjects of stories found at Dunhuang
History and legend: “Wu Zixu”
伍子胥, “Meng
Jiangnü” 孟姜女, “Li Ling”
李陵, “Wang Zhaojun”
王昭君變
文, “Shun zi”
舜子, “Han Peng”
韓朋賦The supernatural: "Tang Taizong
in Hell" 太宗入冥記,
“Dong Yong”
董永Satires?: “Confucius and Xiang Tuo”
孔子項沱問書
Fables: “The Eagle”
鷰子賦Religious tales: “The Crown Prince Learns the Way”
太
子成道經; “Sariputra
and Six Masters of Heterodoxy” 降魔變文, “Mulian”
目連
Damuqianlian
mingjian
jiu
mu bianwen 大目乾連冥間救母變文一卷
(The Great Mulian
Saves His Mother from Hell)
Verse and prose alternationRepetition of narrative elements in bothSpecific textual basis: Avalamba
Sutra
佛說盂蘭盆經,
Chinese trans. ca. 315 CE. Ongoing ritual function: performed at funerals and for
religious education at temple fairs
Song Period Social Setting for Theater
Commercial developments in urban centers: Entertainment centers, wazi
瓦子 or washi
瓦市, “tile
markets”
in commercial centersTheaters (goulan
勾欄 or gouli
構隸) in Hangzhou (Lin’an
臨安) markets:Central Market 中瓦 (Lotus 蓮花棚 and Peony 牡丹棚
Theaters), the Sang Family Market 桑家瓦子, the Inner Market 裏瓦 (Yaksha
夜叉棚 and the Elephant 象棚
Theaters) (Source: Dongjing
menghua
lu
東京夢華錄, 13th
cent.)
Western Origins for Chinese Fiction?
Victor Mair, “The Narrative Revolution in Chinese Literature,”
1983:
Qualitative differences from the Tang, as a result of Indic influences:Greater imagination, more deliberately fictiveIntroduction of formulaic devicesEpisodic plot structureColloquial languageProsimetric
form reflecting oral performance
A Story from the Silk Road
Du Zichun
杜子春傳 (“The Tale of Du Zichun”),in Xu
xuanguai
lu
續玄怪錄, comp. Li Fuyan
李復言 (fl.
830), collected in Taiping
guangji
太平廣記 (ca. 950)— on the entanglements of emotion.
As One Thousand and One Nights
story?
A Silk Road Character
“Kunlun nu”
崑崙奴傳 (“Tale of the Kunlun Slave”), from Chuanqi
, written by Pei Xing 裴鉶 (825-880),
collected in Taiping
guangji
太平廣記 (ca. 950)—on the miraculous strength of the mysterious foreigner