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MARRIAGE DESTINIES to AWAKEN the WORLD) by Meng Wang 王盟

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MARRIAGE DESTINIES to AWAKEN the WORLD) by Meng Wang 王盟 AN ANNOTATED TRANSLATION OF CHAPTERS 21-30 OF THE LATE MING DYNASTY NOVEL, XINGSHI YINYUAN ZHUAN 醒世姻缘傳 (MARRIAGE DESTINIES TO AWAKEN THE WORLD) by Meng Wang 王盟 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Comparative Literature West Lafayette, Indiana May 2021 THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL Dr. Shaun F. D. Hughes, Chair Department of English Dr. Charles S. Ross Department of English Dr. Daniel Hsieh School of Languages and Cultures Dr. Beate I. Allert School of Languages and Cultures Approved by: Dr. Venetria Patton 2 Dedicated to the memory of 王正规 Wang Zhenggui (1928-1997). 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My deepest thanks go to the four faculty members in my dissertation committee: Dr. Shaun Hughes, Dr. Charles Ross, Dr. Daniel Hsieh, and Dr. Beate Allert, who have been with me throughout my studies at Purdue University and whose work exemplifies outstanding teaching, mentoring, and research; this dissertation would not have been existed without you. I am especially indebted to Dr. Shaun Hughes for his encouragement, guidance, patience, and tireless effort to help me with my research; I would like to thank him for mentoring many aspects of my life, including research, career, and general life matters. I would like to thank Dr. Charles Ross and Dr. Daniel Hsieh for helping me at every step of my research. I would like to express my special thanks to Dr. Beate Allert for her mentorship and support at the later stage of my dissertation. I am incredibly grateful to be blessed to be surrounded with highly intelligent, kind, and warm-hearted friends, including Christina Alcantara, Paulo Dutra, Rosario Monter, Lidia Novichkova, Alain El Howayek, Ying Wu, my five-year roommate, Mayra Cervantes, and my good friend Mashhour Alanazi. I dedicate this dissertation to my late grandfather whose passion for pre-modern Chinese literature had inspired me to pursue my research in vernacular Chinese fictions. I also dedicate this dissertation to my parents for their unconditional love and unyielding support for me. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 8 A SYNOPSIS OF XINGSHI YINYUAN ZHUAN 醒世姻缘傳 (MARRIAGE DESTINIES TO AWAKEN THE WORLD) ............................................................................................................. 8 THE DEBATE ON AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................................. 12 THE UTOPIAN CHAPTERS OF XINGSHI YINYUAN ZHUAN................................................. 15 Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan 醒世姻缘傳 (Marriage Destinies to Awaken the World) ...................... 21 An Annotated Translation of Chapters 21-30 ............................................................................ 21 Chapter 21: Monk Cloudlet is reincarnated in gratitude; Chunying gives birth to a son to continue the family line ............................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 22: Lady Chao shares the farmland to harmonize the clan; Old Magistrate. Xu hangs up an inscribed bannerto award the virtuous ............................................................................. 37 Chapter 23: Xiujiang County does not have frivolous customs; in the town of Mingshui ancient customs are preserved. .................................................................................................. 60 Chapter 24: A Time of Benevolent Energy Returns to the Fragrant and Virtuous Place; the Heavens Reward the People Well with a Time of Peace and Security! .................................... 78 Chapter 25: Pedagogue Xue Settles down in the Mountains; Landlord Di Arranges a Marriage at the Store ............................................................................................................................... 100 Chapter 26: Sinful Creatures Fill their Record full of Misconduct; Frivolous Matters Erode the Conscience. .............................................................................................................................. 116 Chapter 27: Calamity does not Arrive in Accordance with Reason; the gods have first to reveal their intention ........................................................................................................................... 130 Chapter 28: Lord Guan Manifests Himself through Clay Idols; Immortal Xu Scoops up Earth to Rescue People. ..................................................................................................................... 149 Chapter 29: Lord Fengyi releases the waters; The heavenly army follow the routine to patrol the levee ................................................................................................................................... 168 Chapter 30: Ji begs her mother-in-law for salvation; Baoguang encounters a ghoul that seeks revenge ..................................................................................................................................... 190 5 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 215 6 ABSTRACT Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan 醒世姻緣傳 is a vernacular Chinese novel which was composed in late Ming or early Qing dynasty by an anonymous author in what is now modern Shandong province. Like most of the counterparts to this novel during the same era, Xingshi was composed not as an “art for art’s sake”, but as a vehicle for moral edification and education; it discusses many pressing social issues existing at a time of social turmoil, such as government corruption, moral depravity, migration of peasants due to natural disaster and agricultural involution, roving bandits, the subversion of the gender roles, etc. The novel discussed the social issues through the lives and activities of the residents of an ordinary Shandong town named Mingshui, a microminiature of Qing dynasty China, and presents the golden era of Mingshui which is a microminiature of an idealized Chinese society. This dissertation is a study on the Utopian chapters of this novel with the texts translated into English language with annotations; these chapters are both a continuation of Chinese Utopian literature tradition, as well as the embodiment of the author’s unique understanding of various philosophical and religious schools. Up until now, due to limited resources and texts, little is known about the life and thoughts of the author of Xinshi and the study on the Utopian chapters will shed light on further explorations of the identity and political philosophy of this author. 7 INTRODUCTION A SYNOPSIS OF XINGSHI YINYUAN ZHUAN 醒世姻缘傳 (MARRIAGE DESTINIES TO AWAKEN THE WORLD) The vernacular novel Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan 醒世姻缘傳 which consists of 100 chapters is believed to have be written by an anonymous literati who lived in what is now Shandong 山東 province in eastern China during the turbulent era between the end of the Ming dynasty1 and the beginning of the Qing dynasty2, when the orthodox Chinese dynasty collapsed and was replaced by the non-Chinese Manchu regime. The novel was constructed based upon the theological foundation of karmic retribution (yinguo 因果) and the reincarnation theory of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition which believes that one’s current life is predestined by the karma this person accumulated through his or her previous lives: while good karma produces a happier reincarnated life or even liberation from the mundane world (moksha), karmic debts will inevitably result in sufferings and a miserable rebirth; the karmic debts, however, could be counterbalanced by pious acts or the patient bearing of one’s sufferings. This novel consists of two comparatively independent stories with their respective male and female protagonists, yet they were tactfully woven together by the theological theory of karmic retribution so that the second story mainly narrates the repayment of the karmic debts incurred by the reincarnated characters as explained in the first story. This repayment takes the form of suffering from a dysfunctional and painful marriage. Eventually, the male protagonist receives enlightenment from a Buddhist monk, having finally counteracted all his karmic debts through sincere devotion to Buddhist principles, becoming the source of his own salvation. Intertwined within the two major stories are hundreds of anecdotal stories with minor characters from various representatives of the social classes in a village located in Shandong province: there are small merchants, vendors, peasants, retired government officials, squires, monks, nuns, soothsayers, prostitutes, etc. The novel therefore presents a kaleidoscope of 1 明朝 Ming chao (The Ming dynasty) (1368-1644) 2 清朝 Qing chao (The Qing dynasty) (1644-1912) was the last dynasty of the feudal China, and also a dynasty established by non-Chinese rulers. 8 a collapsing social system, the values, customs, social conduct and ethics of a typical village in eastern China of the 17th century and its family clans. The first story comprises the first 22 chapters of the novel and presents the story of Chao Yuan 晁源, a prodigal son of a local official, Chao Zhixian 晁知县.3 Chao Yuan’s father, Chao Zhixian,
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