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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009
One of the great ‘lost’ stories of Chinese tradition concerned a magistrate, a courtesan, and a tea-smuggler. It was probably based on real-life events, and was one of the most popular tales during the Southern Sung (1127–1279) and Yüan (1280–1368) dynasties. Yet the piecing together of its outline has entailed much effort, much painstaking sifting and mooting. A tentative reconstruction of it runs as follows:
1 Especially Tun-yi, Yen
, Yüan-chü chên-yi 
(Peking: Chung Hua Shu-chü 
1960), 2 vols., 667–684.Google Scholar
2 See (Nan-ts’un) Ch’o-kêng lu 
, by T’ao Tsung-yi 
(1316–1403), Peking: Chung Hua Shu-chü, 1959), 308.Google Scholar
3 Ching-yen, Ling
(ed.), Tung Chieh-yüan ‘Hsi-hsiang chi’ 
(Peking: Jên-min Wên-hsüeh Ch’u-pan-shê 
, 1962), 2, last line.Google Scholar
4 This corrects Dolby, W., A history of Chinese drama (London: Paul Elek, 1976), 35, 267Google Scholar. Cf. Tu-ch’êng chi-shêng 
(c. A.D. 1235?), by Nai-tê-weng, 
in Tung-ching mêng-hua lu (wai-ssu-chung) 
, (Shanghai: Ku-tien Wên-hsueh 
1957), 97Google Scholar; Mêngliang lu 
, in Tung-ching mêng-hua lu (wai ssu-chung), op. cit., 310; and West, S., Vaudeville and narrative (Wiesbaden, 1977), 60 ff.Google Scholar
5 See Ch’ing-lou chi 
, (1356), by T’ing-chih, Hsia
(c. 1300– after 1368), in Chung-kuo ku-tien hsi-ch'ü lun-chu chi-chՙêng 
(Peking: Chung-kuo Hsi-chü 
, 1959), vol. 2, 19–20.Google Scholar
6 See Shu-sên, Sui
(ed.), Chՙüan Yüan san-ch’ü 
(Peking: Chung Hua Shu-chü, 1964), 2 vols., 1271–73Google Scholar. Cf. Yüan-chün, Feng
, Ku-chü shuo-hui 
, (1947) (Peking: Tso-chia Ch’u-pan-shê, 1956), 161–162Google Scholar. There is a translation of the prologue in West, op. cit., 172–9.
7 ‘Degradation and glory’ here refer to government career promotion and demotion or dismissal, since the prologue is primarily addressed to an audience of scholars and mandarins.
8 Ssu-ma Ch’ien (c. 145–c 85 B.C.) tells us that Shao P’ing was the marquis of Tung-ling during the Ch’in, dynasty. On the fall of the Ch’in he became a commoner living in poverty and growing melons which were famed for their sweetness. He and his melon-growing became a byword for retirement from government office and for reclusion.
9 I have not yet identified the precise sense of the ‘ mist-like’.
10 The precise context of these two lines is unknown.
11 The clappers would have oblongs made of reddish jujube wood.
12 See Nan-yang, Ch’ien
, Sung Yüan hsi-wên chi-yi 
(Shanghai: Ku-tien Wênhsüeh Ch’u-pan-shê 
, 1956) 270–272.Google Scholar
13 See Shui-hu ch’üan-chuan 
(120 chapter version) by Kuan-chung, Lo
(fl. c. A.D. 1364) and Shih Nai-an 
(14th century), (Taipei: Huan-yü Ch'u-ban-shêGoogle Scholar
, n.d.), ch. 51, 840. Cf. Yen Tun-yi, Yüan-chü chên-yi, 674.
14 See Ch’ien, Chêng
, Chiao-ting Yüan-k’an tsa-chü san shih-chung 
, (Taipei: Shih-chieh Shu-chü 
, 1962), 182.Google Scholar
15 See below for some examples.
16 See Lu-kui pu hsü-pien 
, Chung-kuo ku-tien hsi-ch’ü lun-chu chi-chՙeng, vol. 2, 296.
17 See Ch’ü-hai tsung-mu t’i-yao 
, by Wên-yang, Huang (A.D. 1736–?), (Taipei: Hsinhsing Shu-tien 
, 1973), 3 vols., ch. 18, 872–874Google Scholar; and Yüan-shan-t’ang Ming chՙü-pՙ in 
by Piao-chia, Ch’i
(1602–45), as in ՙYüan-shan-t’ang Ming chՙü-pՙin chü-pin՚ chiao-lu 
(Shanghai: Shanghai Ch’u-pan Kung-ssu 
1955), 28.Google Scholar
18 As in Ching-shên, Chao
, Yüan-jên tsa-chü kou-chՙên 
(Peking: Chung Hua Shu-chü, 1959), 32.Google Scholar
19 Here as often elsewhere in this piece, ‘flowers’ refers to singing-girls, and this phrase means ‘the amorous social life of the singing-girl’.
20 In Britain we have money-spiders, and it is perhaps because such little spiders seem so fortuitously to drift through the air and land often on one's face or in one's hair, that they suggest themselves as harbingers of good luck, material or otherwise.
21 ‘Breeze’ because of the harlot's light, inconstant and insubstantial qualities such as teasingly airy insouciance and romantic frivolity, and ‘dust’ because of the decidely mundane world.
21 Carriage and title awarded to the wife of a successful scholar.
23 There were supposed to be a cassia-tree and a toad on the moon, and both were used as stock images for success in the imperial examinations.
24 ‘Orioles’ is another synonym for ‘singing-girls’ or ‘beautiful women’.
25 Tao Ch’ien (372–427) being one of China's most celebrated poets, famed for his poem ‘Going home’ (Kui-chՙü-lai tz՚u) dealing with his quitting of office and returning to his rural home.
26 P’an An (P’an Yueh, 247–300) was a byword for handsomeness, being so good-looking that girls would toss him sweetmeats when he came along.
27 This refers to the poem that Ts’ao Chih (192–232) was ordered, on pain of death, to compose off-the-cuff within the time that he took seven (normal) paces. He managed to do so, brilliantly shaming his royal brother who was threatening him, and thus saving his own life.
28 The precise reference of two lines is not yet identified.
29 Translated from Chao Ching-shên, 29–34.
30 See Sui Shu-sên, 1274–5.
31 See Lu-kui pu, by Chung Ssu-ch’eng (c. 1279–after 1360), in Chung-kuo ku-tien hsi-chՙü lun-chu chi-chՙeng, vol. 2, 109.
32 See ibid., 112.
33 Sui Shu-sên, 1303–5.
34 Blue Bridge (Lan-ch’iao) here alludes to the story of Wei-sheng, who waited under a bridge for a rendezvous with his sweetheart, and on her failing to arrive, continued to wait so faithfully that he clung to the pile of the bridge, allowing himself to be drowned by the rising flood-waters of the river. This tale is used as a commonplace allusion for great love fidelity, and derives from Chuang-tzu (369–296).
35 Sui Shu-sên, 1274–5.
36 Tzՙu-hsüeh 
(during 1556–93) by K’ai-hsien, Li (1521–93), in Chung-kuo ku-tien hsi-chՙü lun-chu chi-chՙeng, vol. 3, 312–313.Google Scholar
37 Both these lines refer to succeeding in the imperial examinations.
38 Sense as yet not determined.
39 Fish and wild-geese are conventionally imagined as the bearers of letters.
40 Stock images for parted lovers.
41 Phoenix Terrace is a stock allusion to the famous tale by Liu Hsiang (77–76 B.C.) about the flute maestro Hsiao Shih's love with the beautiful girl Nung-yü. Their flute-playing could summon phoenixes, so her father Duke Mu built them a Phoenix Terrace to dwell on, and eventually they flew away with the phoenixes. This allusion is frequently used to embellish romantic atmospheres in poetry.
42 Clearly some uncomplimentary description.
43 Term from Analects of Confucius, originally used by Confucius in criticism of a lazy student.
44 According to Chang Hua (232–300), the two queens of the sage-king Shun wept so much on Shun's death that their tears were strewn onto bamboo, this being a commonplace why-so story for the origin of mottled bamboo, and also a commonplace allusion when weeping is mentioned.
45 Ts’ao E is a celebrated loving daughter of the Later Han dynasty (25–220). Her father drowned on the fifth of the fifth month, but his corpse could not be found. She was 13 (Chinese 14) years old at the time. She went along the river bank weeping and wailing day and night, and after 17 days, threw herself into the river and drowned herself. Five days later, her corpse emerged embracing that of her father. A famous stele with an inscription by Han-tan Ch’un (A.D. 132–?) was set up for her during the period 151–53. She is commonly used in allusions for weeping and filial affection.
46 See Sui Shu-sên, 1086–91.
47 ibid., 561–2.
48 ibid., 274, 119, 164, 167.
49 ‘Cassia-plucking’ is a commonplace allusion for succeeding in the imperial civil service examinations.
50 Chՙü-hai tsung-mu tՙi-yao, 872.
51 cf. Sung-shih 
, by Hsüan, Ou-yang
(1273–1357) and others (Peking: Chung Hua Shu-chü, 1977), ch. 88, 2185, ch. 184, 4508–9Google Scholar; Chin-shih 
, by T’o-k’ê-t'o, 
(fl. c. A.D. 1340) and others (Peking: Chung Hua Shu-chü, 1974), ch. 49, pp. 1107–1108Google Scholar; and Yüan-shih 
, by Yi, Wang
(1321–72) and others (Peking: Chung Hua Shu-chü, 1976), ch. 94, 2393.Google Scholar
52 See Hsiao Chՙi-hsia shuo-pai 
, by Pu-ch’ing, P’ing
(A.D. ?–1895), in Chung-kuo ku-tien hsi-chՙü lun-chu chi-ch’êng, vol. 9, 199–200Google Scholar; Yüan-Fêng lei-kao 
, by Kung, Tsêng
(1019–83), in Kuo-hsüeh chi-pên tsՙung-shu 
(Taipei, Shang-wu Yin-shu-kuan 
, 1968Google Scholar), ch. 6, 62; and twentieth century Chung-kuo jên-ming ta tzՙu-tien 
Tsang Li-he and others (ed.), 1726.
53 Kung, Tsêng, Yüan-Fêng lei-kao, ch. 6, 162.Google Scholar