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