Chinese Stories

^ASIA 2.658 D73 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION ON CHINA AND THE CHINESE """"'"^ PL 2658.E8D73 Library Chinese stories. Date Due ^Wfh-nBBgi; JW-H"^?^^ M7P PRINTED IN NO. 23233 f3J The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924010707440 CHINESE STOEIES "OPENED IT WITH AN EXPRESSION OF NERVOUS ANXIETY.' CHINESE STOKIES ROBERT K. DOUGLAS lit]i Illustrations WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCXCIII :i/o 6" CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION, .... xi A MATRIMONIAL FRAUD, 3 WITHIN HIS DANGER, . 34 THE TWINS, .... 82 A TWICE-MARRIED COUPLE, . 125 HOW A CHINESE B.A. WAS WON, . 172 LE MING'S MARRIAGE, . 202 A BUDDHIST STORY, 231 A FICKLE WIDOW, 249 A CHINESE GIRL GRADUATE, . 265 LOVE AND ALCHEMY, . 321 A CHINESE BALLAD, .... 344 THE LOVE-SICK MAIDEN: A CHINESE POEM, 347 " ILLUSTRATIONS. FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. " OPENED IT WITH AN EXPRESSION OF NERVOUS ANXIETY," Frontispiece " HE WAS QUITE UNAWARE THAT AN EVEN MORE ATTRAC- TIVE OBJECT HAD ENTERED THE ROOM," To face page 16 "THREW HIM BACKWARDS ON THE PATHWAY," . il 4':J — ! "WHAT IS THE WARRANT FOR?" " MURDER ii 62 ' " THE MERRY STRAINS OF THE ' DRAGON AND THE PHtENIX PLAYED BY MORE THAN ONE BAND," . n 94 "they leaned OVER TO GREET THEIR LOVERS," ri 116 "THE FLOWERY ONES," .... m 144 "WANG," . II 168 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT. PAGE " THE PREFECT SURVEYED HIS GUEST WITH CURIOSITY NOT UNMIXED WITH LOATHING," . 6 "YOU HIDEOUS deformity!" ... H 26 "HE BURST OUT OF THE ROOM," . • 31 "she was pronounced PRESENTABLE," . " viii ILLUSTEATIONS. an "here was a pretty position for a graduate and 48 expectant mandarin," . • ' 55 " with much caution the expedition was made, . "huddled up against an angle IN THE WALL," 76 81 "marked it as the ENTRANCE TO THE PRISON," 88 "BUT, MOTHER, WE DO NOT WISH TO MAERY," . " MRS MA STOOD READY FOR THE ASSAULT," 97 "a SORRIER QUARTET IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO FIND," 106 " • H^ "OH, THERE IS TE ! . "TB IS IN DIFFICULTIES," . .115 142 "this IS TOO BAD," . ... " WITH ONE PIERCING SHRIEK . SHE SANK BENEATH THE 154 SURFACE," . ... " I AM INDEED DOUBLY YOUR WIFE," . 171 " MING PICKED IT UP, AND FOUND THE PAPER TO CONTAIN A COUPLET," . 178 " - HE WAS SITTING . IN HIS GARDEN STUDY COMPOSING COUPLETS," .... 203 "on NO ACCOUNT TO LEAVE HIS MASTER," . 234 "rushed out of THE ROOM . ANl) RAN DOWN THE ROAD," ....... 236 " ' OH,' HE CRIED, ' THE FIRE - DEMON HAS FOLLOWED ME ! ' HERE . 237 "'ah I' SAID THE CARP, 'l FORGOT YOU WERE A MAN,'" 239 " IN SPITE OF HIS EFFORTS HE WAS DRAWN OCT OF THE WATER," ..... 243 " ' " HAI-YAH ! CHANS, YOU ARE IN LUCK TO-DAY,' 246 is "here THE FAN, . PAN IT DRY AS QUICKLY AS POS- SIBLE," 251 "THERE ARRIVED A YOUNG AND ELEGANT SCHOLAR," . 254 "she went BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS TO THE CHAMBER OF DEATH," 257 "the coffin removed," .... 260 "the prince was seized with violent convulsions," 261 ILLUSTEATIONS. IX " SHE . DKOPPED THE HATCHET FROM HER PALSIED HANDS," ....... 262 " THE STREETS WITHIN THE WALLS . ARE SCENES OF BUSY LIFE," ....... 267 "in a SITUATION WHICH THE SON OF HEAVEN MIGHT ENVY, STANDS THE OFFICIAL RESIDENCE OF COLONEL WI^N," . 269 "she sang IN THE MOST FAULTLESS FALSETTO, SHE PLAYED THE GUITAR WITH TASTE AND EXPRESSION," . 271 " SHE TOOK UP HER BOW AND ARROW, AND WITH UNERRING AIM COMPASSED THE DEATH OF HER VICTIM," . 276 " THE FIRST EVENING WAS SPENT BY THE THREE STUDENTS IN JOYOUS CONVERSE," ..... 281 "TU and WEI ON THEIR KNEES BEFORE HER," . 283 "AS SHE PASSED THROUGH THE COURTYARD SHE INSTINC- TIVELY LOOKED UP AT THE WINDOW," . 288 "SHE PRESENTED TO JASMINE THE BOX, WHICH CONTAINED PEARS AND A PACKET OF SCENTED TEA," . 290 "TU WAS RECLINING AT HIS EASE," . 302 "COLONEL WfiN," ... ... 310 "WITH EVERY REGARD TO CEREMONY AND ANCIENT USAGE, THE MARRIAGE OF TU AND JASMINE WAS CELEBRATED IN THE PRESENCE OF RELATIVES AND FRIENDS," . 313 " MISS KING OPENED HER EYES WIDE AT THIS STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT," . .318 " A HANDSOME, GAILY-DRESSED MAN LED A LADY OF EXQUISITE BEAUTY ON TO THE YACHT," .... 325 "the stranger LOOKED UP FROM HIS BIRD WITH AN ENGAG- ING SMILE," ..... 327 "both guest and HOST WERE IN EXCELLENT SPIRITS," 331 "THE LADY PRESENTLY APPEARED," . 335 "'why, WHAT HAS HAPPENED V HE EXCLAIMED," . 341 INTRODUCTION. CHINESE FICTION. AEECENT writer has pointed out that,, in one re- spect, the Chinese are much in the condition of a character in one of Eichter's novels, who assumed that the first meridian lay through his own skull. Everything which belongs to them forms part of the centre of the universe, and all that is beyond their immediate cognisance is foreign and negligeahle. The same principle holds good in the matter of literary taste. It is laid down, as a law of the Medes and Persians, that the canonical books and the works re- lated to them contain all the wisdom that it is good for man to know, and all the interest and amuse- ment which a rational being should require. It is of no use to attempt to explain to a be-spectacled and self-important scholar that the efi"orts of the imagination are as much worthy of study as the solemn dicta of Confucius and the aphorisms of h XU CHINESE STORIES. Mencius. Pity and contempt are the only feelings which such an attempt to swim against the current would arouse. Years of careful training will make a tree whose shoots should spring heavenwards bend the points of its branches towards the earth. Cen- turies of constraint haye had a parallel effect on the Chinese. If ever they possessed a desire to soar into the higher atmosphere of imagination, their efforts have been thwarted, and their aspirations have been forced downwards to the solid groundwork of prosaic literature. By this careful and persistent training they have learned to believe that to pass from the contemplation of the classical and historical literature to that of the lighter efforts of more subtle authors, is to descend from Parnassus into the gutter. This is, however, a pious opinion in which there is no reason that we should concur. The standard of taste in Peking is happily not necessarily the same as in London, and we may be forgiven if, in this instance, we dissent from the orthodox view. In the classical literature we have reflected, it is true, the serious bent of the people's mind, but it fails to reproduce the fancy and personal esprit which are brought out in their romances and plays. On all such works the Chinese pour out the vials of their contempt. Siao hiva, or "small-talk," is the only term they can find to express their opinion of thein, and they profess to relegate them to the apartments of the women and the homes of the uneducated. Fortunately, however, the learned Chinese are not quite such literary prigs as they pretend to be ; and just as the most pronounced Confucianist keeps a INTRODUCTION. XIU soft place in his heart for Buddhist deities and the mysticisms of Tao, so the most pedantic scholar occasionally indulges, under the rose, in the study of the loves and adventures of heroes and heroines who are mere fictions of the brain. It is difiicult to say when the first story was published in China, but it is quite safe to assume that stories have been current from all time. There never was a land in which stories did not exist. Even the dull nomads of the deserts of Mongolia and of the still drearier wastes of Tibet attempt to vary the monotony of their ex- istence by telling weird tales as they crowd round their camp-fires. To such people the eff"orts of the imagination are to life what froth is to champagne. They keep it fresh and brisk, and impart liveliness to what without them would be flat and wearisome. The earliest stories which we know of in China are those which are enshrined in the ' Book of Odes,' the contents of which date back to the time of Solomon. In these ballads we find tales and fragments of tales which doubtless formed part of the stock-in-trade of professional story-tellers who sought to amuse the Chinese immigrants on their arrival in the strange land of their adoption. In these, as in everything Chinese, there is a lack of that vivid fancy which belongs to more imaginative races. The fiery inspi- ration of the Aryan peoples has been denied to the Scythian mind. No torrents of passion nor eloquent denunciations break the calm narratives which flow from the placid pens of Chinese story-tellers. Their themes are for the most part the idyllic scenes of country life, in which love, tempered with subdued ; XIV CHINESE STORIES. passion, plays a prominent part. On such matters they only speak right on, and give us plain and detailed particulars of the events which they wish to describe. Compared with Western writers, they labour under the disadvantage of having to work out their own literary systems. No ideas from the people of other countries, except those of India, have ever reached them, and all opportunities of sharpening their wits by communication with other foreigners have been denied them. To India they owe much that gives lightness and variety to their works of fiction. Buddhistic fancies and the philosophical conceptions which underlie Brahmanism introduced new and interesting phases into the native literature and indirectly those supernatural and magical ideas which first made their appearance in the writings of Taoist sages, and which have since becoine part of the stock-in-trade of Chinese novelists, were derived from the same sources.

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