Nüxian Waishi 《女仙外史》 As Demonology

Nüxian waishi 《女仙外史》 as Demonology

NG, Kum Hoon

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chinese Studies

The Chinese University of Hong Kong May 2016

Thesis Assessment Committee

Professor Jan Kiely (Chair)

Professor John Lagerwey (Thesis Supervisor)

Professor Poo Mu-chou (Committte Member)

Professor Wang Chiu-kuei (External Examiner)

iii

Abstract of thesis entitled: Nüxian waishi 《女仙外史》 as Demonology

Submitted by NG, Kum Hoon for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chinese Studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in May 2016

The demonic as featured prominently and provocatively in the Qing novel Nüxian waishi (Unofficial history of the female transcendent) by Lü Xiong (c. 1641 – c. 1722) has been rather poorly understood and under-analysed by scholars so far. This dissertation sets out to rectify this deficiency in scholarship. By taking the demonic as a politico-cultural and philosophical category (but giving due respect to the intrinsic fuzziness, inexhaustibility and livingness thereof), the study undertaken herein moves away from the tendency to see the demonic in Nüxian waishi simply as a conscious literary means to a moral or discursive end, and strives to examine it in its own right (i.e., as the demonic-qua-demonic, with its own intrinsic logic) and in relation to other construals of the demonic outside of the said novel. Specifically, this dissertation first clarifies the qualities and structuralities of the demonic in Nüxian waishi, then situates it within an evolving trend of demon-glamorization (termed “demonogloria” herein) in the narrative literature of late imperial China. Through plotting a rudimentary timeline of literary demon-glamorization intensifying through the period in question (especially from the 16th to the 18th century), this dissertation shows the demonology of Nüxian waishi to be a culmination of such a trend, which makes this novel a text of ample demonological significance, potent and radical in its construal of the demonic not only synchronically but also diachronically. Pertinent corrective implications for two existing demonological frameworks with a Sinological interest – i.e., Laurie Cozad’s tripartite schema for the demonized Other in the Ming novel Journey to the West, as well as Barend J. ter Haar’s “demonological paradigm” for the Chinese civilization – are also presented.

論文摘要: 作爲「妖魔學」文本之《女仙外史》作者：吳錦漢

目的：中國研究博士學位

機構：香港中文大學二〇一六年五月

清代呂熊（約 1641 – 約 1722）所著長篇小説《女仙外史》中所呈現的「魔」，既突出而又頗具震撼力，但學界至今對此仍瞭解不深、分析不足。本論文旨在填補此一缺憾。文中以「魔」作爲兼具政治、文化與哲學意味的範疇，留存其本質上的模糊性、不可窮盡性及活性。將《女仙外史》之「魔」簡單視爲有意識地實現道德或議論目的的文學手段，是學界慣常的做法；本文則脫離此一研究方向，試圖審視純粹作爲「魔」的「魔」，探究「魔」之爲「魔」的自有的内在邏輯，並循以聯繋《女仙外史》以外的、其他對「魔」的詮釋。具體而言，本論文先著力釐清《女仙外史》之「魔」的特點及結構性，再觀之於中國明清敘述文學的一股特定趨勢——即將「魔」揚舉而美化的趨勢之中。本文摘取幾個較有説明性的例子，大略標明上述趨勢在數百年間（尤其是十六至十八世紀之間）步步強化的演進過程，從而顯示《女仙外史》對「魔」的詮釋（或即「妖魔學」觀點）正是代表了「揚魔」趨勢的高峰。由此則證明《女仙外史》乃是「妖魔學」上意義重大的文本，其對「魔」的詮釋的感染力與激進性是超時性的，但也是自有歷史意義的。此外，本文對與中國材料相關的兩套現有的「妖魔學」框架（一是勞蕊·柯贊用以概括明代小説《西遊記》之「魔化」他者的三層體系，一是田

海就整個中國文明提出的「妖魔觀範式」）亦順勢提出修正或質疑。

Acknowledgements

(This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my mother Lee Pek Chu, who passed away during the writing of the first three chapters. Bless her soul.)

I thank my wife Hui Yin for her loving support through the years, without which this study could not have materialized. I thank my energetic cat Meowmi for making life a little more bearable during the long days and nights when the demonic wanted to assert itself strongly against the writing of this dissertation, as it were. I thank my incomparable friend and fellow academic Wee Lian Hee, who was, in a way, the starting point of this arduous endeavour.

And, of course, I am grateful to my supervisor Professor John Lagerwey for his insightful inputs, and his remarkable patience with me. My thanks go also to Professor Denise Ho who brought Barend J. ter Haar’s “demonological paradigm” to my attention, which proved to be immensely helpful; and to my examiners Professor Jan Kiely, Professor Poo Mu-chou and Professor Wang Chiu-kuei.

Table of Contents

English Abstract ………………...... iii Chinese Abstract ……………...... iv Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…. v Chapter 1 Introduction ………………………………………………….……………………………………… 1 1.1 Nüxian waishi: A Demonological Aporia …………………………………………………... 1 1.2 The Demonic as a Politico-cultural and Philosophical Category ………………… 2 1.3 A Survey of Existing Scholarship …………………………………………………………….... 8 1.4 The Structure of This Dissertation ………………………………………………………….. 16 Chapter 2 Nüxian waishi: An Overview …………………………………..………………………. 18 2.1 The Author …………………………………………………………………………………….………. 18 2.2 Time of Writing and Editions ………………………………………………………….….…… 27 2.3 The Novel’s Contents and Underlying Motivations ………………………….….…. 30 2.4 Reception and Influence …………………………………………………………………...…… 40 Chapter 3 The Demonic in Nüxian waishi …………………………………….………… 54

3.1 The Two Levels of the Demonic ………………………………………………….… 54 3.1.1 The Immediately Demonic: Asuraism, Self-alterity and Appeal ….. 55 3.1.2 The “Mirrored” Demonic: Self-alterity and Subversion ………………. 90 3.1.3 An Illustrative Account: The Humiliation of the Celestial Master.. 102 3.2 The Prominence of Nüxian waishi’s Demonology …………………………………. 109 Chapter 4 Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria ………. 117 4.1 Demonogloria in Late Imperial China’s Narrative Literature ……………….… 117 4.1.1 Liu Ji’s “The Two Demons” …………………………………………………….… 120 4.1.2 Water Margin and The Latter Water Margin …………………………... 125 4.1.3 The Unsubdued Belles Femmes and Ji Yun’s Infernal Man-eaters..136 4.1.4 Rising Demonogloria: A Rough Timeline ………………………………….. 146 4.2 Reconsidering Barend J. ter Haar’s “Demonological Paradigm” ………….… 148 Chapter 5 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………... 151 5.1 Demonological Tensions and Transgressive Impact ……………………………… 151 5.2 Some Pursuable Lines of Inquiry …………………………………………………………... 155 Appendices ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 160 Appendix I: A Chapter-by-chapter Synopsis of Nüxian waishi …………………….. 160

vii

Appendix II: My Translation of Liu Ji’s “The Two Demons” …………………………. 201 A Glossary of Recurrent Works, Designations, Names and Other Terms …… 218

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………….….… 221 Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………………………………..……. 221 Chinese Primary Sources ……………………………………………………………………………………… 222 Early Western Sources ……………………….………………………………………………………………… 230 Other Literature ………………………………………………………………..………………………………… 231

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Nüxian waishi: A Demonological Aporia

Nüxian waishi 女仙外史, The Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent (NXWS or the Unofficial History hereafter), is a historical-fantasy novel written in Qing dynasty China by Lü Xiong 吕熊 (ca. 1641 – ca. 1722). Although not as well-known as late imperial masterpieces like Journey to the West (Xiyouji 西遊記), Water Margin (Shuihuzhuan 水滸傳) or Dream of the Red Mansion (Hongloumeng 紅樓夢), it is nevertheless an extraordinary text of an “enigmatic nature”. 1 It baffled and amazed its early readers, embodying many a “shockingly unconventional idea”. 2 The present dissertation represents an analytical response to some of the important yet challenging questions that naturally arise as a reader takes in NXWS’ narrative as it is. Stories in literature, as literature scholar Kevin McGinley puts it, “constitute a horizon of meaning and value into which the reader is invited to enter.”3 An interpreter of a story as such, he points out,

[…] enters into the story with a set of questions about the meaning of the text emerging out of one’s own context of meaning. Understanding the text, however, is a process of coming to understand the story’s horizon. The process of achieving such an understanding is a self-corrective process in which one begins the interpretation with a set of questions which thematize one’s anticipations of the meaning of the text. In the encounter with the text and its horizon, the interpreter shifts his or her initial questions to others more pertinent to the horizon of the text itself.4

As one engages with the “horizon” of NXWS in such a manner, some of the resultant questions in one’s mind inevitably revolve around the demonic, which is featured prominently in the novel through various characters, discourses and interactions. These

1 Fan Peng Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule in the Topsy-Turvy World of Nüxian Waishi,” Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 32, no. 2 (1997): 17. 2 Masato Nishimura, “The Composition and Ideology of Nüxian Waishi” (PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1993), 174, http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/cgi-bin2/Libo.cgi?. 3 Kevin McGinley, “The Hermeneutic Tension and the Emergence of Moral Agents,” in Literature as Philosophy / Philosophy as Literature, ed. Donald G. Marshall (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1987), 19. 4 Ibid., 21. Introduction 2

questions include the likes of the following: Why does the author’s conception of the demonic feel so potent and radical (as detailed in Chapter 3 of this dissertation)? How was such a conception possible at the time of writing? Why does it seem self-contradictory at times? What does it mean for the author and his readers? Does it still bear relevance for us today outside of its immediate literary and historical context? To fully resolve all of these questions would require a magnum opus that stretches far beyond the constraints of the present dissertation. Through grappling with the multifaceted aporia that is the Unofficial History, my thesis here is simply this: that this novel is really a text of extraordinary demonological significance; that the Unofficial History is not only emblematic, but indeed an apogee of a certain less widely recognized orientation - i.e., that of the glorification of the demonic-qua-demonic - in late imperial China’s politico- cultural purview of the demonic.

1.2 The Demonic as a Politico-cultural and Philosophical Category

My thesis as stated above is predicated on a well-established basic understanding of the demonic that renders the notion of “demons” generally meaningful in the cultural, political and philosophical realm. To speak in terms of “demons” and the “demonic” is, of course, to engage - at times with various degrees of figurativeness - with a set of memes that are most primarily of a mythological and religious nature. However, this late in the post-Enlightenment era, humankind’s awareness of the demonic has expanded far beyond the bat-winged horrors on Hieronymus Bosch’s triptychs. We consistently find it fitting to fall back on the age-old archetypes or motifs of the “demonic” when we think about various forms (including very earthly, tangible forms) of profound evil or monstrosity for which labels of mere criminality or psychological aberrance seem too flaccid - even when we are not taking a particularly religious stance.5 Paul Tillich (1886 - 1965) says it best in his groundbreaking 1926 essay “Das Dämonische, ein Beitrag zur Sinndeutung der Geschichte” (published in English 10 years later as “The Demonic: A Contribution to the Interpretation of History”): “The demonic is fulfilled in the spirit, not in ‘spirits’”, so “[t]he affirmation of the demonic has nothing to do with a mythological or metaphysical affirmation of a world of spirits.”6

5 As seen, e.g., in the expositions on the “world of evil” in Paul Oppenheimer, Evil and the Demonic: A New Theory of Monstrous Behavior (New York: New York University Press, 1996), 1-5, 12. 6 Paul Tillich, “The Demonic: A Contribution to the Interpretation of History,” in The Interpretation of History, trans. N. A. Rasetzki and Elsa L. Talmey (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1936), 85.

Introduction 3

Hence, for the purposes of this dissertation, the demonic is understood to be a more broadly circumscribed dimension of humanity’s experience of itself and of the world, under which the malevolent entities of traditional lore may be subsumed. It is a hypernymic abstraction on which basis we may speak of “demonic” tendencies, constructs, systems, institutions and so on, as unimpededly as we perceive the ghouls and goblins in an exorcistic ritual as demonic creatures. Given the demonic as such, it is only natural – or, indeed, inevitable – that reflections and embodiments of it are found across practically every domain of human effort and concern, not only religion. That in the arts and literature, for instance, malefic supernatural creatures are a common presence is obvious. However, it is on a more abstract level that Paul Tillich starts his seminal essay on the demonic with observations on ethnic art, 7 proclaiming straightforwardly that “human art reveals to us the actuality of … the demonic.”8 In the same essay he goes on to speak of “demonry” coming through in multiple overlapping spheres, stretching beyond the aesthetic9 to the psychical,10 social,11 and the intellectual,12 not forgetting also the political and the economic.13 More recent demonological thinkers such as Paul Oppenheimer have ventured to muse over a dazzling diversity of cultural data in the form of literary works, paintings, movies, and so on.14 Eugene Thacker even manages to draw compelling demonological and para-demonological insights from alternative music, Dante’s Divine Comedy, H. P. Lovecraft’s weird fiction, Japanese manga and popular horror movies.15 In his theoretical framework, the demonic is shown to be enfolded in, among other domains, the musicological,16 psychological, sociological,17 as well as the political.18 In the arena of social relations and politics, in particular, demonization in its two senses – i.e., the branding of the Other as demonic, as well as the Self’s becoming demonic

7 Ibid., 77-79. 8 Ibid., 79. 9 See ibid., 112-15. 10 See, e.g., ibid., 88-90. 11 See ibid., 90-92. 12 See, e.g., ibid., 117-19. 13 See, e.g., ibid., 119-21. In fact, Paul Tillich speaks elsewhere of “a demonic capitalism” – see Paul Tillich, “Religious Socialism,” trans. William B. Green, Victor Nuovo and James L. Adams, in Political Expectation (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 50. 14 As seen throughout Oppenheimer, Evil and the Demonic. 15 See, e.g., Eugene Thacker, In the Dust of This Planet (Winchester: Zero Books, 2011), 20-21, 31- 36, 74-80, 88-91, 129-30. 16 See ibid., 20-21. Cf. Derek B. Scott, “Diabolus in Musica: Liszt and the Demonic,” in From the Erotic to the Demonic: On Critical Musicology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 128-51; and Maiko Kawabata, “Virtuosity, the Violin, the Devil …What Really Made Paganini 'Demonic’?,” Current Musicology 83 (2007): 85-108. 17 Thacker, In the Dust, 24-25. 18 See ibid., 94-97.

Introduction 4

– looms too large to be disregarded. (The twofold phenomenon may very well be on the mind of Charles Malik, at one time President of the United Nations’ General Assembly, when he remarks: “The source of all evil is the absolutization of politics.”19) We do not need to be reminded, for instance, that “vast social institutions” have the potential to bring about “all the evils that could seem possible to befall man”, “genocide of millions, recurrent world war, race and hate riots, famine and world-wide misery for the vast masses of man … In our time, we have seen the demonic emerge in all its starkness”, coming into being “whenever [we are] manipulated by large impersonal forces beyond [our] control; forces that [we ourselves are] actively and uncritically contributing to.”20 (Indeed, even seemingly purely “cultural” productions, representations or expressions of the demonic often presuppose, project or encode a certain socio-political order. Demonization entails power and structures of power. When identifying the demonic within a cultural imaginary, it is thus appropriate to acknowledge this inherent homology and employ the hyphenated qualifier “politico-cultural”.) From the recognized validity of the demonic as a politico-cultural category, it is only a narrowing of scope to speak of Chinese politico-cultural demonology, or how the demonic is conceived of and encountered in China within a political and cultural (inclusive of literary) context. Indeed, the Sinologist Barend J. ter Haar has found it viable to delineate a “demonological paradigm” that “penetrated all dimensions of traditional Chinese social and religious life before and during the twentieth century”,21 highlighting supposedly a common thread of demonization that runs through China’s folklore, religious rituals, medical discourse, the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (Taiping Tianguo 太平天國), the Boxers Uprising of 1899 to 1900, and the violence of the communist Cultural Revolution.22 Given the foregoing, it is conceivable for representations or expressions of the demonic in a piece of literature to be bracketed and examined against a wider demonological

19 Charles Malik, “The Spiritual Significance of the United Nations,” in Religion and Culture: Essays in Honor of Paul Tillich, ed. Walter Leibrecht (1959; repr., New York: Books for Libraries, 1972), 351. (This article originally appeared in The Christian Scholar 38, no. 1 (Mar. 1955): 19-30.) The association of evil with the “absolutization of politics” here resonates with the Tillichian idea that “the claim of anything finite to be final in its own right is demonic” (Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, vol. 1 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 134). 20 Ernest Becker, The Structure of Evil: An Essay on the Unification of the Science of Man (New York: Free Press, 1976), 141-42. 21 Barend J. ter Haar, “China's Inner Demons: The Political Impact of the Demonological Paradigm,” in China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: Master Narratives and Post-Mao Counternarratives, ed. Woei Lien Chong (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002), 36. 22 See ibid., 27-68. Ter Haar’s generalization is not without its problems, however, as seen in section 4.2 of the present dissertation.

Introduction 5

context. Part of the present dissertation does precisely this, the piece examined being NXWS, and the wider context selected that of a manageable subset from the oceanic corpus of Chinese literature. Given that NXWS belongs to the literary-historical category of Ming-Qing fiction, and that Chinese literary works from around the 16th century to the height of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century were commonly shaped and informed by a number of clearly identified, well-studied cultural/intellectual influences, concerns and historical realities, some of which may, prima facie, have demonological implications (such as the valorization of individualistic self-realization that came with the rise of xinxue 心學 (Learning of the Mind- and-Heart) Neo-Confucianism, as well as the post-Ming reactions against it), 23 narrative literature from the late Ming to the mid Qing presents itself naturally as the main focal range for my contextualization of NXWS. In viewing NXWS as a piece of demonology, the present dissertation bears in the background the fundamental perspective of modern philosophical demonology. By “philosophical demonology”, I refer to the kind of intellectual inroads Steven Connor, Eugene Thacker and others have been making as they contend that our understanding of demonology should grow beyond “the [archaic] study and classification of demons (often inclusive of activities such as witchcraft and necromancy)”.24 Theirs are attempts to look at conceptions and experiences of the demonic not just with the interest of a historian or a field anthropologist, but the intent to clarify the core nature and dynamics of the demonic-qua- demonic. In working out a metaphysics, ontology and/or phenomenology of the demonic that can be relevant to our times and beyond, they may in fact be seen as responding to the provocative challenge put forth by Rudolf Otto (1869 - 1937) nearly a century ago:

23 See, e.g., Robert E. Hegel, The Novel in Seventeenth-century China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), 6-31, 51-65, 105-106; Andrew H. Plaks, “After the Fall: Hsing-shih yin-yüan chuan and the Seventeenth-Century Chinese Novel,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 45, no. 2 (Dec. 1985): 550-54; Andrew H. Plaks, The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), 6-52; 498-500; Maram Epstein, Competing Discourses: Orthodoxy, Authenticity and Engendered Meanings in Late Imperial Chinese Fiction (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2001), 69-119; Judith T. Zeitlin, The Phantom Heroine: Ghosts and Gender in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Literature (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2007), 6-8, 13-28, 57- 86. It should be noted that demonological inquiries from different angles have posited a strong link between absolutized self-magnification / self-fulfilment and the demonic – see, e.g., Wolfgang M. Zucker, “The Demonic: From Aeschylus to Tillich,” Theology Today 26, no. 1 (1969): 43-44; Evan M. Zuesse, “On the Nature of the Demonic: African Witchery,” Numen 18 (1971): 236-39; Rob Campany, “Demons, Gods, and Pilgrims: The Demonology of the Hsi-yu Chi,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 7, no. 1 and 2 (1985): 112-13; Daniel Day Williams, The Demonic and the Divine, ed. Stacy A. Evans (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), 9. 24 Thacker, In the Dust, 36.

Introduction 6

In all religions ‘the devilish’ plays its part and has its place as that which, opposed to the divine, has yet something in common with it. As such it should be the subject of a special inquiry, which must be an analysis of fundamental feelings, and something very different from a mere record of the ‘evolution of the idea of the devil’.25

(Needless to say, studying the “evolution of the idea of the devil” (or the likes or counterparts thereof) can nevertheless feed into and support the more subjectivity-based “special inquiry” proposed by Otto.) To put it in another way, philosophical demonology seeks to get an intellectual grip around the demonic at the all-pervading level suggested by Thomas Moore when he declares: “Every issue, no matter how secular it appears to be, has a sacred dimension. If you press anything far enough, you will come up against either the holy or the demonic.”26 With the foregoing in mind, in analysing NXWS in terms of construals of the demonic, I do not stay wholly confined to the evolving superstructures of memetics. Wherever necessary, I will venture to arrive at a penetrating discernment, an accurate-to-essence description of the phenomena of the demonic in NXWS - as well as their effects or relations (to the antithesis of the demonic, for example), which is predicated on the general coherence of an underpinning dark numinosity or its effective equivalent, understood as apprehended from real life (rather than merely “constructed” or “imagined”) and reflected across Lü Xiong’s novel (and other texts under discussion) in demonological language. In its attempts to “bracket” the demonic, the present dissertation will exercise an abstractive, phenomenological sensitivity that modern Western minds have relied on when approaching the demonic as a philosophical object. If we accept that the timelessness and universality of the human experience of the demonic transcend differences in culture-, system- or scenario- specific terminology and typologies, it would not be inappropriate to illuminate NXWS, an 18th century Chinese novel, with the insights of the Western philosophical demonologies of today wherever corroborative, or to compare NXWS’s demonology with that of other Chinese texts before or after Lü Xiong’s time. Having said that, for the present dissertation, it is deemed unhelpful to arrive at any sharp definition of the term “demonic” beyond its mythic-symbolic associations. The intrinsic

25 Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational, trans. John W. Harvey, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1950; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958), chap. XII, 107n2. Citations refer to the 1958 paperback. 26 Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: How to Add Depth and Meaning to Your Everyday Life (London: Piatkus, 2012), 290.

Introduction 7

inexhaustibility 27 and livingness of the notion or imagery of the “demonic” is given due respect. That is to say, I concur with Paul Tillich that “the main function of [a] symbol [is] the opening up of levels of reality which otherwise are hidden and cannot be grasped in any other way”;28 with Carl Jung that a symbol is “the best possible designation or formula for something relatively unknown, yet recognized to be present, or required”;29 with Mircea Eliade that certain symbols have the twofold capacity to “express simultaneously several meanings the unity between which is not evident on the plane of immediate experience”,30 and for “expressing paradoxical situations or certain patterns of ultimate reality that can be expressed in no other way” (except for Eliade’s commitment to metaphysical ultimacy);31and with Stephen A. Diamond that myths and symbols are characterized by “creative ambiguity”, always containing “some measure of mystery, an inherent impenetrability capable of inducing a sense of wonder or awe in the beholder”, such that their “real significance … resides in their uncanny ability to take hold of us, to touch us, even move us, and to speak to those places in ourselves where words or rational formulations fail to reach.”32 Nevertheless, it has to be affirmed that John Lagerwey is more or less pointing in the right direction when he, speaking in a culture-specific context, asserts that “[w]ealth, high rank, and longevity are the three gods universally adored in traditional Chinese society; their opposites are demonic”.33 Elsewhere, with reference to early Daoism, he pins down the nature of “evil” (inclusive of demonic evil) more pointedly as “basically, anything that undermines or is antipathetic to life.”34 For the purposes of this dissertation, it suffices for us to expand on these characterizations a little more, and roughly circumscribe the demonic as that with which we associate such symptomatic aspects as “antithesis to divinity”, “antithesis to life”, “destructiveness”, “obsessiveness”, “violence”, “perversity” and so on.

27 Cf. Paul Tillich’s idea that the demonic is rooted in the inherent “inexhaustibility of being” (Tillich, “The Demonic,” 84). 28 “The Nature of Religious Language,” in Paul Tillich, Theology of Culture, ed. Robert C. Kimball (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), 56. Italics mine. This article, probably altered, originally appeared in The Christian Scholar 38, no. 3 (Sep. 1955). 29 From Psychologische Typen, cited in Joseph Campbell, The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990), 169. Italics mine. 30 Mircea Eliade, The Two and the One, trans. J. M. Cohen (London: Harvill Press, 1965), 203. 31 Ibid., 205. Italics mine. 32 Stephen A. Diamond, Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996), 89. Italics mine. 33John Lagerwey, Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987), 272. 34 John Lagerwey, “Evil and Its Treatment in Early Taoism,” in Probing the Depths of Evil and Good: Multireligious Views and Case Studies, ed. Jerald D. Gort, Henry Jansen and Hendrik M. Vroom (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007), 85.

Introduction 8

That is to say, the demonic is recognized as a category with fuzzy boundaries. To a reasonable degree, I am taking a cue from the eminent sociologist Leo Löwenthal, employing the word “demonic” while bearing in mind that in “a world already split into claiming ‘subject’ and defiant ‘object’”, it may not be necessary to “interpret throughout and to still grasp that which is no longer graspable in the timid robe of a word, hardly a concept.”35

1.3 A Survey of Existing Scholarship

The significance of the study herein undertaken may be made clear with a survey of pertinent existing scholarship. The study of NXWS has been called a “blue ocean” – a reference to INSEAD theorists W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s famous concept of unexplored market space with great potentials and nonexistent competition36 - for scholars of historical Chinese fiction.37 The amount of research of at least reasonable quality on Lü Xiong’s novel has been quite limited so far. This is especially true for scholarly work in the English language. One would be hard pressed to list anything beyond Masato Nishimura’s 1993 doctoral thesis, Fan Peng Chen’s 1997 article “Ideology and Female Rule in the Topsy-Turvy World of Nüxian Waishi”, and the section “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy in Nüxian waishi” in Roland Altenburger’s The Sword or the Needle: The Female Knight-errant (xia) in Traditional Chinese Narrative (2009).38 Nishimura provides a thorough and meticulous clarification of the facts behind the composition of NXWS, especially Lü Xiong’s personal background, various dates, and details about the commentators who form such an important part of Lü’s book. Equally valuable are Nishimura’s identification of a number of different influences on and sources for the novel, as well as his highlighting NXWS’s function as Lü Xiong’s “blueprint for an ideal government”.39 Chen and Altenburger, on the other hand, focus primarily on the prominence

35 Leo Löwenthal, “The Demonic: Project for a Negative Philosophy of Religion,” trans. Mathias Fritsch, in The Frankfurt School on Religion: Key Writings by the Major Thinkers, ed. Eduardo Mendieta (New York: Routledge, 2005), 105. 36 See W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2005). 37 Li Weijia 李偉嘉, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi ji qi biaoxian zhi yanjiu” 《女仙外史》主旨意識及其表現之研究 [A study of the main thematic consciousness of the Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent and the expression thereof](MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, 2012), 2, http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi/ccd=DWOvf6/record?r1=1&h1=0. 38 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology”; Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 15-28; Roland Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy in Nüxian waishi,” in The Sword or the Needle: The Female Knight-errant (xia) in Traditional Chinese Narrative (Bern: Peter Lang, 2009), 197-211. 39 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 170.

Introduction 9

of women in NXWS and the novel’s overturning of traditional gender norms. Both writers rightly point out that NXWS does not actually champion a feminist cause despite the empowerment and superiority of women therein.40 In the case of Altenburger, NXWS is situated within the literary tradition of female knight-errantry. As for Chen, his greatest contribution lies in how he elevates the Unofficial History beyond what Altenburger calls the “established line of interpretation … [that] focuses on … Ming-loyalist and anti-Manchu sentiments”,41 and sees a deeper, unifying principle behind Lü Xiong’s various heterodoxies – i.e., that of the malleability of discourse itself.42 All three studies above, however, are not without problems, some more serious than others. For example, Nishimura’s argument for Lü Xiong’s dates43 is slightly questionable (as shown in section 2.1 of this dissertation). His characterization of NXWS as a work of “anti- foreigner, pro-Chinese ethnocentricism”, 44 while largely accurate (but also quite non- distinguishing), fails to take into consideration surprising parts of the fictional narrative that put non-Chinese in a more favourable light. 45 His listing of the characters Manni (i.e., Mantuoni 曼陀尼) and Princess Chamo (Chamo Gongzhu 刹魔公主) amongst the “female immortals” of NXWS is misleading, given that the former is a demoness converted to the Buddhist faith and the latter the incumbent lord of archdemons.46 Nishimura associates the explanation for major events in the novel with a “divine order from the Jade Emperor” and “karma”,47 yet strangely fails to mention the oft-emphasized ultimate reason for why things happen the way they do in NXWS – the mysterious “Numbers” (shu 數 ), which are independent of the will of anyone.48 Chen’s article, on the other hand, is blemished by an outright misrepresentation of Nishimura’s position. Nishimura is accused of “limiting himself to reading the novel as a loyalist, anti-Qing work”49 when he has explicitly asserted that NXWS “certainly is not a Ming loyalist novel”, carefully qualified NXWS as “anti-Qing” only conditionally,50 and pointed out

40 Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 25-26; Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy,” 203. 41 Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy,” 201. 42 Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 19, 25-26. 43 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 27. 44 Ibid., 195. 45 See section 2.3 of the present dissertation. 46 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 149. 47 Ibid., 143. It should be noted that nowhere in NXWS is the “Jade Emperor” mentioned. The Supreme Thearch (Shangdi 上帝) is probably what Nishimura has in mind here. 48 Regarding the “Numbers”, see section 5.2, as well as page 76, of the present dissertation. 49 Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 16. 50 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 195. In fact, Nishimura states on page 14: “The novel was written … on much higher ideological ground than the actual anti-Qing movements of [the author’s] day”.

Introduction 10

how the novel is sufficiently ambivalent to be able to garner “intellectual camaraderie” from both Ming loyalists and members of the Qing establishment in real life.51 Furthermore, for all its brevity, Chen’s article contains too many technical errors. 52 Chen’s shrugging off implications of lesbianism in NXWS53 is also a little too hasty, and warrants rethinking (as shown in sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 of the present dissertation). Altenburger’s flaws are equally noticeable. He is grievously mistaken about two major points in NXWS’s plot.54 In addition, he tries to explain a large gap in the novel’s publication history, 55 but neglects to consider the one most obvious factor: the Qing government’s repeated banning of NXWS.56 With regard to the subject matter most relevant to the present dissertation, one draws a blank from two of the three writers above. Both Nishimura (in whose 214-page thesis the word “demon(s)” does not appear anywhere) and Altenburger (who mentions demons only in a three-line footnote)57 hardly pay any attention to the demonic, let alone engage in any demonological discussion of the novel. This is surprising, given the looming presence, almost brash radicality and curious paradoxicality of the demonic in NXWS. While Chen does expend four pages to talk about the demonic, he merely shows how it underpins “a most

51 Ibid., 16-17, 195-96. 52 Some examples, by no means exhaustive, are: in citing from NXWS’s text, the character qi 炁 (pneuma) is given as qi 器 (tool) twice and translated as “essence” (Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 21); in a reference to a statement from NXWS’s Chapter 5 about bodily defilement by semen, what is “a single inky speck” (mo hei yi dian 墨黑一點) in the original text is somehow multiplied into a plurality of “black dots” (Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 21; cf. Lü Xiong, Nüxian waishi 女仙外史 [The unofficial history of the female transcendent], Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小説集成 (1711; repr. in facsim., Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990)(hereafter cited as NXWS(G)), 1:92, 5.2b; the name of the character Nie Yinniang 聶隱娘, a fictional swordswoman well known to readers of classical Chinese literature (see Appendix I, “A Chapter-by-chapter Synopsis of Nüxian waishi,” 169n831), is wrongly given in English and Chinese as “She Yinniang” 攝隱娘 (Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 22); in annotating an allusion to the historical story of Xiang Yu 項羽 threatening to cook Liu Bang’s 劉邦 father, Chen calls the story “[apparently] apocryphal” (Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 25n26) and does not seem to recognize its origin in the “Basic Annals of Xiang Yu” (Xiang Yu benji 項羽本紀) in Sima Qian’s 司馬遷 (ca. 145 BC – ca. 87 BC) Shiji 史記 [Records of the Grand Historian](see Sima Qian, Shiji, ann. Pei Yin 裴駰 (fl. 438), comm. Sima Zhen 司馬貞 (ca. 656 - 720) and Zhang Shoujie 張守節 (fl. 8th century), 7.25a-b, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu 續修四庫全書 [Continuation of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries](Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995-2002)(XXSKQS hereafter), vol. 261. 53 Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 21. 54 “[In NXWS, Tang Sai’er] eventually beheads her opponent, the Yongle Emperor, with a flying sword, thus enabling the Jianwen Emperor to resume power.” (Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy,” 199) In reality, the novel’s ending is more anticlimactic: the Yongle Emperor dies, but not by the hand of the heroine, and the Jianwen Emperor is not restored to the imperial throne at all thereafter – see NXWS(G), 5:2270, 98.6b; 5:2282, 99.4b; 5:2313-15, 100.12a-13a. 55 Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy,” 200-201. 56 See section 2.4 of the present dissertation. 57 Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy,” 202n18.

Introduction 11

fascinating inversion of accepted concepts of good and evil” as part of Lü Xiong’s wide- spectrum subversion of orthodoxies.58 No appreciation is demonstrated of the finer nuances and structuralities of the demonic in the Unofficial History. NXWS studies in the Chinese language is a comparatively more populated field. Although there is yet to be any published book-form monograph, there exist at least nineteen journal articles and collected essays, as well as four graduate theses, from Taiwan and mainland China that revolve around NXWS, dating back to 1980. 59 Other than comprehensive overviews of NXWS, they include studies focused on NXWS’s vocabulary, individual characters, perspective on women, view of Fate, and connections to other novels. As noted also by Li Weijia 李偉嘉, a good portion of the existing academic work on the Unofficial History actually lies scattered in histories and compendia of Chinese fiction, or in parts of various writings on NXWS-related subject matters dating back to Lu Xun 鲁迅 (1881- 1936).60 (In my opinion, to the literature reviews available today, it is probably worthwhile to add the anonymous introduction to NXWS in Zhongguo lidai jinhui xiaoshuo mantan 中國歷代禁毁小説漫談 (Casual discussions of works of fiction banned in the history of China)(1996), which contains some penetrating comments on the novel.)61 One has to agree with Li that the study of NXWS in the Chinese language is largely plagued by repetition, lack of depth and – especially when it comes to unravelling what NXWS is really “about” - oversimplification.62 In my assessment, the most noteworthy in this mass of literature are the following: the seminal general study by Yan Mai-juan 顏美娟,63 the early philological breakthroughs in Zhao Shiyu’s 趙世瑜 1983 article and Yang Zhongxian’s 楊鍾賢 introduction to the Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House’s 1985 edition of NXWS (both blemished, however, by an overly ideologically charged outlook on

58 Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 23. 59 Listed in Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 6-19, 183-84. (The four theses include, of course, Li’s own thesis “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi”.) Cf. Song Huayan 宋華燕, “Jinnian Nüxian waishi yanjiu shuping” 近年《女仙外史》研究述評 [An account and comments on studies of NXWS in recent years], Guangbo dianshi daxue xuebao (zhexue shehui kexue ban) 廣播電視大學學報（哲學社會科學版） 2 (2013): 34-37. 60 Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 6-8, 10-11, 15-16, 18. 61 “Nüxian waishi” 女仙外史 [The unofficial history of the female transcendent], in Zhongguo lidai jinhui xiaoshuo mantan 中國歷代禁毁小説漫談 [Casual discussions of works of fiction banned in the history of China], ed. Wang Congren 王從仁 and Huang Ziheng 黄自恆 (Chungho City, Taipei: Shuangdi, 1996), 2:233-40. 62 Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 8, 18-19. 63 Yan Mai-juan 顏美娟, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu” 《女仙外史》研究 [A study of NXWS](MA thesis, Tunghai University, 1986).

Introduction 12

the novel’s actual contents), 64 Zhang Peiheng’s 章培恆 widely cited foreword to the Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House’s 1992 edition of NXWS,65 Yang Mei’s 楊梅 2006 thesis, 66 and the 2012 thesis by Li Weijia. 67 Collectively, these have gone a long way in consolidating the fundamental facts behind the writing, contents and editions of NXWS, analysing the dynamics of the commentaries that form part of the novel, and convincingly identifying some of the novel’s underlying thought in the light of its historical context, cultural background and what is known about its author. Academic discourses on the demonic in NXWS are relatively scarce and mostly scattered as constituent parts of various writings. Two early studies most directly relevant to the subject matter of the present dissertation are: Yan Mai-juan’s 1986 thesis (particularly the sections that deal with the relationship between NXWS and the White Lotus Sect, with NXWS’s criticism of the Three Traditions of Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism, and with what mo 魔 (the diabolic or archdemonic) signifies in the novel), and Yan’s short 1989 essay on the Demonic Tradition (mojiao 魔教) in NXWS. 68 According to Yan, mo as conceived in NXWS is: (i) perhaps reflective of popular religious movements outside of the orthodoxies of the Three Traditions;69 (ii) an outlet for Lü Xiong’s criticism of the Three Traditions;70 (iii) a thoughtfully chosen voice of denunciation against anarchy, degeneration of values and socio- political wrongness in reality or in history as perceived by the author, in line with the spirit of the Water Margin’s proposition of demons-as-heroes, and thus an ironic force for justice; 71 and (iv) an existential ideal of Dionysian energy, passion, initiative and authenticity.72

64 Zhao Shiyu 趙世瑜, “Nüxian waishi chutan” 《女仙外史》初探 [A preliminary probing into NXWS], Shanxi ligong xueyuan xuebao 陝西理工學院學報 2 (1983): 102-116; Yang Zhongxian 楊鍾賢, “Jiaodian shuoming” 校點说明 [Note on the collated and punctuated work] for Nüxian waishi 女仙外史 [Unofficial history of the female transcendent] by Lü Xiong 呂熊, col. Yang Zhongxian (Tianjin: Baihua wenyi chubanshe, 1985), 2-14. 65 Zhang Peiheng 章培恆, “Nüxian waishi qianyan” 《女仙外史》前言 [Foreword to NXWS], collected in Zhang Peiheng, Zaizao ji 災枣集 [A collection of disasters for jujube [trees]](Jinan: Shandong youyi chubanshe, 1998), 158-65. 66 Yang Mei 楊梅, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu” 呂熊與《女仙外史》研究 [A study of Lü Xiong and NXWS](MA thesis, Nanjing Normal University, 2006). 67 Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi”. 68 Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 72-93; Yan Mai-juan, “Nüxian waishi de mojiao guan” 《女仙外史》的魔教觀 [The view of the Demonic Tradition in NXWS], in Xiaoshuo xiqu yanjiu 小説戲曲研究, vol. 2, ed. Guoli Qinghua Daxue Zhongguo Yuwen Xuexi 國立清華大學中國語文學系 (Taipei City: Lianjing, 1989), 159-72. 69 Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 72-74. 70 Ibid., 75-76, 81-82; Yan, “Nüxian waishi de mojiao guan,” 166-67. 71 Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 86-87, 90; Yan, “Nüxian waishi de mojiao guan,” 168-71. 72 Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 87-90; Yan, “Nüxian waishi de mojiao guan,” 167.

Introduction 13

Subsequent analyses of mo by other scholars have not ventured far beyond Yan’s conclusion, especially the third point, in any substantiable way. As late as 2012, Li Weijia’s analysis of NXWS’s demonesses, for example, basically still reiterates her last two points.73 There is a predominant tendency – already evident in Yan Mai-juan’s work outlined above - to see the demonic in NXWS simply as a conscious literary means to a moral or discursive end in the hands of the author. Apart from analogy drawn to the demonic heroes of Water Margin, I have not seen any noteworthy academic efforts in the Chinese language to examine the demonic in its own right (i.e., the demonic-qua-demonic) with its own intrinsic logic and/or in relation to expressions of itself outside of NXWS. (Zhang Peiheng’s introduction and Liu Chiung-yun’s 劉瓊云 2011 article, however, might count as two exceptions.74 Zhang comments briefly on NXWS’s uniqueness in the history of Chinese literary treatment of “rebels”.75 Liu highlights certain parallels between NXWS and Water Margin, and then points out how the former differs in never leading the Demonic Tradition into assimilation into the hegemonic “orthodox” system. She also elaborates on how Lü Xiong casts his demonesses as reinterpretations of Buddhist demonology.76 Such parts in the two scholars’ works come close to the rudiments of a more extensive or sharply articulated cultural-demonological scrutiny.) In addition to the foregoing, there is a considerable body of English and Chinese scholarship concerned in at least some significant part with the intersection between late imperial Chinese fiction and the demonic. In this there is yet to be a monograph or article specially dedicated to NXWS. Some of the works in this corpus nevertheless are helpful for a demonological-historical contextualization of NXWS.77

73 Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 110-12. 74 Zhang, “Nüxian waishi qianyan”; Liu Chiung-yun 劉瓊云, “Ren, tian, mo - Nüxian waishi zhong de lishi quehan yu ‘ta’ jie xiangxiang” 人、天、魔——《女仙外史》中的歷史缺憾與「她」界想像 [Humans, Heaven, archdemons – the regrets of history and the imaginations of the feminine realm in NXWS], Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiu jikan 中國文哲研究集刊 38 (Mar. 2011): 43-94. 75 Zhang, “Nüxian waishi qianyan,” 162-63. 76 Liu, “Ren, tian, mo,” 71, 72-75. 77 E.g., Ursula-Angelika Cedzich, “The Cult of the Wu-t’ung / Wu-hsien in History and Fiction: The Religious Roots of the Journey to the South,” in Ritual and Scripture in Chinese Popular Religion: Five Studies, ed. David Johnson (Berkeley, CA: Chinese Popular Culture Project, 1995), 137-218; Meir Shahar, “Vernacular Fiction and the Transmission of Gods’ Cults in Late Imperial China,” in Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China, ed. Meir Shahar and Robert P. Weller (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996), 184-211; Gao Guihui 高桂惠, “Leixing cuowu / linian xianxing? – You Ming mo Xiyouji san ben xushu de ‘shenmo’ tan qi” 類型錯誤 / 理念先行？：由明末《西遊記》三本續書的「神魔」談起 [Typological error / precession of notions? Beginning with the “gods and demons” in three late Ming sequels to Journey to the West], in Gui mei shen mo – Zhongguo tongsu wenhua cexie 鬼魅神魔 —— 中國通俗文化側寫 [Ghosts, enchanting spirits, deities and archdemons – A profile of Chinese plebeian culture], ed. Poo Mu-chou 蒲慕州 (Taipei City: Maitian, 2005), 279-95; Zeitlin, The

Introduction 14

Among these, three journal articles, in particular, warrant special mention: Rob Campany’s “Demons, Gods, and Pilgrims: The Demonology of the Hsi-yu Chi” (1985) and “Cosmogony and Self-cultivation: The Demonic and the Ethical in Two Chinese Novels” (1986), and Laurie Cozad’s “Reeling in the Demon: An Exploration into the Category of the Demonized Other as Portrayed in The Journey to the West” (1998).78 With a collective focus on the Ming novels Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen yanyi 封神演義), they are rare exemplifications of an essentially demonological line of inquiry, raising such questions (explicitly or otherwise) as: What makes the “demons” in the story demonic? How are they different from the “heroes”, who apparently have similarly “demonic” qualities or natures? What is their relationship to the macroscopic order that encompasses both the “demons” and the “heroes”? Although Campany and Cozad do not touch on NXWS, their methods and conclusions constitute an important source of reference for the study presently undertaken. In particular, Cozad’s tripartite schema of classifying the demonized Other (in the context of Journey to the West, with parallels in real-life religious history) as that which is “serving”, “worrying” or “subverting” the hegemonic structure79 bears much direct relevance for NXWS. These three categories are characterized as follows: • The demons that “serve” are those whose potency is wholly derived from the establishment, each “nothing more than an insubordinate underling of [the] dominant structure”. 80 In effect, they contribute to “defining boundaries and ensuring differentiation, as they function to highlight that which is orthodox by indulging in the heterodox”.81 Accordingly, “their destruction is understood as a constructive and prescribed activity”,82 as is their re-integration into the system, which may be brought about from time to time. In being destroyed or re-integrated, these “endogenous” demons “restor[e] the dominant classificatory structure to its

Phantom Heroine; Mark R. E. Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare: Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2015). 78 Campany, “Demons, Gods, and Pilgrims”; Rob Campany, “Cosmogony and Self-cultivation: The Demonic and the Ethical in Two Chinese Novels,” Journal of Religious Ethics 14, no. 1 (1986): 81-112; Laurie Cozad, “Reeling in the Demon: An Exploration into the Category of the Demonized Other as Portrayed in The Journey to the West,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 66, no. 1 (1998): 117-45. 79 See Cozad, “Reeling in the Demon,” 121-42. The demonizing hierarchy here is specifically taken to be “the dominant religio/ethical structure” rooted in “the syncretic blending of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism” (Cozad, “Reeling in the Demon,” 121). 80 Ibid., 125. 81 Ibid., 122. 82 Ibid., 123.

Introduction 15

original [i.e., pre-transgressed] order”.83 The numerous “little ones” or minor animal demons serving as henchmen for more threatening monsters are given by Cozad as examples.84 • The demons that “worry” are “exogenous demonized figures who … possess the capacity either to support or to disrupt the established order of things”; they embody “the quintessential ‘Other’”, “the possibility of irreducible otherness”, “constructive elements of an alternative structure”,85 and therefore represent “a real danger to the dominant structure’s monopoly on truth”. 86 The threatened structure’s response is extraordinary, forceful assimilation thereof, after which they are “gilded with the patina of structural respectability, while retaining all of the alternative and therefore transgressive elements of its origin”.87 After being thus grafted, they occupy the “liminal space” between the demonizing hierarchy and its rival, and remain “both pure and impure at one and the same time” from the former’s perspective. 88 The Red Boy (Hong Hai’er 紅孩兒), who is torturously subjugated by the bodhisattva Guanyin 觀音, is one of the examples given for such figures.89 • The demons that “subvert” are the “ontologically perverse other”, said to nullify “all possibility of systematic classification”. 90 Even when they seem to have been absorbed into the hegemonic hierarchy and put to work therein like the demons of the second category, they ultimately disrupt it, turn it on its head, and “negate the concept of hierarchy altogether”.91 The exemplar provided by Cozad is the character Sun Wukong 孫悟空, the once-rebellious monkey.92 Not without its problems (as shown in section 3.2 of the present dissertation), the above schema nevertheless provides a preliminary framework that can help clarify the demonic as envisioned in NXWS. Indeed, a demonological analysis of NXWS may in turn serve to improve on the schema itself to make it more universally applicable.

83 Ibid. 84 See ibid., 121. 85 Ibid., 126. 86 Ibid., 129. 87 Ibid., 126. 88 Ibid., 125. 89 See ibid., 130-32. 90 Ibid., 135. 91 Ibid., 140. 92 See ibid., 135-41.

Introduction 16

Finally, I should add that, amongst Western demonological studies from the last few decades with a philosophical or culturo-philosophical ambition, 93 I have seen no significant reference to Chinese material or ideas, let alone any thoughtful engagement with the Chinese vision of the demonic. This is true even for the wildly eclectic work of Eugene Thacker and Paul Oppenheimer.94 A possible exception may be the last three chapters of Nicholas F. Gier’s Spiritual Titanism, 95 if one thinks of Gier’s concept of “titanism” as para- demonological. 96 But, even then, here he deals only with Chinese thought surrounding Laozi 老子, Zhuangzi 莊子, Confucius (Kongzi 孔子), Xunzi 荀子 and the Neo-Confucians. The study undertaken herein may therefore serve as a stepping-stone towards building a bridge between disciplines, not only opening a much needed vista on the reading of NXWS, but also potentially offering a whole new world of data and counterpoints for Western demonological thought. In view of all of the above, the present dissertation, by considering the demonic-qua- demonic in NXWS, can rightly be said to lay the first brick towards filling a significant lacuna in existing scholarship.

1.4 The Structure of This Dissertation

Having laid out my central claim, clarified my angle of approach and surveyed the relevant fields above, the main body of this dissertation is to unfold as described below. Chapter 2 lays the groundwork for an overall understanding of NXWS, summarizing the existing (and some new) knowledge about the novel’s author, time of writing, editions, contents, underlying motivations, reception, and legacy of influence.

93 E.g., Zucker, “The Demonic”; Zuesse, “On the Nature of the Demonic”; Thomas J. J. Altizer, “The Otherness of God as an Image of Satan,” in The Otherness of God, ed. Orrin F. Summerell (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1998), 206-15; Alphonso Lingis, “The God of Evil,” in Evil Spirits: Nihilism and the Fate of Modernity, ed. Gary Banham and Charlie Blake (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), 40-51; Steven Connor, “Towards a New Demonology,” in Becoming Human: New Perspectives on the Inhuman Condition, ed. Paul Sheehan (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003), 103-11. With some reservations about whatever dividing line that may be drawn between “theology” and “philosophy”, one might also include: Williams, The Demonic and the Divine. 94 See Oppenheimer, Evil and the Demonic. For some of the pertinent work of Eugene Thacker, see Chap. 5 herein, “Conclusion,” 156n815. 95 Nicholas F. Gier, Spiritual Titanism: Indian, Chinese, and Western Perspectives (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000), 177-236. 96 Gier’s “titanism” is defined as “an extreme form of humanism that does not recognize that there are limits to what humans can become and what they should do” (Gier, ibid., 2), which is concordant with the “superlative power and unboundedness” of the demonic as discussed in Chapter 3 herein, “The Demonic in Nüxian waishi,” 62-65.

Introduction 17

Chapter 3 proceeds to delve into the novel’s text, beginning with a general analysis of the characters that are unquestionably demonic, and then, with their prominent characteristics in mind, of echoes of the demonic found in what is supposed to be anti- demonic. The complexity, paradoxicality and heterodoxy of the demonic in NXWS is thus laid bare. This chapter concludes with a section that explicates just how heterodox and distinct NXWS’s demonology is, with reference to the responses of the novel’s early readers, the assessments of modern scholars, and Laurie Cozad’s demonological schema. Zooming out, Chapter 4 argues that such a demonology is not an isolated phenomenon, but should be viewed as part of a lesser recognized trend that is discernible in the narrative literature of late imperial China. This trend may be characterized, for lack of a better term, as “demonogloria”, or the glorification and positivization of the demonic-qua- demonic. The work of Barend J. ter Haar is brought to the forefront for reconsideration. Finally, as a conclusion, Chapter 5 summarizes the findings of the inquiry outlined above, and briefly speculates on some pertinent demonological issues, including the literary- historical impetus behind NXWS’s demonological radicality. Some promising possibilities for further studies relating to NXWS’s demonology are also suggested. All English translations of NXWS’s main and ancillary texts are my own except where indicated otherwise.

Chapter 2

Nüxian waishi: An Overview

2.1 The Author

Not very much is known about Lü Xiong, the author of NXWS who was a native of Kunshan 崑山 (in present-day Jiangsu Province). In the earliest edition of NXWS, the Diaohuangxuan 釣璜軒 edition, there is a postface by Ye Fu 葉旉 (fl. 1689 - 1711)97 the Prefect of Guangzhou dated 1711 (xinmao 辛卯), a postface of the same year by Lü Xiong,98 and an undated preface entitled “Guxi Yitiansou Lü Xiong Wenzhao zixu” 古稀逸田叟呂熊文兆自敍 (A preface by the septuagenarian old man Yitian, Lü Xiong (Wenzhao) himself).99 Given that the novel was most likely published in the year of the postfaces, Lü Xiong would have to be at least sixty-nine in the year 1711. In addition, from the note to Li Guo’s 李果 (1679 - 1751)100 poem (see below), it is known that Lü Xiong died at eighty-two by traditional reckoning; according to Zhang Huijian’s 張慧劍 book (see below), Lü was still alive in the year 1722. This can only mean that Lü was born between 1641 and 1642, and died between 1722 and 1723. This deduction is basically consistent with the ranges posited in a good number of studies.101 (There are, however, those who arrive at more definite dates - 1642 to 1723 - by understanding the term guxi 古稀 to mean exactly the age of seventy sui102 (rather than,

97 Ye Fu, “Guangzhou fu taishou Ye Fu Nantian bayu” 廣州府太守葉旉南田跋語 [Postface by Ye Fu (Nantian), Prefect of Guangzhou], in NXWS(G), 1:9-12, 1a-2b. Ye was one of NXWS’s commentators. For details on Ye, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 37; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 13-14. Nishimura gives his dates as “(1670 – 1760)” without citing sources. 98 Lü Xiong, untitled postface to NXWS(G), in NXWS(G), 1:13-14, 1a-b. 99 NXWS(G), 1:5-8, 1a-2b. 100 Li was a renowned litterateur of Suzhou, not known to ever have been appointed a government official. For a biography of Li Guo based on Qingshi liezhuan 清史列傳 [Biographies of the history of Qing] and Qing dynasty sources, see untitled biography of Li Guo, in Qingdai shiwen ji huibian 清代詩文集彙編 [A compilation of Qing collections of poetry and prose], ed. Qingdai Shiwen Ji Huibian Bianzuan Weiyuanhui 《清代詩文集彙編》編纂委員會 (Shanghai: Shanghai shiji chuban gufen youxiangongsi / Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2010)(QDSWJ hereafter), 244:n.p. Nishimura gives Li Guo’s dates as “(1677 - 1750)” without citing sources (Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 26). 101 E.g., ca. 1640 – ca. 1722 (Yang, “Jiaodian shuoming,” 2; Li Huiwu 李悔吾, Zhongguo xiaoshuo shi mangao 中國小説史漫稿 [Casual writings for a history of Chinese fiction](Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 1992), 514; “Nüxian waishi,” 233; Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 15); ca. 1640 – early 1720s (Zhao, “Nüxian waishi chutan,” 103). 102 See, e.g., Yang Zhongxian 楊鍾賢, “Nüxian waishi zuozhe de mingzi ji qita – Yu Hu Xiaowei tongzhi shangque jian da Zhou Shangyi tongzhi” 《女仙外史》作者的名字及其他 – 與胡小偉同志商榷兼答周尚意同志 [The name of NXWS’s author and other matters – A deliberation with Comrade Nüxian waishi: An Overview 19

more loosely, the seventies in general). At least one scholar suggests earlier dates by trying to pin – over-speculatively - Lü Xiong’s preface down to 1704 or earlier.103) Apart from texts in the 1711 edition of NXWS, researchers have mainly relied on four sources for biographical information on Lü Xiong: (I) The entry on Lü Xiong under the “Litterateurs” (wenyuan 文苑) section in fascicle 25 of the Qianlong era gazetteer Kunshan Xinyang hezhi 崑山新陽合志 (A combined gazetteer of Kunshan and Xinyang);104 (II) A passage in fascicle 2 of Liu Tingji’s 劉廷璣 (ca. 1653 - ?)105 Zaiyuan zazhi 在園雜志 (Zaiyuan’s miscellaneous records); (III) A short note by the contemporaneous poet Li Guo on his own poem about Lü Xiong, which is part of Li’s “Ganjiushi shisan shou” 感舊詩十三首 (Thirteen poems of sentimentality for old friends), found in his Yongguiting shichao 詠歸亭詩鈔 (Selected poems of the Pavilion of Recitals about Returning); (IV) Short entries pertaining to Lü Xiong in Mingqing Jiangsu wenren nianbiao 明清江蘇文人年表 (A chronology of Jiangsu literati of the Ming and Qing dynasty)(completed in 1965), compiled by Zhang Huijian from early sources. The abovementioned entry in Kunshan Xinyang hezhi reads:

Lü Xiong, styled Wenzhao. His father was Tianyu. Xiong, handsome by birth, was seven chi tall. He had a halberd-like beard, a sturdy visage, and brilliant eyes. Tianyu, in view of the change of dynasty [from the Ming to the Qing], ordered Xiong to practise medicine and not to sit for the civil service examinations. By nature, Xiong had a particular liking for poetry, classical prose and calligraphy, which he studied expansively and tirelessly.

Hu Xiaowei and a reply to Comrade Zhou Shangyi], Tianjin shida xuebao 天津師大學報 5 (1988): 81; Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 27; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 7-8. These dates are also accepted by Roland Altenburger – see Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy,” 199. 103 See Zhang, “Nüxian waishi qianyan,” 159-160. 104 The gazetteer, of which a 1751 edition is extant, was compiled by Zou Zhaonan 鄒召南, Zhang Yujie 張予介 and Wang Jun 王峻. A largely similar entry on Lü Xiong is found in: Jin Wulan 金吳瀾 (fl. 1880), Li Fuyi 李福沂 (fl. 1880) et al., comps., Guangxu Kun Xin liang xian xuxiu hezhi 光緒崑新兩縣續修合志 [Continued combined gazetteer of the Guangxu period of the two counties Kunshan and Xinyang](1881; repr., Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe, 2008), 31.10a; with Lü Xiong’s works separately listed in 50.9b. 105 Liu Tingji with the sobriquet Zaiyuan 在園, one of Lü Xiong’s major patrons and one of NXWS’s commentators, was a bannerman. He became Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangxi in 1701, but was dismissed from this post in 1704. He was later appointed Circuit Intendant of the Xu Huai region. For details on him and his relationship with Lü Xiong and other commentators of NXWS, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 34-35; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 13-14; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 58.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 20

When Yu Chenglong106 was Governor of Zhili, he hired Xiong as a private secretary. All of Yu’s memorials and official orders were thereafter composed by Xiong. As his colleagues became hateful of him, Xiong eventually resigned with indignation. Several years later, when Yu Chenglong was reappointed to his former post, he invited Xiong to work for him again. The help Xiong gave in planning was always very apt. Upon being commissioned to manage the Yellow River [i.e., becoming Director-general of the Grand Canal], Yu Chenglong intended to propose that Xiong be made an Assistant Prefect so that he could serve him even better, but Xiong firmly declined the offer. After this, Lü Xiong went to the Yue region and crossed Zhejiang [i.e., the Qiantang River]. He ascended Ziling’s Fishing Terrace, and visited other famous locations such as the grotto-heaven of Mount Kuocang and the Shimen waterfalls. He arrived at Jiangyou [i.e., Jiangxi], where he met with Surveillance Commissioner Liu [Tingji] and the assistant official Han [Xiangqi 象起],107 both old friends of his. They frequently enjoyed poetry and wine together. In Donghu [in Nanchang] were old buildings associated with [the lofty gentlemen] Xu Ruzi [i.e., Xu Zhi 徐穉 of Eastern Han] and Su Yunqing [of Southern Song] – it was there that Lü Xiong rented a place to stay in. He left after Liu and Han were dismissed from office. He subsequently became a guest to Chen Yixi108 at Nan’an [(present-day Dayu, Jiangxi)]. After Chen’s death, Lü Xiong crossed the [Five] Ridges and visited famous locations [in Guangdong], generally for the purpose of compiling a local gazetteer for Guangzhou. After the project was completed, he returned to Donghu. Before long, he went back to Wumen [i.e., Suzhou] because his old work, the Unofficial History [of the Female Transcendent], had violated the taboos of that time. He died at the age of eighty-odd. His works include Unravelling the Classic of Poetry’s Six Categories, Judgements on the History of the Ming, A Continuation of the Records of the Geographical Expanse, The Former and Latter Collection of Poems, as well as An Analysis of Medical Herbs.

呂熊，字文兆，父天裕。熊生而俊爽，長七尺，戟髯鐡面，目光炯炯。天裕以國變故，命熊業醫，毋就試。顧熊性獨嗜詩歌、古文及書法，博習不

106 Yu Chenglong 于成龍 (1638 - 1700), styled Zhenjia 振甲, one of Lü Xiong’s major employers and one of NXWS’s commentators, was a bannerman. He became Governor of Zhili and later Director- general of the Grand Canal in the 1680s and 90s. He is not to be confused with his namesake Yu Chenglong 于成龍 (1617 - 1684), styled Beiming 北溟, another famous Qing official. For details on the younger Yu and his relationship with Lü Xiong and other commentators of NXWS, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 33-34; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 16-17; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 58. 107 Han Xiangqi 韓象起 (b. ca. 1653), one of NXWS’s commentators, was a Circuit Intendant at Jiangxi who was dismissed from office together with Liu Tingji in 1704. The designation he used when commenting on NXWS was Han Hongya 韓洪崖. For details on him and his relationship with other commentators of NXWS, see Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 11, 13, 15; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 58. 108 Chen Yixi 陳奕禧 (1647 - 1709) with the sobriquet Xiangquan 香泉, one of Lü Xiong’s major patrons and the most prolific commentator of NXWS, was Prefect of Nan’an when he played host to Lü in 1708. He promised to publish NXWS for Lü, but died before he could do so. For details on him and his relationship with Lü Xiong and other commentators of NXWS, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 35-36; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 12-13; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 58.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 21

厭。于公成龍巡撫直隸，聘入幕，一切條議皆出其手。同事者忌之，遂拂衣去。越數年，成龍復舊任，再延入幕。凡所贊畫，動中機宜。及奉命治河，將題授熊通判，俾自效，熊固辭之。已，適越，渡浙江，上子陵釣臺，訪括蒼洞天、石門瀑布諸勝。至江右，會按察劉某、僉事韓某，皆舊交，相與流連詩酒。東湖中有亭臺，徐孺子、蘇雲卿遺址也，僦舍居焉。韓、劉罷，乃去，客南安陳奕禧所。奕禧卒，復度嶺探勝，概為廣州修郡志。事竣，歸東湖。尋以舊著《外史》觸當時忌，乃歸吳門。年八十餘卒。所著有《詩經六義解》、《明史斷》、《續廣輿記》、《前後詩集》、《本草析治》。109

Three things are particularly notable in the above account. One is the lasting influence of Lü Tianyu on his son Lü Xiong. It is known from other early accounts that Lü Tianyu was a scholar who led a local militia to defend Kunshan against the Manchu invaders in the year 1645. He was captured when the city fell. The enemy marshal, however, was so impressed with him that he offered him a job. Lü Tianyu nevertheless escaped his captors by means of a ruse, presumably determined to never serve the Manchus.110 Even though Lü Xiong would have been too young to remember the savagery and bloodshed of the Manchu conquest, his father’s anti-Manchu sentiments had moulded him. Lü Xiong obeyed his father’s order to the end, and consciously barred himself from becoming an official in the Qing government. Serving as a privately hired functionary was the furthest he would go. Another notable point is that NXWS was found to have “violated the taboos of [the] time[s]” sometime between the 1710s and the early 1720s. It is not entirely clear what these “taboos” were (as seen in section 2.4 below), but this could mean “the authorities had perceived, rightly or wrongly, anti-Qing feelings in the book that were considered dangerous to the regime”.111 The novel was presumably banned around this time. The third point to note is that Lü Xiong wrote Judgements on the History of the Ming. This indicates that he was interested in the history of the Ming dynasty and had strong opinions about it. Unfortunately, this book, along with all the others written by him except for NXWS, are now lost.

109 Chinese text of Kunshan Xinyang hezhi cited in Yang, “Jiaodian shuoming,” 3, and cross-checked against Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 5. Punctuations and conversion from simplified Chinese characters mine. 110 See, e.g., Ye Junxi 葉均禧, Kunshan renwu xuzhuan 崑山人物續傳 [Additional Biographies of Eminent People of Kunshan](preface dated 1717), cited in Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 22-23; and the entry on Lü Tianyu under the “Recluses” (yinyi 隱逸) section in Jin, Li et al., Guangxu Kun Xin liang xian xuxiu hezhi, 32.17a-b. The latter text is supposedly identical to the entry on Lü Tianyu in fascicle 38 of Kunshan Xinyang hezhi (Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 7). 111 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 29.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 22

The second major source of biographical information, the passage from Zaiyuan zazhi (published in 1715), reads:

Lü Wenzhao (Xiong) of the Wu region is an old friend of thirty years. His temperament is unsociable and cold, his behaviour eccentric. Once, during an evening gathering, Lü proposed a game that required everyone to recite ghost poetry – lines like: “Below lies a man from a hundred years ago / Sleeping perpetually, unaware of the dawn”; “I pity the sojourner of the long night / Whose home is the road between the [Yellow] Springs”; “Who during the Cold Food Festival would offer a jug of libation [to you]? / Earth-covered skeleton sprouting the grass of spring”; “I come and go without anyone knowing / When I return, I face only the moon over the empty mountains”; “In which year will I awake from the dream of the western mountain? / No one is seen before the moonlit hall”. When my turn came, I recited from a “hungry ghost” poem by a Ming poet: “Who could this be, a body without a head? / The cold wind pricks the broadsword wound”. Lü slapped the table and exclaimed that this was superb, in his opinion even better than the poems of Changji [i.e., the Tang poet Li He 李賀]. Given that his likings are as such, one can easily imagine what kind of person he is. In a similar vein, the 100-chapter Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent he developed in earlier years is a work of absurdity and strangeness. He has infused it with a lifetime of learning and mental preoccupations. Close to seventy in age, Lü has travelled half the world, but ultimately has not met anyone who truly appreciated him. Recently he thought that Records of the Geographical Expanse compiled by Lu Bosheng and Cai Jiuxia 112 was inadequate for reference because it recorded the prefectures in detail but neglected the subprefectures and counties. For this reason he compiled A Continuation of the Records of the Geographical Expanse, which was very detailed and lucid. Due to its enormous length, however, he still has not been able to publish it.113

吳人呂文兆（熊），三十年舊交也。性情孤冷，舉止怪僻。一夕席間，呂舉一令，各誦鬼詩，如：「下有百年人，長眠不覺曉」；「自憐長夜客，泉路以爲家」；「寒食何人奠一巵，骷髏戴土生春草」；「自去自來人不知，歸時惟對空山月」；「西山一夢何年覺，明月堂前不見人」之類。余後舉明人燄口詩「有身無首知是誰，寒風偏射刀傷處」。呂拍案呌絕，以爲駕長吉而上之。好尚如此，其人可知。先年所衍《女仙外史》百回，亦荒唐怪誕，而平生之學問心事皆寄托於此。年近古稀，足跡半天下，卒無所遇。近以陸伯生、蔡九霞纂緝《廣輿記》止詳註各府而畧州縣，不足備參考，乃編成《續廣輿記》，頗為詳明。以卷帙浩汗，尚未能付梓。114

112 A collection of maps compiled by Lu Yingyang 陸應陽 (ca. 1572 – ca. 1658), and then expanded by Cai and published in 1686. This book is actually mentioned in Chapter 8 of NXWS – see NXWS(G), 1:167, 8.2a. “Cai Jiuxia”, incidentally, refers to Cai Fangbing 蔡方炳 (1626 - 1709), a scholar from Kunshan who was one of NXWS’s commentators. For details on him and his relationship with other commentators of NXWS, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 61-63; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 23; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 58. 113 Translation partly adapted from Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 28. Paragraphing mine. 114 Liu Tingji 劉廷璣, Zaiyuan zazhi 在園雜志 [Zaiyuan’s miscellaneous records], 2.16b-17a, in XXSKQS, vol. 1137. Punctuations mine. The lines cited by Liu Tingji (slightly erroneously) are from Xu

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 23

Notable in the account above is Lü Xiong’s misanthropic personality, his taste for the morbid and supernatural, and his NXWS’s being an encapsulation of “a lifetime of learning and mental preoccupations”. The third major source of biographical information, Li Guo’s short note, reads as follows, followed by the poem to which it is appended:

The Worthy Commoner Lü, [with the sobriquet] Yitian. (Named Xiong. A native of Kunshan, he was a good friend of Wu Qiao (styled Xiuling),115 and possessed good knowledge about the end of the Ming dynasty. Yu Zhongxiang [i.e., Yu Chenglong] had commended him for his talents in practical matters. For a long time, he was a secretary to governor-generals, provincial governors and other important officials. He bought a house at the Hermitage of Mei’s Reclusion in Wumen [i.e., Suzhou] and resided there. He outlived all his children and grandchildren. He died at eighty-two, and was buried by the side of the Hermitage. His works include manuscripts of poems and prose, and the Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent.) Old, sick and without relatives, He lived in a monk’s shed for twenty years. His doors rarely saw any wine-bringing visitor, His pockets were emptied of money gotten from selling away his books. People could speak of matters of the past, But who are those who would pass on his amazing writings? The spot where the callery pear flowers fall – That is where his solitary grave is, beside the vegetable patch. 116

呂處士逸田名熊，崑山人。與吳喬（脩齡）友善，頗悉明末事。于忠襄公嘗稱其經濟才。久客督撫大吏幕，于吳門梅隱庵購得一椽以居。子孫皆物故。君年八十二卒，即葬於庵旁。著有詩文稾及《女仙外史》。老病無親故，僧廬住廿年。門稀載酒客，囊盡鬻書錢。舊事人能説，奇文誰與傳？棠梨花落處，一塚菜畦邊。117

The most important part of this text is the specification of Lü Xiong’s age at death.

Wei’s 徐渭 (1521 - 1593) “Yinfeng chui huo pian cheng Qian xingbu jun fu shu” 陰風吹火篇呈錢刑部君附書 [A ghostly wind blows on the fire – a poem presented to Qian of the Ministry of Justice, along with a book], which should read: 有身無首知是誰寒風莫射刀傷處 (“Who could this be, a body without a head? / May the cold wind not prick the broadsword wound”) – see Xu Wei, Xu Wenzhang wenji 徐文長文集 [The collected writings of Xu Wenzhang [i.e., Xu Wei]], commentary by Yuan Hongdao 袁宏道 (1568 - 1610), 5.2b, in XXSKQS, vol. 1354. 115 Wu Qiao was the alias of Wu Shu 吳殳 (1611 - 1695), a knowledgeable scholar and litterateur from Taicang 太倉 (in present-day Jiangsu). For details on him and his relationship with NXWS’s commentators, see Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 32. 116 Translation partly adapted from Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 26. 117 Li Guo 李果, Yongguiting shichao 詠歸亭詩鈔 [Selected poems of the Pavilion of Recitals about Returning], Qianlong era block-printed edition, 8.12b, reprinted in QDSWJ, 244:385. Punctuations mine.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 24

As for the fourth major source of biographical information, there are eleven entries in Zhang Huijian’s Mingqing Jiangsu wenren nianbiao that mention Lü Xiong.118 They are based on fascicle 138 of an unpublished manuscript of Wujun wenbian 吳郡文編 (A collection of Wu Commandery literature) compiled by Gu Yuan 顧沅 (1799 - 1851), texts from the 1711 edition of NXWS itself, an edition of Liu Tingji’s Gezhuang fenti shichao 葛莊分體詩鈔 (Gezhuang’s selected poems, divided by subgenre) published in 1721, and the 1932 edition of Zhongguo tongsu xiaoshuo shumu 中國通俗小説書目 (A bibliography of Chinese popular fiction) by Sun Kaidi 孫楷第.119 The information they contain overlaps with what is found in the three other sources presented above. The most distinctive entries are probably the following, all based on Wujun wenbian:

Year Entry 1682 Lü Xiong (Wenzhao) from Kunshan worked as a secretary in Beijing. At this time he became Liu Tingji’s friend. 崑山呂熊（文兆）遊幕北京，此際與劉廷璣定交。120 1700 Because Yu Chenglong had died, Lü Xiong of Kunshan was released from his employment as a secretary. He returned to the south. 崑山呂熊以于成龍死，解幕職南還。121 1722 For violating the taboos of people in power by having written the Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent, Lü Xiong of Kunshan returned from Nanchang at this time to reside in Suzhou. 崑山呂熊以著《女仙外史》觸當事忌，此際由南昌還居蘇州。122

(Table 1: Three of the eleven entries in Zhang Huijian’s Mingqing Jiangsu wenren nianbiao that mention Lü Xiong)

From the 1682 entry, we can see that when Liu Tingji calls Lü Xiong “an old friend of thirty years […] [c]lose to seventy in age” in his Zaiyuan zazhi, “thirty” can only be a rough figure on the slightly exaggerated side. Otherwise the numbers would not square with each

118 Zhang Huijian 張慧劍, comp., Mingqing Jiangsu wenren nianbiao 明清江蘇文人年表 [A chronology of Jiangsu literati of the Ming and Qing dynasty](Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1986), 827, 833, 917, 928, 932, 937, 943, 959, 962, 968, 1002. 119 See ibid., 1490, 1507, 1547, 1556. 120 Ibid., 827. 121 Ibid., 928. 122 Ibid., 1002.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 25

other. The 1700 entry suggests that Lü Xiong’s “twenty years” of living in “a monk’s shed” in Suzhou, as mentioned in Li Guo’s poem, would have begun around 1700 after the end of his employment under Yu Chenglong.123 Finally, the 1722 entry, as mentioned earlier, provides the crucial indication that Lü was still alive in 1722. Hence, Zhang Huijian’s book helps to confirm and fine-tune our knowledge about Lü’s life. Worth mentioning here is some additional material uncovered by Yang Mei and myself respectively. The following biography of Lü Xiong, transcribed by Yang in her thesis, is supposedly from fascicle 12 of the 1848 Duyilou 讀易樓 edition of Guochao Kunshan shicun 國朝崑山詩存 (Collected poems of Kunshan from the Qing dynasty):

Xiong, styled Wenzhao, went by the sobriquet Yitian. He was intelligent as a child. His father Tianyu, having experienced the chaos of [the end of] the Ming dynasty, ordered Xiong to practise medicine and not to sit for the civil service examinations. In adulthood, Xiong was of a magnificent physique. He had a halberd-like beard, a sturdy visage, and bright eyes. Yu Chenglong the Governor of Zhili hired him as a private secretary, and was about to submit recommendations for him when [it turned out that] there were those who were hateful of Xiong. So Xiong left. Several years later, being summoned again, he went to see [Yu] Chenglong. Having been commissioned to manage the Yellow River [i.e., made Director-general of the Grand Canal], Yu intended to recommend Xiong for the post of Assistant Prefect, but Xiong firmly declined the offer. Knowing that Xiong’s integrity could not be compromised, Yu wrote the words “[A True] Gentleman of the World” in large characters [for him], and painted also as a gift a picture of the employer and his employee facing each other, saying, “This is for posterity to know that the two of us have taken each other to fulfilment.” In his old age, Xiong returned to Wumen [i.e., Suzhou], and rented an abode at where Mei Zizhen [i.e., Mei Fu 梅福 of the Han dynasty]124 used to live in reclusion. The old man died at the age of eighty-odd.

熊，字文兆，號逸田，幼聰俊。父天裕，遭明季亂，命業醫，毋就試。及壯，偉軀幹，戟髯鐡面，目光爛然。直隸巡撫于成龍延入幕，將疏薦之，有忌之者，遂去。越數年，復招之，往會成龍。奉命治河，將薦授通判，

123 As noted also in Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 8. 124 Mei Fu (fl. ca. 32 BC – ca. 1 AD) was at one time commandant of Nanchang 南昌 (present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi). When the would-be usurper Wang Mang 王莽 (45 BC – 23 AD) gained dominance in the imperial court, Mei Fu abandoned his family and fled, and was alleged to have become a transcendent. See Mei’s biography in Ban Gu 班固 (32 - 92), Hanshu 漢書 [Book of the Han], ann. Yan Shigu 顔師古 (581 - 645)(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), fasc. 67, 9:2917-27. For more details on Mei Fu’s recognized transcendence, see: Yang Zhiyuan 楊智遠 (fl. 1270), comp., Meixian guan ji 梅仙觀記 [Records of the Monastery of the Transcendent Mei [Fu]], TY 595, in Zhengtong daozang 正統道藏 [The Zhengtong Daoist Canon](repr., Taipei City: Xin wenfeng chuban gongsi, 1985)(ZTDZ hereafter), vol. 18 (TY number above and hereafter being the number assigned to each text in question in Ren Jiyu 任繼愈 and Zhong Zhaopeng 鍾肇鵬, eds., Daozang tiyao 道藏提要 [Descriptive notes on the Daoist Canon], 2nd rev. ed. (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1991)); and Soushenji 搜神記 [Records of An Inquest into the Spirit-Realm], TY 1463, 2.26a-b, in ZTDZ, vol. 60.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 26

固辭。成龍知不可奪志，大書「天下士」三字，且繪《主賓相對圖》以贈，曰：「令後世知我兩人相與有成耳。」晚歲歸吳門，僦居梅子真舊隱處。叟年八十餘卒。125

Orthographic variations aside, this text is almost wholly identical with a biography of Lü Xiong I have located in a facsimile of a handwritten manuscript of Kunshan mingjia shiren xiaozhuan 崑山名家詩人小傳 (Short biographies of Kunshan’s famed poets), a work which no NXWS researcher has apparently mentioned yet. The only difference is in the ending, which reads:

In his old age, Xiong returned to Wumen [i.e., Suzhou], rented an abode at where Mei Zizhen used to live in reclusion (known as the Hermitage of Mei’s Reclusion), and gave himself the sobriquet Feisou. He died at the age of eighty-odd.

晚歲歸吳門，僦居梅子鎮 126舊隱處（曰梅隱庵），自號飛叟。年八十餘卒。127

We may note here, first of all, that Yu Chenglong’s gifts128 testify to the close bond between Lü Xiong and his employer. Given Yu’s actions, what Liu Tingji says about Lü not finding true appreciation of himself anywhere sounds surprising. If what Liu says is true, Lü must have thought very highly of himself, believing that there was so much more to himself than even Yu Chenglong realized. Secondly, that Lü Xiong’s final residence was at the Hermitage of Mei’s Reclusion is consistent with the note to Li Guo’s poem. Thirdly, Lü Xiong’s sobriquet of Feisou is particularly interesting as it is apparently not mentioned anywhere else.

125 Chinese text of Guochao Kunshan shicun cited in Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 6. Punctuations and conversion from simplified Chinese characters mine. Guochao Kunshan shicun was compiled by Zhang Qianzhi 張潛之 and Pan Daogen 潘道根. 126 Zhen 鎮 here has to be an erroneous rendition of zhen 真. 127 Pan Daogen 潘道根 (1788 - 1858) and Peng Zhi 彭治 (fl. ca. 1912), Kunshan mingjia shiren xiaozhuan 崑山名家詩人小傳 [Short biographies of Kunshan’s famous poets], fasc. 1, n.p., in Shanghai Tushuguan Weikan Guji Gaoben Bianji Weiyuanhui 《上海圖書館未刊古籍稿本》編輯委員會, ed., Shanghai tushuguan weikan guji gaoben 上海圖書館未刊古籍稿本 [The Shanghai Library’s unpublished manuscripts of ancient books](Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe, 2008)(SHWK hereafter), 17:120. Punctuations mine. The manuscript is thought to be from around the 1910s, containing mostly Pan Daogen’s work from the 19th century, with minor additions by Peng Zhi from the early 20th century – see Feng Xianliang 馮賢亮, “Jieti” 解題 [Explanatory notes], in SHWK, 17:3- 10. 128 According to a seven-part commentary by Yang Yong 楊顒 (fl. 1694 - 1710), included in the 1711 edition of NXWS, Yu Chenglong not only wrote the laudatory characters, but also had them carved and given to Lü Xiong in the form of a tablet inscription – see Yang Yong, “Jiangxi xueshi Yang Yong Nianting pinglun qi ze” 江西學使楊顒念亭評論七則 [Seven pieces of commentary by Yang Yong (Nianting) the Provincial Education Commissioner of Jiangxi], in NXWS(G), 1:20, 3b.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 27

From the series of texts presented above, a fairly clear picture of Lü Xiong as a person may be formed. He was an eccentric, not quite in tune with the times and the people around him. He was interested in and had a good knowledge of the history of the Ming dynasty. He travelled widely, and worked as a secretary for different high-ranking government officials. He conscientiously refrained from joining the Qing officialdom himself, maintaining in his own way the identity of - as Masato Nishimura aptly puts it - a “second-generation yimin” (遺民)129 or “remnant” of the Ming dynasty, holding on to a vestige of loyalty to the past dynasty within certain limits. From the list of his works, and from reading NXWS and its ancillary texts (including the chapter commentaries), we may further gather that Lü was knowledgeable in many areas, and that, despite his temperament, he was connected to an impressive network of literati friends. Nevertheless, however extensive such sociality was, he died in poverty and solitude, if Li Guo’s biographical note and poem are to be believed.

2.2 Time of Writing and Editions

On the question of when NXWS was written, one can be misled by an account by Liu Tingji appended to the Diaohuangxuan edition (1711) of NXWS. At the end of his set of twenty “Savouring Comments” (pinti 品題), Liu states unambiguously that: (i) Lü Xiong came to him in Jiangxi in 1701 (xinsi 辛巳), saying that he was “going to write the Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent” 將作女仙外史; (ii) In 1704 (jiashen 甲申), Lü Xiong told him that NXWS was already completed 外史已成, and showed him the manuscript. After reading it, Liu suggested that he should clean up the “salacious” (yinxie 淫褻) parts. Lü agreed and did so within a few days.130 On the basis of this account, it would seem that NXWS was written between 1701 and 1704. However, scholars have long recognized that the composition process must have begun before 1701, because some of NXWS’s commentators are known to have died before that year. Yang Zhongxian, for example, argues that at least eighty-five chapters of NXWS must have been written before 1700, since Yu Chenglong’s last commentary was for Chapter 85 and he died in 1700.131 Zhao Shiyu suggests that Yu Chenglong must have read NXWS as

129 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 12. 130 Liu Tingji, “Jiangxi lianshi Liu Tingji Zaiyuan pinti ershi ze” 江西廉使劉廷璣在園品題二十則 [Twenty savouring comments by Liu Tingji (Zaiyuan) the Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangxi], in NXWS(G), 1:26-27, 3b-4a. 131 Yang, “Nüxian waishi zuozhe,” 81.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 28

a book when Lü Xiong was working for him, thus an early version of the novel would probably have been completed around the period 1686 to 1695.132 Yang Mei posits that Lü Xiong must have started writing before 1694, since Qiao Lai 喬萊 (1642 - 1694), who had contributed comments for three chapters, died in that year.133 What Masato Nishimura calls the “most decisive evidence”, however, “concerns Meng Zuanzu [孟纘祖](1655-1686), who wrote a commentary on chapter 94. This means that at least 94 chapters were already written prior to 1686”.134 Meanwhile, one also cannot rule out the possibility that Lü Xiong had continued to hone his novel after Liu Tingji’s suggestion in 1704, right up to the time of its first publication in 1711.135 The writing of NXWS can thus be described as a lengthy enterprise, stretching from at least Lü Xiong’s forties to his sixties. It has been suggested that Liu Tingji could have lied about the time of NXWS’s composition in order to protect Lü Xiong. That is to say, Liu was trying to create an impression that NXWS, potentially a text that could be interpreted as anti-Qing and attract official persecution, was “an old man’s harmless fantasy”, rather than something incubated by an uncooperative Ming loyalist in “the politically sensitive 1680s, when many authors were executed for the crime of writing supposedly anti-Qing books”.136

Many modern editions of NXWS exist today. As far as the earliest editions are concerned, Masato Nishimura has counted seven apart from the 1711 Diaohuangxuan edition and two copies exported to Japan (one in 1713, the other in 1741). These include: a lithograph edition published in Shanghai in 1895, and six unspecified editions, either lithographed or typeset, published between 1904 and 1933.137 This is largely consistent with the list of seven Chinese editions from 1711 to 1933 given by Yang Zhongxian, who also mentions a 1789 Japanese translation of NXWS.138 According to Yang Mei’s investigation, the

132 Zhao, “Nüxian waishi chutan,” 104. 133 Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 46-47. Qiao Lai was a Junior Compiler of the Hanlin Academy, involved in the compilation of Ming shi 明史 [History of the Ming]. For details on him and his relationship with other commentators of NXWS, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 68- 69; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 21-22; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 58. 134 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 84. Meng Zuanzu was a bannerman and a poet. For details on him and his relationship with other commentators of NXWS, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 69-70; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 28; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 58. 135 Cf. Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 4; Yang, “Nüxian waishi zuozhe,” 81; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 47. 136 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 85. 137 Ibid., 81-82. 138 Yang, “Jiaodian shuoming,” 12-13.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 29

1924 Shanghai Xinwenhua Shushe 上海新文化書社 typeset edition alone had been issued at least seven times by the year 1935.139 Most of these early Chinese editions differ from the Diaohuangxuan edition in that omissions have been made (e.g., of the “licentious” parts, some of the descriptive parallel prose, the commentaries - sometimes partially - or some of the other appended texts), or images have been added.140 According to Yang Zhongxian, Quanji Shuzhuang’s 全記書莊 1926 typeset edition was even renamed Shitouhun 石頭魂 (Soul of the stone).141 Worth mentioning here is an advertisement I have found in a copy of Shen Pao (Shen bao 申報 (Shanghai News)) from 1895. Put up for a then-new illustrated edition of NXWS, it expends eight lines to introduce the novel’s storyline, which it would not have done if the public was already familiar with NXWS. Subsequently it states:

The original book has long been lost. A handwritten copy has now been acquired and lithographed to be shared with fellow enthusiasts. Order two 16-volume sets and enjoy a discounted price of 1.60 yuan per set. [ … ] (Emphasis mine)

原書久失，今得抄本，付諸石印，以公同好。訂十六本裝兩套，每部實洋一元六角。[ … ]142

The format described here (“16-volume sets”) fits that of the 1895 lithograph edition entitled Huitu Nüxian waishi 繪圖女仙外史 [The illustrated NXWS], published by Shanghai’s Jishan Shuju 積山書局, an extant copy of which I have seen at Beijing’s Capital Library in 2014. The above advertisement provides a clue to the origin of this particular edition. More importantly, it corroborates Masato Nishimura’s assertion that “only two editions [of NXWS] were published before 1900”,143 as well as the large lapse in time between these two early versions, which Roland Altenberger struggles to explain.144 The present dissertation relies on the Guben Xiaoshuo Jicheng 古本小説集成 facsimile of The 1711 Diaohuangxuan edition, published in Shanghai in 1990.

139 Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 39-40. 140 For more details, see the elaboration in ibid., 36-43. 141 Yang, “Jiaodian shuoming,” 12. According to Yang Mei, however, this particular edition could not be located (Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 40). Whether or not NXWS indeed had been renamed hence remains unconfirmed. 142 “Xinchu huitu Nüxian waishi” 新出繪圖女仙外史 [Newly issued illustrated NXWS], Shen bao 申報, November 25, 1895, 7, in Shen bao, vol. 51 (1895; repr. in facsim., Shanghai: Shanghai shuju, 1985), 566. Punctuations mine. 143 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 82. 144 Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy,” 200-201.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 30

2.3 The Novel’s Contents and Underlying Motivations

The main body of NXWS contains 100 chapters. In NXWS’s original published form, this is preceded by two prefaces (one by Chen Yixi 陳奕禧, the other by Lü Xiong), two postfaces (one by Ye Fu 葉旉, the other by Lü Xiong), a seven-part commentary by Yang Yong 楊顒,145 and a set of twenty “Savouring Comments” by Liu Tingji 劉廷璣. The chapters themselves come with commentaries at the end, at least two to each. They were written by a total of sixty-six literati from Lü Xiong’s time (and occasionally Lü himself), about half of which have already been identified by researchers. These commentators include government officials like Yu Chenglong, Chen Yixi, Liu Tingji and Yang Yong, the famous dramatist Hong Sheng 洪昇 (1645 - 1704), the famous painter-monk and descendant of the Ming imperial family Bada Sharen 八大山人 (Zhu Da 朱耷)(d. 1705), the famous poet and prolific writer Wang Shizhen 王士禛( 禎 )(1634 - 1711), 146 certain commoners associated with Ming loyalism (such as the brothers Tang Yongkuan 湯永寬 (d. ca. 1728) and Tang Yongcheng 湯永誠, the geographer Cai Fangbing 蔡方炳 (1626 - 1709) and the book-collector Zhang Heng 張恆 (fl. ca. 1675)),147 possibly two of Lü Xiong’s obscure clansmen,148 and many others. The identities of these commentators and their relationships to NXWS’s author have been studied fairly extensively; 149 to a lesser degree, the same can be said of the methodologies, value and other aspects of the commentaries themselves.150 Scholars are inclined to accept the commentaries as authentic and not falsely attributed.151 Lü Xiong must have shown his novel to friends and friends of friends over a period of many years to collect

145 Yang Yong (fl. 1694 - 1707), styled Nianting 念亭, was Provincial Education Commissioner of Jiangxi when he wrote this text. He also wrote chapter commentaries for NXWS. For details on him and his relationship with other commentators of NXWS, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 40-41; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 28. 146 For details on Hong Sheng, Bada Sharen, Wang Shizhen and their relationship with other commentators of NXWS, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 39-40, 56-57, 64-65; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 15-16, 17-18, 20; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 58. 147 For the association of these individuals with Ming loyalism, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 55-56, 61-63, 63-64; cf. Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 23, 25, 26-27. 148 Li Weijia understands the designations of the commentators Jia Hanting 家涵亭 and Jia Woyuan 家臥園 to mean “Han Ting of the Lü family” and “Woyuan of the Lü family” - see Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 54. 149 See, e.g., Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 51-74; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 11-31, 33-35. 150 See, e.g., Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 110-50; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 60-79. 151 See the compelling argument in Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 48-51; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 56-60.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 31

their comments as he travelled from place to place. This body of commentaries is phenomenal, not only for the sheer number of commentators (said to be unprecedented, rare, or even superlative,152 in the history of Chinese fiction), but also for the fact that it encompasses individuals of very different social statuses and political orientations.153

The basic plot of NXWS’s story is simple. It is an imaginative retelling of an early part of Ming history, an account of the Tang Sai’er 唐賽兒 Rebellion of 1420.154 The Rebellion is (deliberately) anachronistically dovetailed with an event that should have occurred some 20 years earlier – i.e., the bloody usurpation of the Jianwen 建文 Emperor’s (Zhu Yunwen 朱允炆 ; 1377 – 1402?; r. 1398 – 1402) throne by the Prince of Yan, who consequently became the Yongle 永樂 Emperor (Zhu Di 朱棣 ; 1360 – 1424; r. 1402 – 1424). The story begins with the Supreme Thearch’s (Shangdi 上帝) dispatch of the Celestial Wolf Star (Tianlangxing 天狼星) to the human realm to bring about the predestined death of over five million people in accordance with the “Numbers” (shu 數), which represent absolute, unbendable Fate. The astral spirit offends the modesty of the Moon goddess Chang’e 嫦娥 on his way down. As an indirect result, the goddess is banished, to be born amongst mortals as Tang Sai’er, more frequently called Yuejun 月君 or the Emperor’s Mentor (Dishi 帝師) throughout the novel. She is destined to bring the force of her grudges to bear on the Yongle Emperor, the Celestial Wolf Star’s incarnation, through her “rebellion” based in Shandong. In divergence from recorded history, Yuejun is “a Joan of Arc of fifteenth- century China”,155 her efforts being consistently about upholding the Jianwen Emperor and restoring his rule. (The ousted sovereign nevertheless dies at the end of the story without ever being reinstalled.) Yuejun is initially nurtured and then heavily assisted by the otherworldly mentors Mantuoni 曼陀尼 (or Manshi 曼師, Master Man) and Bao Gu 鮑姑 (or Baomu 鮑母, Matron Bao). As an extremely powerful transcendent-leader, she is also helped in her anti-Yongle

152 See Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 141-42; Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 48; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 34; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 54, 56. 153 Cf. Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 48, 196. 154 The Rebellion is recorded in: Zhang Tingyu 張廷玉 (1672 - 1755) et al., Ming shi 明史 [History of the Ming](Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), fasc. 7, 1:99; fasc. 175, 15:4655-56; Ming Taizong shilu 明太宗實錄 [Veritable Records of Ming Taizong], 222.1a, 223.1a-4a, in Ming shilu fu jiaokan ji 明實錄附校勘記 [Venerable Records of the Ming Dynasty, with notes on collation](Nangang: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, [1962-1968]), 14:2193, 2197-2203. For an overview of the portrayals of the Tang Sai’er Rebellion in history and literature, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 122- 40. 155 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 5.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 32

campaign by sons of martyred Jianwen loyalists (or other men connected to them), warrior women, an array of female superhumans documented in past literature, and even a domineering, quasi-religious collective of demonic beings known as the Demonic Tradition (mojiao 魔敎). Much violence ensues, not only in the battlefields, but also in the imperial capital and other parts of China, where the new emperor viciously stamps out Jianwen loyalists who oppose him. Eventually the Yongle Emperor is killed at the destined time through no direct agency of Yuejun’s. Yuejun then simply ascends and returns to Heaven. Although her “rebellion” seems like an exercise in futility, it has served the purpose (as the author would have us believe) of lauding the values of loyalty and faithfulness, and condemning their opposites for posterity.156 (For a more detailed, chapter-by-chapter synopsis, readers may refer to Appendix I of the present dissertation.)

But what is NXWS really “about”? What is its author trying to do? Many things, it seems. As Masato Nishimura has pointed out, “[w]hile Lü [Xiong] states clearly in his preface that he wishes to correct the injustice done in history, the novel is too complex to have been motivated by this desire only”, and NXWS “often contains elements incongruous with the author’s stated purpose”. 157 Different impulses that might have driven the Unofficial History’s narrative have been discerned by scholars, and it is best to see these as overlapping and coexisting in either tension or mutual reinforcement. The following may be considered the important ones: (I) The author’s unhappiness with certain socio-political, and even religious, realities of his time, and hence the desire to express criticisms and denunciations thereof, sometimes through satire. The realities in question are wide-ranging, including but not limited to bureaucratic corruption,158 prevalent problems of the civil service examinations and bureaucratic structures,159 flaws in the Qing legal code,160 and the predominance of Neo- Confucianism.161 Even a casual browser of the novel will easily find scattered instances of caustic criticality which were discernibly meant to be relevant to the author’s contemporaries – criticality against how “famed gentlemen of today” (fangjin mingshi 方今

156 An intention quite explicitly expressed by Yuejun herself in NXWS(G), 2:651, 27.9a. 157 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 193. 158 Noted in Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 54; Zhao, “Nüxian waishi chutan,” 105-107. 159 Noted in Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 29-30, 145, 153, etc.; cf. Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 171-75. 160 Noted in Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 179-87. 161 Noted in Zhao, “Nüxian waishi chutan,” 107, 110-11.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 33

名士) boasted of having many teachers;162 lecherous and corrupt government officials;163 the errors and wrongdoings of latter-day Buddhists, Daoists and Confucians; 164 how unworthy people acquired bureaucratic positions simply by virtue of their forefathers’ merits;165 and so on. In the words of Masato Nishimura, “NX[WS] is … an indictment of society”.166 (II) The author’s strong indignation towards what he perceived to be glaring historiographic and moral injustice done to the historical Jianwen Emperor (as well as the loyal subjects who suffered and died for him). Lü Xiong was aware that, in seeking to legitimize his illicit ascension to the throne, the Yongle Emperor had suppressed opposition violently, altered existing records, and promulgated propaganda to justify himself and defame the Jianwen Emperor (and some of his subjects). Such efforts were sustained by the Emperor’s successors for a long time.167 Scholars recognize that NXWS was part of a counteractive movement amongst China’s historians and litterateurs, stretching from the mid Ming to the early Qing – i.e., one concerned with exploring and revisiting the Jingnan Campaign (Jingnan zhi bian 靖難之變) (1399 - 1402), the civil war that culminated in the enthronement of the Yongle Emperor, as well as its aftermath.168 According to Yang Yong’s seven-part commentary to NXWS, Lü Xiong had gone to great lengths to collect and incorporate materials relating to the said historical episode.169 Lü’s novel was poised to reverse the unjust misrepresentation and effacement (minmie 泯滅)170 of Jianwen-related history at the hands of official, pro-Yongle historians,

162 NXWS(G), 1:188, 8.12b. 163 E.g., ibid., 1:213-18, 9.10a-12b; 5:2009, 85.9a. 164 E.g., ibid., 1:285-86, 13.4a-b; 2:648, 27.7b; 5:2128, 91.7b. See also the analysis in Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 81-85. 165 Ibid., 3:1393, 57.10a. 166 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 195. Yang Mei makes a similar note – see Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 57-58. 167 See Hok-lam Chan, “Legitimating Usurpation: Historical Revisions under the Ming Yongle Emperor (r. 1402-1424),” in The Legitimation of New Orders: Case Studies in World History, ed. Philip Yuen-sang Leung (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2007), 94-118. 168 See, e.g., Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 94-100, 104-21; Liu, “Ren, tian, mo,” 49-57. For more on this countermovement, see also Chan, “Legitimating Usurpation,” 118-25; Peter Ditmanson, “Venerating the Martyrs of the 1402 Usurpation: History and Memory in the Mid and Late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644),” T’oung Pao 93 (2007): 110-158. 169 “The old man expansively collected [materials on martyred Jianwen loyalists] who had not been recorded in the official histories, took all of these people to be loyal individuals, and wrote about them specially” 叟廣蒐博訪正史尚有未載者悉予其忠而特書之 (Yang, “Jiangxi xueshi,” in NXWS(G), 1:19, 3a). 170 The term used by Lü Xiong in his preface to NXWS – see Lü Xiong, “Guxi Yitiansou Lü Xiong Wenzhao zixu” 古稀逸田叟呂熊文兆自敍 [A preface by the septuagenarian old man Yitian, Lü Xiong (Wenzhao) himself], in NXWS(G), 1:7, 2a.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 34

and underscore the wrongs of the Yongle Emperor’s rise to power. Such perceived wrongs include the very illegitimacy of the usurper, and brutalities committed against the Jianwen loyalists and innocent people connected to them.171 In this aspect, NXWS is committed to a twofold action: (i) Commemorating and honouring the anti-Yongle heroes (as evidenced, for example, by how its narrative is punctuated from time to time by elaborate, glorifying lists of such individuals);172 and (ii) condemning the Yongle Emperor and the pro-Yongle “traitors” as they supposedly deserve to be, often with brutal death and humiliation.173 Lü Xiong’s stance of historiographic revisionism is the reason why there is a prominent, idiosyncratic feature throughout NXWS’s story – an insistence on reckoning the passage of time in terms of years in the reign of Jianwen, and calling the Yongle Emperor the “Prince of Yan”, even after the new imperial regime has been established, with the Jianwen Emperor gone into hiding.174 (III) The author’s desire to lay out some of his socio-political ideals and proposals for real-life reforms. This is most clearly exemplified by Chapters 37, 83 and 84, where the author puts forth a detailed formulation of an idealized bureaucratic system and a civil service examinations system, a set of reinvented protocols for the imperial court, and a set of revised social norms for women. Here he also proposes at length some changes to the law and to governmental financial operations. 175 (This aspect of NXWS has been studied by Masato Nishimura and Li Weijia.)176 (IV) The author’s desire to justify his choices in life as a yimin or loyal “remnant” of the Ming dynasty – choices of self-isolation that would have seemed “quite unrealistic and

171 A purpose confirmed by Lü Xiong’s own preface and postface to NXWS – see ibid., in NXWS(G), 1:5-8, 1a-2b; Lü, untitled postface, in NXWS(G), 1:13-14, 1a-b. 172 Found, e.g., in Chapters 46 and 92, not to mention the grand culmination in Chapter 100, where some 70 loyal subjects of Yuejun’s court are named, followed by an enumeration of some 40 virtuous women. See NXWS(G), 3:1105-17, 46.2a-8a; 5:2130-34, 92.1a-3b; 5:2293-2313, 100.2a-12a. 173 Cf. Lü Xiong’s explanation to Liu Tingji in the year 1701, in Liu, “Jiangxi lianshi,” in NXWS(G), 1:26-27, 3b-4a; the commentary by Wang Xincheng 王新城 (i.e., Wang Shizhen 王士禛) for NXWS’s Chapter 46, which states: “This book has three major mainstays: one, the upholding of the Jianwen Emperor’s regnal title; two, the proposing of posthumous enfeoffment and honorific titles for [the Jianwen Emperor’s] martyred subjects; three, the indicting of [the Prince of] Yan of twelve major crimes” 此書有三大綱一崇奉建文帝年號二追議殉難諸臣爵謚三討燕十二大罪 (ibid., 3:1124, 46.11b). See also the discussion on these “three mainstays” in Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 33-42. 174 As also pointed out by Yang Yong in his seven-part commentary to NXWS – see Yang, “Jiangxi xueshi,” in NXWS(G), 1:16, 1b. 175 NXWS(G), 2:889-903, 37.1a-8a; 5:1931-52, 83.4a-14b; 5:1955-89, 84.1a-18a. Notably, where women are concerned, Lü Xiong has Yuejun place restrictions on how an emperor may depose his empress (5:1944, 83.10b), abolish the all-purpose curtsy (wanfu 萬福)(5:1945-46, 83.11a-b), and free wives from any obligation to put on make-up and look pretty for their husbands at home (5:1950-51, 83.13b-14a). 176 See Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 177-92; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 142-76.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 35

anachronistic”177 by the late Kangxi period Lü Xiong grew old in. This desire finds expression through repeatedly pedestalling the values of loyalty through events and verbal discourses, and brutally punishing “traitors” in NXWS’s story, so much so that Masato Nishimura calls NXWS “a study of the nature and workings of loyalty”,178 “both a catharsis for Lü and a justification of his lifestyle”.179 According to Yang Yong’s seven-part commentary to NXWS, the novel’s main points are not only to “‘rectify names’ to condemn [the Prince of] Yan” 正名以討燕, but also to “commend the loyal and kill the traitorous” (bao zhong ji pan 褒忠殛叛);180 it is precisely “commending the loyal and killing the traitorous” that is considered by both Yang Zhongxian and Li Weijia to be NXWS’s central theme.181 Incidentally, the ideal of “loyalty” being promoted in NXWS transcends racial and political divides. Lü Xiong has gone so far as to treat with honour Sai Li Kui 賽李逵, a man who tries to assassinate Yuejun purely out of loyalty to his sworn brother, as well as Duan Min 段民, the Provincial Administration Commissioner at Jinan 濟南, Shandong, who has never served under the Jianwen Emperor before and remains admirably loyal to the Yongle Emperor to the end. 182 Manshinu 滿釋奴, one of Yuejun’s most prominent warrior women, is distinctively non-Han Chinese in appearance and in fact,183 yet she kills herself at the end of the novel in loyalty to her master, and for that her soul is taken away to be sublimated unto transcendence.184 (There is, however, a curious but clear counterexample to NXWS’s general obsession with loyalty. In Chapter 35, Liu Jun 劉駿 the Prefect of Jinan and Chen Xun 陳恂 the District Magistrate of Licheng 歷城 are officials from the Jianwen period, frowned upon for having submitted to the Yongle regime; yet they are ultimately spared for being consistently honest and kind officials, and allowed to continue serving.185 Here might be an indication of the author’s having struggled over how to think about Qing officials in his or his father’s time who had previously served under the Ming regime, some of whom he would have known personally.) (V) The author’s desire to parade his learning and talents. As seen in section 2.1 above, Liu Tingji, Lü Xiong’s old friend, describes the novelist as having “infused [NXWS] with

177 Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 11. 178 Ibid., 14. 179 Ibid., 19. 180 Yang, “Jiangxi xueshi,” in NXWS(G), 1:19, 3a. 181 See Yang, “Jiaodian shuoming,” 7; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 46-49. 182 See NXWS(G), 2:705-13, 30.1a-5a; 2:861-62, 35.6a-b; 5:2215, 95.12a; 5:2266-69, 98.4b-6a. 183 As seen in her debut in ibid., 2:450-51, 19.4b-5a. 184 Ibid., 5:2281, 99.4a. 185 Ibid., 2:866, 35.8b.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 36

a lifetime of learning and mental preoccupations” 平生之學問心事皆寄托於此. Readers of the novel can easily find displays of a dazzling variety of knowledge, ranging from references to exotic plants,186 lists of exotic items from eight foreign lands,187 a discourse on military formations, 188 a comprehensive evaluation of famed military strategists of the past, 189 intricacies of the use of weirs in warfare,190 to a short exposition on Buddhist cosmology,191 and an explanation about the solar orbit and eclipses.192 In fact, the character Lü Lü 呂律, obviously the author’s own idealized alter ego (whose physical appearance even fits that of Lü Xiong himself as described in the biographical sources shown in section 2.1 above),193 is portrayed throughout the novel as – to borrow the words of the protagonist Yuejun – basically one who

[…] knows everything about the patterns of heavenly bodies and geography, setting out military formations and troops, the art of the Wondrous Gates and Hidden Jia; [and is] capable in everything for formulating rites and music, managing a nation and pacifying its people, and changing general customs and ways.

天文地理、布陣排兵、奇門遁術，無所不知；制禮作樂、經國安民、移風易俗，無所不能。194

NXWS has been recognized as the beginning of a particular trend in Qing fiction marked precisely by this sort of all-rounded alter egos and showcasing of learning.195 But, of course, NXWS is also an outlet for Lü Xiong’s literary talents, as exemplified by the many poems in his novel, and also his narrative skills, which are generally recognized by his

186 Ibid., 1:150-51, 7.5b-6a. 187 Ibid., 3:1321-24, 54.7a-8b. 188 Ibid., 2:452-55, 19.5b-7a. 189 Ibid., 2:479-82, 20.7a-8b. 190 Ibid., 4:1606-08, 77.7b-8b. The commentator Qiao Shidu 喬侍讀 (i.e., Qiao Lai 喬萊), apparently knowledgeable in these matters too, commends the method of weir construction employed in this part of the story, and offers his own suggestion – see ibid., 4:1815, 77.12a; cf. Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 31-32. 191 NXWS(G), 2:640-41, 27.3b-4a. 192 Ibid., 3:1146-48, 47.11b-12b. 193 Lü Lü has “a magnificent physique, a dark but resplendent face, a pair of ghostly eyes that shine with the glare of broadswords, and a transcendent’s beard, one chi and two cun long, flagging like a swallow’s tail” 身體修偉容顔黑潤一雙鬼眼燦若刀光尺二仙髯飄如燕尾 (ibid., 1:284, 13.3b). 194 Ibid., 1:287, 13.5a. Punctuations mine. 195 Zhang, “Nüxian waishi qianyan,” 163.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 37

commentators. (Different aspects of Lü’s literary techniques, merits and demerits have been discussed by Yan Mai-juan, Yang Mei and Li Weijia.)196 (VI) The author’s need to vent, on an emotional level, his frustration and sense of helplessness (and ultimately resignation) with regard to what was by his time the well- established position of the Qing regime, and consequently his relative lack of fulfilment in life by virtue of living as a principled yimin.197 This is expressed in interlocking narrative actions: the vehement positing of radical heterodoxies over established orthodoxies, such as the dominance of women over men, the metaphysical/political superiority of yin 陰 over yang 陽,198 and the triumphalism of the Demonic Tradition over the Three Traditions (sanjiao 三敎);199 the attempt to rewrite or overturn regrettable history (the fall of the Jianwen Emperor and his loyal subjects, whom some see as doubling as a signifier for the fall of Ming China and its defenders200); and ultimately the resolution of all conflicts and loose ends by submission to Fate (the “Numbers”). As seen in section 2.1 earlier, after having travelled extensively and worked in many places, Lü Xiong had not found true appreciation of himself anywhere even as he was nearing the end of his life, according to his friend Liu Tingji. In this we catch possibly a poignant glimpse of Lü’s frustration. In NXWS, this frustration and the resultant extremism go so deep as to cast doubts on very fundamental issues in a metafictional fashion. As Fan Peng Chen has pointed out (especially with the telling example of Mantuoni twisting the image of Yuejun in order to secure financial aid from Princess Chamo) 201 , the novelist plays with the malleability of discourse itself, turning established values on their heads with clever words, implicitly suggesting to readers that representation determines content – that anything, including the rationale for “traitors” to abandon loyalty, can be “orthodox” or “right” when cunningly represented as such.202 (In his postface to NXWS, Ye Fu also senses what Lü is doing, for he says he has doubts when reading NXWS, and finds himself thinking, “It cannot be that

196 Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 94-109; Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 50-52, 64-71; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 26-29. Li Weijia, however, does not believe that NXWS was written to show off the author’s learning (Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 22). 197 Essentially noted in Liu, “Ren, tian, mo,” 80-82. 198 In NXWS’s Chapter 54, in response to questions raised by foreign envoys, Yuejun’s subjects explicitly and eloquently argue that yin presides over yang – see NXWS(G), 3:1326-28, 54.9b-10b. 199 See section 3.1.1 of the present dissertation. 200 E.g., as implied in Zhao, “Nüxian waishi chutan,” 113; see also Liu Pengfei 劉鵬飛, “Nüxian waishi de tianming guan ji qi chengyin” 《女仙外史》的“天命”觀及其成因 [The view of NXWS on Fate, and the causes of its development], Hezhou xueyuan xuebao 賀州學院學報 25, no. 3 (2009): 46. 201 This take places in Chapter 85 of NXWS – see NXWS(G), 5:2008-9, 85.8b-9a. 202 Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 23-26. Cf. Lü Xiong’s supposed disapproval for the way “survivors of the Ming” justified their allegiance to the Qing with “common sense”, in Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 196-97.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 38

[Tang Sai’er] is simply called a transcendent by those who love her, and labelled a goblin by those who hate her” 余覧女仙外史而竊有疑焉夫豈愛之者謂之爲仙惡之者指爲妖也哉.203) It is with such an almost “postmodernist” awareness that Lü Xiong, in his own postface to NXWS, repeatedly calls his whole book “empty words” (kongyan 空言) and a “game” (youxi 遊戲), 204 full of “pointless rewarding” (tushang 徒賞) of the good and “pointless punishment” (tufa 徒罰) of evil.205 This self-defeating, self-negating attitude is a counterbalance to the apparent seriousness and severity of the novelist in his capacity as a moralist, and has to be taken into consideration when we try to form a complete picture of Lü Xiong the writer of NXWS.

In connection to the six driving forces outlined above, there is a difficult question to consider: Regardless of the Qing authorities’ perception of NXWS (which could be over- sensitive at times), to what extent was Lü Xiong truly driven by anti-Qing or anti-Manchu sentiments? It was with no small dose of sardonic anger that Lü Xiong portrayed the world as being overrun by demons, to the point that a goddess of the “orthodox way” (zhengdao 正道) candidly proclaims in the story: “The world today is the world of archdemon kings!” 現今是魔王世界 206 Given the author’s personal background, his zeal for “rewriting” the history of the Ming, and his concern with issues of legitimacy of power, it is natural for us to conjecture that this anger was, to no small extent, directed at the Manchu regime perceived as illegitimate rulers of China. Indeed, it is easy to see points of parallelism between the novel’s antagonists and the Manchu conquerors of China (and their collaborators).207 As Zhang Peiheng has argued, even in the early Qing, the remembrance of the Jianwen Emperor was sometimes mingled with nostalgia for the Ming and unhappiness with Qing rulership, thus functioning as a tool for evoking or fuelling anti-Qing sentiments. To him, NXWS was precisely a work composed in this modus of attacking the present in the guise of “history”.208

203 Ye, “Guangzhou fu,” in NXWS(G), 1:9, 1a. 204 Lü, untitled postface, in NXWS(G), 1:13-14, 1a-b. 205 Ibid., in NXWS(G)., 1:13, 1a. 206 NXWS(G), 3:1393, 57.10a. For more details, see section 3.1.3 of the present dissertation. 207 As shown in Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 97, 99-100, notwithstanding Roland Altenburger’s claim that “the implied historical analogy paralleling the usurpation of the throne in the early Ming with the dynastic overthrow of the Ming dynasty by the Manchus remains unconvincing” (Altenburger, “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy,” 201). 208 Zhang, “Nüxian waishi qianyan,” 161-62.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 39

That foreign “barbarians” are straightforwardly derogated on several occasions in NXWS 209 may be explained by the long-standing tradition of Sinocentrism. However, it remains unsettling to see Yuejun’s ladies butcher about 80,000 Japanese invaders in an excessive, graphically described bloodbath in Chapter 44,210 or her army slaughtering with gratification 40,000 militants of the non-Han Chinese ethnic groups of Yao 傜, Zhuang 僮 and Liang 俍 in Chapter 78.211 In such instances, one cannot help but sense, firstly, tempestuous racial hatred on Lü Xiong’s part that has to be linked to the fall of Ming China to the Manchus around his toddler years; and secondly, a thinly disguised attempt to symbolically reverse on paper the Manchu-executed massacres of that period. Having said that, the truth of the matter is actually complicated by some textual evidence against unreserved hatred for “barbarians”. We find, for example, the following surprising dialogue between Yuejun’s subjects concerning the helpers of foreign envoys:

Liang Liangyu says, “I have always known that there are many treacherous, crafty people from Ningbo and Shaoxing who have made their way into the [lands of the] western ocean. They know nothing of important principles, yet they pretend to understand things. [ … ]” Lu Minzheng responds, “How very perceptive of you! The barbarians may be barbaric, but their conscience is still not effaced; it is these people who have changed from being Chinese to being barbarians that lose all sense of shame, and still rattle on and on!”

梁良玉道：「我向知寧、紹兩處奸狡之輩流入西洋者頗多，不諳道理而强作解事。[……]」盧敏政接口道:「可謂洞見萬里。蠻人雖蠻，良心未泯；獨有此輩，以夏而變於夷，廉恥道盡，乃猶嘵嘵弄舌耶！」212

Consistent with NXWS’s obsession with the ideal of loyalty, it seems that traitorous Han Chinese are more hated than the “barbarians” themselves. In addition, as mentioned earlier, one of Yuejun’s most prominent fighters (Manshinu) is in fact a distinctively non-Han Chinese woman, yet depicted from beginning to end as a positive figure. Furthermore, if we were to follow through with the logic of Yongle-Manchu parallelism, it would follow that NXWS’s author actually accepts the legitimacy of the Qing rulers of his time, since he accepts the

209 As exemplified by how envoys from foreign lands are humiliated at Yuejun’s court, in NXWS(G), 3:1315-16, 54.4a-b; 3:1319-20, 54.6a-b; 3:1327-30, 54.10a-11b. 210 Ibid., 3.1069-78, 44.7a-11b. 211 Ibid., 4.1825-44, 78.5a-79.1b. 212 Ibid., 3:1329-30, 54.11a-b. Punctuations mine.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 40

legitimacy of the Yongle Emperor’s Heir Apparent,213 who is also portrayed in a positive light throughout the novel. How substantial any anti-Manchu theme is in NXWS remains, therefore, somewhat ambiguous.214 It could be that Lü Xiong did mean to unleash intense hatred for the Manchus, but the wave of ruthless official persecutions of “anti-Qing” writers from the late 17th to the early 18th century in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area had affected how he chose to write.215 The novelist could have been forced by the circumstances to re-package or soften his expression of sentiments that would otherwise land him in danger. It could also be that the novelist as a second-generation yimin, temporally distanced from the trauma of dynastic change, had risen above the pangs of the Ming-Qing transition, and was truly more interested in higher principles. One should remember that the value of loyalty upheld by Lü Xiong was accepted by both Ming loyalists and members of the Qing establishment alike; and it was because of this that NXWS’s commentators from both camps were able to converge on his novel and find common ground.216 Here in the story of Tang Sai’er versus the Yongle Emperor, “frustration over the issue of the legitimacy of a foreign regime was transformed into the question of the legitimacy of a pretender”, providing “catharsis for the Chinese intellectuals of [Lü’s] time, regardless of their actual attitude towards the Qing regime.”217

2.4 Reception and Influence

It is likely, as Li Weijia argues, that NXWS’s commentaries we see today had been filtered by Lü Xiong to foster a positive impression.218 Even so, we should emphasize that the commentaries are nevertheless not a unanimous billboard, but that they engage with the author’s text dynamically, sometimes exhibiting bewilderment or disagreement with it. With this in mind, we can say that NXWS was, by and large, well acclaimed by the writers of these commentaries, who were the novel’s earliest readers. Ye Fu, for example, calls the book “imperishable in all of time and space” 垂諸宇宙而不朽 in his postface.219 Liu Tingji’s twenty

213 See the Jianwen Emperor’s acknowledgement in ibid., 5:2313, 100.12a; see also the Celestial Master Hanxu’s 涵虛 recognition in ibid., 3:1364, 57.4b; and Gold-foil Zhang’s (Jinbo Zhang 金箔張) affirmation in ibid., 5:2092-94, 89.7b-8b. 214 Cf. Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 42-45. 215 As suggested by Yang, “Jiaodian shuoming,” 5. 216 Noted in Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,”17-20, 195-96. 217 Ibid., 77. 218 Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 59-60. 219 Ye, “Guangzhou fu,” in NXWS(G), 1:12, 2b.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 41

“Savouring Comments”, in elaborating on how “amazing” (qi 奇) the book is, repeat the adjective qi tirelessly,220 echoing the heading on the 1711 edition’s title page: “The New Great Amazing Book” (xin da qishu 新大奇書).221 However, the Unofficial History was clearly not well-received by the Qing authorities. It was probably banned not long after publication, as mentioned in section 2.1 above, for having “violated the taboos of [the] time[s]” (chu dang shiji 觸當時忌) or “violated the taboos of people in power” (chu dangshi ji 觸當事忌). The authorities must have found the book offensive and dangerous, despite its self-conflicting mix of different inclinations and its “packaging” as a wild fantasy. How NXWS could have touched a few sensitive nerves in the early 18th century is not hard to imagine. After all, it was only not too long ago, in the 1680s, that the Manchus managed to bring to an end the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (Sanfan zhi luan 三藩之亂) and the Zheng regime in Taiwan. Both of these were marked by reign titles separate from the Qing’s, much like NXWS’s “rebels” who insist on reckoning the years of Jianwen.222 That the historical Tang Sai’er was possibly linked to the White Lotus Sect was also not favourable to NXWS, given the memory of the 1622 rebellion of the White Lotus adherent Xu Hongru 徐鴻儒 (d. 1622) in, coincidentally, Shandong, the province of Tang’s rebellion.223 The association would only have grown even more damning in the decades after Lü Xiong’s death, especially when the Qing government had to fight hard against White Lotus rebels by the late Qianlong period.224 NXWS’s sexually stimulating parts (notwithstanding Lü Xiong’s having toned them down in accordance with Liu Tingji’s advice, as seen earlier in section 2.2) and its criticisms of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which was actively pedestalled by the Qing government in the Kangxi period, could also have contributed to the novel’s being suppressed.225 Apart from presumably suffering from enforcements of generic official bans on yinci xiaoshuo 淫詞小説 (“licentious lyrics” and “petty talk”) that were renewed or reaffirmed

220 Liu, “Jiangxi lianshi,” in NXWS(G), 1:21-26, 1a-3b. 221 Title page, in NXWS(G), 1:3. 222 Noted in Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,”86-87. 223 Noted in ibid., 124-25, 127-28. 224 Noted in Li Mengsheng 李夢生, Zhongguo jinhui xiaoshuo baihua 中國禁毀小説百話 [A hundred discussions on China’s banned works of fiction](Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1994), 374. 225 Noted in Wu Minyi 吳旻怡, “Nüyingxiong de lücheng: Nüxian waishi, Guilianmeng zhujue xingxiang yanjiu” 女英雄的旅程：《女仙外史》、《歸蓮夢》主角形象研究 [The journey of the heroine: A study of the protagonist’s image in NXWS and the Dream of the Lotus’ Return](MA thesis, National Tsing Hua University, 2011), 30-31.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 42

from time to time throughout the Qing dynasty,226 NXWS was specifically listed on at least three official condemnatory lists prior to its second publication in 1895:

Year Document Summary of the Stated Source of Document Reason for Prohibition

1844 “A Bibliography of Such books are Records of Evidence Prohibited Books to be “detrimental to the for Admonishments to Destroyed” (“Jinhui customs, ways and minds Destroy Licentious shumu” 禁毀書目), of the people” Books (Quan hui appended to “The 爲風俗人心之害, “secretly yinshu zhengxinlu 勸 Prohibition of ‘Licentious undermining the great 毀淫書徵信錄)227 Lyrics’ and ‘Petty Talk’ moral safeguards of (and a Bibliography of propriety and shame” 隱壞 Prohibited Books to be 禮義廉恥之大防. Destroyed), Issued by the Provincial Governor of Zhejiang in the 24th Year of Daoguang” (“Daoguang ershisi nian Zhejiang xunfu jin yinci xiaoshuo ji jinhui shumu” 道光二十四年浙江巡撫禁淫詞小

説及禁毀書目) 1868 List of books in “The Such books of “nefarious “The 7th year of Prohibition of ‘Licentious banditry and deception” 奸 Tongzhi” (“Tongzhi qi Lyrics’ and ‘Petty Talk’ 盜偽詐之書 cause ignorant nian” 同治七年), (and a Bibliography of people to “see rebellion as under “Provincial Books to be Prohibited), nothing out of the Administration” Issued by Ding Richang ordinary” 以犯上作亂之事 (“Fanzheng” 藩政), in

226 For an overview of such generic bans throughout the Qing dynasty, see Wang Xiaochuan 王曉傳, comp., Yuan Ming Qing sandai jinhui xiaoshuo xiqu shiliao 元明清三代禁毀小説戲曲史料 [Historical materials concerning the proscription of works of fiction and drama in the dynasties Yuan, Ming and Qing](Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 1958), 16-83, 88-138. 227 Cited in Li Shiren 李時人 et al., Zhongguo gudai jinhui xiaoshuo manhua 中國古代禁毁小説漫話 [Casual discussions of works of fiction banned in ancient China](Shanghai: Hanyu da cidian chubanshe, 1999), 419-22.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 43

[(1823 – 1882)] the 視爲尋常, thus Provincial Regulations Provincial Governor of contributing to the of Jiangsu (Jiangsu Jiangsu in the 7th year of proliferation of crimes. shengli 江蘇省例)228 Tongzhi” (“Tongzhi qi They might even be the nian Jiangsu xunfu Ding secret cause of “the wars Richang chajin yinci and great catastrophes of xiaoshuo ji yingjin shumu” recent times” 近來兵戈浩同治七年江蘇巡撫丁日劫. 昌查禁淫詞小説及應禁

書目) 1890 List of books included in Cannot be ascertained. (The document was “An Announcement (The original document owned by a certain Ge about the Prohibition of and/or a handwritten copy Siyong 葛斯永 ‘Licentious Lyrics’ and thereof was lost in the sometime in the 20th ‘Petty Talk’, Promulgated early years of China’s century) 231 by Huang Pengnian Cultural Revolution. The [(1824 - 1890)] the prohibited books listed, Provincial Administration however, is said to be Commissioner for Suzhou identical to those in Ding etc. of the Jiangnan Richang’s list (and his Region in the Qing additional list) of 1868 (see Dynasty” (“Qing Jiangnan entry above). 229 It follows Suzhou deng chu then that NXWS is on chengxuan buzhengshi Huang Pengnian’s list Huang Pengnian banfa too.)230 jinzhi yinci xiaoshuo shi” 清江南蘇州等處承宣布政使黃彭年頒發禁止淫

詞小説示)

228 Cited in ibid., 422-24. 229 See Yan Baoshan 嚴寶善, comp., Fanshu jingyan lu 販書經眼錄 [A record of items seen in the course of selling books](Hangzhou: Zhejiang guji chubanshe, 1994), 579-80. 230 Deduced in Wu, “Nüyingxiong de lücheng,” 32n54. 231 Yan, Fanshu jingyan lu, 579-80.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 44

(Table 2: A summary of three pre-1895 official documents that specifically proscribed NXWS)

From these documents, it would seem that NXWS was repeatedly targeted for potentially leading the masses into immorality and rebellion.

Because of the proscriptions, for a long time NXWS failed to be as widely read as it might have been.232 It is therefore difficult to assess how it was received by the pre-1895 readership outside of the author’s circle of friends. Nevertheless, there are sporadic indications in writings by different people that Lü Xiong’s novel did somehow circulate and leave varied impressions on at least some intellectuals in the 150 years or so after its author’s death. For example, the miscellanist Yuan Dong 袁棟 (1697 - 1761), writing in or before 1744, was familiar with the details of NXWS, exclaiming that it makes one feel satisfied (kuai yi zai 快矣哉) by rectifying the historical regrets surrounding the Jianwen Emperor.233 Also singing praises was Zhou Yongbao 周永保 (fl. 1794 - 1805) in his 1805 postface for Ding Bingren’s 丁秉仁 (b. ca. 1736) 234 novel Yaohuazhuan 瑤華傳 (The story of Yaohua), which notes perceptively:

Other than [The Latter Story of the Water Margin (Shuihu houzhuan 水滸後傳)],235 there is the Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent. Its [expression of] anger and despondence has its source in Qu [Yuan’s] “Encountering Sorrow”.236 The way its writing proceeds has very much inherited the exemplary modus of Ouyang [Xiu’s New History of the] Five Dynasties.237 There is nothing I like very much apart from these two books [i.e., The Latter Story of the Water Margin and NXWS].

232 By 1704, apparently Lü Xiong’s “intention [was] for [NXWS] to be appreciated by both cultured and plebeian folks” 意在雅俗共賞 (Liu, “Jiangxi lianshi,” in NXWS(G), 1:27, 4a). 233 See Yuan Dong 袁棟, Shuyin congshuo 書隱叢説 [Clustered discourses of the Book Recluse], 8.10a-b, in XXSKQS, vol. 1137. Yuan Dong’s preface to this book is dated 1744. 234 Xiao Xiangkai 蕭相愷 argues that Ding was born prior to 1743 and around the beginning of the Qianlong period – see Xiao Xiangkai, Zhenben jinhui xiaoshuo daguan – Baihai fangshu lu 珍本禁毀小説大觀——稗海訪書錄 [A grand view of rare copies of prohibited works of fiction – A record of the quest for books of fiction](Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji chubanshe, 1992), 511. 235 The Latter Story of the Water Margin, written by Chen Chen 陳忱 (fl. 17th century) under the assumed identity of “A Remnant of the Ancient Song Dynasty” 古宋遺民, is a sequel to the Ming novel Water Margin (Shuihuzhuan 水滸傳). 236 “Encountering Sorrow” (“Li sao” 離騷) is the famous poem of frustration and hopelessness by Qu Yuan 屈原 (ca. 340 BC – 278 BC), collected in the Songs of Chu (Chuci 楚辭). 237 The New History of the Five Dynasties (Xin wudai shi 新五代史), compiled by Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007 - 1072), is part of China’s Twenty-four Histories (ershisi shi 二十四史) canon. This book is known for excessively integrating the historian’s ideologically driven critique of historical actualities.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 45

他有《女仙外史》，憤鬱源出屈子《離騷》，其行亦頗得歐陽五代遺則。僕於二書之外，無篤嗜矣。238

Some individuals, including the erudite book collector Zhai Hao 翟灝 (1736 - 1788) writing before 1751, and the fiction writer Xu Feng’en 許奉恩 (b. ca. 1814)239 writing around the mid-19th century, had said little beyond noting the novel’s existence and indicating what it was about.240 The prolific scholar Ping Buqing 平步青 (1832 - 1896), writing between 1872 and 1896,241 was very familiar with the details of NXWS’s story and commentaries,242 but was critical of the book. Recognizing the character Lü Lü as Lü Xiong’s alter ego and ultimately having only disdain for rebels against imperial authority, he wrote: “Even though [Lü] is taking revenge and releasing anger for the abdicated [Jianwen] Emperor, he has degenerated into part of a villainous gang without realizing it” 雖爲讓帝復讎雪憤未免流於賊黨而不自知矣.243 Also, parts of the novel’s plot like the final ascent of Yuejun and the beheading of the Yongle Emperor were regarded by Ping to be “bizarre and preposterous” (guaidan bu jing 怪誕不經).244 There are, incidentally, two particularly noteworthy points about Ping Buqing’s discussion of NXWS. Firstly, when talking about the Yongle Emperor’s death in the novel, he attributed the beheading to a certain “Bao Fang” 鮑芳 245 instead of the Demon Matron

238 Chinese text from “Zhou Yongbao ba” 周永保跋 [Postface by Zhou Yongbao] in the 1845 edition of Yaohuazhuan (printed from blocks stored by Shenxiutang 慎修堂) in the collection of Beijing’s Capital Library (see Xiao, Zhenben jinhui xiaoshuo, 510), cited in Xiao, Zhenben jinhui xiaoshuo, 517- 18. Punctuations and conversion from simplified Chinese characters mine. 239 Dong Guochao 董國超 sets Xu’s year of birth at around 1816 – see Dong Guochao, “Qianyan” 前言 [Foreword] to Li sheng 里乘 [Commune histories], by Xu Feng’en, col. Dong Guochao (Chongqing: Chongqing chubanshe, 2000), 1. He Landan 賀嵐澹, on the other hand, argues that Xu apparently was not born later than 1814 – see He Landan, “Qianyan” 前言 [Foreword] to Lantiaoguan waishi 蘭苕館外史 [The Orchid House’s unofficial histories], by Xu Feng’en, col. He Landan (Hefei: Huangshan shushe, 1996), 1. 240 See Zhai Hao 翟灝, Tongsu bian 通俗編 [A compilation of popular references], 37.33a, in XXSKQS, vol. 194; Xu Feng’en, Li sheng, 7.20b, in XXSKQS, vol. 1270. Zhai’s book contains a preface by Zhou Tiandu 周天度 dated 1751. Xu’s book was supposed to have been written between 1842 and 1874 – see He, “Qianyan,” 3. 241 See Zhonghua Shuju Shanghai Bianjisuo 中華書局上海編輯所, “Chuban shuoming” 出版説明 [Note on publication] for Xiawai junxie 霞外攟屑 [Collected bits from outside the rosy clouds] by Ping Buqing, ed. Zhonghua Shuju Shanghai Bianjisuo (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 1. 242 Ping Buqing 平步青, Xiawai junxie 霞外攟屑 [Collected bits from outside the rosy clouds], 9.18b-21a, in XXSKQS, vol. 1163. 243 Ibid., 9.20a. 244 Ibid. 245 Ibid.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 46

Heavenly Venerable (Guimu Tianzun 鬼母天尊).246 Whether this means there was a variation of NXWS’s text we know nothing of today remains an open question. Secondly, Ping’s account of the novel’s unavailability offers us a valuable glimpse into what effect the official proscriptions had had by the late 19th century. According to him:

The Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent – In the past years, it was still available in the shops in town, bearing the title “The Great Amazing Book, The Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent by the Old Man Yitian”. In recent times, [the shops] abide by the proscriptions.

女仙外史——昔年坊肆尚有存者，署名《逸田叜女仙外史大奇書》。近亦奉禁。247

NXWS’s falling into obscurity is further confirmed by the fact that, by around the early 1880s, the eminent scholar Yu Yue 俞樾 (1821 - 1906) could only write: “The book Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent - I have seen it before at the capital city [Beijing], but I did not know it was written by Lü Wenzhao” 女仙外史一書余在京師曾見之不知爲呂文兆所作也.248 It was the 1895 re-publication of NXWS that marked a new beginning for NXWS. The novel’s popularity amongst latter-day readers is attested to by its multiple publications and printings between that year and 1935. In his 1924 preface to a 1930 edition of NXWS, Shen Songquan 沈松泉 (1904 - 1990) alludes to the Hundred Days Reform (Bairi weixin 百日維新) of 1898 as he writes:

In 17th-century China, the author of this book may be counted as a person who understood the truth about society best, and who was most reformist. Some say that the author had diffused the learning and energy of his entire life throughout this Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent. Some say that this book is even better than the Romance of Three Kingdoms. The people who say so, I think, truly understand and appreciate this book.

在十七世紀的中國，此書的作者，可算是一個最明白社會真相而且是最維新的人了。

246 See NXWS(G), 5:2270, 98.6b. In addition, part of the pertinent chapter heading in NXWS reads unambiguously: “Taking a Blow of the Sword at Yumuchuan from the Demon Matron” 榆木川受鬼母一劔 (NXWS(G), 5:2259, 98.1a). 247 Ping, Xiawai junxie, 9.19a. Punctuations mine. 248 Yu Yue 俞樾, Chaxiangshi congchao 茶香室叢鈔 [Clustered writings from the Tea-aroma Chamber], 17.20a, in XXSKQS, vol. 1198. The writing of this book, according to Yu’s preface thereto, began after the burial of Yu’s wife, who died about four years prior to the date of the preface (1883). Hence Chaxiangshi congchao was written around the period 1879 to 1883.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 47

有人說著者畢生的學問精力，都化在這部女仙外史裏；有人說這部書比三國演義更好。說這兩句話的人，我認為都是此書的知音。249

It is uncertain whether such a reading and such high praises of NXWS were representative of a common opinion in the early 20th century.

Beyond people’s reception of NXWS lies the question of the novel’s influence. In this matter, scholars have yet to form a clear and adequately comprehensive overview. NXWS could have influenced, as Zhang Peiheng suggests, some Qing novels that were deliberate showpieces of impressive learning, such as Xia Jingqu’s 夏敬渠 (1705 - 1787) Humble Words of a Rustic Elder (Yesou puyan 野叟曝言) and Li Ruzhen’s 李汝珍 (ca. 1763 – ca. 1830) Flowers in the Mirror (Jinghuayuan 鏡花緣). 250 It has also been said that the novel Dangkouzhi 蕩寇志 (A record of the elimination of bandits) by Yu Wanchun 俞萬春 (d. 1849) bears a deep influence from NXWS, evident in its narratives about military operations, health cultivation and other matters.251 The drama theoretician Li Diaoyuan 李調元 (1734 - 1803) knew of a piece of traditional drama entitled Tang Sai’er 唐賽兒; in his Ju hua 劇話 (Drama talk) he stated plainly, “[Regarding] the drama Tang Sai’er, see ‘The Annals of [Emperor] Chengzu’ in The History of the Ming … A certain enthusiast had developed [a work] from this event [i.e., the Tang Sai’er Rebellion recorded in history], and called it the Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent; the actors of the drama [Tang Sai’er] base themselves on this” 《唐賽兒》劇見《明史》<成祖紀> …… 好事者演其事，謂之《女仙外史》，演劇者本之.252 Unfortunately nothing more is known about this obscure theatrical opus, and thus also NXWS’s possible influence on and through it. More intriguingly, NXWS is even said to have influenced Japanese literature. Yan Mai-juan has identified two Japanese works inspired by NXWS, the first being a novel with a somewhat similar story, entitled Kyōkakuden (俠客傳; The story of the knight-errants). Written between 1817 and 1820 by the eminent fiction writer Takizawa Bakin 滝沢馬琴 (1767 – 1848), Kyōkakuden revolves around a Yuejun-like figure, a princess engaged in the

249 Shen Songquan 沈松泉, “Nüxian waishi xu” 女仙外史序 [Preface to The Unofficial History of the Transcendent] for Nüxian waishi 女仙外史 [Unofficial history of the female transcendent], punct. Bao Gengsheng 鮑賡生, 3rd ed. (Shanghai: Liangxi tushuguan, 1930), 2. This edition of NXWS was distributed by the Shanghai Xinwenhua Shushe 上海新文化書社, and its contents are in fact identical to the 1924 Shanghai Xinwenhua Shushe edition – see Yang, “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 40. 250 See Zhang, “Nüxian waishi qianyan,” 163. 251 See Li, Zhongguo jinhui xiaoshuo baihua, 374. 252 Quoted in Wu, “Nüyingxiong de lücheng,” 32.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 48

14th century struggle between Japan’s Northern and Southern Court. The second work in question is Unmei (運命; Fate), a historical novel by another notable writer Kōda Rohan 幸田露伴 (1867 - 1947). This story about the Chinese Emperors of Jianwen and Yongle first saw print in 1919. Yan Mai-juan suggests that its thematic interest in Fate in connection with the struggle between these two emperors stemmed from NXWS, in which the “Numbers” play a dominant role. 253 Unfortunately, there is still no in-depth study today in the English or Chinese language that would shed more light on NXWS’s influence on Japan. Ultimately, I believe NXWS’s most significant influences are linked to its demonology and to wuxia 武俠 (martial arts and knight-errantry) fiction. One may wonder, for example, if there could be a connection between NXWS and Lu Xun’s 魯迅 (1881-1936) “Māraic poetics”. When Lu Xun wrote the lengthy 1907 essay “Moluo shili shuo” 摩羅詩力説 (Discourse on Māraic poetic-power), he went beyond discussing poetry. He critiqued China’s national disposition, and issued a radical call for the Chinese people to take on a demonic spirit. Lu Xun was essentially exhorting his fellow countrymen: “We are too unwilling to effect changes that would disturb the peace. We need to be demonic!”254 While he seemed to have drawn inspiration from Russian antiestablishmentarianism and European Romanticism,255 Lu Xun had read NXWS and gained substantial knowledge about the novel at some point in his life,256 probably after NXWS’s re-publication in 1895. We can only surmise to what extent (if any) NXWS’s radical demonology was part of the stimuli behind the formulation of his Māraic poetics, which was itself distinguished by its unprecedented boldness and heterodoxy. Of less uncertainty is the influence on Cao Xueqin’s 曹雪芹 (ca. 1717 - 1763) Dream of the Red Mansion (Hongloumeng 紅樓夢, also known as Shitouji 石頭記 (The Story of the Stone); HLM hereafter). The first scholar to point out a connection between NXWS and Cao’s masterpiece was Duanmu Hongliang 端木蕻良 in 1980.257 He noted the mention of NXWS

253 See Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 153-57. 254 See Lu Xun 魯迅 (1881 - 1936), “Moluo shili shuo” 摩羅詩力説, in Lu Xun quanji 魯迅全集 [The complete works of Lu Xun], ed. Lu Xun Xiansheng Jinian Weiyuanhui 魯迅先生紀念委員會 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1973)(cited hereafter as LXQJ), 1:55-102; Cheng Yalin 程亞林, “’Pinghe zhi po, rendao zheng ye’ – Lu Xun de ‘Moluo shili shuo’” 「平和之破，人道蒸也」——魯迅的「摩羅詩力說」 [‘With the breaking of peace, the Way of Man billows’ - Lu Xun’s “Discourse on Māraic Poetic-power”], Chap. 8 in Jindai shixue 近代詩學 [Early modern poetics](Changsha: Hunan renmin chubanshe, 2000), 241-47. 255 See Lu Xun, “Moluo shili shuo,” 70-99; cf. Cheng, “’Pinghe zhi po,” 247. 256 As evident, e.g., in Lu Xun, Xiaoshuo jiuwen chao 小説舊聞鈔 [Transcribed old hearsay about fiction], in LXQJ, 10:107-109. 257 Duanmu Hongliang 端木蕻良, “Hongloumeng yu Nüxian waishi” 《紅樓夢》與《女仙外史》 [HLM and NXWS], Xibei daxue xuebao 西北大學學報 2 (1980): 60-62.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 49

by Rouge Inkstone (Zhiyanzhai 脂硯齋), a foundational commentator of HLM, in one of the comments in Chapter 2 of the jiaxu 甲戌 (i.e., 1754) version of HLM, which reads,

The discourses in the Unofficial History of the Female Transcendent about the Demonic Way are already amazing enough. Yet this differs from the Unofficial History’s conception, and hence feels even more amazing.

女仙外史中論魔道已奇，此又非外史之立意，故覺愈奇。258

By “this”, Rouge Inkstone is referring to an exposition given by the character Jia Yucun 賈雨村 regarding the origin and nature of certain social misfits. 259 When we bear Rouge Inkstone’s out-of-the-blue comparison with NXWS in mind, and juxtapose Jia Yucun’s discourse with NXWS’s demonology, it is not hard to agree with Duanmu Hongliang that: (i) Not only Rouge Inkstone (obviously), but also Cao Xueqin himself must have read NXWS and known about its ideas; and (ii) there is surely a link between NXWS’s conception of the Way of the Demons and Cao’s pneuma-based theory of social misfits.260 To put it more precisely, in presenting his theory, Cao Xueqin must have been - and Rouge Inkstone knew this too – inspired by NXWS’s demonology to consciously develop a similar yet alternative vision of deviant being, or formulate, not unlike Nietzsche’s Superman (Übermensch), “a symbol of human life raised to the level of art”.261 In the light of such homology, even though Cao does not employ the word mo 魔 (archdemon), his theory can be thought of as para-demonological in spirit. Jia Yucun’s (Cao’s) exposition begins, in unspoken agreement with NXWS,262 with an acknowledgement of how some people are born in correspondence to cosmic cycles of prosperity or disaster (yingyu’ersheng 應運而生 or yingjie’ersheng 應劫而生), and provides long lists of historical figures (like NXWS does for its demonic avatars)263 as examples of such people and for his third category, the misfits. In a way like the Demonic Tradition of NXWS,

258 Zhiyanzhai jiaxu chaoyue zaiping Shitouji 脂硯齋甲戌抄閲再評石頭記 [The Story of the Stone, copied, perused and re-commented by Rouge Inkstone in the year jiaxu](repr., Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985), 2.10b. Punctuations mine. 259 Ibid., 2.9a-10b. 260 Duanmu, “Hongloumeng yu Nüxian waishi,” 62. 261 Richard Schacht, Nietzsche (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983), 482. 262 According to Princess Chamo, members of the Demonic Tradition “always emerge [in the mortal world] for a reason, [and] flourish in correspondence to cycles of destiny” 必有故而出應運而興 (NXWS(G), 2:760, 31.19b). 263 See ibid., 2:757-58, 31.18a-b.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 50

Cao’s extraordinary misfits are an ambivalent social Other rather than pure evil,264 being receptacles of both “the orthodox pneuma of Heaven and Earth” (tiandi zhi zhengqi 天地之正氣) and “the deviant pneuma of Heaven and Earth” (tiandi zhi xieqi 天地之邪氣) simultaneously.265 The para-demonological nature of Cao’s misfits is further confirmed by the fact that HLM’s protagonist Jia Baoyu 賈寶玉, one of such misfits, is revealed to be nicknamed Archdemon King of [a] Mingle-mangled [World](Hun[shi] Mowang 混[世]魔王) in the chapter following Jia Yucun’s exposition.266 HLM can thus be thought of as the story of a para-demonic individual. Some 240 years after Rouge Inkstone’s comment, when Chen Sihe 陳思和 expounded on the demonic in literature, he actually applied the rhetoric of Jia Yucun’s (Cao Xueqin’s) “misfitology” to the mythical Titan Prometheus, whom he called “the first demonic Romantic hero in the history of world literature” 世界文學史的第一個魔鬼般的浪漫主義英雄:

[ … ] [H]e is the most recalcitrant rebel in the universe, but also a great hero in whom congeals the orthodox and deviant pneumas of Heaven and Earth. He inspires terror, but also reverence [ … ] (Emphasis mine)

他既是宇宙間最爲頑劣不順的的反叛者，又是凝聚天地間正邪二氣的大英雄，既令人悸怖又令人敬仰 [ …… ]267

The close affinity of Cao Xueqin’s NXWS-inspired para-demonology to the demonic-qua- demonic is thus not lost on this scholar of modern literature. HLM’s para-demonology aside, the most unequivocal influence of NXWS is on Huanzhu Louzhu’s 還珠樓主 [Li Shoumin 李壽民](1902 - 1961)268 Shushan jianxia zhuan 蜀山劍俠傳 (The story of the sword-transcendents of the mountains of Shu; SSJXZ hereafter) and, mostly through this highly popular and influential magical fantasy novel of the 1930s and 40s, wuxia fiction that came after it. The influence in question is manifold, part of which

264 For details on this aspect of the Demonic Tradition, see section 3.1.1 of the present dissertation. 265 Zhiyanzhai, 2.9a-10b. 266 Ibid., 3.10b. 267 Chen Sihe 陳思和, “Daixu: Shilun Wuming shu” 代序：試論《無名書》 [In lieu of a preface: An attempt to discuss The Nameless Book], in Wumingshi 無名氏, Wumingshu jingcui 《無名書》精粹 [The essence of The Nameless Book](Wuhan: Wuhan chubanshe, 2006), 3. Italics mine. At the end of his stand-in for a preface, Chen indicates that it was written in 1998 and finalized in 2004. 268 For a biography of Li Shoumin, see Ye Hongsheng 葉洪生 (1948 - ), Tianxia diyi qishu – Shushan jianxia zhuan tanmi 天下第一奇書 - 《蜀山劍俠傳》探秘 [The world’s numero uno amazing book – Exploring the secrets of The Story of the Sword-transcendents of the Mountains of Shu](Shanghai: Xuelin chubanshe, 2002), 4-7.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 51

has already been noted or suggested by Ye Hongsheng.269 Two of the more conspicuous elements passed down specifically from NXWS are: (I) The idea and designation of mojiao 魔敎 as a self-conscious organization. The Demonic Tradition, which identifies itself as demonic, is outstanding and overpowering in NXWS, and was the first of its kind in popular Chinese fiction.270 It inspired the numerous demonic sects in SSJXZ, which sport powerful, evil sorcerers that are bloodthirsty and/or extremely cruel and/or lustful. Since then, mojiao of one form or another – sometimes simply a highly demonized and vilified group – has become a common feature in wuxia fiction, the stories of which often rely heavily on the conflicts between heroes of the “orthodox sects” (zhengpai 正派) and their undesirable opposites. (Incidentally, latter-day masters of wuxia fiction like Liang Yusheng 梁羽生 [Chen Wentong 陳文統](1924 - 2009) and Jin Yong 金庸 [Louis Cha Leung-yung 查良鏞](1924 - ), known to bear strong influences from SSJXZ,271 have better absorbed the self-negation and ambivalence of NXWS’s Demonic Tradition,272 and often explore these in a drama of moral or social dilemmas. We are reminded, for example, of how Jin Yong repeatedly returns to the issue of reconciliation and mutual mirroring of zhengpai and mojiao in his novel Xiao’ao jianghu 笑傲江湖 (The Smiling, Proud Wanderer).273 In a lyric (to the tune of Qinyuanchun 沁園春) at the beginning of his masterpiece Baifa monü zhuan 白髮魔女傳 (The story of the white-haired demoness), Liang Yusheng expresses a concern in a similar vein succinctly:

As worlds of perceptions arise from the mind, can there ever be clarity of distinction? Is this [person] a demon or not? Is this [person] not a demon or otherwise? We have to leave such matters for posterity of the martial arts world to decide!

269 Ibid., 9, 147, 170, 259. 270 The sect of Jiejiao 截教 in the Ming novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen yanyi 封神演義) comes close, but it is ultimately not defined by demonic qualities, nor does it see itself as such. It is in its capacity as a hostile force against the heroes of Zhou, acting in resistance to the Heaven-decreed change of dynasty, that Jiejiao’s members may be considered “demonic Taoists” (Campany, “Cosmogony and Self-cultivation,” 90). 271 See Ye, Tianxia diyi qishu, 308-22. 272 For details on this aspect of the Demonic Tradition, see sections 3.1.1 of the present dissertation (cf. section 3.1.2). 273 See, e.g., the portrayal of friendship and musical harmony between Liu Zhengfeng 劉正風 of the Hengshan Sect (Hengshan pai 衡山派) and Qu Yang 曲洋 of the demonized Sun-and-Moon Divine Sect (Riyue shenjiao 日月神教); how Fei Bin 費彬 of the Songshan Sect (Songshan pai 嵩山派) attacks them despicably and is scorned as exhibiting worse behaviour than mojiao; the wedding and final musical harmony between Linghu Chong 令狐沖 of the Huashan Sect (Huashan pai 華山派) and Ren Yingying 任盈盈 of the Sun-and-Moon Divine Sect - see Jin Yong 金庸, Xiao’ao jianghu 笑傲江湖 [The Smiling, Proud Wanderer], rev. 20th ed. (Hong Kong: Minghe she, 2000), chap. 7, 1:264-76; chap. 40, 4:1683-84.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 52

境由心生，可得分明？是魔非魔？非魔是魔？要待江湖後世評！274)

(II) The motif of a set of demonic infants that attack their victims as a mindless swarm. As pointed out by Ye Hongsheng, 275 the soul-devouring Nine-Infants-Matron Heavenly Demons (Jiuzimu Tianmo 九子母天魔) in SSJXZ276 were modelled after the nine demonic, infantile sons of the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable in NXWS. 277 The Six Transcendents of the Peach Valley 桃谷六仙 in Jin Yong’s The Smiling, Proud Wanderer probably had their roots here, being a group of child-like, imbecile yet very dangerous fighters, skilled at tearing their opponent apart limb from limb with collective effort.278 As for other borrowings and inspirations, it suffices for us here to mention two examples as a tip of the iceberg. Firstly, readers of SSJXZ are used to seeing the demons and demonic sorcerers therein dancing upside-down as they exercise their evil magic; 279 but probably not many realize that this recurring image is a creative variation of the forced physical inversion of the Celestial Master Hanxu 涵虛 at the hands of nine demonesses in NXWS.280 Secondly, when we read of the martial skill known as Tanzhi Shentong 彈指神通 (Supernatural power of finger-flicking) performed by Jin Yong’s character Huang Yaoshi 黃藥師, said to awe lookers-on with its potential to cause “the brain to break and the chest to be penetrated” (naopo xiongchuan 腦破胸穿);281 or of a skill of the same name, used by the Buddhist monk Wuhua 無花 against the hero Chu Liuxiang 楚留香 in Gu Long’s 古龍 [Xiong Yaohua 熊耀華](1938 - 1985) Xuehai piaoxiang 血海飄香 (Wafting fragrance in a sea of

274 Liang Yusheng 梁羽生 [Chen Wentong 陳文統](1924 - 2009), Baifa monü zhuan 白髮魔女傳 [The story of the white-haired demoness](repr., Hong Kong: Tiandi tushu, 1999), 1:1. 275 Ye, Tianxia diyi qishu, 259-60. 276 Featured in: Huanzhu Louzhu 還珠樓主 [Li Shoumin 李壽民](1902 - 1961), Shushan jianxia zhuan 蜀山劍俠傳 [The story of the sword-transcendents of the mountains of Shu], col. & comm. Ye Hongsheng 葉洪生 (1948 - )(Taipei City: Lianjing, 1984), chap. 309, 25:6794-6809; cf. chap. 203, 14:3576-79; chap. 280, 23:6041-43. 277 Featured in: NXWS(G), 5:2111-2118, 90.7a-91.2b. 278 As they do, e.g., to Cheng Buyou 成不憂 in Jin Yong, Xiao’ao jianghu, chap. 11, 2:445. 279 See, e.g., Huanzhu Louzhu, Shushan jianxia zhuan, chap. 180, 11:2897; chap. 203, 14:3577; chap. 306, 25:6732. 280 See NXWS(G), 3:1384, 57.5b. For more details on Hanxu’s ordeal, see section 3.1.3 of the present dissertation. 281 Jin Yong 金庸, Shediao yingxiong zhuan 射雕英雄傳 [The Eagle-shooting Heroes], rev. 23rd ed. (Hong Kong: Minghe she, 1999), chap. 14, 2:588. The name of the skill being executed here appears later, in chap. 17, 2:678.

Nüxian waishi: An Overview 53

blood), with the potential to paralyze half of Chu’s body without even direct contact;282 we are in a way revisiting a terrifying scene from NXWS’s Chapter 27. Here, Princess Chamo, lord of the Demonic Tradition, is sitting with Yuejun and several other women on a mountain-top, watching a battle between mortal armies many miles away, when she suddenly decides to interfere:

Lord Chamo flicks her finger at the east. At once tears gush out from the eyes of a general in the formations, rendering him unable to deal with anything. A general on the other side, swinging a giant mountain-splitting axe, is thus able to hack off half of him - helmet, cranium and all.

剎魔主將手指向東一彈；那邊陣上一將，雙淚迸流，不能措手，就被這邊一將，揮起開山大斧，連盔帶腦劈去半个。283

It is then revealed in the next chapter that the fallen general has felt the flick on his left eye at the critical moment, and his eyeball has shattered as a result;284 and that Princess Chamo’s feat is called precisely Tanzhi Shentong.285

All in all, the Unofficial History is a rich piece of work with much to be discovered and explored. As this dissertation focuses on the demonological dimension, I will proceed in Chapter 3 to examine the demons of Lü Xiong’s novel.

282 Gu Long 古龍 [Xiong Yaohua 熊耀華], Chu Liuxiang chuanqi 楚留香傳奇 [The legend of Chu Liuxiang](repr., Beijing: Zhongguo dianying chubanshe, 2005), 1:160. 283 NXWS(G), 2:653, 27.10a. Punctuations mine. 284 Ibid., 2:657-58, 28.1a-b. 285 Ibid., 2:660, 28.2b.

Chapter 3

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi

3.1 The Two Levels of the Demonic

“Dans nos cerveaux ribote un peuple de Démons”286 – this line from Baudelaire could well have been written for an overall impression of NXWS had the French poet read this 18th century work. Demonic characters, human or otherwise, and demonic discourses collectively constitute a potent presence in Lü Xiong’s novel. Before we analyse this presence, however, it is necessary that we first exclude from consideration the “pseudo-demonized”. By this I mean characters who are demonized by the antagonists of NXWS but do not strike us, on a simple reading of the novel, as consciously and unequivocally intended by the author to be demonic bona fide. The prime example is the protagonist Yuejun (Tang Sai’er), who is branded on numerous occasions by the Yongle Emperor, his supporters or other enemies as a sorcery-wielding “witch” (yaofu 妖婦)287 or “demonic villain” (yaozei 妖賊)288 or fox demoness,289 or otherwise associated with “goblins” (yao 妖).290 From the onset, such demonization will have to be regarded as warped or biased perception on the antagonists’ part, since Yuejun is overtly set up in the entire novel as a paragon of virtue who fulfills the author’s purpose of “commend[ing] the loyal and kill[ing] the traitorous” (bao zhong ji pan 褒忠殛叛).291 (On a more detached level of interpretation, however, Yuejun can be seen as exhibiting qualities associated with the truly demonic nevertheless, as we shall see in section 3.1.2 below.) Even with “pseudo-demonization” out of the way, the demonic in NXWS evidently presents itself in a fashion that is not homogeneous throughout. Two different levels exist therein, one farther distanced from the immediacy of the narrative diegesis than the other. One level is that of what we may call the immediately demonic, that which readers would

286 From Charles Baudelaire’s (1821-1867) “Au lecteur” [To the Reader], translated by James McGowan as “A demon nation riots in our brains” – see Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil, trans. James McGowan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 4, 5. 287 E.g., NXWS(G), 3:1044, 43.5b; 3:1213, 50.5a; 3:1216, 50.6b; 3:1228, 51.1b; 5:2106, 90.4b. 288 E.g., ibid., 1:219, 9.13a; cf. 3:1397, 58.1a. 289 Ibid., 1:246-47, 11.2b-3a. 290 E.g., ibid., 3:1041-42, 43.4a-b; 3:1045, 43.6a; 3:1378, 57.2b; 4:1618, 68.6b; 5:2093, 89.8a, 5:2223, 96.3a. 291 Yang, “Jiangxi xueshi,” in NXWS(G), 1:19, 3a. The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 55

recognize as demonic unreservedly, and often overtly identified as such in the novel’s narrative. The other is that of what we may call the “mirrored” demonic, that which is reflected in the ostensibly anti-demonic elements of the novel despite what it is, thereby ultimately and collectively destabilizing any clear-cut demonic-versus-anti-demonic dichotomy in the readers’ mind, making them wonder if the author is being unwittingly inconsistent with himself. By analysing these two levels, we will come to appreciate the complexity, paradoxicality and heterodoxy of Lü Xiong’s vision of the demonic.

3.1.1 The Immediately Demonic: Asuraism, Self-alterity and Appeal

The immediately demonic in NXWS’s narrative is centred around six nuclei or sets: A. Minor demons; B. Liu Tong 劉通, Lian Dai 連黛 and their sorcerers; C. The magic-wielding helpers of the Yongle Emperor: Kui the Perfected One (Kui Zhenren 奎眞人), Fire-head Piyena (Huoshou Piyena 火首毘耶那) and Lady Taibei (Taibei Furen 太孛夫人); D. The Demonic Tradition; E. Former members of the Demonic Tradition who retain demonic qualities: Mantuoni and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable (Guimu Tianzun 鬼母天尊); F. The nine sons of the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable. Set A includes two incubi: the deer goblin slain by Yuejun in Chapter 12,292 and the monkey goblin Ma Ling 馬靈, who is subdued in Chapter 10293 to become Yuejun’s errand runner. Other minor demons appear in Chapter 14, where they attack Yuejun and her transcendent mentor Bao Gu as they travel all over China. These include: the harassing ghosts of the Tang empress Wu Zetian 武則天 and her ten beauties, whom Yuejun fends off with two handkerchiefs and eventually strikes to the ground with a fling of her sleeve;294 countless lingering spirits of the dead who converge to drown the living so that their victims

292 See NXWS(G), 1:259-72, 12.1a-7b. 293 See ibid., 1:233-39, 10.6a-9a. 294 See ibid., 1:325-330, 14.15a-17b. On the matter of what Wu Zetian is, Lü Xiong contradicts himself. Here in Chapter 14, the Empress is said to be formerly a Heavenly Maiden, presently seeking to join the Demonic Tradition (which she eventually does (as revealed in ibid., 2:646, 27.6b); whereas in Chapter 31, Princess Chamo seems to suggest that Wu Zetian (Wu Zhao 武曌) was already a member of the Demonic Tradition when she was Empress (see ibid., 2:758, 31.18b).

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 56

may take their place in the water;295 the belligerent spirit of the nameless Jealous Woman (dufu 妬婦) at the Crossing of the Jealous Woman (Dufu Jin 妬婦津), who is subsequently destroyed by Bao Gu.296 The disciples of Lady Taibei who transform into cranes in the battle at Lugouqiao 蘆溝橋, try to grab Bao Gu and Yuejun, and are killed inadvertently by their master’s corrosive liquid,297 also count as minor demonic figures. The central figures of set B, featured in Chapters 70 to 73, are Liu Tong and Lian Dai, the self-proclaimed emperor (a “demonic emperor” (yao huangdi 妖皇帝), according to Yuejun)298 and empress of the small state of Han 漢 at Yunyang 鄖陽 (in present-day Hubei Province), who are incited by the Yongle Emperor’s adviser Daoyan 道衍 to attack Yuejun’s army.299 Liu Tong’s regime is described by Yuejun’s military adviser Lü Lü 呂律 and the righteous ghost of Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮 as “demonic villains” (yaozei 妖賊),300 while its army is labelled by NXWS’s narrator as “demonic soldiers” (yaobing 妖兵).301 The novel’s narrator calls Liu and Dai “a natural-born couple of the Demonic Way” 天生的一對魔道夫妻,302 even though they are not said to be members of the Demonic Tradition. Lian Dai is in fact the child of a woodcutter and a fox succubus, and has learnt some of her mother’s sorcery.303 With their magic, Lian Dai and her sorcery-wielding subordinates (Yin Tianfeng 尹天峰 and the monk Shilong 石龍) prevail over Lü Lü’s army for a while, but are eventually beaten by the

295 See ibid., 1:330-31, 14.17b-18a. 296 See ibid. For the backstory of the spirit of the Jealous Woman, see Duan Chengshi 段成式 (d. 863), Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎 [Miscellaneous Offerings from Youyang], 14.8b-9a, in Yinying Wenyuange Siku quanshu 景印文淵閣四庫全書 [Photolithographic Reprint of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, Wenyuan Pavilion Edition](Taipei City: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1983- 1986)(SKQS hereafter), vol. 1047. 297 See NXWS(G), 5:2241-42, 97.2a-b; 5:2249, 97.6a. 298 Ibid., 4:1657, 70.3a. 299 See ibid., 4:1612, 68.3b. Here is another instance of Lü Xiong’s deliberate anachronism and imaginative rewriting of history, for the real-life rebellion of Liu Tong was supposed to have occurred decades after the historical Tang Sai’er Rebellion. According to Gu Yingtai’s 谷應泰 (1620 - 1690) Mingshi jishi benmo 明史紀事本末 [A topical history of the Ming], Liu Tong (also known as Liu Qianjin 劉千斤), a fugitive strongman, proclaimed himself King of the so-called Han 漢 regime in 1465, gathering around him tens of thousands of supporters at one point, but was captured by imperial forces and executed in 1466; captured in the same year too was Liu’s wife, known only by her surname Lian 連 and on whom NXWS’s Lian Dai is obviously based – see Gu Yingtai, Mingshi jishi benmo, 38.1- 2, in Congshu jicheng xinbian 叢書集成新編 [A new collection of the collected books](Taipei City: Xinwenfeng, 1984), vol. 118. 300 NXWS(G), 4:1612, 68.3b; 4:1747, 74.7a. 301 See chapter heading in ibid., 4:1653, 70.1a. 302 Ibid., 4:1654, 70.1b. 303 See ibid.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 57

women on Yuejun’s side (Bao Gu, Mantuoni and Gongsun Daniang 公孫大娘). In the end, Liu Tong’s regime is co-opted into supporting the Jianwen Emperor.304 If we apply here Laurie Cozad’s tripartite schema for the demonized Other,305 the two sets above correspond to Cozad’s category of demons that are “serving the [dominant] structure”.306 That is to say, they conform to the age-old demonological pattern of evil that is quite readily subduable or co-optable, to the effect of affirming the hegemony of the demonizing structure, much like the many minor demons annihilated by Sun Wukong in Journey to the West. As such, they do not bring out the distinctiveness of NXWS’s demonology, and are therefore not particularly interesting to talk about on their own. Set C poses more of a challenge to NXWS’s heroes. Kui the Perfected One is a Daoist priest explicitly portrayed as a wicked sorcerer who makes use of deviant spirits and hexes.307 He first challenges Yuejun in Chapter 11, endangering countless lives for personal gain, only to be soundly defeated.308 By the time he shows up again in Chapters 50 to 51, however, he is able to cause great harm to Yuejun’s army with heinous sorcery, and even pushes Yuejun’s transcendent helpers to their wits’ end with his highly contaminating Yang-extinguishing Umbrella (Mieyang san 滅陽傘).309 The “demonic monk” (moseng 魔僧)310 Piyena, who is Daoyan’s teacher, and Lady Taibei, the avatar of the eclipse-causing star Bei 孛 who has been Yuejun’s (the moon goddess’) nemesis since time immemorial, are similarly problematic as they fight for the Yongle Emperor in Chapter 90, 91, 96 and 97.311 Lady Taibei in fact manages to render the transcendent maidens and female warriors in Yuejun’s entourage incapable of combat shortly after the grand battle with her begins, such that the top three figures in Yuejun’s camp - i.e., Yuejun herself, Mantuoni and Bao Gu - have to fight her personally. 312 The insidious magical means employed by the Lady are at one point described as “a most nefarious and venomous thing unheard by gods and unseen by ghosts” 一種最惡最毒神不聞鬼不見的東西.313 In the end, all three set-C antagonists are destroyed or subdued with extraordinary help from a third party, predominantly powerful demons.314

304 See ibid., 4:1697-1732, 72.1a-73.8b. 305 As outlined in section 1.3 of the present dissertation. 306 See Cozad, “Reeling in the Demon,” 121-26. 307 See, e.g., NXWS(G), 1:255-57, 11.5a-8a; 3:1053, 43.10a; 3:1216-37, 50.6b-51.6a. 308 See ibid., 1:244-57, 11.1b-8a. 309 See ibid., 3:1216-37, 50.6b-51.6a. 310 Ibid., 5:2120, 91.3b; 5:2126, 91.6b. 311 See ibid., 5:2103-2124, 90.3a-91.5b; 5:2219-2256, 96.1a-97.9b. 312 See ibid., 5:2229-33, 96.6a-8a. 313 Ibid., 5:2226, 96.4b. 314 See pages 63 to 64, as well as page 77.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 58

It is the sets D to F that interest us most here, especially the Demonic Tradition. The Demonic Tradition, led by the ravishing and awe-inspiring Princess Chamo for about the last 3,000 years,315 is a quasi-religious order of demonic beings that are born into the mortal world from time to time as extraordinary human individuals. This collective contributes most significantly to shaping NXWS’s demonology not only through what it does, but also through important discourses and self-descriptions that shed light on its nature and spirit.316 The parts where Princess Chamo appears in person are in Chapters 27, 31, 57, 85 and 91, where she visits Yuejun, becomes her sworn sister, dispatches demonesses to capture the Celestial Master Hanxu’s 涵虛 soul for her sake, gets persuaded by Mantuoni to give financial aid to her, and personally subdues Piyena for her.317 Ultimately the Demonic Tradition is something of a background presence behind the war against the Yongle Emperor, providing crucial help to the protagonist Yuejun from time to time on account of Princess Chamo’s personal liking for her. It is never “defeated” or terminated in any sense, but simply ceases to make any direct appearance in the story after the defeat of Piyena in Chapter 91. Set E consists firstly of Yuejun’s mentor and assistant Mantuoni, who is the aunt of Princess Chamo; and secondly the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable, who is the aunt of Mantuoni.318 When Mantuoni first appears in Chapter 7, she is already a Buddhist nun who serves Guanyin of the Southern Sea,319 while the Heavenly Venerable is already one of the twenty-four devas (ershisi zhutian 二十四諸天) serving the Supreme Thearch (Shangdi 上帝) in Heaven when she debuts in Chapter 1.320 Somehow these two formidable demonesses have separately excluded themselves from the Demonic Tradition at an unspecified time prior to the events that unfold in NXWS. In view of their “reformed” status, one may be tempted to place these two characters under the rubric of the “mirrored” demonic; the demonic qualities they still exhibit, however, seem to define them so much (as we shall see further below) that it is more reasonable to keep them under the immediately demonic instead. Mantuoni, particularly tellingly, is sometimes still referred to in the here-and-now as someone of mojia 魔家 (Demonism);321 and her colleague Bao Gu repeatedly refers to her

315 Inferred from NXWS(G), 2:635-36, 27.1a-b. 316 See, e.g., Mantuoni’s explanation in ibid.; Princess Chamo’s explanation in 2:648, 27.7b; Princess Chamo’s elaboration in 2:756-61, 31.17b-20a. 317 See ibid., 2:637-55, 27.2a-11a; 2:752-62, 31.15b-20b; 3:1382-83, 57.4b-5a; 5:2004-2009, 85.6b- 9a; 5:2123-27, 91.5a-7a. 318 This chain of familial relations is first mentioned in ibid., 1:173, 8.5a; cf. 2:649, 27.8a. 319 See ibid., 1:152-56, 7.6b-8b. 320 See ibid., 1:7, 1.4a; 1:21, 1.11a; cf. 2:649-50, 27.8a-b. 321 See, e.g., 3:1093, 45.7a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 59

as someone of modao 魔道 (the Demonic Way)322 or a moni 魔尼 (demonic nun),323 a “freak” (guaiwu 怪物).324 Hence, we may think of set E as a special extension of set D. Set F is a peculiar group, first mentioned very briefly in Chapter 27.325 The nine sons, child-like in form, appear only momentarily in Chapters 90 and 91 to fight the demonic monk Piyena.326 We are told that the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable disciplines them, keeping their magical implements and weapons from them; 327 but, this inconclusive piece of information aside, we cannot tell if they have an extrinsically “reformed” status like their “mother”328 does or if they belong to the Demonic Tradition or, indeed, to any organization or dispensation at all. Judging from their behaviour (as described further below), these nine infants, most of the time collectively called the Nine Demon Children (Jiu Guizi 九鬼子) or the Nine Little Heavenly King (Jiu Xiao Tianwang 九小天王),329 are probably best thought of as an embodiment of mindless demonic energy that has been “subdued” (shoufu 收伏) by the Heavenly Venerable330 but does not answer directly to any higher authority.

Collectively, the sets D to F above display a range of characteristics that most distinctively define NXWS’s demons. These are most fully displayed by the Demonic Tradition, but some of them are also present in the sets A to C, as I shall indicate from time to time in parentheses below. These characteristics, overlapping at some points, are: (1) Being driven by desire for power and lust, and being ever-victorious; (2) Superlative power and unboundedness; (3) Deep-seated antagonism and irreverence towards established orthodoxies (notably Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism); (4) “Deviant” sexuality; (5) Extreme Otherness; (6) Independence and creativity apart from existing methodologies, establishments and institutions;

322 See, e.g., 1:153, 7.7a; 1:155, 7.8a; 3:1235, 51.5a; 5:2109, 90.6a. 323 See, e.g., ibid., 3:1180, 48.12b. 324 Ibid., 1:154, 7.7b. 325 See ibid., 2:649, 27.8a. 326 Ibid., 5:2111-118, 90.7a-91.2b. 327 Ibid., 5:2112, 90.7b. 328 The Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable did not give birth to these nine creatures, and is only mother to them in name. See ibid., 5:2111, 90.7a. 329 See, e.g., ibid., 5:2111, 90.7a; 5:2113, 90.8a; 5:2116-118, 91.1b-2b. 330 Ibid., 5:2111, 90.7a. Here NXWS’s narrator also states explicitly that the nine sons were “formed from the incubation and congealment of killer pneuma” (煞炁孕結而成) that has existed since the beginning of the world (kaipi yilai 開闢以來).

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 60

(7) A penchant for violence and taking lives; (8) Being the masters or protectors of evil individuals; and (9) Being dynamic constants functioning as part of a grand cosmic order.

Below are a series of concrete examples from the novel, mostly centred on the Demonic Tradition, for each of these striking hallmarks:

(1) Being driven by desire for power and lust, and being ever-victorious. The dark dispensation of mojiao is presented in NXWS as the mastermind behind the secret history of China, the very source of many a successful tyrant, usurper, arch-seductress and military strongman since high antiquity.331 Members thereof are driven by lust for power and sex,332 and cannot but always triumph. The women, for one, are:

necessarily beautiful to the point of drawing entire cities to themselves, endowed with talents that top the world; with their strategies and intelligence, they control men and manipulate rulers, and will not stop until they have turned an entire generation upside-down.

大都色必傾城，才必絕世；其謀猷智畧，駕馭丈夫，操縱帝王，不顚倒一世不止也。333

Where there are rivals, the Demonic woman will always crush them, her credo being simply: “They will necessarily lose and I will necessarily win” 彼必敗我必勝.334 Princess Chamo makes it clear that, other than a few exceptions with various valid reasons, none of the powerless or overpowered sovereign consorts in history were her followers.335 In fact, the Princess’ tolerance for weakness is so low that when she views a performance of the drama

331 See ibid., 2:757-61, 31.18a-20a; cf. 2:543, 23.1a; 2:636, 27.1b; 2:638, 27.2b; 2:645-46, 27.6a-b. This seems to echo the extensive use of the names of historical figures for great demons in some pre- Tang Daoist texts, such as the Scripture of the Divine Incantations from the Cavernous Abyss (Dongyuan shenzhou jing 洞淵神咒經)(see Kamitsuka Yoshiko 神塚淑子, “The Concept of Māra and the Idea of Expelling Demons,” trans. Amy Lynn Miller and Thomas H. Peterson, Taoist Resources 6, no. 2 (1996): 41). 332 NXWS(G), 2:757-61, 31.18a-20a; and the reference to the ineradicable “root of licentiousness” (yingen 淫根) in Princess Chamo’s demonesses, in ibid., 2:638, 27.2b. Also, Princess Chamo explicitly claims that “demons [of the Tradition] are licentious by nature” (mo xing haoyin 魔性好淫)(ibid., 2:648, 27.7b). 333 Ibid., 2:758, 31.18b. Punctuations mine. 334 Ibid. This parallels Goethe’s idea of the “invincibility” of “demonic characters”, as discussed in Zucker, “The Demonic,” 43-44. 335 NXWS(G), 2:759-61, 31.18b-20a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 61

The Peony Pavilion (Mudanting 牡丹亭) with Yuejun (anachronistically), 336 she harshly criticizes the theatrical persona Du Liniang 杜麗娘 for waxing hopelessly lovesick over a possibly unreal lover in a dream: “Of what use is a woman like this who does not strive for progress?” 這樣不長進女人要他何用 Subsequently the Princess silences the performers with a shout, laughs, and abruptly gets up to leave.337 The main thrust of the demoness’ attitude in this particular incident is very clear, especially given that Du Liniang is, as pointed out by Judith T. Zeitlin, the epitome of late imperial China’s literary “transformation of the female ghost … from frightening, malignant, sexually predatory agents of disease and death to timid, vulnerable, fragile creatures in need of male sympathy, protection, and life-giving powers”.338 The Demonics’ obsession with superiority overflows into areas beyond politics and warfare. Princess Chamo, for example, seems determined to be second to none in every field, including even relatively small matters like foods and beverages. Hence she makes it a point to feast on the most invigorating food and brew the tastiest, most aromatic drinks.339 During her visit to Yuejun at the Penglai Pavilion (Penglai Ge 蓬萊閣), she also cannot help but compose a poem of her own to trump everyone else after reading the poems left by the previous transcendent guests.340 (The deer goblin and Ma Ling of set A, as we recall, are sexually predatory incubi. The former is slain by Yuejun precisely because he abducts and incarcerates women to rape them;341 after abducting and engaging in intense sex with the former courtesan Liu Yan 柳烟, he even boasts: “With my stamina, I can have sex with a hundred women” 我精神可御百女.342 Similarly, Ma Ling is guilty of bewitching and frequently sleeping with the niece of the knight-errant Bin Hong 賓鴻, wearing her down to the point of near-death.343 A similar propensity is observed in set B: Lian Dai and Liu Tong, the rulers of Yunyang, are noted for

336 The Peony Pavilion was written by Tang Xianzu 湯顯祖 (1550 - 1616) at the end of the 16th century, which would have been nearly 200 years after NXWS’s so-called “5th year of Jianwen” (1403) in which Princess Chamo’s visit to Yuejun takes place. There are many anachronisms like this throughout NXWS (see, e.g., note no. 299), which are undoubtedly deliberate, given Lü Xiong’s good knowledge of Ming history. 337 NXWS(G), 2:762, 31.20b. 338 Zeitlin, The Phantom Heroine, 24. 339 See NXWS(G), 2:638-39, 27.2b-3a; 2:755, 31.17a. 340 See Ibid., 2:754, 31.16b. 341 See ibid., 1:260, 12.1b; 1:264-65, 12.3b-4a; 1:273-74, 12.8a-b. 342 Ibid., 1:267-68, 12.5a-b. 343 See ibid., 1:233-36, 10.6a-7b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 62

their great lust and peerless sexual prowess,344 which are part of the reason they are called a couple of the Demonic Way.)

(2) Superlative power and unboundedness. The Unofficial History repeatedly underscores how unparalleled the supernatural powers of Princess Chamo are. She is said to be more powerful than Laozi and Buddha,345 or at least comparable to them.346 On more than one occasion, NXWS’s narrator or sometimes Yuejun, who possesses probably the highest magic of the transcendents,347 marvels at how the Princess is able to teleport herself or come and go totally unimpededly in spite of physical obstacles.348 As seen at the end of the previous chapter of this dissertation, during a mountain-top gathering Princess Chamo indirectly causes the death of a soldier in combat with a mere flick of her finger probably hundreds of miles away; Yuejun is so alarmed by this casually performed feat, as well as the Princess’ subsequent offer to slaughter an entire army, that she stands up to admonish her guest: “Magical powers like ours may not be employed against mere mortals” 我等法力不可與凡人計較.349 (Princess Chamo unpredictable spontaneity in flicking at the combatant or suggesting to annihilate an army is in line with her often coming and going at she pleases, or her impatient, antisocial disruption of a drama performance as described earlier. Such

344 As demonstrated in ibid., 4:1661-64, 70.5a-6b; 4:1673-74, 70.11a-b. “[Liu Tong’s] penis is magnificent and vigorous” (yangju weijin 陽具偉勁), and he “has always been vehemently lustful by nature, such that women who take him die” 素性淫毒婦人當之輒死; “only Lian Dai can go head to head with him” 惟有連黛可以對壘 sexually (ibid., 4:1654, 70.1b). 345 See, ibid., 2:636, 27.1b, where Mantuoni explains to Yuejun, “In terms of self-cultivational attainment and supernatural powers, even Buddha and Laozi cannot beat her.” 他的道行神通雖釋迦老子也不能勝 Elsewhere in NXWS, the apparent superiority of the Buddha is, however, upheld at one point: the Prefect of Qingzhou 青州 mentions quite incidentally in Chapter 11 that it is only out of compassion that Buddha spares the Demonic Tradition from destruction (ibid., 2:256, 11.7b). This is a typical example of internal contradiction in the novel. Whatever the case may be, the important thing here to note is that Lü Xiong conceives the Demonic Tradition as at least possibly on a par with Buddhism and Daoism. 346 Mantuoni claims that the Princess’ supernatural powers “can hold their own against Buddha and the Three Purities” 能與如來三清抗衡 (ibid., 2:762, 31.20b). 347 Before Yuejun (then still known as Sai’er) even completes her training in magic under the Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens (Jiutian Xuannü 九天玄女), she has already become more powerful than “the transcendents of the Heaven of Grand Veil” (Daluo zhuxian 大羅諸仙) – see ibid., 1:184, 8.10b. 348 Ibid., 2:655, 27.11a; 5:2127, 91.7a. In Chapter 31, Princess Chamo actually walks out of a pavilion behind Yuejun unheralded, rather than fly in from outside, just as the latter is thinking about her (ibid., 2:752-53, 31.15b-16a). Later on, Yuejun marvels at how the Princess and her retinue of demonesses can depart through a roof silently without rupturing it, saying that her “supernatural powers are so great that they are truly unfathomable” 神通之大真不可測 (ibid., 2:762, 31.20b). 349 Ibid., 2:653, 27.10a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 63

behaviour may be thought of as indicative of an inclination to not be bound by any constraints, social, moral or otherwise. Such unconventionality on her part is described at one point by Mantuoni as “quirkiness” (guguai 古怪).350) We are told that Princess Chamo sports a “heaven- and earth-shaking” (jingtian zhendi 驚天振地) retinue, as she commands “eight hundred archdemon kings and eight hundred thousand demon soldiers” 八百魔王八十萬魔兵.351 When Yuejun begins her training in magic in the years before her military campaign, she is warned by the Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens (Jiutian Xuannü 九天玄女) that no one should casually attempt to subdue these powerful overlords, for they will most certainly defeat the exorcist unless he or she truly possesses overwhelming virtue and supernatural prowess superior to theirs.352 The most resounding testament to the Demonic Tradition’s invincibility is the fact that it can defeat opponents that Yuejun and her camp find undefeatable. For example, when the demonic monk Fire-head Piyena fights for the Yongle Emperor, his magical alms bowl and internal fire drive Mantuoni, Bao Gu and Nie Yinniang to their wits’ end; fortunately for them, Princess Chamo arrives at the scene, extinguishes his “demon-nature fire” (moxing zhi

350 Ibid., 2:753, 31.16a. Interestingly, the term guguai is also used to describe Yuejun’s unconventional actions as perceived by her relatives – see ibid., 1:118, 6.3b. 351 Ibid., 1:173, 8.5a. The idea of such hierarchical structure amongst demons is a legacy from the demonology of Six Dynasty Daoist scriptures. The Scripture of the Divine Incantations from the Cavernous Abyss (Dongyuan shenzhou jing 洞淵神咒經), for example, contains such organizational details:

The great evil-working kings of the Three Heavens, leading four hundred and eighteen thousand creatures, spread red abscesses; those of the Six Heavens, numbering eighty thousand, order seven million spirits to sow white abscesses; those of the Nine Heavens, numbering six hundred thousand, unleash a hundred and eighty million of them to propagate black abscesses; those of the Thirty-Six Heavens, the chiefs of eighty thousand million spirits, spread green abscesses. (Translation of Dongyuan shenzhou jing, ch. 1, from Christine Mollier, Une apocalypse taoïste du Ve, siècle. Le Livre des incantations divines des grottres abyssales, cited in Christine Mollier, “Visions of Evil: Demonology and Orthodoxy in Early Daoism,” trans. Stephanie Anderson, in Daoism in History: Essays in Honour of Liu Ts’un-yan, ed. Benjamin Penny (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2006), 84)

Intriguingly, it is also reminiscent of the multi-level lordship of the numerous infernal kings, princes and dukes listed in pre-modern European grimoires – e.g., the extensive list in the Ars Theurgia contains the likes of the demon prince Icosiel, said to command 100 dukes, including one Zachariel who in turn is served by at least 2,200 spirits (cited in Michelle Belanger, The Dictionary pf Demons: Names of the Damned (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2010), 162, 325-26). This suggests a broad structural commonality in demonological outlooks across cultures, the deep implications of which have yet to be explored. 352 See NXWS(G), 1:181, 8.9a. This warning foreshadows what happens to Hanxu in Chapter 57 (as recounted in section 3.1.3 below).

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 64

huo 魔性之火)353 with nothing more than her own urine, bags him in a satchel quietly,354 and later lets him be helplessly “played around like a ball” 當作氣毬頑耍 at the feet of her attendant demonesses. 355 The whole subjugation process is so smooth and easy that Princess Chamo in fact bluntly derides Mantuoni, Bao Gu and Nie Yinniang for failing to even notice it despite their facing the scene of action at a short distance away.356 (Incidentally, when the Princess subsequently proceeds to show the vanquished Piyena to Yuejun, she brashly “sits facing the south” (nanxiang zuo xia 南向坐下) – i.e., assumes the traditional Chinese orientation of social superiority – straightaway,357 thus evincing her domineering airs without the slightest interest in shows of modesty or social niceties. This may be seen as yet another example of Princess Chamo’s unboundedness in spirit.) Indeed, before the Princess and her demonesses, even the Celestial Master Hanxu, the supreme Daoist exorcist, is as nothing, as seen in section 3.1.3 below. (Needless to say, the near-invincibility of Piyena himself, as well as Lady Taibei and Kui the Perfected One with his supremely “unclean” Yang-destroying Umbrella, vis-à-vis Yuejun’s camp (as seen earlier) also affirms the motif of demonic formidability. In fact, Kui‘s Umbrella is said to be ruinous to all orthodox transcendents and deities, its noxious influence too strong for even Laozi himself.358 What it takes to eventually destroy Kui at his most unstoppable is none other than a demoness, albeit a “reformed” one, namely the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable.359 That the Heavenly Venerable performs this feat of defeating the undefeatable in a thunderous, extremely violent manner – manifesting as a giant figure hundreds of feet tall, and hacking both man and umbrella into two with a single strike of her three-pronged halberd – is further testament to the awesome power of the demonic.) Notably, the Demonic Tradition is also associated with less confrontational expressions of power, such as the possession of peerless wealth and treasures. Princess Chamo is supposedly “wealthier than Heaven” (bi tian hai fu 比天還富), possessing every treasure that can be found in “dragon palaces and undersea hoards” (longgong haizang 龍宮海藏).360 Among the gifts given by the Princess to Yuejun in Chapter 31, for example, are

353 NXWS(G), 5:2120-21, 91.3b-4a. 354 See ibid., 5:2123-24, 91.5a-b. 355 Ibid., 5.2126, 91.6b. 356 See ibid., 5:2125, 91.6a. 357 Ibid. 358 See ibid., 3:1235, 51.5a. The Umbrella has the power to permanently pollute the purity of orthodox entities, and cause them to fall into the mortals’ cycle of reincarnations - see ibid., 3:1230, 51.2b; cf. 3:1235-36, 51.5a-b. 359 See ibid., 3:1238, 51.6b. 360 Ibid., 1:173, 8.5a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 65

items “truly rare, priceless, never seen before in aeons past” 端的希奇無價曠古未見. These include, among other things, exotic gems, a talking stone, as well as lilliputian animals and homunculi.361 During a time of desperate need, even Yuejun has to borrow money from Princess Chamo, which she consequently receives in the form of large quantities of buried gold.362 Yet another form of power, as it were, and unboundedness is ascribed to Princess Chamo elsewhere, which is that in terms of knowledge. In NXWS’s Chapter 27, She claims that, except for the sensations of coitus, “of all the matters of the worlds as numerous as the Ganges River’s grains of sand, from before eternity past to beyond a myriad aeons from now, there is nothing I do not know” 我自無始以前萬刼以後恒河沙世界之事莫不知道.363 (The Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable’s making a pavilion on a mountain-top in Chapter 27 may be thought of as an example of unboundedness akin to Princess Chamo’s. On this occasion, when the Heavenly Venerable asks to meet Yuejun’s transcendent helpers, Bao Gu suggests that they all gather on a lofty north-eastern peak for a scenic view. Mantuoni complains that the proposed venue is too jagged to sit or stand on, whereupon the Heavenly Venerable simply splits the peak with her halberd explosively and instantly produces an exquisite pavilion.364 If the mountain is not suited for sitting, simply make it suitable rather than go elsewhere – such is the senior demoness’ attitude of bending external circumstances and conditions to her will instead of allowing herself to be bound by them.)

(3) Deep-seated antagonism and irreverence towards established orthodoxies (notably Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism). Shockingly (at least for NXWS’s 18th and 19th century readers), the Demonic Tradition is said to have essentially replaced Confucianism to form, together with Buddhism and Daoism, the new Three Traditions.365 At the same time, its demonesses also “exist to annihilate the [old] Three Traditions” 是生來夷滅三敎的.366 Such antagonism is most clearly expressed in a poem composed by Princess Chamo to define herself:

Felling Li [i.e., Laozi] of the Three Purities with a single punch

361 See ibid., 2:753-54, 31.16-b. 362 See ibid., 5:1999-2011, 85.4a-10a. 363 Ibid., 2:647, 27.7a. 364 See ibid., 2:652, 27.9b. 365 In Mantuoni’s words, “what has always been called ‘Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism’ should now be called ‘Demonism, Buddhism, Daoism’” 向稱爲儒釋道者今當稱作魔釋道矣 (ibid., 2:636, 27.1b). 366 Ibid., 2:761, 31.20a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 66

Overturning the lotuses of nine grades with a single kick I stand alone on the highest summit of Mount Sumeru Sweeping away the three thousand Confucian sages and worthies

一拳打倒三清李一腳踢翻九品蓮獨立須彌最高頂掃盡三千儒聖賢 367

The Princess has no qualms about criticizing the bodhisattva Guanyin for being of ambiguous gender (“neither man nor woman, neither yin nor yang” 不男不女非陰非陽); and as she does so, Yuejun has to quickly change the subject of their conversation in view of how “shocking” (kehai 可駭) her utterances are getting to be.368 In addition, Princess Chamo has a personal dislike for all Buddhist patriarchs and transcendents,369 although she makes it clear that Yuejun, to whom she becomes a sworn sister, is the one distinct exception to the rule. 370 Time and again, we are shown the Princess’ unhappiness about how her elders, Mantuoni and the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable, have turned their backs on the Demonic Tradition and converted to Buddhism / Daoism.371 That she spits on Confucianism too is further confirmed in a conversation with Mantuoni in Chapter 85. Here, this lord of the Demonic Tradition twists the Buddhist notion of eradicating the Six Thieves (liuzei 六賊) into her own credo of the necessity of eradicating the Five Thieves (wuzei 五賊), which she perversely redefines to include four of the five principal Confucian virtues.372

367 Ibid., 2:754, 31.16b. Arrangement into separate lines mine. 368 Ibid., 2:756, 31.17b. 369 See ibid., 1:173, 8.5a; 5:2126, 91.6b. 370 See ibid., 5:2126, 91.6b; cf. Princess Chamo’s liking for Yuejun at first sight, in ibid., 2:642-43, 27.4b-5a. 371 See ibid., 2:639, 27.3a; 2:654, 27.10b; 2:756, 31.17b; cf. 5:2001, 85.5a; 5:2005, 85.7a. 372 Ibid., 5:2006-2008, 85.7b-8b. The term “Six Thieves” refers to the five senses and subjective mind in their capacity to disrupt or distract Buddhist self-cultivation – see, e.g., Bolamidi 般剌蜜帝 [Pramiti](fl. 705), trans., Dafodingrulai miyin xiuzheng liaoyi zhupusa wanxingshou lengyan jing 大佛頂如來密因修證了義諸菩薩萬行首楞嚴經 [Mahābuddhoṣṇīṣa-tathāgata-guhyahetu-sākṣatkṛita- prasannārtha-sarva-bodhisattvacaryā-śūrāṅgama-sūtra], fasc. 4, in Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經 [Taishō Revised Tripiṭaka], ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡边海旭 (Tokyo: Taishō Issaikyō KankōkXXai, 1922-1934)(hereafter cited as TSD), no. 945, 19:122c. As for the five Confucian virtues, they are: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness (ren yi li zhi xin 仁義禮智信), posited as a set by Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (fl. 2nd century BC) – see “Wuxing xiangsheng” 五行相生 [Mutual generation of the Five Phases], in Dong Zhongshu, Chunqiu fanlu 春秋繁露 [Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals], 13.8a-10a, in SKQS, vol. 181; cf. the conclusion of Dong Zhongshu’s first exposition submitted to the Han emperor Han Wudi 漢武帝 (Liu Che 劉徹; 157 BC – 87 BC; r. 141 BC – 87 BC), as recorded in Dong’s biography in Ban Gu, Hanshu, fasc. 56, 8:2505, which posits benevolence, rightness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness (ren yi li zhi xin 仁誼禮知信) as “the way of the Five Constants” (wuchang zhi dao 五常之道). Princess Chamo’s version of the “Five Thieves” comprises: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, a sense of shame, and faithfulness (ren yi li chi xin 仁義禮恥信), which she thinks Yuejun ought to rid herself of.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 67

In a similar anti-orthodoxy spirit, the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable’s nine sons are “always eager to beat up Buddhas and berate [religious] patriarchs” 動不動就要打佛罵祖, so much so that their “mother” has to keep their weapons and magical implements from them.373 Even the Buddhist convert Mantuoni shows irreverence to the religion she ostensibly belongs to. In NXWS’s Chapter 27, she tells Princess Chamo that she is not one of those self- humbling disciples who beg to pass on the Dharma lineage of their master; instead, in her own words, “it is Buddhism that gains glory via me [i.e., by having me in its ranks], not I who gain lustre via Buddhism” 彼釋氏方借我以爭光非我借彼以生色.374 (A similar attitude is shown by the Yongle Emperor’s demonic helpers. We recall how Buddha is parodied in the iconography of Kui the Perfected One’s “unclean” umbrella, which bears a golden lotus containing the image of a demoness.375 More explicitly expressed is Fire- head Piyena’s aspiration to “totally destroy all Buddhist and Daoist systems, leaving only his own sect of Chan-demonism” 把一切僧道法門滅箇乾淨獨留他這个禪魔一派 to reign alone in China.376)

(4) “Deviant” sexuality. By “deviant” I mean deviant from the late imperial daoxue 道學 (Learning of the Way) Neo-Confucian orthodoxy’s point of view. Apart from the Demonic Tradition’s general lustfulness as touched on above, this particular aspect is best epitomized by Mantuoni and Princess Chamo. Mantuoni, it should be remembered, is very much a Janus-faced figure in NXWS. Although a Buddhist nun who, according to NXWS’s narrator, has “attained orthodox enlightenment” (cheng zhengjue 成正覺), 377 she had also been an “[adherent of] the Demonic Way all through eternity past” 無始以來的魔道.378 Her “essential nature [as a demoness] still remains” (benzhi huan cun 本質還存), as Bao Gu points out in Chapter 31;379 and she clearly retains many of her old ways. For example, Mantuoni habitually cracks coarse jokes of a sexual nature throughout the novel.380 (We are reminded of Princess Chamo’s remark in Chapter 31 on how Mantuoni still talks “demonically”: “[You have] the teeth of

373 NXWS(G), 5:2112, 90.7b. 374 See ibid. 2:639-40, 27.3a-b. 375 See ibid., 3:1231, 51.3a. 376 Ibid., 5:2104, 90.3b. 377 Ibid., 5:2235, 96.9a. 378 Ibid. 379 Ibid., 2:756, 31.17b. 380 See, e.g., ibid., 1:173, 8.5a; 2:751, 31.15a; see also Mantuoni’s references to Lady Taibei’s vaginal secretions in 5:2247-48, 97.5a-b, and 5:2251-52, 97.7a-b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 68

[someone of] our Way after all!” 究竟是我道中齒牙)381 Already in Chapter 7 when she first appears before Yuejun’s maidservants, they suspect that she is really a man, and will engage in illicit sex with the newly widowed Yuejun. 382 Shortly after knowing this, Mantuoni perversely releases miniature monkeys into the genitals of these maidens to torment them into submission.383 Her eroto-sadistic side rears its head again when she kicks Lady Taibei between the legs as this arch-nemesis of Yuejun’s lies on the ground defeated in Chapter 98.384 Furthermore there are hints of lesbianism in Mantuoni, for when she first meets Yuejun in Chapter 7, the very first thing she says is to suggest that Yuejun is to marry her.385 In the battle with Lady Taibei, Mantuoni blurts about how she is going to deflower this formidable sorceress.386 Although Fan Peng Chen does not think the hinted lesbianism is real in his article on NXWS,387 there is really no reason not to. Such utterances do not stand isolated, but form part of a pattern of personality that fits into the intersection between the sexual appetite and unbounded spirit of the Demonic Tradition. It is part of what makes Mantuoni heterodox. The heterodoxy of it all would be so much shallower if there is no actual carnal substance behind such talk at all; after all, a nun who merely yaps about transgressive sexuality flippantly hardly deserves to be called a moni (demonic nun).388 Interestingly, Princess Chamo behaves like Mantuoni in some ways. The archdemoness’ fondness for Yuejun reflects at least some degree of lesbian sentiments, so much so that Mantuoni once compares the two women to “a newly married couple … emerging from the nuptial chamber” 兩位新人 …… 出洞房.389 One of the reasons the Princess makes her first visit to Yuejun in the first place is actually to see how pretty she is.390 More tellingly, one of the very first things the Princess says upon meeting Yuejun for the first time is a totally explicit expression of “reversed” erotics: “If I were a man, you and I must become a husband and wife of ‘inverted phoenixes’!” 我若是男兒定要與汝做个顚鸞倒鳳

381 Ibid., 2:762, 31.20b. 382 See ibid., 1:160-61, 7.10b-11a. 383 See ibid., 1:161-62, 7.11a-b. 384 See ibid., 5:2260, 98.1b. 385 See ibid., 1:153, 7.7a. 386 See ibid., 5:2227, 96.5a. 387 See Chen, “Ideology and Female Rule,” 21. 388 As in, e.g., NXWS(G), 3:1180, 48.12b. 389 Ibid., 2:648, 27.7b. 390 See ibid., 2:638, 27.2b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 69

的夫妻 391 On this first meeting, the Princess even ventures to discuss with Yuejun what the experience of coitus is like.392

(5) Extreme Otherness. The liminal or boundary-straddling identity of Mantuoni the demonic nun as described above is by itself quite demonstrative enough of demonic Otherness. Yet Lü Xiong has chosen to concentrate even more Otherness (Otherness, again, in relation to late imperial daoxue orthodoxy, and also to what most of NXWS’s intended readers at its time of writing would have identified with) in the figure of Princess Chamo. Besides her possibly being a lesbian as mentioned above, she is also: • A female leader, in contrast to her male counterparts in the other two of the new Three Traditions; • An asura (axiuluo 阿修羅) / rakshasa (luocha 羅刹) – that is, taxonomically non- human,393like her aunt Mantuoni;394 • A Muslim (!), as implied by the description “a daughter of the Hui” (huihui de nüer 囘囘的女兒) and the fact that she is one who “refuses to eat the food of others” 不肯吃別人東西的, but apparently would supply herself with her own food wherever she is395 - apparently a sign of her making efforts to abide by the Islamic dietary code. The Princess is in fact the only figure in NXWS’s story characterized as a Muslim. Princess Chamo’s Otherness takes a quantum leap when, in the aspect of sexual conduct or status, she is revealed to be a distinct Other even to her own Tradition and to the common perception of female Demonics, for she is a three-thousand-year-old virgin, and deliberately kept so in great contrast to the general sexual wantonness of the Demonic Tradition (described by Yuejun as “the licentiousness of tens of thousands and hundreds of millions” (yiwan ren zhi yin 億萬人之淫)396). The intention behind maintaining her own virginity – a feature that is highlighted on more than one occasion in NXWS in hyperbolic

391 Ibid., 2:643, 27.5a. 392 See ibid., 2:647-48, 27.7a-b. 393 It is never very clear in the novel exactly which of these two she is. She calls her father an asura (ibid., 2:644, 27.5b), and sometimes identifies herself with asuras (see, e.g., ibid., 2:654, 27.10b). Yet, because of her being Mantuoni’s niece (ibid., 1:173, 7.5a), we may also infer (cf. note no. 394 below) that she is the child of an asura and a rakshasa. 394 Mantuoni is the younger sister of a rakshasa maiden – see ibid., 1:154, 7.7b; 1:282, 13.2b. 395 See ibid., 2:755, 31.17a. 396 Ibid., 2:648, 27.7b; the Princess’ virginity is mentioned in: ibid., 2:635-36, 27.1a-b; 2:642, 27.4b; 2:647-48, 27.7a-b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 70

terms397 - is, allegedly, to not let Buddhism and Daoism “beat” (sheng 勝) or “hold sway over” (zhi 制) her Tradition.398 (The best interpretation of this is probably: the archdemoness is sustaining the respectability of her dispensation by demonstrating she has as much self- control as the ascetics of the two rival Traditions.399 This interpretation is corroborated by the Princess’ praising Yuejun, calling her “truly worthy to be my [sworn] sister” 眞可做得我的妹妹 because Yuejun had managed to watch her late husband have sex with others “without feeling aroused” (bu dongxin 不動心) herself.400 Such admiration testifies to how much the Princess values self-mastery, especially with regard to matters of sexuality.) By virtue of her incredible virginity, Princess Chamo would have been, to Lü Xiong’s (and most of his educated Chinese contemporaries’) sense of sexual ethics, ironically even “purer” than Yuejun herself. After all, Yuejun has unwillingly copulated with her husband to make up for predestined indebtedness to him,401 and for this reason calls herself one who has “fallen into worldliness” (yi duo fanchen 已墮凡塵).402 Extreme Otherness is also evident in the nine sons of the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable. Not only do they look monstrous, possessing “three heads and six arms” (santou liubi 三頭六臂) each,403 they perpetually look like four- or five-year-old children,404 and do not seem to conform to a pattern of regular human behaviour. Apparently they usually hide in their “mother’s” sleeves.405 During the battle between Yuejun’s ladies and Piyena, they appear from the heavens abruptly, and beat up Piyena severely with beastly ferocity for no reason – not even to assist the “good guys” - except for their inexplicable anger at his “pretentious” (zhuangmu zuoyang 粧模做樣) appearance. The Nine Demon Children then

397 See ibid., 2:642, 27.4b; 2:646-47, 27.6b-7a; 5:2124, 91.5b. 398 Ibid., 2:648, 27.7b. 399 When attempting to clarify the Princess’ rationale, Li Weijia merely claims that Princess Chamo’s abstinence makes the Demonic Tradition thrive because erotic desire makes the order gradually weak (Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 112), but this “explanation” is as mystifying as the Princess’ original statement. Wu Minyi, on the other hand, thinks that Princess Chamo’s abstinence is about cleansing her Tradition of negative moral judgements from the world, so as to make it gain respectability on par with Buddhism and Daoism (Wu, “Nüyingxiong de lücheng,” 39). Unfortunately, this argument, which is essentially saying that “the demons are trying to look less bad”, does not make sense. My interpretation is saying, “The demons are trying to show they are powerful, powerful enough to exercise extraordinary self-mastery if they want to”, which would square with the Demonic Tradition’s obsession with supremacy of power. 400 NXWS(G), 2:648, 27.7b. For the incident of Yuejun playing spectator to her late husband’s debauchery, see ibid., 1:123-25, 6.6a-7a. 401 See ibid., 1:39-40, 2.7a-b; 1:67, 3.12a; 1:122-23, 6.5b-6a. 402 Ibid., 2:740, 31.9b. 403 Ibid., 5:2112, 90.7b; cf. 2:649, 27.8a. 404 Ibid., 5:2111-12, 90.7a-b. 405 See ibid., 2:649, 27.8a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 71

fight violently against the demonic monk’s pythons, only to escape just as abruptly as they have shown up, when Piyena begins to overcome them,406 thereafter never to be mentioned or to appear again in the novel. They are, as explained by NXWS’s narrator, a congealment of primordial “killer pneuma” (shaqi 煞炁).407 Theirs is Princess Chamo’s violence (see point (7) further below) and spontaneity (see point (2) above) taken to a mindless, irrational extreme, representing something more primal and alien than the still civilized lord of the Demonic Tradition who is capable of arguing eloquently, composing poems, inventing recipes (see point (6) below) and so on.

(6) Independence and creativity apart from existing methodologies, establishments and institutions.408 Once again, Princess Chamo and Mantuoni provide the most definitive examples. In Chapter 27, as the former emphasizes that her Fusang Brew (fusang niang 扶桑釀) is a totally original recipe, she declares to Mantuoni that “[I] your niece intend to be a master who is to create a whole new world, how could I be willing to follow in the footsteps of someone else?” 甥女要做個開闢造化的主兒豈肯隨人脚跟而走 409 A similar spirit is evident in a plaque hanging in Mantuoni’s abode, which reads: “Creating a Mystical Courtyard on My Own” (du pi xuanting 獨闢玄庭). According to Bao Gu’s explanation, this means “not committing herself to Daoism nor Buddhism, but carving a solitary path beyond both religions” 不皈玄不皈佛獨出二敎. To this Mantuoni immediately adds, “That’s superior to the way you seekers of [Daoist] transcendence walk in the footsteps of others!” 强似你們學仙的跟著人脚步走路 410 Such declarations sound especially subversive when we consider the fact that Mantuoni is already, at least nominally, a Buddhist disciple under the bodhisattva Guanyin at the time of speaking. A third example of demonic independence or creativity may be found in the battle against Yin Tianfeng, one of the sorcerers of the Yunyang regime. Here, Mantuoni employs a magical, all-sucking jar borrowed from Princess Chamo.411 This item originated, we are told, from an unnamed monk of the Western Regions (xiyu 西域), whose spiritual practice was

406 Ibid., 5:2111-18, 90.7a-91.2b. 407 Ibid., 5:2111, 90.7a. 408 Along with point no. (7), this particular feature seems to support the Tillichian insight that the demonic is not purely destructive but is defined by a dialectic fusion of both “form-destroying” and “form-creating” capacities – see Tillich, “The Demonic,” 80-82. 409 NXWS(G), 2:639, 27.3a. 410 Ibid., 1:154, 7.7b. 411 See ibid., 4:1714-18, 72.9b-73.1b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 72

“neither Daoist nor Buddhist; being ultimately a heterodox way, it had nowhere to root itself, and thus ended up as demonic” 非玄非釋究竟是異道無處立脚仍落於魔.412 (Again, among the Yongle Emperor’s helpers, we are reminded of the demonic monk Piyena. His system of self-cultivation is also an alternative practice derived, yet divergent, from Buddhism, labelled as “Chan-demonism” (chanmo 禪魔).)413

(7) A penchant for violence and taking lives. For one thing, Princess Chamo’s “demonic slaves and maidservants” (monu mobi 魔奴魔婢) are always eager to “chew on human hearts and livers” (jiao ren xingan 嚼人心肝).414 Kumbhānda (Jiupantu 鳩盤荼), one of the Princess’ most prominent subordinates, is “used to devouring living humans” (guan chi shengren 慣吃生人).415 When describing this particular demoness, NXWS’s narrator tells us that, “if she were born in the mortal world, she would be a roaring lion [or vicious wife] who can kill a man [or her husband]” 倘生塵世便是能殺丈夫的吼獅子; her face is said to be marked by “killer lines” (shawen 煞紋), and her lips “tightly conceal thirty-six sharp blades” 緊藏着三十六點利刃,416 all speaking of death and violence. When the Princess first appears before Yuejun, her retinue consists of armed, martial demonesses. 417 In this particular encounter, the Princess herself is associated with “a murderous aura” (shaqi 殺氣)418 – as are the “reformed” demonesses the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable with her three-pronged halberd,419 and Mantuoni.420 And, as we have seen earlier, the Princess cannot sit still when watching a battle, but causes the death of a general, and then nonchalantly offers, for no apparent reason except perhaps a whim of the moment, to destroy an entire army for Yuejun. 421 Shortly after, in response to a highly

412 Ibid., 4:1717-18, 73.1a-b. 413 See ibid., 5:2104, 90.3b. Here Piyena is said to be “a disciple of Kumārajīva [an eminent monk and translator of Buddhist scriptures who lived in the Sixteen Kingdoms period] who later learnt to practise Adamantine Meditation and then slipped into the Demonic Way” 是鳩摩羅什之弟子後乃學習金剛禪又流入於魔道. 414 Ibid., 1:173, 8.5a. Cf. Ter Haar’s generalization of the dietary habits of demons: “Demons do not simply eat, but devour and crush. They have a special predilection for internal organs (ranging from the brain to the liver) and blood, whose life force they need to survive.” (Ter Haar, “China’s Inner Demons,” 29) 415 NXWS(G), 3:1383, 57.5a. 416 Ibid. 417 See ibid., 2:641-42, 27.4a-b. 418 Ibid., 2:642, 27.4b 419 Ibid., 2:649, 27.8a. 420 Ibid., 1:152-53, 7.6b-7a. 421 See ibid., 2:653, 27.10a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 73

exceptional show of compassion on the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable’s part,422 she even proclaims: “People of the world today all deserve to be killed, why bother to be compassionate to them?” 如今世人總是該殺的慈悲他做什麽 423 All this is hardly surprising, given that the Demonic Tradition is, according to Princess Chamo’s explanation, “all about killer pneuma” (quan shi shaqi 全是煞炁),424 which finds expression in many of its historical members great and small. These avatars include military leaders like Lady Xian (Xian Furen 冼夫人) of the Liang, Chen and Sui dynasty, the Vietnamese rebels Zheng Ce 徵側 and Zheng Er 徵貳 of the Eastern Han, all of whom “held military authority and took many lives” 掌兵權殺戮甚繁;425 as well as certain fearsome “wives of great officials” (daguan zhi qi 大官之妻) and their equally fearsome maidservants, who are “capable of taking lives” (neng xing shalu 能行殺戮) within the household.426 As NXWS’s narrator points out in Chapter 23, other distinguished incarnations of “archdemon kings” (mowang 魔王), , such as “Xiang Yu of the Han dynasty, Ying Zheng of the Qin dynasty, Huang Chao and Zhu Wen of the Tang dynasty” 漢之項羽秦之嬴政唐之黃巢朱溫, had also “killed up to thousands and hundreds of myriads of people” 皆至殺人千百萬.427 The talk of “killer pneuma” is no mere figurative speech, for a thick “black miasma” (heiqi 黑氣) does always come with the Princess’ arrival, and is said to bring lamentable “disaster” (zaihai 災害) to the mortal inhabitants of the places she passes through.428 One can only imagine what destructiveness the centre and origin of such noxious discharges embodies. In addition, as we have seen earlier, both the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable and her nine sons are associated with extraordinary violence. When the Nine Demon

422 At the end of the mountain-top gathering in Chapter 27, the Heavenly Venerable requests that Princess Chamo leaves by travelling underground, lest the lethal miasma she exudes causes the loss of many lives in the localities she would pass through. The elderly demoness concludes her request with this remark: “The masses are innocent and truly pitiable” 生民無辜良爲可憫 (ibid., 2:654, 27.10b). This is the single most prominent indication in NXWS of the Heavenly Venerable’s “reformed” side. 423 Ibid., 2:655, 27.11a. 424 Ibid., 2:760, 31.19b. 425 See ibid., 2:760-61, 31.19b-20a. For the martial deeds of Lady Xian (also known as the Lady of Qiaoguo (Qiaoguo Furen 譙國夫人)), see her biography in Wei Zheng 魏徵 (580 - 643) et al., Suishu 隋書 [Book of the Sui](Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1973), fasc. 80, 6:1800-1803. The rebellion of the sisters Zheng Ce and Zheng Er, which occurred in 41 AD, is recorded in the biography of Ma Yuan 馬援 (14 BC – 49 AD), in Fan Ye 范曄 (398 - 445), Hou Han shu 後漢書 [Book of the Later Han], supp. Sima Biao 司馬彪 (d. ca. 306), ann. Li Xian 李賢 (651 - 684) and Liu Zhao 劉昭 (fl. 502 - 519)(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965), fasc. 24, 3:838. 426 See NXWS(G), 2:761, 31.20a. 427 Ibid., 2:543, 23.1a. 428 Ibid., 2:654, 27.10b; cf. 2:641, 27.4a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 74

Children attack Piyena, each uses his fifty-four fists that are “more vicious than little iron hammers” 比小鐵鎚還狠; like deranged brawlers, they tug at the monk’s ears and hair, punch him, kick him, pull out his right eye, and with loud laughter lift him up and throw him down from his lotus platform.429 Later on, when they fight Piyena’s monstrous pythons, the nine Infants continue with such ferocity, punching, kicking, pulling out eyes, tearing out scales, squashing claws, yanking at tails and feelers, et cetera. 430 As for the Heavenly Venerable, apart from her thunderous slaying of Kui the Perfected One, she is the one sent by Heaven to kill the Yongle Emperor with a sword towards the end of NXWS.431 (Interestingly, almost as a side note on the affinity between murder and the demonic, when Yuejun comments on the flying-sword magic of Yin Faxia 尹伐夏, the son of Lian Dai’s sorcerer Yin Tianfeng, in Chapter 82, she calls it a “deviant art” (xieshu 邪術) that relies on the help of “deviant gods” (xieshen 邪神) to “take lives presumptuously” (shanxing shalu 擅行殺戮). She reasons that “orthodox gods” (zhengshen 正神) will never “help people to kill” (zhu ren xing sha 助人行殺).)432 (Lian Dai, the empress of the Yunyang regime, is also described as being full of “murderous aura” (shaqi 殺氣) in her brows, as well as “unadulterated killer pneuma” (yiwei shaqi 一味煞氣) to the point of falling into a “deviant path” (xielu 邪路).433 Minor demons like the aquatic ghosts and the Jealous Woman in Chapter 14 are quick to initiate attacks on people who happen to cross their paths.434 However, it is in Kui the Perfected One that we find a particularly obnoxious example, for before he has even met Yuejun, he dispatches a divine general to behead her merely on the suspicion that she is a fox demoness; 435 subsequently during his contest of magical abilities with Yuejun in Qingzhou, Shandong, he tries to kill her with a tiger, 436 and then executes an evil hex with potentially fatal consequences for all the dragons of the eastern ocean and for the entire prefecture.437 Later on in the novel, Kui executes another nefarious hex designed to progress systematically

429 Ibid., 5:2112, 90.7b. 430 See ibid., 5:2117, 91.2a. 431 See ibid., 5:2269-70, 98.6a-b. 432 Ibid., 5:1916-17, 82.10b-11a. 433 See ibid., 4:1665-66, 70.7a-b. 434 See ibid., 1:330-31, 14.17b-18a. 435 See ibid., 1:247-48, 11.3a-b. 436 See ibid., 1:251, 11.5a. 437 See ibid., 1:251-53, 11.5a-6a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 75

through every single combination of the Chinese sexagenary cycle and thereby decimate entire populations.438 It causes a thousand men in Yuejun’s army to perish.439)

(8) Being the masters or protectors of evil individuals. Princess Chamo is the lord of all who choose to follow (and are accepted into) the way of the Demonic Tradition. It may not be too far-fetched for us to compare her to Satan of Western lore, waving a pact to be signed in blood. Indeed, there is quite a Satanic feel to her when, in Chapter 85, she tells Mantuoni about her dealings with a corrupt official of the Yuan dynasty. This official, fearing that he would go to Hell after death, had submitted himself to the Princess, and deposited with her a large quantity of gold he had acquired through unscrupulousness. She is expected to “ensure he continues to live with wealth and high rank in the life after rebirth” 保全他後世富貴. Mantuoni thus calls Princess Chamo a “great master” (da zhu’er 大主兒) who provides “refuge” (bihu 庇護) to corrupt officials such that they no longer fear Hell.440 (Here we are again reminded of Kui the Perfected One. His altar of evil sorcery invokes unnamed “killer-deities and archdemon sovereigns” (shashen mojun 煞神魔君) to protect him, so that the spirits of the people he has cursed to death, “no matter how many thousands or tens of thousands [they number]” 無論幾千幾萬, will always be “captured as with a net” (yi wang shou qu 一網收去) and subjugated by these entities, leaving Kui “unafraid that [these ghosts] would take his life in revenge” 不怕你來索命報仇.)441

(9) Being dynamic constants functioning as part of a grand cosmic order. According to Princess Chamo, the Demonic Tradition is beyond existential promotion or demotion determined by spiritual/moral merits. When reborn, its members will always be “rich and of high status, never poor or lowborn” 有富貴無貧賤, “mostly strong and intelligent” 多剛强才智, “never dull-minded, mediocre or weak” 無昏愚庸弱, and “never be [non-human] animals” (wu yilei 無異類). This constancy is contrasted against reincarnating members of the (old) Three Traditions, who can “differ [widely] in social status and wealth” 有貴賤貧富之不同, “vary [widely] in strength and intelligence” 有强弱智愚之各異”, and “end up as birds, beasts, insects or fishes” 轉而爲禽獸虫魚.442 The demons of the ageless Tradition

438 See ibid., 3:1232-35, 51.3b-5a; cf. 3:1044-47, 43.5b-7a. 439 See ibid., 3:1239, 51.7a. 440 Ibid., 5:2009, 85.9a. 441 Ibid., 3:1229-30, 51.2a-b. 442 Ibid., 2:757, 31.18a; cf. 2:638, 27.2b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 76

always emerge [in the mortal world] for a reason, flourish in correspondence to cycles of destiny, and then return to their original stations once the “Numbers” have run their course. They are unlike those of the [old] Three Traditions who go topsy-turvy in the cycle of reincarnations day and night, rising and falling according to their measured merits, demerits, good and evil.

必有故而出，應運而興，數完則仍歸本位。非若三敎日夜輪廻，顚顚倒倒，量其功過善惡而為升降者。443

Interestingly, the coming of archdemon kings into the world from time to time is part of Lü Xiong’s explanation for the recurrence of bloody wars and mass destructions in history, the other part being the advents of astral beings with a mission or purpose (as exemplified by Yuejun, the Yongle Emperor and Lady Taibei). This idea is stated plainly by the Celestial Master Hanxu in Chapter 56:

Since ancient times, warfare rages in the world because of the “Numbers” of catastrophe. It takes place either with the descent of astral spirits to the mortal realm, or with the emergence of archdemon kings into the world. […]

自古以來，兵興之世，原是刼數使然。或者列宿臨凡，或係魔王出世 [……]444

In other words, archdemon kings (along with astral beings) are practically amoral or transmoral forces of chaos and mayhem in history, agents and expressions of cosmic necessity (or inscrutable Fate) that are to bring carnage to pass through their incarnations as powerful figures of violence. That terrible things must sometimes happen, or more specifically, that large populations must sometimes suffer or perish, for no other reason than predetermined, absolutely irresistible Fate (the “Numbers”, or the “will of Heaven” (tianyi 天意) etc.) is a theme repeatedly emphasized throughout NXWS; 445 and the Demonic Tradition has its role to play in this numinous, macroscopic order of things.

443 Ibid., 2:760, 31.19b. Punctuations mine. Cf. the dictum that “archdemon sovereigns” (mojun 魔君) and their associates “are all born [into the world] in correspondence to cycles of catastrophes and destiny” 皆應刼運而生 (ibid., 2:543, 23.1a). 444 Ibid., 3:1365, 56.5a. Punctuations mine. This idea is first stated in Chapter 23 – see ibid., 2:543, 23.1a. 445 See, e.g., ibid., 1:7, 1.4a; “What the ‘Numbers’ dictate, I cannot go against” 數在朕不能抝也 (the words of the Supreme Thearch, in 1:21, 1.11a); “This is part of the fixed ‘Numbers’, even Buddha cannot go against it” 此乃一定之數雖如來亦不能抝 (1:67, 3.12a); 1:96, 5.4b; 1:131, 6.10a; 1:179, 8.8a; 1:293, 13.8a; 1:382, 16.7b; 2.543, 23.1a; “Even though our powers are great, we cannot act against the ‘Numbers’” 我輩神通雖大亦不能抝數而行 (the words of the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable, in 2:650, 27.8b); 2:814, 23.11b; 3:1087, 45.4a; “The [drought] brought about by Heaven is a predestined catastrophe, no transcendent in the flesh can turn it back” 上天降災是个刼數活神

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 77

Bearing the above-listed characteristics, the demonic in NXWS strikes us as a domineering, self-assertive and fearsome presence. No wonder Yuejun and her camp have to resort time and again to “subduing the demonic with the demonic” (yi mo fu mo 以魔伏魔),446 or overcoming a powerful demon with an even more powerful demon. Even in the battle against the formidable Lady Taibei, where they eventually win with the help of the earth goddess Lady Houtu (Houtu Furen 后土夫人) without a direct overpowering intervention from the demonic,447 they still have to rely at one critical point on one specific item, a sandalwood tree, procured from Princess Chamo.448 A convenient term to encapsulate some of the more salient qualities exhibited in concentration in the Demonic Tradition and associated demons would be “asuraism” (akin to “titanism”), which evokes the sort of colossal, defiant, triumph-seeking and unrestrained energy associated with the asura, one of Buddhism’s Six Paths (liudao 六道) of reincarnated beings. As noted by Liu Chiung-yun, the conception of NXWS’s Demonic Tradition clearly draws heavily from the asura mythology of ancient India,449 which had entered the Chinese consciousness through Buddhist scriptures. Readers of NXWS will undoubtedly sense more than a tinge of familiarity in ancient Buddhist accounts like the following:

Asuras each have a thousand heads and two thousand hands, ten thousand heads and twenty thousand hands, or three heads and six hands. [ … ] The males are ugly, but the females are well-featured. [ … ] They have great strength; when they berate the sun and moon, the sun and moon lose their brilliance as a result. When they strike Mount Sumeru with their palms, Mount Sumeru shakes and bobs. When they enter the sea, the water reaches up to the waist.

阿脩羅千頭二千手、萬頭二萬手，或三頭六手。[ …… ] 男醜女端。[ …… ] 有大力，口訶日月，日月為之失光；掌搏須彌，須彌為之跛足我。入海齊腰。450

仙挽囘不得的 (the words of Bao Gu, in 3:1088, 45.4b); 3:1161, 48.3a; 3:1240, 51.7b; 3:1377, 57.2a; “Such is what the great ‘Numbers’ dictate, even Heaven cannot force it to be otherwise” 大數如此天亦不能强 (Yuejun’s words, in 4:1658, 70.3b); 5:1995, 85.2a; 5:2012, 85.10b. Regarding the “Numbers”, see also section 5.2 of the present dissertation. 446 NXWS(G), 5:2121, 91.4a. 447 See ibid., 5:2253-56, 97.8a-9b. 448 See ibid., 5:2244-47, 97.3b-5a. 449 See Liu, “Ren, tian, mo,” 73-74. For a concise overview of the asura mythology as part of Buddhist demonology, see T. O. Ling, Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil: A Study in Theravāda Buddhism (1962; repr., Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1997), 21-26. 450 Zhizhe 智者 [Zhiyi 智顗 ](538 - 597), Guanyin yishu 觀音義疏 [A Commentary on the Avalokiteśvara-sūtra], rec. Guanding 灌頂 (561 - 632), fasc. 2, in TSD, no. 1728, 34:934c. Punctuations mine.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 78

Once upon a time, a thought occurred to the asuras. They said, “I have great prowess and divine strength, yet the devas of the Thirty-three Realms [on the top of Mount Sumeru] and the solar and lunar devas are always in the air, peregrinating freely above my head. Now shall I not rather take their sun and moon to be my earrings, and peregrinate freely myself?” At that time, the king of the asuras grew hot with anger. [ … ] Rāhu the asura-king then decked himself out with majesty, put on a treasured armour, drove a treasured chariot, and left his realm, surrounded by countless well-armed asura soldiers in the front and back, with the intention to fight the devas. [ … ] Indra [the king of the devas] then decked himself out with majesty, prepared various weapons, put on a treasured armour, rode on the head of the naga-king Susamsthita, and left his palace to fight the asuras, surrounded in his front and back by countless devas and spirits. The array of weapons included sabres, swords, spears, long lances, bows and arrows, axes, long-handled axes, chakras and lassos. The weapons and armours were made of the seven treasured materials. When the blades struck the asuras’ bodies, the asuras suffered no injury. The blades merely collided onto them.

昔者，阿須倫自生念言：「我有大威德，神力不少，而忉利天、日月諸天常在虛空，於我頂上遊行自在。今我寧可取彼日月以為耳璫，自在遊行耶？」時，阿須倫王瞋恚熾盛 [ …… ] 羅呵阿須倫王即自莊嚴，身著寶鎧，駕乘寶車，與無數百千阿須倫眾兵仗嚴事，前後圍遶出其境界，欲往與諸天共鬥。」 [ …… ] 帝釋即自莊嚴，備諸兵仗，身被寶鎧，乘善住龍王頂上，與無數諸天鬼神前後圍遶，自出天宮與阿須倫往鬥。所謂嚴兵仗、刀劍、鉾槊、弓矢、斲釿、鉞斧、旋輪、罥索。兵仗鎧器，以七寶成。復以鋒刃加阿須倫身，其身不傷，但刃觸而已。451

The asura-king [Rāhu] has four consorts brought into being by his thoughts. The first is named Shadow-like, the second is named Fragrances, the third is named Wondrous Grove, the fourth is named Superior Virtue. Each of these consorts has twelve hundred thousand million female attendants as their followers. Together they surround the asura-king. There are no verbal comparisons that can describe the enjoyment and unrestrained passion they indulge in.

阿修羅王有四婇女，從憶念生。一名如影，二名諸香，三名妙林，四名勝德。此四婇女，有十二那由他侍女，以為眷屬，圍遶阿修羅王；娛樂恣情，縱逸受樂，無喻可說。452

In the awesome monstrosity, power, belligerence, non-submissiveness, the refusal to be lower than others, the grandeur, feminine beauty and erotic sensualities of the asuras, mythical anti-gods perpetually in strife with the more benevolent gods, the conceptual seeds of Lü Xiong’s Demonic Tradition shimmer unmistakably. Herein lies a set of elements (or,

451 Fotuoyeshe 佛陀耶舍 [Buddhayaśas](fl. 413) and Zhu Fonian 竺佛念 (fl. 413), trans., Chang ahan jing 長阿含經 [Dīrghāgama-sūtra], fasc. 21, in TSD, no. 1, 1:143a, 144a. Punctuations mine. 452 Boruoliuzhi 般若流支 [Prajñaruci](fl. 516 - 543), trans., Zhengfa nianchu jing 正法念處經 [Saddharma-smṛityupasthāna-sūtra], fasc. 18, in TSD, no. 721, 17:108c. Punctuations mine.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 79

more holistically, a certain spirit) that have a different feel from many of the commonly seen Chinese stories of man-demoness encounters from the Tang and earlier times. Take, for example, this tale from the Eastern Jin:

Zhong Yao of Yingchuan, styled Yuanchang, once failed to attend morning assemblies for several months. He was not being his usual self. When asked why, he said, “A comely woman of extraordinary beauty frequently came to me.” The inquirer said, “This has to be a demonic creature. You can kill it.” Subsequently, when the woman visited Zhong Yao again, she did not come forth at once, but lingered outside the doors. Yao asked, “Why [are you not coming in]?” She said, “You have the intention to kill me.” Yao said, “I do not have such intentions.” The woman entered only after he called her unremittingly. Yao felt regret and could not bear to harm the woman, but he eventually slashed her anyway, injuring her thigh. The woman thus left, wiping her wound with fresh cotton, leaving blood all the way down the road. On the next day, someone ordered by Yao to follow the trail [of blood] followed it to a large grave. Within its coffin was a comely woman, who physically looked like a living person. She wore a shirt of white silk and a cinnabar embroidered waistcoat. Her left thigh was injured, the blood thereof having been wiped with cotton extracted from within the waistcoat.

潁川鍾繇，字元常，嘗數月不朝會，意性異常。或問其故，云：「常有好婦來，美麗非凡。」問者曰：「必是鬼物，可殺之。」婦人後往，不即前，止戶外。繇問：「何以？」曰：「公有相殺意。」繇曰：「無此。」勤勤呼之，乃入。繇意恨，有不忍之，然猶斫之，傷髀。婦人即出，以新綿拭，血竟路。明日，使人尋跡之。至一大冢，木中有好婦人，形體如生人。著白練衫，丹繡裲襠。傷左髀，以裲襠中綿拭血。453

Another archetypal example to consider is the famous Renshizhuan 任氏傳 [Story of Miss Ren] attributed to the Tang writer Shen Jiji 沈既濟 (fl. 781). It speaks of how the poor man Zheng Liu 鄭六 came to know and became attached to the fox succubus Miss Ren 任氏, how Zheng’s relative Wei Yin 韋崟 almost raped her and remained obsessed with her thereafter, how she turned back into a fox and was killed by hunting dogs, and how Zheng and Wei mourned for her.454 Recurrent in such stories are the narratival sequence of “acquaintance- obsession-exorcism” or an equivalent pattern (such as “Meeting, Lovemaking, Intimation of Danger, and Intercession by the Exorcist”, as posited by Patrick Hanan for early Chinese

453 Gan Bao 干寳 (fl. 317 - 322), Soushenji 搜神記 [Records of An Inquest into the Spirit-Realm], ann. Wang Shaoying 汪紹楹 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), fasc. 16, 206. 454 See Shen Jiji, “Renshi” 任氏 [Miss Ren], in Li Fang 李昉 (925 - 996) et al., eds., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 [Extensive records of the Taiping era], 452.49b-52b, in Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小説大觀 [A panoramic collection of “brush-notes” and “petty talk”](Yangzhou shi: Jiangsu guangling guji keyin she, 1983)(BJXSDG hereafter), vol. 2.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 80

vernacular stories from around 1450 or earlier),455 and a certain passive vulnerability on the part of the succubus. Whether we are contrasting the abovementioned recurring motif or the love-dazed Du Liniang of The Peony Pavilion (mentioned earlier) against the asuraic aspects of the demonic in NXWS, a reasonably viable framework of sufficient generality may be found in the traditional ontological-phenomenological dichotomy of Yin-versus-Yang. For one thing, as Maram Epstein has pointed out, the “imagery of qing [情 - i.e., emotions / sentiments / love / passions]” or human emotive authenticity that shines brightly in The Peony Pavilion is strongly underpinned by “traditional yin symbolism” - “the feminine, the sensuous, the private, the mutable and unstable, the sick or dead, the phantom and illusory, in contrast to the solid … stability of yang”.456 The firmness of Yang, to the point of active indomitability and extreme assertiveness, is on the other hand, precisely what the asuraism in NXWS exhibits.457 That is to say, If we think of that which we associate with dangerous obsession, self- absorbedness, inward-turning, seduction and illusion as “Yin-demonic”, it may be apt to describe the Demonic Tradition’s asuraism as its opposite of sorts, the “Yang-demonic”, with which we associate strong inclinations towards aggressiveness, violence, conquest, outward expansion / engulfment, rebellion and so on.458 The dichotomy between the Yin- and Yang-demonic - or between Du Liniang and Princess Chamo, as it were - is actually brought to the forefront in NXWS’s Chapter 31, where Princess Chamo expresses exasperation towards what she perceives as the common misconception about the state of being “demon-stricken” (zhao le mo 着了魔). Her

455 According to Hanan’s formulation, typically, “[t]he actors … are a young man, unmarried; a demon, that is, an animal spirit or the ghost of a dead person, in the guise of a young girl; and an exorcist, usually a Taoist master. […] The young man goes out on a spring day to a resort on the outskirts of the city, meets a beautiful girl, and they make love. At length he realizes she is a threat to his life and calls in the help of a Taoist master who makes the girl return to her real form as ghost or animal spirit and punishes her.” (Patrick Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), 44) 456 Epstein, Competing Discourses, 103. 457 Notably, such a spirit is very much in concordance with what, according to Rob Campany, fundamentally makes the demons of Journey to the West demonic - i.e., “their cultivation of self in ways which attempt to encompass the universe within that self” instead of “submitting the self to a larger Self that is the entire cosmic order” (Campany, “Demons, Gods, and Pilgrims,” 113). 458 The “Yin-demonic” and “Yang-demonic” here are not to be confused with the notions of yinmo 陰魔 and yangmo 陽魔 in SSJXZ despite the obvious similarities. As seen in the final battles of the Old Man Shipi (Shipi Laoren 尸毗老人), Huanzhu Louzhu’s yinmo essentially refers to an insidious, deeply hidden inner tempter and instigator, while his yangmo refers to outwardly manifested, aggressive demons – see Huanzhu Louzhu, Shushan jianxia zhuan, chap. 278, 22:6001; chap. 279, 22:6021, 6023; chap. 280, 23:6045-47.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 81

comments comes about apparently in response to hearing how female transcendents and goddesses who visited Yuejun at the Penglai Pavilion had been “amorously aroused” (dong le chunxin 動了春心) by her magical music-making screen.459 According to the Princess, what is understood by most as the sorry condition of having fallen into deep obsession, daze, self- absorbedness, delusion or illusion (zhaomi 着迷) has nothing to do with the demonic as she knows it. People in that condition, she says scornfully, can find themselves led into death, “walking on the road of the underworld, reduced to dust, and still thinking about their relatives at home” 到了黃泉路上化作塵埃還想着家下親人哩. To her, to be truly “demon-stricken” is not to be passively victimized, but to truly draw from the power of the demonic; to do so is “to be someone of my Way [i.e., the Way of the Demonic], capable of connecting to the numinous and effecting magical transformations” 就是我道中人會得通靈變化.460 As we bear in mind the nine characteristics of the immediately demonic in toto (points (1) to (9) listed earlier), the archdemon lord here is essentially contrasting asuraic affirmation, exaltation and mastery of one’s self against the helpless, pathetic losing of one’s self. That is to say, the Yang-demonic is exalted over the Yin-demonic as the quintessential demonic.

Despite the preponderance of self-magnification, however, the immediately demonic in NXWS is also dialectically open to self-othering, resulting in a high degree of apparent ambivalence. To put it simply, the demonic is not solely or inflexibly opposed to Good or whatever purports to oppose the demonic; it can and does overflow into its opposite throughout NXWS. Through the Demonic Tradition and other characters, including Mantuoni, the monkey goblin Ma Ling, the local warlord Liu Tong and his sorceress-warrior wife Lian Dai, the demonic has functioned as a crucial helper, mentor and supporter of Good, to the point that it is even channelled by the “good guys” to turn upon itself, as we have seen in the defeat of Lian Dai and of the almost undefeatable sorcerers. This self-othering happens for different reasons from case to case. Mantuoni acts out of obedience to her master the bodhisattva Guanyin;461 Ma Ling serves Yuejun because he has been subdued by her;462 Liu Tong and Lian Dai submits to Yuejun’s regime because of persuasion via the seductress Liu Yan and their own military failures;463 Princess Chamo acts

459 NXWS(G), 2:754, 31.16b. For details on the screen incident, see pages 84 to 85 herein. 460 Ibid., 2:755-56, 31.17a-b. 461 See ibid., 1:159, 7.10a. 462 See ibid., 1:238-39, 10.8b-9a. 463 See ibid., 4:1675-77, 70.12a-b; 4:1679-1732, 71.1a-73.8b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 82

out of the bond of sisterhood with Yuejun and her recognition that Yuejun is (or can be) like a demonic individual. 464 The sheer diversity of reasons only serves to underscore the inevitability of the reverse overflow of the demonic. After all, as Laurie Cozad puts it, figures that straddle the dominant demonizing structure and their own alternative, demonized structure have a tremendous role to play:

[they] can ... be a means of support for the dominant structure as their impure powers prove exceedingly handy to those on the interdictory side of the power line – handy because these impure characters can go places the pure can’t go, do things the pure can’t do, get things the pure can’t get, and generally be useful within all of those realms that are off-limits to their pristine counterparts.465

This insight concurs with what Liu Chiung-yun has pointed out: the proclivities and contributions of demonic elements are necessary and indispensable in NXWS, because the aloofness and compassion of the transcendental “good guys” are an intrinsic handicap that would have hindered Yuejun’s mission to vie with the Yongle Emperor.466 Furthermore, from the viewpoint of the demons themselves, the Yang-demonic’s impetus to do absolutely whatever it wants, coupled with its general disregard for rules and limits, means there can be no barrier to its lending its own strength to Good. Paradoxically, by being free and wild enough to help the heroes, the demons are affirming their own nature. After all, unboundedness is part of the nine characteristics of the immediately demonic. After all is said and done, Mantuoni the demonic nun still impresses readers as more demonic than nun. In (Ye 葉) Jieyuan’s 芥園 commentary to NXWS’s Chapter 70, Lian Dai is commended as one of eight “amazing” (qi 奇) women in the novel for being “deviant and lustful, and yet capable of righting herself” 既邪且淫而復能正 467 - i.e., aligning herself with the “good guys” by submitting to Yuejun’s regime and acknowledging the Jianwen Emperor. Surely this can be read as a celebration of demonic possibilities, inclusive of the possibility of self- affirmative self-alterity.

Perhaps more intriguing than self-alterity, however, is that the immediately demonic exudes a profound appeal. 468 Needless to say, NXWS’s demonic figures, especially the

464 See ibid., 2:643, 27.5a; 5:2008-2009, 85.8b-9a; cf. 3:1382, 57.4b. See section 3.1.2 herein for more details on how Yuejun is like the demonic. 465 Cozad, “Reeling in the Demon,” 127. 466 Liu, “Ren, tian, mo,” 75-76. 467 NXWS(G), 4:1676-77, 70.12b-13a. 468 Intriguingly, Western demonological thinkers have long ascribed to the demonic a strong capacity to fascinate people. See, e.g., the “magnetic attraction” of “demonic characters” as

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 83

nefarious Kui the Perfected One, are sometimes repulsive, and doubtlessly meant to impress readers as such. In a commentary to Chapter 43, the commentator (Chen 陳) Xiangquan 香泉 (Chen Yixi) goes so far as to suggest that, among the demonic wielders of magic in NXWS, Kui is comparable to people who are “ranked among top government officials but are actually vessels of a puny capacity” 位在公卿而實斗筲之器; and that the sorcerer’s very vileness and meanness have caused the author to produce “such bad writing” 如是之劣筆 in the pertinent part of the novel.469 But such is not the case with a good number of the other demonic characters. Lian Dai is portrayed as physically alluring, and women of the Demonic Tradition are said to be always exceedingly attractive;470 yet this may be chalked up to the necessity or cliché of succubus sexuality for the Yin-demonic dimension of evil. Why Lü Xiong expends eight and five lines of text in Chapter 27 to wax hyperbolic over the physical appearance of Princess Chamo and the Demon Matron Heavenly Matron respectively, both very much non- temptress exemplars of the Yang-demonic, is harder to explain. According to the novel’s narrator, “[the Princess’] face rivals the bright moon in splendour, and the look in her eyes would melt even Buddha’s soul” 顔和皎月爭輝眸光溜處縱然佛祖也銷魂; 471 the Heavenly Venerable’s “august and auspicious look is comparable to the Great One [i.e., Guanyin] of the Southern Sea except for a lack of compassion, whereas her graceful demeanour surpasses the Queen Mother of the west pool in vivacity” 端嚴福相較南海大士却少慈悲瀟洒風神比西池王母更加飛動.472 These can only be expressions of a pure impulse to idealize and aestheticize the demonic as it is, beyond erotic carnality, though they veer to the superficial and banal side here. They belie the greater sophistication and subtlety that Lü Xiong’s tries to reach with that same impulse through the overall conception of the demonic in his novel. For one thing, some of the nine characteristics of the immediately demonic in NXWS, especially points (2), (5), (7), (8) and (9) outlined earlier, holistically convey a significant sense of awe-inspiring numinosity and of the sublime (as famously conceived by Edmund Burke

understood by Goethe, outlined in Zucker, “The Demonic,” 43-44; Daniel Day Williams’ notion of “fascination” as the first structure of demonic experience, which “casts a spell over our attention, releases our passionate energies, and drives us beyond our will under the guise of fulfilling our freedom” (Williams, The Demonic and the Divine, 7). 469 NXWS(G), 3:1055-56, 43.11a-b. 470 See ibid., 4:1665-66, 70.7a-b; 2:758, 31.18b.; 471 Ibid., 2:642, 27.4b. 472 Ibid., 2:649, 27.8a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 84

(1729 - 1797)).473 The demonic, qua demonic, is affective as it comes across in the novel as ultimately deeply mysterious (despite its sometimes all-too-human face), menacing yet magnificent, by nature not fully containable by human (or even superhuman) effort, judgments or understanding. Its sublimity is, as per Burke’s formulation, taken in through perceived “obscurity”, “power”, “vastness” and “infinity”,474 inspiring “a mode of terror”, “a sort of delightful horror”,475 such that it can somehow of spoken of in the same breath as the beautiful as we normally know it. That there seems to be an elusive appeal built into NXWS’s demonological aesthetics is corroborated by instances of “orthodox” characters on the protagonist’s side being attracted in various encounters with the demonic. During a gathering of female transcendents and goddesses in Chapter 31, for example, the ladies find themselves astounded (such that they “look at one another with a stunned look” (dailian xiang kan 呆臉相看)) but also aroused by strange music performed by pretty musicians who walk out of Princess Chamo’s magical screen. It causes them to be “lost in [amorous] thought” (ruo you suo si 若有所思).476 The transcendent maiden Yunying 雲英 even furtively asks that Yuejun take the screen with her when she returns to the moon in the future as the lunar goddess, presumably so that she may enjoy it again.477 As admitted by Yuejun to Princess Chamo later on, Yuejun’s guests “adore” (ai 愛) the screen478 - even though their first impression is that what they hear “is probably licentious music” 大概是淫聲,479 and they are aware that “there is a demonic feel” (youxie yaoqi 有些妖氣) to the screen,480 but do not seem quite able to put a finger on it. (The history of the screen itself, called the Heavenly Music Screen (Tianyue pingfeng 天樂屏風), prior to the party of transcendents and goddesses is quite telling. According to Mantuoni, it had once been given by Princess Chamo in the Tang dynasty to the Precious Consort Yang (Yang Guifei 楊貴妃) to help her seduce the emperor Xuanzong 玄宗, 481 and the music-and-dance performance of its animated carvings was “originally for goblins to view” 原是與妖精看的.482) The ladies’ potentially imperilling arousal is such that

473 Expounded in Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, ed. J. T. Boulton (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958). 474 See Burke’s elaboration on each of these four aspects, in ibid., 58-59, 64-70, 72-74. 475 Ibid., 136. 476 See NXWS(G), 2:737-38, 31.8a-b; cf. 2:754, 31.16b. 477 Ibid., 2:751, 31.15a. 478 Ibid., 2:754, 31.16b. 479 Ibid., 2:738, 31.8b. 480 Ibid., 2:752, 31.15b. 481 Ibid., 2:724-25, 31.1b-2a. 482 Ibid., 2:752, 31.15b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 85

the senior transcendent the Old Lady of Mount Li (Lishan Laolao 驪山老姥) has to sublimate their sentiments by getting them to each compose a poem with an amorous yet transcendental theme.483 A second example of the absorbing attraction of the demonic in action occurs in Chapter 70, where Liu Yan and the “Female Licentiate” (Nü Xiucai 女秀才), both sent by Yuejun to infiltrate the enemy state of Yunyang, sneaked into Liu Tong’s palace, and found themselves mesmerized by the sight of Lian Dai and Liu Tong having sex. The scene is described as a “prodigious, living pornographic image” 奇異活春宮, for Lian’s and Liu’s genitals are each said by the novel’s narrator to be paralleled by only two others in history (!).484 In the end, the two spies find themselves aroused in their own ways, resulting in two different reactions: one literally feels full from watching (kan bao le 看飽了), whereas the other feels hungry (kan e le 看餓了).485 The licentious sexuality of Lian and Liu, it has to be remembered, is an important part of what makes them demonic in the eyes of the “good guys”. Should an objection be raised that the viscerality of erotics has nothing to do with aesthetics, there is still the most telling and remarkable example: the transformation of the attitude of Yuejun herself towards the demonic at its most sublime. When Bao Gu takes her to meet Mantuoni for the first time in Chapter 7, the would-be scourge to the Yongle Emperor wonders quietly with suspicion, “Why is Madam leading me into the Way of the Demons?” 爲何太太引我入於魔道 486 Seven chapters later, Yuejun still claims to “[stay away from] the archdemons, who are like sworn enemies to me” ([bi] mo ru chou [避]魔如仇).487 Yet she is somehow fascinated when she meets Princess Chamo for the first time in Chapter 27. Astonishingly, already here she concurs with the archdemoness that she too would like to be “a husband and wife of ‘inverted phoenixes’” 顚鸞倒鳳的夫妻 with her if Princess Chamo were a man;488 the two become sworn sisters then and there, and proceed to converse intimately, even verbally sharing between themselves the personal experience of coitus.489 By Chapter 31, the perceptive Princess Chamo has become aware of Yuejun’s fascination, claiming that this sworn sister of hers is “almost [demon-]stricken [by me] but

483 Ibid., 2:738-39, 31.8b-9a. 484 See ibid., 4:1662-63, 70.5b-6a. 485 Ibid., 4:1663-64, 70.6a-b. 486 Ibid., 1:154, 7.7b. 487 Ibid., 1:327, 14.16a. 488 Ibid., 2:643, 27.5a. 489 Ibid., 2:643, 27.5a; 2:646-48, 27.6b-7b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 86

not quite” 在將着[魔]未着之間. 490 By Chapter 57, when talking to Hanxu, Yuejun calls Princess Chamo the “sagely lord” (shengzhu 聖主).491 In Chapter 85, when Yuejun writes an IOU for a financial loan from Princess Chamo, she addresses her as “My elder sister the extremely sagely and divine Great Ritual Master Chamo of the Nine-splendoured Pearl [Palace] on the summit of Sumeru” 須彌高頂九華珠[闕]至聖至神刹魔大法主姊姊.492 By Chapter 91, Yuejun further praises the Princess for her great magnanimity (her “possessing sagely virtue of abysmal capacity” (shengde yuanhan 聖德淵涵)), with the archdemon lord recognizing her sworn sister’s being “extremely guileless” (zhicheng 至誠) towards her.493 Unless we are prepared to imagine that Lü Xiong sets up his protagonist as an insincere hypocrite and sycophant, and that Princess Chamo is foolishly blind to such inauthenticity, we have to accept that Yuejun has truly undergone a subtle change of perception in the course of NXWS’s story. She must have come to see allure in the person of Princess Chamo, and her admiration is probably grounded in the authenticity that informs the Princess’ personality,494 as well as her freedom from norms, her supreme power,495 and her generally dominating energy and mannerisms. In other words, Yuejun probably admires in Princess Chamo major aspects of the demonic as a mode of being. This makes sense as Yuejun herself exhibits certain similarities to the Princess,496 such that resonance between these two individual is not inconceivable. Moreover, an argument can also be made, based not on homoiousia but on complementariness, that Princess Chamo is appealing to Yuejun largely because the former embodies what the latter so repressively lacks, such that Yuejun sees in her the missing pieces that would make herself whole and fulfilled. It is hard not to notice one thing: the way Princess Chamo lives so autonomously and always gets her way stands in sharp contrast to Yuejun’s repeated experiences of helplessness, frustration and failure (or non- accomplishment), which seem doubly ironic given that Yuejun is supposed to possess immense power and capabilities. For example:

490 Ibid., 2:756, 31.17b. 491 Ibid., 3:1387, 57.6b-7a. 492 Ibid., 5:2000, 85.4b. 493 Ibid., 5:2127, 91.7a. 494 Yan Mai-juan sees authenticity (zhen 真) as a crucial, defining generalization for the demonic characters of NXWS – see Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 89. 495 For Yuejun’s marvelling at this particular aspect, see note no. 348. 496 As seen in section 3.1.2 further below; cf. both Princess Chamo and Yuejun being marked by perceived “quirkiness” (guguai 古怪) in behaviour (see page 63).

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 87

• In her pre-incarnation existence, while she is still the lunar goddess Chang’e in Heaven, she has to be born, very much against her will, into the mortal world.497 Even though she begs the Supreme Thearch to assign her to some other task in lieu of such a fate, and would rather toil for prolonged ages in “the most arduous work in the upper realms” 上界最苦的差, she is still sent forth as required by the “Numbers”.498 • Despite her strong desire to stay a virgin and her executing ruses to this end, Yuejun is forced to have sex with her mortal husband Lin Youfang 林有芳 in fulfilment of predestination.499 The inescapable “defilement” saddens Yuejun so much that she breaks down and “weeps inconsolably” (aiku buyi 哀哭不已) before Bao Gu after her first night of carnal congress,500 and she continues to hold herself in low regard some years later as one who has “fallen into worldliness” (yi duo fanchen 已墮凡塵).501 This sexual stigmatization seems particularly poignant, especially when it is revealed that Princess Chamo has been maintaining her own virginity for about three thousand years.502 • Over the course of about twenty-two years in her anti-Yongle campaign, Yuejun sets up and maintains a government for the ousted Jianwen Emperor, fights many battles for him, dispatches men repeatedly to locate him and then to persuade him to take up his throne in Shandong. Yet, not only does the Emperor refuse to come time and again503 (not to mention the fact that he ultimately gives up his throne),504 Yuejun learns of a sudden decree from Heaven for her to depart from the mortal plane, and thus has to terminate her campaign permanently, just when her army is only a few hours away from attacking the city of Beijing to secure what would have been certain

497 See NXWS(G), 1:13-23, 1.7a-12a. 498 See ibid., 1:20-21, 1.10b-11a. 499 See ibid., 1:37-42, 2.6a-8b; 1:67, 3.12a; 1:118-123, 6.3b-6a. 500 See ibid., 1:123, 6.6a. 501 Ibid., 2:740, 31.9b; cf. Yuejun’s associating sex with “degeneration” (duoluo 墮落) in ibid., 1:67, 3.12a. Notably, when told at one point that her lunar attendant Suying 素英 (incarnated as Miaogu 妙姑) is not destined to have any mortal husband, Yuejun sighs, “I’m inferior to her” 我反不如他了, and subsequently “feels ashamed, regretful and angry at heart, and wears a dejected expression day and night” 中心愧悔忿恨日夜愀然不樂 (ibid., 1:91, 5.2a). 502 See ibid., 2:635-36, 27.1a-b; 2:642, 27.4b; 2:647-48, 27.7a-b. 503 For the Jianwen Emperor’s refusals and deferrals, see ibid., 3:1304, 53.13b; 3:1310, 54.1b; 5:1883-87, 81.2a-4a. Equally notable is the Emperor’s hesitation to trust Yuejun because of the news of the Celestial Master Hanxu having slain her monkey goblin Ma Ling – see ibid., 3:1378, 57.2b; 5:1886, 81.3b. 504 See ibid., 5:2282, 99.4b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 88

victory and basically total control over China. 505 Understandably, upon hearing about the imminent decree, Yuejun’s immediate reaction is not one of elation over being able to return to her lunar home, but a moment of pregnant dumbfoundedness (dai le yi dai 呆了一呆)506 – likely pregnant, as we can imagine, with much vexation. • Despite her compassionate desire to save the suffering populace in her territories during times of natural disasters, Yuejun’s efforts to this end are hampered by the constraints of Fate (the “Numbers”), such that she can only achieve limited success time and again.507 On one occasion, she is even reduced to taking a financial loan from Princess Chamo, who then dispenses immense wealth to her with, ironically, no strain at all.508 • One of Yuejun’s greatest frustrations arises from how she is unable to exercise as much filial piety towards her parents as she would like. Once prior to her formal training in magic, she kneels before Bao Gu and asks her to save her dying father Tang Kui 唐夔, but is only told that “his Heaven-ordained fate has been fixed” (tianshu yi ding 天數已定).509 After Tang Kui has died and become a city god, Yuejun is twice thwarted by Heaven’s bureaucratic re-postings from seeing him.510 It leads the frustrated daughter to painfully bemoan, “Could it be that the Supreme Thearch does not allow me to see my parents again?” 豈上帝不許我再見父母耶 511 Subsequently, she finds out that it is fundamentally impossible for her to see her deceased parents even in her dreams, as much as she wants to.512 The resultant, accumulated feelings of having failed as a daughter grow so overwhelming that Yuejun becomes temporarily dispirited in Chapter 76, flies back to Jinan from Kaifeng, and tells Bao Gu and Mantuoni that she wishes to leave everything behind (including her prime mission of opposing the Yongle Emperor) and live a carefree life in the

505 See ibid., 5:2269-70, 98.6a-b. 506 Ibid., 5:2270, 98.6b. 507 See, e.g., Yuejun’s struggles to reduce the effects of a terrible drought (ibid., 3:1085-1101, 45.3a-11a); her attempt to alleviate an insect pestilence in the “10th year of Jianwen” (3:1160-62, 48.2b-3b); how, even with transcendental help to stamp out a plague in Jinan in the “11th year of Jianwen”, some lives simply cannot be saved (3:1186, 49.1b); Yuejun’s struggles to deal with two consecutive anni horribiles of multiple disasters (5:1993-2012. 85.1a-10b). 508 See ibid., 5:2000-2012, 85.4b-10b. 509 Ibid., 1:96, 5.4b. 510 See ibid., 3:1081, 45.1a; 3:1085, 45.3a; 4:1761-62, 75.5a-b. Tang Kui’s being given the posthumous post of Jinan’s city god is first mentioned in Chapter 5 – see ibid., 1:96, 5.4b. 511 Ibid., 4:1762, 75.5b. 512 See ibid., 4:1764, 75.6b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 89

remote islands.513 For Princess Chamo to have such show of weakness, albeit human, would have been unimaginable. • Finally, in contrast to Princess Chamo’s confidence in her own near-omniscience,514 Yuejun is surprisingly ignorant of some matters we would expect a transcendent of her level to have no problem with finding out. For example, while in Jinan, she realizes she does not know if her father’s spirit is still serving as the local city god, and NXWS’s narrator has to go to some lengths to provide a metaphysical explanation as to why this is so.515 At one point, Yuejun even feels the pangs of uncertainty like a vulnerable mortal – she feels “sad” (ganshang 感傷) because she “does not know if she will ever ascend again to Heaven’s imperial palace in the future” 不知將來得升天闕與否.516 The overall impression we get is that Yuejun is in many ways as limited an individual as Princess Chamo is limitless as a demoness. Whether stemming from homoiousia or from complementariness, Yuejun’s fascination must be a reflection of Lü Xiong’s own fascination with the demonic, especially the demonic as intensely focused in the character of Princess Chamo. There must be conscious intent on Lü Xiong’s part to craft this archdemoness as a specially charming (though also frightening) person, a personification of a sublime ideal. It is my suspicion that many readers would agree that the Princess is in fact a more memorable, interesting and impactful character than Yuejun herself; and perhaps to a similar extent, the same can be said of Mantuoni, another outstanding demonic character.517 As a final note, that Lü Xiong ascribes dignity and aesthetic / existential appeal to the demonic is further corroborated by how he consistently avoids calling the Yongle Emperor, the chief antagonist and object of condemnation in the novel, demonic. The avoidance persists from beginning to end, even though one may argue that the Emperor exhibits a few of the qualities associated with the immediately demonic. In massacring Jianwen loyalists and their family members, and condemning their women to a lowly life under the Music

513 See ibid., 4:1788-89, 76.11b-12a. 514 See page 65. 515 See NXWS(G), 3:1081, 45.1a. 516 Ibid., 2:735, 31.7a. 517 Yan Mai-juan describes the demonic figures Mantuoni and Princess Chamo as very successfully portrayed characters – see Yan, “Nüxian waishi yanjiu,” 98. Mantuoni is also considered by Luo Liqun 羅立群 to be one of the two superbly crafted characters in NXWS – see Luo Liqun, Zhongguo jianxia xiaoshuo shi lun 中國劍俠小説史論 [A treatise on the history of Chinese sword knight-errantry fiction](Guangzhou: Jinan daxue chubanshe, 2012), 183.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 90

Office (yuefang 樂坊), 518 for instance, he is not unlike the historical tyrants and mass slaughterers who were supposedly avatars from the Demonic Tradition.519 Another example is the Emperor’s outrageous lust, which drives him, after viewing a portrait of Yuejun, to audaciously propose that the beautiful “rebel” marries him.520 The glaring abstinence from literally “demonizing” the Yongle Emperor cannot be accidental, especially when we consider that the author is willing to label Liu Tong of the Yunyan regime a “demonic emperor” (yao huangdi 妖皇帝). 521 Determined to soundly condemn the historical usurper, Lü Xiong must think that explicit identification with mo or mojiao would dignify the Yongle Emperor more than he deserves to be. This proves indirectly that, unconsciously or otherwise, Lü Xiong attaches a remarkably positive value to the ontological status of being sublimely demonic.

3.1.2 The “Mirrored” Demonic: Self-alterity and Subversion

The immediately demonic (especially the Demonic Tradition) is so eye-catching in NXWS that a more subtle aspect of the novel’s demonology could be overlooked by the casual reader. By this I mean the fact that qualities of the demonic are glimpsed in what is supposed or presupposed to be anti-demonic elements in the story. As noted in section 3.1.1 above, the immediately demonic overflows paradoxically into Good. Curiously, a counterflow – the demonizing of the good, in the sense of the good presenting itself as demonic or identifying itself with the demonic - is also observed in NXWS, constituting what we may call the “mirrored”, as opposed to the immediately, demonic. Yuejun’s campaign against the Yongle Emperor could not have progressed as far as it eventually does if not for the likes of Mantuoni, Princess Chamo and the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable. NXWS’s author himself is aware that, in itself, the excessive reliance of the “good guys” on the demons already has something of a tainting, demonizing effect on the heroes. In Chapter 74, for example, the active involvement of the monkey goblin Ma Ling in the campaign (“to have a simian monster mixed in” 雜一猴怪於其間) is criticized by the ghost of Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮 as a discrediting blemish for Yuejun’s “just and proper” (tangtang zhengzheng 堂堂正正) enterprise, for Ma Ling is slain at some point by the Daoist

518 See NXWS(G), 2:492-513, 21.2b-13a; cf. 2:544, 23.1b; 2:546, 23.2b. 519 These historical figures include the likes of Qin Shihuang 秦始皇, Xiang Yu 項羽 and Huang Chao 黃巢 – see ibid., 2:543, 23.1a; 2:759, 31.19a. 520 See ibid., 5:2099, 90.1a; 5:2102-2103, 90.2b-3a; 5:2135, 92.4a. 521 Ibid., 4:1657, 70.3a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 91

Celestial Master Hanxu (or, more precisely, his guardian deity), “giving all under Heaven cause for suspicion and [unfavourable] talking thereafter” 使天下得以猜議於其後. 522 Indeed, the death of Ma Ling is capitalized in Chapter 57 by Daoyan (Yao Guangxiao 姚廣孝) to generate negative publicity against Yuejun’s regime, such that

half of the people in Jiangnan come to believe [that Yuejun’s regime is a group of demonic villains associated with animal spirits]. And later the Jianwen Emperor too becomes suspicious because of what is said, and therefore decides he would not come [to Yuejun’s government in Jinan, Shandong] to be reinstated to his throne.

江南之人，到有一半信的。後來建文皇帝也因這句話，動了疑心，所以決不肯來復位。523

However, more profound and significant than merely extrinsic association with demonic characters is the actual taking on of certain undermining qualities or modalities on the part of the heroes in persona. Collectively they are in rather strong concordance with the demonic presence in NXWS. The nine characteristics of the immediately demonic listed in section 3.1.1 above offer a helpful basis for identifying several patterns of the “mirrored” demonic of such depth of penetration. These include the following, with a series of examples given for each:

(1) The extreme violence and cruelty repeatedly exhibited by Yuejun’s camp. Time and again, cruel and unusual punishments are exacted on officials (or associated individuals) of the Yongle Emperor’s regime, at levels of atrocity ironically reminiscent of the Yongle Emperor himself. For example, at Qingzhou, under Yuejun’s direct orders, the Prefect Ru Gang 茹剛 is held upside-down and sawed into two from sole to neck before being beheaded; not only are three other local officials beheaded, so are all the men above ten years old in their (and Ru’s) families; and District Magistrate Zang 臧 of Yidu 益都 has the top of his head cut open while alive.524 In Chapter 26, the commanders of Yuejun’s army execute a military officer Jin Bei 金貝 by stuffing “all kinds of stinking faeces and filthy things” 種種臭糞污穢之物 into his “seven orifices” (qiqiao 七竅).525 In Chapter 30, again under Yuejun’s orders,

522 Ibid., 4:1747, 74.7a. For the account of the slaying of Ma Ling, see ibid., 3:1373-75, 56.9a-57.1a. 523 Ibid., 3:1378, 57.2b. Punctuations mine. The Jianwen Emperor’s suspicion and resultant hesitation are reiterated in ibid., 5:1886, 81.3b. 524 Ibid., 2:608-609, 25.12b-13a. 525 Ibid., 2:632, 26.11b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 92

the military commander Zhang Xin 張信 is slowly roasted to death and then fed to dogs and pigs. 526 At Luzhou 廬州, the Assistant Prefect Tian Nahai 田納海 is strung up, force-fed pellets of animal dung (washed down with horse urine) three times a day for five days until he dies, and then thrown into a “dung cellar” (fenjiao 糞窖).527 In Chapter 66, the officer Zhang the Black Fat Donkey (Zhang Heipanglü 張黑胖驢) is stripped naked, tossed onto ice, dragged back and then tossed again for five rounds, until he perishes.528 It is precisely atrocities such as these that are addressed when the ghost of Zhuge Liang speaks to Lü Lü in a dream in Chapter 74. One of Zhuge’s advices is:

From now on, whenever you capture people who deserve to be executed, only kill them. Be careful not to employ unusual, cruel punishments in emulation of the Prince of Yan, disrupting Heaven’s harmony and impairing your own virtue as a result.

自後但獲應誅之人，殺之而已。慎毋亦學燕王用非常之毒刑，上傷天和，下虧己德。529

Zhuge Liang, who is greatly admired by Lü Lü,530 represents the voice of moral self- criticism, as it were, in this oneiric episode, candidly pointing out a number of things Yuejun’s regime has done wrong thus far. That he speaks out against the violence and cruelty of the “good guys” means the author of the novel is fully aware that the acts in question are a serious violation of the principles of Good. A more damning situation occurs in Chapter 44. Here, Yuejun’s ladies fight against tens of thousands of Japanese invaders, and unleash a horrendous bloodbath described in graphic terms. 531 It is also during this battle that Nie Yinniang, one of the sword- transcendents assisting Yuejun, shows her spine-chilling, indiscriminately savage side. After catching sight of two civilian women being raped by Japanese chieftains, Nie’s reaction is described in these shocking words:

Yinniang becomes greatly furious and, not caring that the women are pitiful, throws her two swords into the air, chopping both the Japanese chieftains and the women into two. (Emphasis mine)

526 Ibid., 2:709, 30.3a; 2:713, 30.5a. 527 Ibid., 4:1527, 63.11a. 528 Ibid., 4:1579-80, 66.9a-b. 529 Ibid., 4:1748-69, 74.7b-8a. Punctuations mine. 530 See ibid., 4:1740-44, 74.3b-5b. 531 See ibid., 3:1069-78, 44.7a-11b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 93

隱娘大怒，也顧不得女人是可憐的，便把雙劔向空擲去，連倭酋與婦人都刴作兩段。532

Equally disturbing is the mass murder committed by Gongsun Daniang 公孫大娘, another sword-transcendent in Yuejun’s service, in Chapter 40. Here she slaughters an entire monastery of monks (except for an old monk) in the sight of two children, presumably for the men’s lechery,533 after which she, her protégé Fan Feiniang 范飛娘 and their comrade the “Female Licentiate” (Nü Xiucai) still have the heart to enjoy a drink in the posterior hall amongst the dead bodies. 534 No wonder NXWS’s narrator describes these women as “rakshasa maidens” (luocha nü 羅刹女) – demonic creatures, in other words - in relation to the unfortunate monks.535 In fact, Gongsun Daniang is the one who makes one of the most shocking statements in the entire novel, worthy to be called the pinnacle of NXWS’s demonological paradoxicality. By this I am referring to her candid confession to Fan Feiniang in Chapter 39: “Even though we cultivate [ourselves in] the Dao, we are also archdemon sovereigns who kill without batting an eyelid” 我們雖然修道也就是殺人不眨眼的魔君.536 (She goes on to reveal that sword-transcendents such as herself “possess a killing nature that is hard to eradicate” (shaxing nan chu 殺性難除).537 Her violent nature surfaces soon enough as she threatens shortly after to cut the “Female Licentiate” in two with a single slash of her sword, along with the pine tree she has magically concealed herself in.538) Ironically, both Gongsun Daniang and Nie Yinniang are officially conferred by Yuejun with anti-demonic honorific titles just seven chapters later: one is called the “State-supporting Great Transcendent Master Whose Divine Prowess Shakes the Faraway and Whose Numinous Sword Slays the Deviant” 神威震遠靈劔誅邪輔國大仙師, while the other is called the “State-stabilizing Great Transcendent Master Who Connects With the Divine, Attains to Cosmic Transformation and Whose Flying Sword Repels Archdemons” 通神入化飛劔祛魔鎭國大仙師.539

532 Ibid., 3:1075-76, 44.10a-b. Punctuations and italics mine. 533 There are clues pointing to their lechery. The “Female Licentiate” has mentioned that these monks are licentious (see ibid., 3:959, 39.15a). Tellingly, most of their dead bodies are found to be “stark naked” (jingchi 精赤)(ibid., 3:979, 40.8a). 534 Ibid., 3:979-80, 40.8a-b. 535 Ibid., 3:960, 39.15b. 536 Ibid., 3:951, 39.11a. Intriguingly, Li Kui 李逵 of the Ming novel Water Margin (Shuihuzhuan 水滸傳) is also described as an archdemon sovereign who kills people without blinking – see note no. 666 of this dissertation. 537 NXWS(G), 3:951, 39.11a. 538 See ibid., 3:954-55, 39.12b-13a. 539 Ibid., 3.1116, 46.7b. Italics mine.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 94

To add to the biting irony of it all, Yuejun herself openly asserts in Chapter 82 that “orthodox deities” (zhengshen 正神) do not help people to kill, and that “presumptuous killing” (shanxing shalu 擅行殺戮)(with the help of “deviant deities” (xieshen 邪神)) “necessarily draws the wrath of Heaven” 必致上干天怒.540 But, of course, Yuejun’s hands too are far from blood-free. Described by Princess Chamo as having killed so many people that the (old) Three Traditions could never consider her benevolent,541 Yuejun has ominously referred to herself on multiple occasions as the “Ritual Master of the Thunders of Nine Heavens, Mandated by the Jade Void to Take Charge of Killing and Attacking, the Primal Sovereign of Supreme Yin”玉虛敕掌殺伐九天雷霆法主太陰元君,542 in her capacity as the Heaven-sent agent of predestined carnage to be brought to fruition through her anti-Yongle efforts. The fact is: years before her rise to power, Yuejun’s own father is already disturbed by how a poem composed by her in childhood “exudes an awe-inspiring aura of bloodshed” (shaqi linran 殺氣凜然).543

(2) The sometimes “deviant” sexuality (from the Qing Neo-Confucian orthodoxy’s point of view) of Yuejun’s ladies. As far as general “lustfulness” is concerned, it should be noted that women in Yuejun’s service include the likes of the former courtesan Liu Yan and the former entertainer Xiang Feng 翔風. The former has, by means of her sexual techniques, inadvertently caused Yuejun’s husband to perish from uncontrollable ejaculation;544 she is consequently described by a county magistrate in demonological language as a “nine-tailed fox” (jiuwei huli 九尾狐狸), “truly someone seductive enough to hook ethereal-souls away, siren enough to capture gross-souls” 眞媚足勾魂妖能攝魄者. 545 Even after joining Yuejun’s camp, Liu Yan still gets to put her extraordinary sexual prowess to use twice – once to ensnare a deer incubus, and once to co-opt Liu Tong the ruler of the Yunyang regime, 546 the latter case of which is again criticized by the ghost of Zhuge Liang as morally very questionable. 547 As for Xiang Feng, she is revealed to have been burning with “a lustful heart’s fire of desire” (yinxin yuhuo 淫心慾火) all along, such that when she is abducted

540 Ibid., 5:1917, 82.11a. 541 See ibid., 5:2009, 85.9a. 542 A title conferred by the Supreme Thearch in ibid., 1:186, 8.11b; it is used, e.g., in 1:329, 14.17a; 3:1337, 55.3a; cf. a slightly different variant used in 2:604, 25.10b. Emphasis mine. 543 Ibid., 1:60, 1.8b. 544 See ibid., 1:128-29, 6.8b-9a. 545 Ibid., 1:136, 6.12b. 546 See ibid., 1:267-72, 12.5a-7b; 4:1657, 70.3a; 4:1673-76, 70.11a-12b. 547 See ibid., 4:1747, 74.7a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 95

while fighting Japanese invaders in Chapter 44, she does not mind the prospect of being raped. Shortly after, Xiang Feng gets what she more or less looks forward to, and enjoys it so much (to the point of “ecstasy” (leji 樂極)) that she dies from excessive orgasm (or the “breaking loose of Yin [essence]” (tuoyin 脫陰)).548 In addition, there are a few examples of “deviant”, possibly homoerotic behaviour corresponding to what is given for the immediately demonic under point (4) in section 3.1.1. We need not reiterate here the case of Yuejun from NXWS’s Chapter 27, where she unexpectedly agrees with Princess Chamo’s counterfactual wish to be “a husband and wife of ‘inverted phoenixes’” with her. 549 (Very significantly, Princess Chamo’s immediate response to Yuejun’s concurrence is to remark that she is “truly one of us” 眞乃我輩中人,550 thereby confirming that Yuejun is showing a side of herself that resonates with the Demonic Tradition.) A more lurid example is found in Chapter 39, where Gongsun Daniang and her protégé Fan Feiniang clandestinely stoop low to peep at the “Female Licentiate’s” genitals as she urinates, just to confirm that she is really a woman disguised as a man. After the “Female Licentiate” discovers what they are doing, Gongsun Daniang still has the heart to jestingly describe, with lewd details, what the surveyed genitals look like, causing the victim of her violation to label the two peeping Toms as “amorous” (fengliu 風流).551 Suggestive of pathological urophilic voyeurism,552 such disturbing behaviour on the part of Gongsun and Fan is reminiscent of Mantuoni’s habit of coarse joking.

(3) The sometimes demonic appearances or aura of Yuejun’s subordinates. In the battle for Huai’an 淮安 in Jiangsu, hundreds from the troops under the command of Gao Xianning 高咸寧, Yuejun’s vice military adviser, go to great lengths to disguise themselves as a horde of fearsome-looking monsters. This is part of a ruse to terrify the imperial forces they fight, which they do manage to rout subsequently.553 Lü Xiong’s fascination with the demonic has driven him to devote as many as eight lines of colourful text in Chapter 59 to describe their appearances, and for that matter, in mostly demonological or para-demonological terms:

548 See ibid., 3:1073-74, 44.9a-b. 549 See pages 68 to 69, and page 85 herein. 550 NXWS(G), 2:643, 27.5a. 551 Ibid., 3:950, 39.10b; 3:952-53, 39.11b-12a. 552 For a concise account of urophilia as a psychosexual disorder and the form of voyeurism associated with it, see Jack George Thompson, The Psychobiology of Emotions (New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 1988), 173-75. 553 See NXWS(G), 4:1440-45, 59.9b-12a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 96

Some [of the disguised soldiers] have an azure face, protruding teeth, and unkempt, crimson hair; some have an iron forehead, bronze eyes, a red moustache and verdant cheeks; some have dark purple hair, a powder-white face, a bloody mouth and vermilion eyebrows; some have an iron face, a steel beard, sword-like eyebrows and fiery eyes; some have blue cheeks, red sideburns, an upturned nose and lips; some have a golden face, blue eyebrows, a short beard and a bald head; some have yellow eyebrows, a violet face, vermilion eyes in powder-white eye sockets; some have yellow cheekbones, a crimson nose, inverted sideburns and a curly moustache; some wear a golden band around the forehead, dangling a few long strands of silk; some wear silver rings on the ears, and sport a short, three-pronged horn. [ … ] [And after been given various intimidating weapons to hold,] they are now veritably: the awe-inspiring Dark Warrior with his array of thirty-six divine generals, a ferocious asura surrounded by one hundred and eight archdemon sovereigns. They are either subordinates of the Kings of the Ten Halls of Hell, yaksas554 and rakshasas on a rampage, or a manifestation of vicious killer-spirits and injurious deities from before the imperial carriage of the Five Plague Gods.555

或青面獠牙，蓬頭赤髮；或鐵額銅睛，紅鬚綠頰；或紺髮粉臉，血口朱眉；或鐵面鋼髯，劍眉火眼；或藍腮紅鬢，揭鼻掀唇；或金臉藍眉，短髯禿頂；或黃眉紫面，粉眶朱目；或黃顴赤鼻，倒鬢卷鬚；或額勒金箍，披的幾縷長絲；或耳墜銀環，挽著三丫短角。[ …… ] 眞个是：元武威風，擺列著三十六員神將；修羅兇猛，簇擁的一百八个魔君。若非十殿閻王部下，夜叉羅剎橫行，定是五瘟神聖駕前，兇煞傷神出現。556

In addition, a few curious examples can be found across NXWS that involve the surprising superimposition of the imagery of “heavenly demonesses” (tianmo 天魔) on some of Yuejun’s (human) ladies: • In Chapter 30, the acrobats Xiang Feng and Hui Xue 迴雪 perform the rather sensuous “Dance of the Heavenly Demonesses” (Tianmo zhi wu 天魔之舞) to entertain Yuejun’s soldiers.557 Interestingly, very shortly after this event, Yuejun goes off to the Penglai Pavilion, where, as mentioned in the previous section of this

554 For more information on yaksas (yecha 夜叉), see note no. 889 for Appendix II, “My Translation of Liu Ji’s ‘The Two Demons’. 555 The Five Plague Gods (Wu wenshen 五瘟神) are essentially deified demons of epidemics, the likes of which are discussed in: Paul Katz, “Demons or Deities? – The Wangye of Taiwan,” Asian Folklore Studies 46 (1987): 197-215; Michael Szonyi, “The Illusion of Standardizing the Gods: The Cult of the Five Emperors in Late Imperial China,” Journal of Asian Studies 56, no. 1 (Feb. 1997): 116-17, 123-26; Richard von Glahn, The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), 115-22. 556 NXWS(G), 4:1441-42, 59.10a-b. Punctuations mine. The soldiers’ disguises here clearly draw on an ancient connection between real-life military combat and the theatrical ritualism of masquerading as “demonic gods”, which has been discussed by Mark R. E. Meulenbeld with reference to historical material from the Song and Yuan dynasty - see Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 10-15, 116. 557 NXWS(G), 2:719, 30.8a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 97

dissertation, she and a number of female transcendents and goddesses enjoy the musical performance of a demonic screen borrowed from Princess Chamo.558 Such parallelism reinforces the demonic feel of both performances. • When foreign envoys pay tribute at Yuejun’s court in Chapter 54, Yuejun’s standard –defender Nü Jingang 女金剛 and her female comrade Manshinu 滿釋奴 are said to be “dressed like heavenly demonesses or rakshasas” 結束得如天魔羅刹樣子 in their eyes.559 • When Nü Jingang fights the valiant general Zhu Gou’er 朱狗兒 in Chapter 94, both characters are portrayed as demon-like with their belligerent mien. The former “dances with her lotus stick, and may be mistaken for a heavenly demoness” 蓮花棒舞錯認天魔, while the latter “flips his cast iron shovel upwards, and one must guess he is a rakshasa” 渾鐡鍬掀定猜羅刹.560

(4) Independence and creativity that are somewhat reminiscent of the Demon Tradition’s, albeit within the broad limits of accepted orthodoxy. Although Yuejun upholds Confucian values, she believes in openness in ethical conduct and understanding, and rejects restrictive hermeneutics and praxes of the Confucian classics (i.e., as prevalent under the Neo-Confucian orthodoxy of Lü Xiong’s time). In her childhood, she makes such a liberating attitude clear to her father in these words:

[ … ] In everyday living, the sages always respond as is suited to the time at hand. Every instance [of their moral action] is essentially fitting according to [cosmo- ethical] principles. What need is there for laying down so many pedantic, inflexible rules, thereby fixing the minds of people, such that they suspect those who adapt to situations and know how to change of transgression and failure to stick to moral principles? To do so is truly to fall into a rut. When I read, I aim to grasp the original intentions of the sages and worthies. Mine is not the narrow minds of the Erudites of the Confucian classics, who only delve into the chapters and verses of texts and reproduce old interpretations invariably. For this reason I am at odds with the Song [Neo-]Confucians. May you, my father, not be astonished at this.

若夫日用平常，聖人隨時而應，要之各當於理。何用設立多少迂板規矩，令人印定心眼，反疑達權者為逾閑，通變者為失守？此眞墮入窠臼中耳。

558 As recounted in pages 84 to 85. 559 NXWS(G), 3:1318, 54.5b. 560 Ibid., 5:2186-87, 94.7b-8a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 98

孩兒讀書，要悟聖賢本旨，不比經生眼孔，只向章句鑽研，作依樣葫蘆之解，是以與宋儒不合。幸父親勿訝之。561

Years later, when Yuejun meets her future adviser Lü Lü for the first time, she continues to show contempt for narrow-minded, inflexible conformity thus: “The Way of the [Confucian] sages does not consist in circumscriptive rules. The Song [Neo-]Confucians adhered to old norms and fell into a rut. That is equivalent to playing a se zither whose bridge is glued to the sound board” 聖人之道不在規矩宋儒守繩墨落窠臼無異膠柱鼓瑟.562 It is thus not out of character that Yuejun boldly creates all-new sets of protocols for the imperial court and for women’s conduct in NXWS’s Chapter 83, 563 deviating from tradition as if emulating Princess Chamo’s aspiration to be “a master who is to create a whole new world” and therefore is not “willing to follow in the footsteps of someone else”.564 Yuejun is assured in this act of innovation by Mantuoni with these anti-authoritarian rhetorical questions: “Who is Shun [the Confucians’ sage-king of high antiquity] and who am I? Can it be that there is no one after Shun capable of establishing rites and creating music [ex nihilo]?” 舜何人也？予何人也？難道後世就沒有个可以制禮作樂的？565 Indeed, the commentator (Gong) Danyan (龔)澹巖 recognizes at the end of this particular chapter that “[t]he canons and protocols established by Yuejun are not from the dynasties Xia, Zhou, Han or Tang, but are made up” 月君所定典禮非夏非周非漢非唐原出自杜撰.566 Prior to this, under Lü Lü’s initiative and Yuejun’s approval, the pro-Jianwen regime has already implemented a new system of civil service examinations that is freed from the shackles of “eight-legged essays” (baguwen 八股文) and Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130 - 1200) commentaries on the Confucian classics.567 Notably, the new-styled examinations emphasize the production of “authentic writings” (zhenwen 眞文) that are “drawn from one’s own heart” 取之於我心 568 - rather than “picking up and stealing from what others have said before” 拾牙慧竊唾餘 569 – and not bound by the Procrustean bed of any stipulated “format” (geshi

561 Ibid., 1:58, 3.7b. Punctuations mine. 562 Ibid., 1:286, 13.4b. 563 Ibid., 5:1931-39, 83.4a-8a; 5:1943-52, 83.10a-14b. 564 See note no. 409. 565 NXWS(G), 5:1939, 83.8a. Punctuations mine. 566 Ibid., 5:1952, 83.14b. 567 See ibid., 5:1897-1905, 82.1a-5a. For an analysis of the new system and, in connection thereto, Lü Xiong’s critical attitude towards the real-life civil service examinations of his time, see Nishimura, “Composition and Ideology,” 171-75; Li, “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi,” 29-31, 147-56. 568 NXWS(G), 5:1903, 82.4a. 569 Ibid., 5:1901-1902, 82.3a-b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 99

格式)570 or “prosodic form” (tige 體格)571. Obviously, here is an extension of the valorization of the creating of new things by independent minds unfettered by existing restrictions.

(5) The conformity of the spirits of Tie Xuan 鐡鉉 and Jing Qing 景清, martyred subjects of the Jianwen Emperor, to traditional patterns of manifestation and placation of demonic power. Administration Vice Commissioner Tie Xuan and Imperial Censor Jing Qing are killed by the Yongle Emperor In the aftermath of the Jingnan Campaign, one for staunch defiance and refusal to acknowledge the usurper, the other for attempting to assassinate him. To the two Jianwen loyalists the Yongle Emperor shows a very atrocious side of himself. Not only does he cut off Tie’s nose and ears and have him finely dismembered, he also boils his dead body in oil, then casts it into a dung-cellar, condemns Tie’s wife and daughters to the Music Office, and decimates his entire clan. As for Jing, the Emperor orders the removal of his teeth with a knife, has him skinned, stuffs his skin with straw and hangs it at the city gates, minces Jing’s flesh and bones to be cast into a lavatory, then executes his nine families, as well as at least hundreds of other individuals supposedly connected to him.572 In the traditional Chinese worldview, the two Jianwen loyalists would be considered to have suffered enough violence for them to haunt the living as wrathful ghosts. Sure enough, that is precisely what happens. Before the Yongle Emperor is even done with Tie Xuan’s corpse, it leaps violently in the boiling oil, almost injuring the usurper himself; twenty- odd imperial guards spew blood and die on site, presumably because of the energy of Tie’s hatred.573 Jing Xing’s mortal remains also perform a harrowing supernatural feat – his stuffed skin lunges at the Yongle Emperor and has to be bludgeoned and then burnt completely, but not before mysteriously causing the lackeys who burn it to spew blood and collapse to the ground.574 The terror escalates from there on. Jing Xing’s ghost haunts the Emperor by day and by night, repeatedly trying to attack him with a sword or sabre. As a result, the Emperor lives in fear and exhaustion, constantly defending himself. The apparition, which “comes with a susurrating ghostly wind, and hairs standing on ends” 陰風颯颯毛髮皆豎, even causes two or three imperial consorts to die of fright. To make matters worse, the Yongle Emperor later

570 Ibid., 5:1901, 82.3a. 571 Ibid., 5:1900, 82.2b. 572 See ibid., 2:524-27, 22.2b-4a; 2:529-31, 22.5a-6a. 573 See ibid., 2:526-27, 22.3b-4a. 574 See ibid., 2:531, 22.6a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 100

finds himself also haunted by Tie Xuan’s spirit, who is seen leading dozens of ghostly soldiers into the imperial palace, presumably with an impericidal intent.575 In the end, the desperate Emperor has to adopt a suggestion put forth by an imperial consort, which is to “bestow [posthumous] official ranks and honorific titles to [Jing Qing and Tie Xuan], grant them canonized imperial sacrifices, so that their energies will be pacified and their spirits dissipated” 贈其官爵賜以祭典則氣平而精靈散矣.576 As official offerings are consequently made on dedicated altars on behalf of the Emperor, and the two pro-Jianwen martyrs each conferred with the title of Guardian of the Heir Apparent (gongbao 宮保), the vengeful ghosts are laid to rest, and peace is restored to the imperial palace.577 In the eyes of any scholar of Chinese religion, the exorcistic or apotropaic measures taken by the Yongle Emperor here are but a projection of the age-old practice of assimilating powerful, unregulated entities into the centralized system of religious recognition and control under the imperial government578 - which, under the right circumstances, would correspond to integrations into the dominant structure as associated with the first and second category of the demonic in Laurie Cozad’s demonological schema.579 Historically, entities thus assimilated or targeted for assimilation often include the spirits of individuals who have died violently,580 and who thus can be frightening havoc-wreakers with wrathful energy, as exemplified by the fictional Tie Xuan and Jing Xing. At the same time, the successful assimilation of NXWS’s Tie and Jing, complete with altar-based ritual and conferral of a title, is also analogous to the formal “sublimation” of anti-Zhou warriors at the end of the Ming novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen yanyi 封神演義), where the demonic dead “[receive] offerings on the Altar for the Canonization of the Gods” and become “reformed” deities to serve the new cosmic order under the Zhou dynasty.581 Ultimately, as Mark R. E. Meulenbeld has pointed out, there is a correspondence between the canonization of the demonic dead in the abovementioned novel and a particular subsystem of centralized control over the spirit world during the Ming dynasty – i.e., the empire-wide establishment of Altars for Baleful Spirits in the year 1370 by Zhu

575 See ibid., 2:533-34, 22.7a-b. 576 NXWS(G), 2:534, 22.7b. 577 Ibid., 2:535, 22.8a. 578 See, e.g., the mechanics of recognizing local deities in the Southern Song, as discussed in: Valerie Hansen, Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1276 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), 79-104. 579 As outlined in Chap. 1 herein, “Introduction,” 14-15. 580 See Hansen, Changing Gods, 37-38. 581 As summarized in Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 205-206.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 101

Yuanzhang 朱元璋 (1328 – 98; r. 1368 - 98) the first Ming emperor.582 These hierarchical altars target “humans who died unnaturally”, so that “the powers of [their] unruly spirits can be contained”, “[allowing] unruly, diabolical spirits to be included within the official, imperial system of sacrifices” and thereby pacified.583 With such historical and literary precedents of bureaucratic appeasement, the vengeful ghosts of the pro-Jianwen loyalists in NXWS come across as no different from regular demonic beings familiar to the politico-religious life of pre-modern China, who disrupt the peace of the empire on various levels and, as is taken for granted, must (and can) be dealt with by structuralized authority that flow from and support the recognized Son of Heaven.

In view of points (1) to (5) above, one has to wonder: In a novel purported to condemn evil and uphold the values of the good, why would the author make the forces of Good mirror the demonic at times? And why so jarringly at some junctures? The self-othering of the good to such a degree as outlined above is harder to explain than the dialectic self- othering of the immediately demonic. One way to make sense of it is to think of it as an indication of the pervasiveness of the demonic. That is to say, Lü Xiong sees the demonic as inhering so pervasively throughout the fabric of the universe that it necessarily tends to subvert the purity of any purported or presupposed antithesis of itself, thereby threatening to destabilize any clear dichotomy. Indeed, a sense of such inherence and penetration is captured by Lü Xiong’s contemporaneous commentator Zhou Wu’an 周勿菴 when he comments on NXWS’s Chapter 31 thus:

[ … ] By middle antiquity, with the Three Traditions established, the Way of the Demons formed an equal counterpoise thereto, which is why history has been split equally between order and chaos since then. Ultimately, those who do evil within the Three Traditions are demons. Towards the end of this age, the sages of the Three Traditions exist only in name; there are no longer any individuals who can be sages for the Three Traditions. Hence, when the Unofficial History says the Way of the Demons is growing by the day, they are the truest of words indeed. (Emphasis mine)

582 See ibid., 138-44, 205. 583 See ibid., 140.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 102

[ …… ] 迨乎中古，三敎既立，而魔道與之平分，所以治亂各半。究竟三敎中之爲惡者即魔也。降至季世，僅存三敎聖人之名，更無有可以爲三敎聖人之徒者。故《外史》云魔道日甚，的係至言。584

The understanding that the “good guys” are being touched and subverted by the demonic on a fundamental level – from the roots up, as it were - not only squares with the Yuejun’s sliding towards being “demon-stricken” as delineated in section 3.1.1 above, but is also evident in a compelling story arc around the middle of NXWS which begins with the slaying of Ma Ling and ends with the encounter between Hanxu and two goddesses, as recounted in the following section.

3.1.3 An Illustrative Account: The Humiliation of the Celestial Master

It is illuminating at this point of my analysis to zoom in and look at a particular sequence of events in NXWS a little more closely. It is one that encapsulates Lü Xiong’s vision of the demonic at its most impactful: the rough treatment of Hanxu, the eminent Celestial Master from Mount Longhu (Longhu shan 龍虎山), Jiangxi, in Chapter 57. There is no better account in all of NXWS to succinctly, almost self-evidently lay bare the extreme character of both the immediately and the “mirrored” demonic. The initial incident that sets off the sequence in question occurs in Chapter 56, where Hanxu embarks on an out-of-body trip to Heaven. The purpose of the trip is to investigate the true identity of the “rebel” Yuejun on behalf of Gaochi the Yongle Emperor’s Heir Apparent.585 Surprisingly, Hanxu is told in the celestial realm by his ascended progenitor (Zhang Daoling 張道陵, the first Celestial Master) that the matter is out of his league,586 which implies that the forces involved in the struggle between Yuejun and the Yongle Emperor are far more powerful than he is. Events take a downward turn for Hanxu at this juncture, for Ma Ling, the monkey goblin working for Yuejun, happens to pass by, tries to fool around with the Celestial Master’s temporarily entranced body on a whim, and is killed by his guardian spirit Heavenly Marshal

584 NXWS(G), 2:765, 31.22a. Punctuations and italics mine. 585 A course of action reminiscent of how, in the Ming novel Journey to the West, Sun Wukong repeatedly travels to investigate who his demonic adversaries really are. The very methodology of discovering the true identities of malefic entities at work also informs the ancient exorcistic methods of Summoning for Interrogation (kaozhao 拷召), as described in: Edward L. Davies, Society and the Supernatural in Song China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001), 101-107. 586 See NXWS(G), 3:1369, 56.7a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 103

Wen (Wen Tianjun 溫天君). Hanxu then dispatches a “merit officer” (gongcao 功曹) to take Ma’s soul to the underworld. 587 Unfortunately the spirit escort bumps into and is subsequently intercepted – “almost killed with a single kick” 一脚幾乎踢死 588 – by Kumbhānda (Jiupantu 鳩盤荼), Princess Chamo’s subordinate. Kumbhānda takes Ma Ling’s soul to her master and reports the incident, whereupon:

[t]he archdemon lord becomes furious, saying, “My sworn sister’s subordinates are all vacuous transcendents! They fear the so-called Celestial Master, and will have no guts to exact revenge! If I don’t do something for her, how will my capabilities as her sworn sister be shown?” So she orders Kumbhānda: “Select nine demonesses good at sucking the souls of transcendents. Quickly secure the soul of that thievish Daoist priest, take him to the Emperor’s Mentor [i.e., Yuejun] for her to deal with him, and then bring him to me in locks and chains. I’ll hang him in the air for ten thousand years. Then we’ll see if he still has any magic in him!”

魔主大怒道：「我妹子駕下，都是這些空虛的仙子，怕的什麼天師！那里敢去報仇！我若不與他出力，怎見得我姊姊的手段？」遂諭鳩盤荼道：「你選着九个善吸仙人魂魄的魔女，火速取了賊道的魂靈，先到帝師處請他發落，然後鎖來見我。弔他在空中一萬年，看還有甚道術沒有！」589

Soon Hanxu is confronted by Kumbhānda and her ladies. He “reckons she is an archdemon king” (cai shi mowang 猜是魔王), and obviously, if not surprisingly for readers in Lü Xiong’s time, feels intimidated. His immediate response is not to even attempt an exorcism, but actually to try to avoid trouble by stating evasively, “You and I are a world apart and have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Why have you come here?” 我與汝天各一方如風馬牛之不及胡爲乎到此 590 But Kumbhānda would have none of such nonsense:

The demonesses go forward together. They sway Hanxu down to the east, pick him up to face the west, sway him down to the north, and pick him up to face the south. They take and play with him as if he is a self-righting doll. Hanxu can only keep his spirit still, and let them do as they please. Suddenly they prop him up, and spin him like a windmill for over a hundred rounds. Hanxu continues to keep still [inwardly]. Seeing that he is somewhat spiritually accomplished, the demonesses overturn him, such that his head is on the ground and his feet point skywards. Round and round, back and forth they turn him for countless times. Then they dance into the air, and toss him back and forth, up and down,

587 Ibid., 3:1375-76, 57.1a-b. 588 Ibid., 3:1379, 57.3a. 589 Ibid., 3:1382-83, 57.4b-5a. Punctuations mine. 590 Ibid., 3:1383-84, 57.5a-b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 104

incessantly. Next they take Hanxu’s hands and feet, and rotate him like a wheel through the four orientations at a speed comparable to wind or lightning. At this point, Hanxu feels that he cannot take it anymore. The nine demonesses laugh loudly. Then, as they suck strongly on his mud-pellet palace, the acupoint of yongquan and his seven orifices,591 his soul leaves its mortal shell.

衆魔女一齊向前，將涵虛扳倒向東，又放起向西；扳倒在北，又放起向南，竟把來當個扳不倒兒頑耍。涵虛只是定着神，由他擺弄。忽又擎將起來，如風輪一般，旋轉了百來囘，涵虛只是凝然不動。衆魔女見他有些道行，就顚倒豎將起來，頭在地下，脚向天上，翻來覆去了多少遍；又一齊舞向空中，上上下下，你拋我擲个不住；又各扯了雙手兩足，四面轉輪起來，其快如風電相逐。涵虛此時覺着不能禁當了。九个魔女哈哈大笑，就在泥丸宮與湧泉穴並七竅處所，用力一吸——涵虛神魂早已離了軀殼。592

Hanxu’s soul is taken to Yuejun, who forgives him for what happened to Ma Ling even though Mantuoni suggests that he be flogged a hundred times with a divine whip. What transpires then is nothing less than a brazen panegyric to the awesomeness and dominance of the Demonic Tradition:

[Yuejun] tells Hanxu, “I shall let you go now. What do you think?” Hanxu says, “Never in the aeons will I be able to repay your act of sagely virtue.” Yuejun says, “These are not the words [I want to hear]. Behold, are they not everywhere today – demonic humans and spirits, all over the seen and unseen worlds? You must never write talismans and perform rituals for which the sagely Lord Chamo would find you guilty. Should you be demon-stricken again, there would be no one to deliver you.” When Hanxu hears this, he is deeply moved, and can only weep and kowtow in gratitude. Kumbhānda stands and says, “Your humble demon still has to take his thievish Daoist priest away, and let him know what the sagely Lord Chamo can do.” Yuejun says, “The sagely lord has tried on my behalf to make me look good, yet now I still have to ask her for favour. This is all [the doing of] my petty benevolence. I will trouble Master Man [i.e., Mantuoni] to visit the sagely lord some other day and give a reply concerning this matter.” Kumbhānda grins, “This thievish Daoist priest has been let off lightly!” She gives him a kick, at which he rolls on the ground. Laughing, Mantuoni says, “The Demonic is the universal path of the world.” (Emphasis mine)

遂諭涵虛道：「我今放你回去，意下如何？」涵虛道：「歷刼難酬聖德也。」月君道：「不是這句話。目今不論陰間陽間，人魔鬼魔，何處蔑有？你切不可書符作法，獲罪於剎魔聖主。再有一番着魔，便無人來與你解脫

591 The Daoist term “mud-pellet palace” (niwan gong 泥丸宮) refers to where a person’s consciousness and soul reside, situated within the head – see, e.g., Zeng Zao 曾慥 (1091 - 1155), Dao shu 道樞 [Pivot of the Dao], TY1008, 9.7b-8a, in ZTDZ, vol. 35. The acupoint of yongquan is in the sole of the foot. The seven orifices are the eyes, the ears, the nostrils and the mouth. 592 NXWS(G), 3:1384-85, 57.5b-6a. Punctuations mine.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 105

了。」涵虛聽了，感切肺腑，唯有垂淚叩謝。鳩盤荼立起說道：「小魔還要帶這賊道去，使他得知剎魔聖主利害。」月君道：「聖主為我爭體面，我如今倒要向聖主討情分。是我之小仁，過日再煩曼師來拜復聖主罷。」鳩盤荼笑道：「便宜了這賊道。」只一脚，踢得在地下打滾兒。曼尼笑道：「魔也者，天下之達道也。」593

Thus, Hanxu’s soul gets to return to his body. After waking up, the shaken Celestial Master hurriedly settles his affairs with Gaochi and heads back to Mount Longhu. As if the foregoing ordeals are not bad enough for him, Hanxu is further humiliated by two goddesses, Dagu 大姑 and Xiaogu 小姑, from the two Gu Mountains (er Gushan 二孤山; i.e., Dagushan 大孤山 and Xiaogushan 小孤山)594 en route. They lift his boat into the air, point a sword at him, call him a wielder of “witchcraft” (yaoshu 妖術) who has killed Ma Ling for no reason, and intend to kill him themselves “according to the orders of the sagely lord Chamo” 奉刹魔聖主之命. With much trepidation, Hanxu tries to placate the goddesses reverently. He says, “I have been forgiven by the Emperor’s Mentor, and released to return to my mountain. What else have I to do with that archdemon king?” 今已蒙帝師原宥釋放囘山與彼魔王何涉 595

Next, he raises an acute question, the reply to which constitutes yet another salute to the Demonic Tradition:

[Hanxu says]: “Moreover, venerable goddesses, you, the Emperor’s Mentor and my progenitor the Celestial Master [Zhang Daoling] are all of the Orthodox Way. What reason is there for two venerable deities like you to turn around and harm your own kind for the sake of deviant demons? Please reconsider this matter.” Dagu hollers, “The world today is the world of archdemon kings! Even Her Highness the Emperor’s Mentor has become a sworn sister to the sagely lord [Chamo], so which of the gods and spirits under Heaven dare not obey [Princess Chamo]? A nominal “Perfected One” like you is like an official who acquires his position only because of inherited entitlements. Enjoying benefits from your forefathers, all you know is doing whatever you want with no regard for anything. What do you know of any principles [of how things work]?” (Emphasis mine)

593 Ibid, 3:1386-87, 57.6b-7a. Punctuations and italics mine. 594 Dagushan is south of present-day Hukou County, Jiangxi, and stands within Poyang Lake. Xiaogushan is southeast of Susong County, Anhui, and stands within the Yangtze River. Each of these two islets has been associated with a goddess’ temple since at least the Song dynasty – see Chen Zi 陳鼒 (fl. 1869 - 1872), Huang Fenglou 黃鳳樓 (fl. 1832) et al., comps., Dehua xian zhi 德化縣志 [Gazetteer of Dehua County](1872; repr., Taipei City: Chengwen chubanshe, 1970), 13.33a; Da Chunbu 達春布 (fl. 19th century), Huang Fenglou et al., comps., Jiujiang fu zhi 九江府志 [Gazetteer of Jiujiang Prefecture](1874; repr., Taipei City: Chengwen chubanshe, 1975), 13.29b-30a; He Zhiji 何治基 [He Shaoji 何紹基](1799 - 1873) et al., comps., Anhui tongzhi 安徽通志 [Comprehensive gazetteer of Anhui](1877; repr., Taipei: Huawen shuju, 1967), 54.8a-b. 595 NXWS(G), 3:1392-93, 57.9b-10a.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 106

況尊神與帝師及家祖天師，都是正道，豈有二位尊神返爲着邪魔，自傷同類之理？尚求垂察。」大姑叱道：「現今是魔王世界。帝師娘娘尚且與聖主結了姊妹，天下神靈誰敢不遵？你那樣挂名的眞人，就像个廕生出身的官兒，靠著祖父餘澤，一味胡爲，曉得什麼道理！」596

Eventually Hanxu manages to persuade the goddesses to let him go. However, as they become concerned over how they would have to report the result of their ambush to Princess Chamo, Dagu and Xiaogu decide to detain one of Hanxu’s two ritual attendants. The Celestial Master has no choice but to simply sigh and move on.597

It should be remembered that, however the prestige of the Daoist Celestial Master might have declined in the eyes of the Qing government during the 18th century,598 the head of the Way of the Celestial Masters continued to be generally perceived by the Chinese populace as the supreme demon-queller throughout the Qing dynasty. 599 NXWS’s shock value in, figuratively speaking, having demons easily wipe the floor with Hanxu’s face must have been quite substantial (as evidenced in section 3.2 below). It is doubly so when even goddesses of the “Orthodox Way” (zhengdao 正道) 600 are portrayed as under Princess Chamo’s influence and openly recognizing the supremacy of what she represents.

596 Ibid., 3:1393, 57.10a. Punctuations and italics mine. 597 See ibid., 3:1394-95, 57.10b-11a. 598 E.g., in 1752, Zhang Yulong 張遇隆 (1727 - 64) the 56th Celestial Master was demoted in terms of his rank of nobility from first class to fifth class, not allowed to request for conferral of an official title as per the usual practice, and his audiences with the emperor were discontinued – see Zhang Jintao 張金濤, ed., Zhongguo Longhu shan Tianshi dao 中國龍虎山天師道 [The Way of the Celestial Masters of China’s Mount Longhu], 2nd ed. (Nanchang: Jiangxi renmin chubanshe, 2000), 205-206, 240. In addition, according to the evidence of extant government dossiers, while the Celestial Master could still submit memorials to the emperor directly in 1769, this privilege was nullified by 1789 – see Wang Jianchuan 王見川 and Gao Wansang 高萬桑, eds., Jindai Zhang Tianshi shiliao huibian 近代張天師史料彙編 [A sourcebook of early modern materials on the Celestial Masters Zhang](Taipei City: Boyang wenhua, 2012), 68-69. 599 As attested to by accounts in numerous Qing miscellanies, as collected in: Wang and Gao, Jindai Zhang Tianshi, 160-269. See also Wang and Gao’s summary of the people’s perception of the Celestial Master, in pages 157-58; in particular, it is noted that “when dealing with malicious ghosts and deviant deities, people in the Qing had always seen the Celestial Master as the highest authority and final recourse” 清代的人們在觸及厲鬼邪神時總是視天師為最高權威和最後訴求, “they would always implore the Celestial Master when cheaper and more easily available methods had all failed” 當其它的更為廉價和更易獲致的方法均告失敗時，他們總是乞求天師 (Wang and Gao, Jindai Zhang Tianshi, 158). 600 The goddess’ temple at Xiaogushan, in particular, enjoyed strong recognition from the imperial government. Ming bureaucrats had been officially sent there to make offerings during the Hongwu and Yongle period (see He et al., comps., Anhui tongzhi, 54.8b); after the temple was designated a shrine for the Heavenly Consort (Tianfei 天妃) sometime in the Qing or earlier, the Qianlong Emperor himself personally wrote an inscription (which says ling zhao jiang yu 靈昭江嶼 [a spiritual presence

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 107

In the episode recounted above, not only is the great exorcist thoroughly overcome and humiliated, the very possibility or viability of exorcising mo is put into serious question as Yuejun essentially tells Hanxu to never perform exorcism again. Furthermore, the self- affirmation of the demonic here runs deeper than violence to body and soul, but has worked its way insidiously into the discursive level. Mantuoni’s gleeful declaration that “[t]he Demonic is the universal path of the world” 魔也者天下之達道也, made in the presence of an implicitly assenting Yuejun, is a parody of part of the Confucian text “The Doctrine of the Mean” (“Zhongyong” 中庸), which reads: “There are five universal paths of the world … They are: the relationships between sovereign and subjects, father and son, husband and wife, between brothers, and between friends. These five are the universal paths of the world.” 天下之達道五 [……] 曰君臣也父子也夫婦也昆弟也朋友之交也五者天下之達道也.601 Deliberately phrased to strongly deliver the impact of perverting “orthodox” canon, Mantuoni’s statement exposes the disconcerting, misanthropic nature of the demonic; 602 it tears down all the quintessential human relationships, and replaces the multiplicity thereof with monosyllabic, monolithic, unqualified mo, universalized and augustly elevated to the level of Dao. As Yuejun herself has admitted, mo is everywhere, “all over the seen and unseen worlds”, reified in humans and spirits alike; envisioned thus, it is like a unifying cosmic principle, evoking the sense of oneness that underpins the Indian

that shines over the islet in the river]) for a plaque to hang over Xiaogushan’s goddess-associated Make-up Pavilion (Shuzhuang ting 梳粧亭)(see Da, Huang et al., comps., Jiujiang fu zhi, 13.29b-30a). 601 Liji zhushu 禮記註疏 [The Book of Rites, with commentary and subcommentary], comm. Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127 - 200), subcomm. Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574 - 648), gloss. Lu Deming 陸德明 (556 - 627), 52.25a; from the Jiguge 汲古閣 edition of Shisanjing zhushu 十三經註疏 [The Thirteen Confucian Classics, with commentaries and subcommentaries], Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (A232600), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. 602 Cf. Michael J. Buckley’s demonological insight distilled from Ignatius of Loyola and 19th century Western thought: “the diabolical is the destructively antihuman”, the Christian God in his diabolized form is “the alienation of humanity from its own essence, from its social freedom, from its dynamic possibilities, from its mature self-responsibility and growth”, and hence is “the enemy of humanity” (Michael J. Buckley, “Modernity and the Satanic Face of God,” in Christian Spirituality and the Culture of Modernity: The Thought of Louis Dupré, ed. Peter J. Casarella and George P. Schner (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 122). Also, the anthropophagous ways of Princess Chamo’s subordinates (see page 72 herein above) can be thought of as an expression of demonic misanthropy.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 108

Buddhist concept of Māra, 603 from which term the Chinese word mo historically originated.604 The demonic thus portrayed as profoundly rampant echoes the hordes of demons of various grotesque appearances that overrun the world – in some texts, as apocalyptic outbreaks - and bring great suffering and destruction to humans as described in the Scripture of the Divine Incantations from the Cavernous Abyss (Dongyuan shenzhou jing 洞淵神咒經), the Demon Statutes of Nüqing (Nüqing guilü 女青鬼律) and other Daoist scriptures from the Six Dynasties.605 Even the demonic self-alterity or ambivalence seen in NXWS is arguably foreshadowed in these scriptural precedents, according to which demons may be reformed to join the anti-demonic hierarchy under the Dao;606 within the pertinent Daoist cosmologies, archdemon kings function not only as “managers of evil”607 who keep the numerous baneful entities in the various cosmic realms in check, but also as necessary protectors of the meritorious dead, who “guarantee that those who have the qualifications will ascend as transcendents and rise to the realm of transcendent beings”.608 In Lü Xiong’s conception, however, there is no anthropomorphized Dao or other high gods for the great archdemons to submit and answer to. Nor does NXWS so much as hint at any ultimate deliverance and salvation from the archdemonic overlords of the world, or suggest any majestic, future event that might spell final defeat or subjugation of the likes of Princess Chamo. Free and self-

603 According to T. O. Ling, through the notion of Māra, “[a] monistic understanding of the demonic replaces the pluralistic understanding which is offered in popular mythology” (Ling, Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil, 67). It underscores “the unitary nature of evil” (Ling, Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil, 65); in the right context, anything from corporeality, perception, consciousness, to death itself or a yaksa (yakkha in Pali) can be Māra - see Ling, Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil, 44-47, 57-58. 604 For a concise account of the etymology of mo, see Kamitsuka, “The Concept of Māra,” 31. 605 For a scholarly overview of such ancient visions of demonic plethora, see: Li Fengmao 李豐懋, “Dongyuan shenzhou jing de shenmo guan ji qi kezhi shuo” 《洞淵神咒經》的神魔觀及其剋治說 [The view of gods and archdemons in The Scripture of the Divine Incantations from the Cavernous Abyss, and its discourse on counteraction], Dongfang zongjiao yanjiu 東方宗教研究 (xin) 2 (Oct. 1991): 131-54; Mollier, “Visions of Evil,” 82-95; cf. Kamitsuka, “The Concept of Māra,” 39-50. 606 As Christine Mollier puts it:

A demon can give up his free and independent existence as an evil creature to take on the more subservient but certainly nobler role of valet or soldier of the Dao. Then he will join the ranks of the armies of the great cause whose task it is to purge the world of this evil assemblage of which, only yesterday, he was a part. [ … ] He becomes an official servant of the Dao who entrusts him with a position in keeping with his abilities and his talents: soldier, general, government official, chief, king, executioner or henchman.” (Mollier, “Visions of Evil,” 89)

607 Kamitsuka, “The Concept of Māra,” 50. 608 Ibid., 48.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 109

willed by nature, the Demonic Tradition, it seems, was and is and ever will be, existing outside of the hackneyed loops of theodicean retribution, subsumption, closure and resolution.

3.2 The Prominence of Nüxian waishi’s Demonology

As seen in the foregoing sections of the present dissertation, the demonic in NXWS is marked in toto by: (1) asuraism (Yang-demonic qualities); (2) dialectic self-alterity; (3) a strange attractiveness beyond the merely erotic; (4) pervasiveness and subversiveness. Admittedly, in itself, much of this is not exactly new or unique in Chinese demonological discourse up to Lü Xiong’s time. The question that naturally arises would be: What exactly is so outstanding about NXWS’s demonological outlook? The answer lies in the degree of radicality in the abovementioned fourfold face of the demonic, which essentially crystallizes into three facets: (I) The demonic as existentially self-defining; (II) The demonic as ultimately insuperable and dominant; (III) The demonic as a sublime, suggestively desirable part of reality or mode of being. These three points may be further generalized as constituting a form of demon- glamorization, extreme positivization of the demonic, or, for lack of a better term, “demonogloria”. Needless to say, demonogloria in itself is already an eyebrow raiser for the average reader of NXWS, and point (III) above especially so, since it ostensibly flies in the face of the basically axiomatic understanding of the demonic as a form of hated or feared negativity. In any case, the prominence of the three facets of NXWS’s demonogloria has been noted, implicitly or otherwise, in part or in whole, by some of Lü Xiong’s contemporaries, as well as modern scholars. For example, two original commentators of NXWS’s Chapter 57 were so disturbed by Hanxu’s ordeals (as summarized in section 3.1.3 above) that they struggled in their attempts to vindicate Lü Xiong. One, Xiangquan 香泉 (i.e., Chen Yixi), wrote:

Reading the Unofficial History, I see that it often expounds on the subtle truths of the Daoist religion. How could the author possibly let demonesses bully the Perfected One, thereby giving glory to the Deviant Way, and destroying the whole purpose of his writing? The point here is really to insert a needle in the top of the head [i.e., to issue a sharp wake-up call] for cultivators of the Dao. Yuejun’s becoming a sworn sister to the archdemon lord is probably a case of taming the demons through manipulations of power, so that they do not interfere with what she does. [...] It is a strategy for subduing the demons. [...]”

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 110

余觀《外史》，往往闡發玄門微理，豈肯以魔女淩侮眞人，返爲邪道生色，自毀其立言之旨？意在爲修道者下頂門一針耳。至月君與魔主結成姊妹，蓋用權術以馴之，使彼不爲我撓亂。[……] 此伏魔之方畧也。[……]609

Another commentator, (Lian 連) Shuanghe 雙河, wrote:

The Water Margin tells of a Celestial Master’s praying and warding off an epidemic, whereas the Unofficial History has a Celestial Master slaughter a monkey goblin. Although the acts of the Master differ, both accounts share one thing in common - they make known and exalt the magical powers of the Perfected Ones [from the lineage] of [Zhang] Daoling [the first Celestial Master]. An ancient saying goes, “Where the Dao is one chi tall, the demonic is one zhang tall.” To practise the cultivation of the Dao to a point where archdemons come to be one’s sworn adversaries – that is a sign of impending success in attainment. People merely drudging away in the Daoist religion are those whom the archdemons do not even bother to look upon. Most readers [of this chapter] imagine that the Celestial Master has been put in dire straits by archdemons. To think so is to be no different from old village women who listen to blind reciters [and do not truly understand what they are hearing].

《水滸》有天師祈禳瘟疫，《外史》有天師誅戮妖猴。雖事功各殊，而其闡揚道陵眞人之法力則一也。古語云：“道高一尺，魔高一丈”。修道而至於魔爲仇敵，是道已垂成之候。若夫鹿鹿玄門者，魔所不屑一顧者耳。看者多倒認爲天師受魔之困，此無異於村媼之聽矇誦。610

The awkwardness and glaring inadequacies of such implausible defenses reveal just how novel and shocking the humbling of the Celestial Master, and by extension the motif of the crushing supremacy of the demonic, had been at Lü Xiong’s time. Liu Tingji, yet another commentator, notes in his “twenty savouring comments” (pinti ershi ze 品題二十則) that part of the novelty and potency of NXWS’s demonology lies in its conceptual clarity and substantiality:

The Way of the Demons has always only been known in name. No one has ever been able to determine its substance. [NXWS], however, has divided its strands clearly, illuminated it from root to branches, and furthermore employed it as an allegory. This is [the part of novel] that is amazing yet strange.”

若魔道，自來僅有其名，從未有能攷其實。此則縷析分明，本末燦然，又借以爲寓言。此奇而誕者。611

609 NXWS(G), 3:1395, 57.11a. Punctuations mine. 610 Ibid., 3:1395-96, 57.11a-b. Punctuations mine. 611 Liu Tingji, “Jiangxi lianshi Liu Tingji Zaiyuan,” in ibid., 1:21, 1a. Punctuations mine.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 111

Not only does Liu imply here that NXWS’s demonology can be more than an allegory (and thus leave open the possible reading of the novel as an exploration of metaphysics, rather than merely a socio-political commentary), he relishes the fact that NXWS has fleshed out what being mo is about with specific, independent content not defined in negative by whatever categorical antithesis to the demonic there may be. That is to say, the demonic, especially as embodied by the Demonic Tradition with such discourses of self-explication as seen in section 3.1.1 above,612 now has its own well-defined principles of being,613 and is not simply the vague underbelly of the universe, as it were, condemned as the opposite to the “orthodox” gods, the Dao, Buddha, et cetera - even though opposition along these lines remains very much in the blood of NXWS’s demonic characters. That is why when, in NXWS’s Chapter 91, Mantuoni warns Yuejun that she might be offending Princess Chamo by calling her own enemy (i.e., Piyena) mo, the archdemonic Princess is able to proclaim confidently, “You people of the Buddhist and transcendents’ traditions call it ‘faith’ when others call you a buddha or a transcendent. I’m of the Demonic Tradition. Isn’t it a show of respect for me to call me an Archdemon King?” 你們佛教仙教，如有人稱為佛、稱為仙的，就說是信心。我是魔教，稱我个魔王，豈不是尊重我麼？614 As the existentially self-defining Demonics declare by discourse and by action “I am that I am”, they inevitably must also assert “I beat you all”, for, in accordance to a logic akin to Jean Baudrillard’s below, the establishment of the demonic’s autonomy is necessarily at one with its triumphant character:

The Good consists in a dialectic of Good and Evil. Evil consists in the negation of this dialectic, in a radical dissociation of Good and Evil, and by extension in the autonomy of the principle of Evil. Whereas the Good presupposes a dialectical involvement of Evil, Evil is founded on itself alone, in pure incompatibility. Evil is thus master of the game, and it is the principle of Evil, the reign of eternal antagonism, that must eventually carry off the victory.615

By positing the demonic (at its most sublime and asuraic) as uncompromisingly demonic - autonomous and unconquerable - NXWS overturns the triumphalism projected or embedded in long-standing literary-religious paradigms (such as the succubus story

612 Particularly on pages 60, 71, 75-76. 613 That is to say, the demonic establishes itself ontologically in contradiction to Thomas Aquinas’ (1225? - 1274) dicta: “evil is not a thing”, “evil … is a privation” (Thomas Aquinas, On Evil, trans. John A. Oesterle and Jean T. Oesterle (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995), 6, 10). 614 NXWS(G), 5:2127, 91.7a. Punctuations mine. 615 Jean Baudrillard, “Irreconcilability,” in The Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena, trans. James Benedict (London: Verso, 1993), 158.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 112

sequence of “Meeting, Lovemaking, Intimation of Danger, and Intercession by the Exorcist”, highlighted by Patrick Hanan), 616 and deals a hard blow to the self-confidence of both Buddhist-Daoist exorcistic lore and the imperial religio-bureaucratic system of assimilation- cum-regulation of the demonized or peripheral.617 On the whole, NXWS’s Demonic Tradition and Nine Demon Children show a strong resistance to the premises and realization of what the Pure Tenuity (Qingwei 清微) liturgist Zhao Yizhen’s 趙宜真 (? - 1382) calls “return to the correct” (guizheng 歸正),618 which is the intended result of the Daoist transformative act of “sublimation” (liandu 煉度). (Being a ritual that purports to “smelt martial divinities out of demonic ore”, sublimation targets unruly spirits “whose powers are [to be] subordinated to a larger Daoist hierarchy”.619) That is to say, NXWS’s demonology rejects in principle not only the traditional power asymmetry behind “the subordinate relationship of local demons to national gods”,620 but also the Daoist ritualist’s assumption that “ultimately even the worst demon can be domesticated”.621 In fact, one of the only two places in NXWS where the term liandu appears is in Chapter 99, where the souls of Yuejun’s female warriors Manshinu and Nüjingang are said to be taken away by Mantuoni and Bao Gu respectively to be “sublimated by water and fire” (shuihuo liandu 水火煉度).622 In other words, ironically and in line with the Demonics’ often-shown inclination to pervert “orthodox” norms, 623 it is actually a “demonic nun” who will “sublimate” and transform one of the heroines of the novel.

616 See note no. 455. 617 For facets of this ancient system at work, see, e.g., note no. 578; or the case of the Five Manifestations (Wuxian 五顯) and local gods conflated with them in the Ming and Qing, as outlined in Szonyi, “The Illusion of Standardizing the Gods,” 126-28. (Cf. the Daoist conception from the 13th century onwards of networking untamed spirits from all over the Chinese empire under a unifying liturgical structure that plugs territorial powers up into the celestial bureaucratic hierarchy – see Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 99-115.) For a sense of Buddhist-Daoist exorcistic confidence since the early medieval period in dealing with malevolent spirits or demonized genius loci, see: Mu-chou Poo, “Images and Ritual Treatment of Dangerous Spirits,” in Early Chinese Religion. Part 2, The Period of Division (220-589 AD), ed. John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 2:1087 – 94; James Robson, “Buddhist Sacred Geography,” in Early Chinese religion. Part Two: The Period of Division (220- 589 AD), ed. John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 2:1385-87. 618 From Daofa huiyuan 道法會元 [A Corpus of Daoist Ritual], cited in Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 158. 619 Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 134. 620 Ibid., 209. 621 Ibid., 100. 622 NXWS(G), 5:2281, 99.4a. The other occurrence of the term liandu is in Chapter 76 – see NXWS(G), 4:1785, 76.10a. 623 A parallel may be drawn here with “inversion” in European witchcraft, which constitutes the underlying modality of demonic “actual and symbolic transformation” of sacralized order, as expounded in Stuart Clark, Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 69-79, esp. 79. A basically similar understanding of heterodox perversion from a psychoanalytic perspective is found in: Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel, “Devil’s Religions: Some Reflections on the Historical and Social Meanings of the Perversions,” in Psychoanalysis and

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 113

Incidentally, it is precisely in terms of guizheng that Liu Chiung-yun from Taiwan notes how different the new demonic indomitability and “unintegrability” is. Contrasting NXWS’s Demonic Tradition against the demonic heroes of the Ming novel Water Margin, Liu points out that while the latter are “ultimately de-demonized and returned to correctness” 最後化魔歸正, the former “remains an independent force throughout, and shows no trace of conversion and returning to correctness” 始終爲一獨立的勢力，不見轉化歸正的痕跡.624 Zhang Peiheng, another modern scholar, goes further by declaring that NXWS is one of only two Chinese novels up to the end of the 19th century to glorify the thoroughly rebellious who struggle to the end against the imperial government.625 (According to Zhang, the second work similar to NXWS in this sense is the early Qing novel The Latter Water Margin (Hou shuihuzhuan 後水滸傳), about which more will be said in the next chapter of the present dissertation.) Ultimately it is the Chinese researcher Liu Qian 劉倩 who generalizes most comprehensively what makes NXWS’s Demonics so extraordinary. According to Liu, the Way of the Demons is “amazing” (qi 奇) in four ways: that it looms over the Three Traditions of orthodoxy and cannot be subjugated even by Buddha or Laozi; that its mortal avatars are mostly powerful characters that can each turn a whole generation on its head; that adherents thereof exhibit a remarkable spirit, in that they are able to fearlessly exact vengeance for others and redress the disgrace suffered by others (as seen in the episode of Hanxu’s humiliation); and that it is able to join forces with Yuejun’s pro-Jiawen regime (that is, the “good guys”).626 This analysis stands in concordance with the points (I) to (III) I have distilled for NXWS’s demon-glamorization or demonogloria.

As a final note to my summary of the prominence of NXWS’s demonology, it is necessary to return to Laurie Cozad’s tripartite demonological schema (outlined in section 1.3) and set forth an important implication for it.

Culture at the Millennium, ed. Nancy Ginsburg and Roy Ginsburg (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 313-36. 624 Liu, “Ren, tian, mo,” 71. 625 Zhang, “Nüxian waishi qianyan,” 163. Admittedly, within the context of NXWS, it is Yuejun and not the Demonic Tradition that Zhang sets his eyes on when he speaks of the persistently rebellious; nevertheless, since the Demonics are even more radical and antagonistic to traditional establishments than Yuejun is, the tacit glorification of their indomitability and “unintegrability” in NXWS’s narrative would probably be just as, if not more, unique. 626 Liu Qian 劉倩, “‘Jingnan’ ji qi wenxue chongxie” 「靖難」及其文學重寫 [“Jingnan” and the rewriting thereof in literature](PhD thesis, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2003), 87-88.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 114

Before all else, an extrinsic deficiency in Cozad’s formulation should first be pointed out: it does not work well to set, as Cozad has, the character Sun Wukong as the prime example for her third category of the demonized (i.e., demons that subvert the demonizing system) in Journey to the West. For one thing, this choice of exemplar overly downplays the extent to which Sun is being “tamed” as the story of Journey to the West unfolds from beginning to end, and overstates the extent to which he subverts and disrupts the “orthodox” hierarchy that assimilates him. Rather than “negate the concept of hierarchy altogether”627 as a true demonic subverter or destabilizer supposedly would, Sun is quite comfortably integrated into the Buddhist system by the 100th chapter of Journey to the West, where the golden band secured around his head to punish and discipline him all through the titular journey has spontaneously disappeared, signifying complete internalization (on his part) of the values and cultivational attainment of Buddhist orthodoxy. 628 The once-rebellious monkey actually becomes a buddha in the very end, blended into the top of the subjugating system’s echelons, and fades away in a concluding list of 47 buddhas specifically named alongside a number of other venerated Buddhist entities. 629 (Such august-looking enumeration, it should be remembered, serves precisely to affirm the hegemonic structure, much like the long list of canonizations at the end of the Investiture of the Gods.630) Indeed, a dignified aura of tamed wildness is ascribed to the buddhized Sun Wukong in the Latter Journey to the West (Hou xiyouji 後西遊記), a late Ming or early Qing sequel (of uncertain authorship) to Journey to the West,631 which could be evidence of a generally accepted understanding that the monkey demon’s final “reformation” is unequivocal.

627 Cozad, “Reeling in the Demon,” 140. 628 See Wu Cheng’en 吳承恩 (ca. 1500 – ca. 1582), Xiyouji 西遊記 [Journey to the West], ann. Fang Yuan 方原 et al. (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 1994), chap. 100, 871. 629 See ibid., chap. 100, 871-72. 630 See Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 205-206. 631 Accordingly, the post-pilgrimage Sun Wukong:

has a hairy face, but a compassionate look comes through it; his eyes, still golden, shine with the light of wisdom. Thanks to buddhic power, his snout, like that of a thunder god, has gradually flattened out; his simian cheeks have been somewhat made full with the use of supernatural abilities. His eyes are closed, his brows lowered, but nowhere with force; his mouth is shut, as if he is incapable of speech. The traces of goodness on him are palpable, such that one suspects he did not originate from a cave in the mountains; his evil airs have been completely eradicated, as if he had never been the infamous troublemaker in the Heavenly Palace.

容雖毛臉，已露慈悲之像；眼尚金睛，卻含知慧之光。雷公嘴，仗佛力漸次長平；猴子腮，弄神通依稀補滿。合眼低眉，全不以力；關唇閉口，似不能言。善痕可掬，疑不是出身山洞；惡氣盡除，若未曾鬧過天宮。

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 115

But what about NXWS? How relevant is Cozad’s third category or, indeed, her entire schema to Lü Xiong’s novel? As pointed out in section 3.1.1 above, some of NXWS’s demonic characters do fit into Cozad’s first category, the demons who “serve” the demonizing system.632 In addition, Lady Taibei fits into the second category, especially given that as she lies on the ground in final defeat, she remains defiant, and is whisked off and compelled to serve as a regional water goddess633 - in other words, she is subjected to precisely the kind of forceful integration associated with the demons who “worry” the system. However, the tripartite schema runs into difficulties in the face of characters like the mindlessly belligerent Nine Demon Children, Princess Chamo, Mantuoni, or Piyena, the near-invincible demon subjugated by another for the sake of the righteous. Mantuoni, who straddles over good and evil while habitually showing more of her dark side, may conceivably be counted as a cross between Cozad’s second and third category, but that is as far as Cozad’s demonological classifications can go. The reason is: her framework is implicitly built on the basic assumption that the demonized does not win and will ultimately always be subjugated by the demonizers. NXWS’s archdemonic triumphalism blows this premise apart by casting the likes of Princess Chamo as the sublime, de facto hegemon of the universe. For Cozad’s schema to be able to encompass NXWS, it needs to be expanded with the addition of a fourth and higher category: that of demons that triumph over the demonizing structure(s), and yet still retain their own demonic character. With NXWS, the demonic can stand as a completely successful alternative, “unintegrable” with respect to its rivals, and therefore embody the most extreme form of the Demonized Other, and can still turn around to subvert (and profoundly entice) the demonizers (as Mantuoni and Princess Chamo do) better than Sun Wukong, as imagined by Cozad, is supposed to. Cozad’s schema is a rather insightful and useful framework for thinking about the demonic as well as the inner tensions of demonization. Nevertheless NXWS represents a challenge - and therefore also an opening towards developmental perfection - like no other Ming-Qing novel, to its potential for broad application beyond Journey to the West, however promising that potential may look at first glance. This testifies to the outstanding radicality and, indeed, the significance of NXWS’s demonological proposition towards plumbing the depths of the demonic-qua-demonic and exhausting its logical possibilities.

(Hou xiyouji 後西遊記 [Latter Journey to the West], comm. Tianhua Caizi 天花才子 [pseud.](fl. mid-17th century), Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小説集成 (1793; repr. in facsim., Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1994), 1:84, 4.11b.)(Punctuations mine)

632 See pages 55 to 57. 633 See NXW(G), 5:2260, 98.1a-b.

The Demonic in Nüxian waishi 116

As my analysis of NXWS’s demonological outlook concludes, the question of where that outlook stands in a larger context arises naturally. While it cannot be fully dealt with in the limited space of the present dissertation, it nevertheless warrants at least a rudimentary examination, which I leave to the next chapter.

117

Chapter 4

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria

4.1 Demonogloria in Late Imperial China’s Narrative Literature

The radical demon-glamorization or demonogloria of NXWS as analysed in the previous chapter does not exist in a vacuum, nor is it quite conceivable that it burst into the Chinese cultural consciousness as an acausal stand-alone with neither roots in the past nor offshoots into the future. As I have suggested, glamorization and significant positivization of the demonic in some form had already occurred in China much earlier than the 17th and 18th century in which Lü Xiong lived and wrote.634 That it would present itself as a wide-spectrum and highly complex (albeit relatively less prominent) phenomenon if we were to comb through the history of Chinese religion, culture and politics with an eye for it is to be expected. For one thing, the perennial processes of community-driven demon-deification alone are telling enough, as one may gather from such erudite studies as Paul Katz’s “Demons or Deities? – The Wangye of Taiwan” (1987)635 and those collected in Richard von Glahn’s The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture (2004). 636 The ambivalence of certain commonly demonized entities, such as the fox spirit, has also provided rich opportunities for demon-glamorization in literature and other domains since at least the early medieval period.637 The natural question of exactly where NXWS’s demonogloria stands within a broader demonological-historical context cannot be completely evaded. Yet, to put together a comprehensive account of Chinese demonogloria through the millennia would obviously be a mammoth task that goes far beyond the scope of the present dissertation. Hence, for this chapter, I shall only take a small contributory step towards such an account, which is to look only at narrative literature of the late imperial era, with relatively more attention paid to the interval from around the 16th century to the 18th century. In the next three sections, I shall highlight several notable literary examples in relation to NXWS only briefly, so as to mark out

634 See, e.g., page 108. 635 Katz, “Demons or Deities?” 636 Von Glahn, The Sinister Way; esp. chap. 4 and chap. 6. 637 See, e.g., Xiaofei Kang, The Cult of the Fox: Power, Gender, and Popular Religion in Late Imperial and Modern China (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), 14-71. Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 118

a rudimentary evolutionary trajectory focused primarily around the parameter of “indomitability” or “dominance”. The focal interval specified above is chosen for its coverage of an important formative and developmental period for the literary form of the Chinese literati novel, of which NXWS is an example, as well as various other genres of narrative literature.638 Robert E. Hegel’s characterization of the socio-psycho-economic conditions of the middle of this period is worth citing at length here:

The few decades of the seventeenth century, the end of the Ming, witnessed a growth of personal expression in the arts and individual self-indulgence unprecedented in China. The contradictions between obligations to the self and to society became sharper than ever before. [ … ] [I]t would appear that among the leisured elite a new consciousness of self was growing, a sense of personal freedom that was probably a product of new economic freedom for this small minority. The development came about with the diversification of sources of income: gentry who held no degrees or who did and for one reason or another did not serve in administration still could maintain lives of affluence based on landowning, on moneylending, or financing trade and the burgeoning handicrafts industries. Leisure and wealth brought exploration of new forms of entertainment, made possible the great collections of art and books, and produced a noteworthy increase in the number of novels, plays, and poems.639

More directly relevant for the demonological historian, however, are the deep existential issues born out of these conditions:

Even this limited degree of emancipation from traditional roles in a society that attached such primacy to social function brought confusion and anxiety in addition to the dissolution widespread among the late Ming social elite. Explorations of a range of conflicts between the self and social obligations on the one hand and the self and fate on the other found expression in the novel, with central characters asking, directly or implicitly, three major questions: First, are conventional social obligations really relevant to me – am I not above such petty business? Second, how do I find my proper role in society – what models do I follow when no standard role seems appropriate? And finally, how responsible am I for my acts – does some higher force take a hand in human events?640

638 See the generalization of this period given in: Plaks, “After the Fall,” 543-44. In particular, there was a prodigious surge in the number of Chinese collections of anomaly accounts in the late 18th century – see: Sing-chen Lydia Chiang, Collecting the Self: Body and Identity in Strange Tale Collections of Late Imperial China (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 37-38; cf. Tan Zhengbi 譚正璧, Zhongguo xiaoshuo fada shi 中國小説發達史 [The history of the development of Chinese fiction](Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2012), 293-97. 639 Hegel, The Novel, 105. 640 Ibid., 106.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 119

(It is impossible to not notice that all three questions above are answered by NXWS’s Demonics in their own extreme way: “I am above conventional social obligations”; “I follow my own path”; “Fate is fulfilled through me as I do as I will”. Within these questions lie the possibilities of demonic being and of the exaltation of the demonic.) These existential issues were met in their time by trends of Neo-Confucianism, including xinxue 心學 [Learning of the Mind-and-Heart](“Wang Yang-ming’s [i.e., Wang Shouren 王守仁 (1472 - 1529)] attempt to bring sagehood down to the common man”641), which became intimately intertwined with the great Ming novels directly or indirectly. As literary scholar Andrew H. Plaks puts it, “new exploration of the substance of individual desire” and “the re-appraisal of the significance and consequences of moral action” became important points of engagement for the contents of Chinese novels.642 For:

the central concern of the intellectual life of Ming thinkers of all persuasions was the attainment of a degree of cultivation of the social and moral self revolving around a core of individual consciousness. [ … ] [T]his central concern marks [the masterworks of the Ming novel] as crucial expressions of the Neo-Confucian heart of Ming civilization.643

Consequently, the great Ming novels found themselves addressing, in one way or another, either “the key issue of self-cultivation – or its negative transformation in the form of ego- gratification”,644 the latter of which opened up the logical possibility of affirming self-will to extremes worthy to be characterized as demonic or at least para-demonic. (The importance of cultivation of the self, incidentally, also indirectly laid the ground for NXWS’s mo to be conceived as a jiao 敎, a system of cultivation, as it were.) Into the late 17th century and 18th century, these general issues, along with counteractive responses to late Ming propositions for them, coloured by Chinese intellectuals’ collective self-examination that sought to make sense of the catastrophic fall of the Ming, continued to be shaping factors for the thoughts that went into the writing and framing of fiction.645 Unsurprisingly, some of those thoughts

641 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 19. 642 Ibid. Recognizing that the 16th century was “a time of unaccustomed interest in matters of individual accountability”, Andrew H. Plaks further notes that this tendency became “even more pronounced in the following century, especially during the generation that lived through the trauma of the collapse of the Ming state”, continuing the strong sense of personal moral autonomy and rethinking of self-cultivation that were stimulated by the ideas of Wang Yangming (Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 509-10). 643 Ibid., 51-52. 644 Plaks, “After the Fall,” 547. 645 See the pertinent parts of the literary studies referenced in note no. 23.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 120

being influenced included the demonological outlooks of literary works before and after NXWS.

4.1.1 Liu Ji’s “The Two Demons”

More than a century before Wang Yangming, in the writings of Liu Ji 劉基 (1311 – 1375; styled Bowen 伯溫), one of the founding statesmen of the Ming dynasty,646 could be found a piece of demonologically ground-breaking narrative literature. By that I am referring to Liu’s lengthy and grandiose poem “The Two Demons” (“Er gui” 二鬼),647 the Chinese text of which and my full English translation thereof are given in Appendix II (which constitutes the source of all pertinent quotes and line numbers given below). Different dates have been posited by researchers for the composition of “The Two Demons”, ranging from the late Yuan to the late 1360s or the 1370s.648 It is commonly believed that the poem is an account about a fall from grace suffered by Liu Jiu himself (and possibly a good friend, who might or might not be Song Lian 宋濂 (1310 - 81)) under the powers that be, veiled in mythical terms, but opinions differ as to exactly which real-life events the account corresponds to.649 In this flamboyant and imaginative poetic narrative, Liu tells the story of two powerful spirits, Jielin 結璘 and Yuyi 欝儀, who were given charge over the movements of

646 Liu Ji was Vice Censor-in-chief and Director of the Directorate of Astronomy under the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, and almost became the Grand Councillor at one point. For Liu Ji’s biography, see Zhang et al., Ming shi, fasc. 128, 12:3777-82. 647 A version of which is found in: Liu Ji, Chengyibo wenji 誠意伯文集 [The collected writings of the Earl of Chengyi](hereafter cited as CYB), 10.8b-12a, in SKQS, vol. 1225. 648 See, e.g., Zhou Qun 周群, Liu Ji pingzhuan 劉基評傳 [A critical biography of Liu Ji](Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 1995), 304n1; Liu Zequn 劉澤群, “Er gui shi xiezuo niandai” 《二鬼》詩寫作年代 [The time of the composition of the poem “The Two Demons”], in Liu Bowen quanshu 劉伯溫全書 [A comprehensive Liu Bowen omnibus], ed. Fang Lizhong 房立中 (Beijing: Xueyuan chubanshe, 1996), 797-800; Hao Zhaoju 郝兆矩, Liu Bowen pingzhuan 劉伯溫評傳 [A critical biography of Liu Bowen], 2nd ed. (Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 2002), 183-86; You Guo’en 遊國恩 et al., eds., Zhongguo wenxue shi 中國文學史 [History of Chinese literature], rev. ed. (Beijing: Renmen wenxue chubanshe, 2004), 4:57; Zhou Songfang 周松芳, Zifu yidai wenzong – Liu Ji yanjiu 自負一代文宗 – 劉基研究 [Considering himself a paragon of literary achievements for a whole generation - A study on Liu Ji](Guangzhou: Guangdong renmin zhubanshe, 2006), 151-52; Gu Ruixue 顧瑞雪, “Guanyu Liu Ji yanjiu de liang ze kaobian” 關於劉基研究的兩則考辨 [Two short studies pertaining to Liu Ji], Xiandai yuwen (wenxue yanjiu) 現代語文（文學研究） 4 (2008): 36. 649 See, e.g., Zhou, Liu Ji pingzhuan, 304; Liu, “Er gui shi xiezuo niandai,” 797-98; Hao, Liu Bowen pingzhuan, 185; Zhou, Zifu yidai wenzong, 151-52; Gu, “Guanyu Liu Ji yanjiu,” 36; Wei Qing 魏青, Yuan mo Ming chu Zhedong san zuojia yanjiu 元末明初浙東三作家研究 [A study on three eastern Zhejiang writers from the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming](Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2010), 16-17. For details on Song Lian, see his biography in Zhang et al., Ming shi, fasc. 128, 12:3784-88.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 121

the sun and the moon. At some point they took a break from work and apparently came together in the human world. (The poem goes to some length to describe their playful antics and the carnivalesque convergence of transcendents, spirits and other creatures around them.) Then a cosmic upheaval break out suddenly, destroying the harmonious order of the universe. Everything from the stars and climate to the animal and spirit world went haywire. The Heavenly Thearch (Tiandi 天帝), being surrounded by “mosquitoes”, “[h]orseflies, fleas, lice, gnats, leeches” (lines 147-48) that fed on him, was oblivious to the catastrophe. Jielin and Yuyi thus decided to revamp the cosmos, to turn it into paradise. The duo planned to do many things: cure the Heavenly Thearch of his blindness to the problems of the world; wash the whole world clean; change its failing parts; gather the gods and various mythical characters to fix the stars; command the earth to produce only auspicious flora and fauna but none of the harmful ones; as well as lead all the people under Heaven to follow Confucian teachings and become virtuous, law-abiding individuals in a prosperous society free from hunger and cold. Their utopia-building ambitions angered the Heavenly Thearch even though they had yet to see results. He thought that his two underlings were hatching ideas beyond their proper station, trying to do what he himself ought to be doing, and divulging secrets of the workings of the universe to the ignorant: “All this is mine / To carry out, how dare they cross the line! / How dare the puny demonic duo / Think such thoughts, leaking secrets to the blind! / Nature’s subtleties they’re divulging, / How endlessly they’re yakking!” (lines 238-43) 此是我所當為 / 眇眇末兩鬼 / 何敢越分生思維 / 呶呶向瘖盲 / 洩漏造化微 (lines 149-53). 500 yaksas (yecha 夜叉) were sent to scour the earth relentlessly for the duo. Mountains and valleys, along with countless plants (represented by a list of 11 varieties), were incinerated in the process. Eventually the two bright-eyed demons were captured, and locked up in a silver-and-iron cage, contained like malevolent beings caught and magically incarcerated in Daoist exorcisms associated with the Thunder Rituals.650 They were fed and clothed well, but never allowed to go out, lest they “[t]rampled and broke Earth’s axis, / Or tilted Heaven’s mainstay” (lines 276-77) 踏折地軸傾天維 (line 169) – i.e., disturb the cosmic order catastrophically. By the end of the rhapsodic poem, the two demons were looking and smiling at each other, looking forward to the day when the Heavenly Thearch might cease to be angry and suspicious of them. Only then shall they return to being fun-loving companions to each other, “[t]ogether again in the heavenly sphere, / Frolicking, gambolling, for sure!” (lines 286-87) 依舊天上作伴同遊戲 (line 173)

650 For an overview such incarcerations, see Mark R. E. Meulenbeld, “Civilized Demons: Ming Thunder Gods from Ritual to Literature” (PhD thesis, Princeton University, 2007), 135-45.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 122

There is probably no Chinese poetic narrative prior to “The Two Demons” that subversively presents demons in such a positive light in any comparable length or imaginative vividness. In Liu Ji’s poem, the subversion / inversion of the conventional dichotomies of demonization begins even before the spirit duo do anything “out of line”, for despite their negative designation as gui 鬼 651 from the onset (line 15), their names Jielin and Yuyi are actually those of respectable Daoist transcendents or deities.652 Yet the poet obviously also wants to depict the duo as somehow inherently heterodox. Even before the emergence of their utopian ambitions, the two demons’ playful and disruptive behaviour, as well as the gathering of somewhat Dionysian energy653 around them, already point to their offbeatness vis-à-vis the existing orderliness of the world they find themselves in (represented by the many stellar constellations mentioned, “the goats herded by Huang Chuping” (line 76) 黄初平牧羊羣 (line 52), the peace of the “five hundred arhats” (line 86) (wubai luohan 五百羅漢)(line 59) at Mount Tiantai, etc.). Notwithstanding the suggested nature of Jielin and Yuyi, the story of the demonic duo’s prime “transgression” is framed ironically, to the effect of conversely and tacitly demonizing for the poem’s readers the supposedly proper authorities, which are the Heavenly Thearch and his subordinates, who go all out – with, ironically, demonic destructiveness – to rein in and contain the demonized. This is an approach also adopted elsewhere in Liu Ji’s oeuvre, namely, in one of the fables in Liu’s Yulizi 郁離子 [Master Yuli]. In that story, the writer’s alter ego, the eponymous Master, sets out to practise what appears to be a combination of inner and outer alchemy. His focused efforts attract the admiration of transcendents, as well as the fear of mountain goblins (shangui 山鬼). The goblins gather their kind and proclaim, “Do you know that there is a monster? If we do not act early but allow it to form successfully, we will come to helpless regret.” (Emphasis mine) 有怪女知之乎若不早圖而待其成悔無及矣 And so, along with mountain demons (xiao 犭喿 ) and drought demons (ba 魃), they try to disrupt the alchemical process, but their myriad efforts come to naught for unspecified reasons. The malicious spirits eventually complain to the

651 Liu Ji could have designated his two protagonists as ling 靈, a more neutral term, but he did not. Cf. the archaic negativity associated with the term gui as discussed in: Poo Mu-chou 蒲慕州, “Zhongguo gudai gui lunshu de xingcheng (Xian Qin zhi Han dai)” 中國古代鬼論述的形成（先秦至漢代） [The formation of ancient Chinese discourses on ghosts (From the pre-Qin period to the Han dynasty)], in Gui mei shen mo – Zhongguo tongsu wenhua cexie 鬼魅神魔 —— 中國通俗文化側寫 [Ghosts, enchanting spirits, deities and archdemons – A profile of Chinese plebeian culture], ed. Poo Mu-chou 蒲慕州 (Taipei City: Maitian, 2005), 24-26. 652 See note no. 837 for Appendix II. 653 See, e.g., the music and dance of transcendents, gods, beasts and monsters described in lines 100 to 107 of my translation in Appendix II.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 123

“Thearch” (di 帝) with wailing. They argue that fixed lifespans and social statuses – the latter being conceivably improvable with alchemically acquired gold - are part of “the unchangeable natural order” (tianchang 天常), and that Master Yuli is trying to disturb that order and “usurp the authority of Heaven” (qie tian quan 竊天權). The Thearch, furious as a result, then orders a “local earl” (fangbo 方伯) to agitate the Master’s iron, causing the transformative smelting to fail.654 In both “The Two Demons” and the alchemy fable summarized above, that the designation di (“Thearach”) bears the alternative meaning of “emperor” is hardly accidental, especially when considered in conjunction with fangbo, an archaic feudal-structural term655 that Liu Ji uses in a supernaturalized sense. Liu’s narratives easily lend themselves to a political reading. Liu reveals that the ruler of Heaven or the Emperor or whatever ensconced apex of power in place could turn out to be an enemy to the interest of the human being, and stand on the side of what was traditionally thought of as demons (yaksas, mountain goblins, etc.).656 The seeker of transcendence or public good, is being demonized – labelled a “monster” (guai 怪) or a rebel, and adversely dealt with – by the bona fide demonic dimension of the universe / polity. The two-in-one structure of implicit criticism for the demonizers in power and vindication for the demonized improver of the status quo in such stories makes it easy to understand why, more than 500 years after Liu Ji’s time, the reformist Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873 - 1929), wanted for some time by the Qing government after the failure of the Hundred Days’ Reform (Bairi weixin 百日維新), would resonate with “The Two Demons” and reintroduce the poem to fellow literati widely in the early 1900s.657 (Needless to say, if Liang had unconsciously identified himself with the Two Demons, like Liu Ji did (albeit probably more consciously), around the time when Lu Xun was calling for the Chinese people to shake off their passivity and be more demonic,658 then demon-idealization as a psychical axis and resource in Chinese culture had grown quite long and deep indeed.) Liu Ji’s “The Two Demons” not only suggests a budding awareness of the relativity and possible undeservedness of political demonizations, but also exhibits conceptual

654 See “Xuanbao” 玄豹 [Black panther], in Liu Ji, Yulizi 郁離子 [Master Yuli], in CYB, 17.24b-25a. 655 Fangbo originally denotes a local ruler instituted in any territory more than one thousand li away from the Son of Heaven’s centre of imperial power – see Liji zhushu, comm. Zheng Xuan, subcomm. Kong Yingda, gloss. Lu Deming, 11.21a-b. 656 Interestingly, an analogous point is echoed by Michael J. Buckley with respect to 19th century Western thinkers’ disclosure of the diabolized, anti-human side of the Christian God. See Buckley, “Modernity and the Satanic Face of God”. 657 See Liang Qichao 梁啟超, Yinbingshi shihua 飲冰室詩話 [Poetry-talk of the Room for Ice- drinking](repr., Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1959), 4-10. 658 In his “Discourse on Māraic poetic-power” (1907) – see page 48 of the present dissertation.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 124

boldness by elevating demons to the level of universe-moulding forces that mobilize a host of great gods and archaic sages, and even dare to redesign human beings from scratch (“Clods of yellow earth must next be taken – / Those moulded by Nüwa - / Those ears, eyes, nose, mouth to refashion, / The teeth, tongue and brows of humans.” (lines 171-74) 去阝取

女媧所摶黄土 / 改換耳眼口鼻牙舌睂 (lines 108-109)) This prefigures the Demonic Tradition’s creativity and, to some degree, their asuraism. However, at the end of the day, Jielin and Yuyi do not truly break away into wanton anarchy or invent a whole new, alternative system of their own. Instead, they fall back on explicitly affirming traditional Confucian values and the universal propagation thereof, which betrays the strong influence of Song Neo-Confucian and Utilitarian (Shigong pai 事功派) thought on Liu Ji from his teacher Zheng Yuanshan 鄭原善 (fl. 1318).659 The duo’s grand plans fall within the ideological province of “bringing peace to all under Heaven” (ping tianxia 平天下), the culmination of the Confucian expansion of personal self-cultivation as taught in the canonical text “Great Learning” (Daxue 大學).660 Such is Liu Ji’s way of anchoring the unruly pair in the orthodox and, in effect, haloing them as admirable rather than repulsive characters. Furthermore, the two demons are eventually overcome and suppressed by the demonizing hegemony. Despite their smiles and playfulness in the last lines of the poem, which hint at the persistence of an ineradicable element of unruliness and therefore an inner indomitability of sorts, they still look to their “Heavenly Thearch” for pardon and release. Portrayed thus, the two demons’ defiance is limited. They are still functioning more on the side of the demonic as unfairly demonized, rather than basking without reservations in the glory and often terrifying magnificence of the demonic as demonic, wholly self-justified and self-sufficient. Hence, the demonogloria in “The Two Demons”, while impressive at first glance, is still mild compared to NXWS’s all-out magnification. It should be added, of course, that Liu Ji as a writer did not discard the age-old antagonism towards demons. In his extant corpus, we still read of, for example, the violent, uncompromising exorcism of a “melancholia-demon” (chou gui 愁鬼);661 and in another Master Yuli fable under the chapter “Lu Ban” 魯般, foxes seeking to work demonry through devious ritual were massacred by hunters with a vague sense of good riddance on the

659 See Wei, Yuan mo Ming chu, 64-67, 71-72. Notably, the Song Utilitarians, represented by Chen Liang 陳亮 (1143 - 94) and Ye Shi 葉適 (1150 - 1223), emphasized magnificence of psyche and doing great, practical things for the public good. 660 See Liji zhushu, 60.1b-2a. 661 See Liu Ji, “Chou gui yan” 愁鬼言 [The words of the melancholia-demon], in CYB, 8.20a-22b.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 125

Master’s part.662 This is reflective of the fact that demon-glamorization as a minor trend co- existed with, not superseded, the traditional aversion to the demonic.

4.1.2 Water Margin and The Latter Water Margin

The next two literary works to consider for a demonological-historical contextualization is the famous Ming novel Water Margin, and an early Qing sequel thereto known as The Latter Water Margin (Hou shuihuzhuan 後水滸傳). Water Margin, which tells the story of the 108 brigands of Liangshan Marsh led by Song Jiang 宋江, was based on Song, Yuan and early Ming materials. It took shape as the novel as we know it today probably sometime in the 16th century, and existed in a number of significantly different versions or recensions over time with varied attributions of authorship.663 It is understood by some modern scholars to be a work laden with deliberate irony and conflicting interests of representation.664 One of the most conspicuous paradoxes associated with the novel is this: while the heroes of Water Margin were widely admired by readers as paragons of justice, loyalty, and values of chivalry or brotherhood under the ethical rubric of yi 義 (“righteousness” or “appropriateness”) from as far back as their nascence in the Song,665 they are cast in the novel also as incarnations of dark astral spirits that from time to time display behaviour worthy of such an identity. In at least the “full recension” (fanben 繁本) versions of the novel, these heroes are in fact candidly described as “archdemon sovereigns” (mojun 魔君),666 or

662 See Liu, Yulizi, in CYB, 17.14b-15a. 663 For more background information on Water Margin and its pivotal 17th-century editor and commentator Jin Shengtan 金聖嘆 (1610-1661), see: Qi Yukun 齊裕焜, Feng Ruchang 馮汝常 et al., eds., Shuihu xue shi 水滸學史 [A history of the study of Water Margin](Shanghai: Shanghai sanlian shudian, 2015), 12-94; Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 279-303; Hegel, The Novel, 68-84. 664 E.g., Andrew H. Plaks argues for an “ironic reading” of the novel (Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 319). He sees the “full recension” (fanben 繁本) versions of Water Margin as “composed, or at least reframed, with an eye toward ironic reflection on the parameters of individual human action, and … directed toward a sophisticated audience that could be expected to look beyond the surface of [their] popular source materials.” (Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 356) Contradiction within Water Margin is observed by another scholar thus: “The novel is structured throughout in such a way as to justify rebellion even while the plot is carrying the story in another direction.” (John Fitzgerald, “Continuity within Discontinuity: The Case of Water Margin Mythology,” Modern China 12, no. 3 (Jul. 1986): 377) 665 See Qi, Feng et al., Shuihu xue shi, 14-18, 110-12. 666 The runaway spirits released at the beginning of the novel and to be incarnated as the 108 bandits of Liangshan are called “archdemon kings” (mowang 魔王) – see Shi Nai’an 施耐庵 (ca. 1290 – ca. 1365) and Luo Guanzhong 羅貫中 (ca. 1330 – ca. 1400)(attrib.), Li Zhuowu xiansheng piping Zhongyi Shuihuzhuan 李卓吾先生批評忠義水滸傳 [The Story of the Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness, with comments by Li Zhuowu (Li Zhi)], comm. Li Zhi 李贄 (1527 - 1602), 1.9a-10b, in XXSKQS, vol. 1791 – and “archdemon sovereigns” (mojun 魔君)(in, e.g., 1.9a, 2.1a); closer to the

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 126

sometimes, possessing an “archdemonic heart” (moxin 魔心).667 The most representative amongst the 108 in this aspect is Li Kui 李逵, incarnation of the Celestial Killing Star (Tianshaxing 天殺星), who is very much a mindless mass murderer, rebellious to the end, such that Song Jiang has to kill him with poison to keep him in check in the most iconic ending of the fanben versions.668 As insightfully noted by Andrew H. Plaks:

The most unforgivable example of the problematic side of the portrait of [Li Kui] … is surely the brutal killing of the small child in Chu T’ung’s protection in chapter 51 [ … ] [I]t is the sheer glee with which [Li Kui] reveals his handiwork, leading Chu T’ung on a hopeless chase through the woods with the taunt ‘Come and get me!’ (Lai, lai, lai! 來來來), that seals the case that there must be more to the author’s construction of the [Li Kui] figure in such scenes than simple delight in the exploits of a totally uninhibited fellow.669

What is “more to the author’s construction” is, as I see it, the demonic dimension of the character in question, and the author’s willingness to parade it. The poignancy of this dark aspect is further highlighted by Plaks thus:

Given the insistent association of the [Li Kui] figure with … impulse to destroy, I cannot help thinking that the depiction of his role in the burning and looting of the great cities of [Suzhou] and [Hangzhou] in the course of the Fang La campaign must have been particularly difficult for the sixteenth-century literati audience, centered as they were in the Yangtze delta region, to swallow uncritically. At any rate, the portrayal of this warrior revolves around descriptions of indiscriminate killing. We are told repeatedly that ‘he killed everything he saw’ 見一個殺一個見兩個殺一雙 or that he was itching for a chance to kill again.670

But as Robert E. Hegel reminds us, the other heroes of the Liangshan Marsh are “[n]o genuine ‘people’s heroes’” or selfless Robin Hoods either, for they are shown to “cause the deaths and suffering of the poor as well as of the rich in pursuit of personal or collective self- interest.”671 Even between themselves, they are known to resort to “many calculated and

middle of the novel, the novel’s narrator states: “Li Kui … was an archdemon sovereign who killed people without batting his eyelids” 李逵 …… 是個殺人不斬眼的魔君 (43.5a). 667 It is said at one point that Song Jiang “had yet to be rid of his archdemonic heart” (moxin wei duan 魔心未斷)(ibid., 42.9a, in XXSKQS, vol. 1791). The fact is: The heroes of Water Margin were already described as archdemonic in the Yuan drama Zheng bao’en sanhu xiashan 爭報恩三虎下山 [Vying to repay kindness, the three tigers descend the mountain] – see Chen Songbai 陳松柏, Shuihuzhuan yuanliu kaolun 水滸傳源流考論 [An investigation and discussion of the origin and development of Water Margin](Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2006), 119. 668 See, e.g., Shi and Luo, Li Zhuowu xiansheng, comm. Li Zhi, 100.8b-9b, in XXSKQS, vol. 1792. 669 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 325. Italics mine. 670 Ibid., 325-26. 671 Hegel, The Novel, 74.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 127

extremely cruel tricks”672 to achieve their goals, to the extent of framing a would-be brother or causing his wife and children to be slaughtered.673 Nevertheless, despite their disturbingly destructive side, the 108 heroes were well- loved by the Chinese readers and story-listeners, some of whom went so far as to emulate them as they engaged in real-life brigandage or uprisings against the imperial government in the 16th and 17th century.674 People were willing to somehow disregard or justify the dark side they saw. Commentaries (possibly falsely) attributed to Li Zhi 李贄 (1527-1602)675 went so far as to hail some of the extremely violent figures of Liangshan (Lu Zhishen 魯智深, Wu Song 武松, Shi Xiu 石秀, Li Kui etc.) as literally “buddha” (fo 佛), “living buddha” (huofo 活佛), “bodhisattva” (pusa 菩薩), “sage” (shengren 聖人), “wonderful man” (miaoren 妙人) and so on, on account of their existential purity or authenticity.676 But, of course, Li Zhi himself was a well-known demonized heresiarch in the eyes of the late imperial authorities. In his lifetime he opposed ideologically imposed inauthenticity of the human being,677 the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucian orthodoxy’s “suppression of personal desires in deference to the demands of the collectivity”, and so it is not surprising that the commentaries appearing under his name carried on with or “imitated his style and vocabulary and attacked many of the same targets”.678 The ideal Li posited “[i]n place of … an artificial, externally derived moral standard” was the “innate ‘childlike heart’ (tongxin 童心)”,679 which defined his being part of a late Ming intellectual countermovement against

672 As described in Martin Weizong Huang, “Dehistoricization and Intertextualization: The Anxiety of Precedents in the Evolution of the Traditional Chinese Novel,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 12 (Dec. 1990): 60. For more details on the brigands’ atrocious acts and their subversion of the moral ideal of yi, see pages 60 to 64 of the same article. 673 As seen in the cunning ruses employed to recruit Qin Ming 秦明 and Lu Junyi 盧俊義 – see Shi and Luo, Li Zhuowu xiansheng, comm. Li Zhi, 34.10b-14b, 62.1b-7b, in XXSKQS vol. 1791-92. 674 See Qi, Feng et al., Shuihu xue shi, 305-307; Hegel, The Novel, 77; Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 192-93. 675 Regarding the major versions of Li Zhi’s Water Margin commentaries and the philological issue of their authenticity, see Qi, Feng et al., Shuihu xue shi, 264-65; Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 288-90. 676 See the comments in, e.g., Shi and Luo, Li Zhuowu xiansheng, comm. Li Zhi, 3.12a, 4.3a-b, 4.4b, 4.6a, 4.9a-10b, 4.11b-14b, 4.15b, 4.16b-19a, 5.4a-b, 5.11a, 5.12a, 5.13a-b, 26.13b, 26.15b, 26.17a, 45.19b-20a, 49.14b, 50.9a-b, 51.9a; cf. Monk Li’s (Li heshang 李和尚, i.e., Li Zhi) end-of-chapter comments on Lu Zhisheng’s authenticity and his buddha nature, in 4.21a and 5.15a; his end-of-chapter comment on Wu Song’s sagehood, in 26.18a; and the opening statement “Li Kui is the prime living buddha of the Liangshan Marsh; whenever he does good or evil, he bears no intention to do so as good or evil” 李逵者梁山泊第一尊活佛也爲善爲惡彼俱無意, in his prefacial text “Liangshan Bo yibai dan ba ren youlie” 梁山泊一百單八人優劣 [An assessment of the 108 characters of the Liangshan Marsh](1a). 677 See Epstein, Competing Discourses, 74-79. 678 David L. Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary: Reading and Writing Between the Lines (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997), 222-23. 679 Epstein, Competing Discourses, 77.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 128

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. Unfolding from Wang Yangming’s xinxue, this countermovement reaffirmed human desire (often represented under the rubric of qing 情 (emotions / passions / love)) and authenticity, and this tendency was amply reflected in the popular fiction of the late Ming,680 often pitting the “aesthetics of authenticity” against “the demonization of desire in [the] orthodox narratives”.681 (Incidentally, Li Zhi was not the only reader to go to such lengths over Water Margin. As noted by Andrew H. Plaks, there were other critics in the Ming and Qing “who seem[ed] to express general approval for some of the more disturbing actions of the Liang-shan band”, and:

Particularly troubling is the widespread praise on the part of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century commentators for [Li Kui] as a totally honest individual, an unbridled free spirit […] [S]ome of the ecstatic appreciations of [Li Kui] expressed in the commentaries seem to present a blind eye to the darker sides of his characterization.682

Ultimately Plaks also grounds this phenomenon in the late Ming intellectual trend of idealizing spontaneity, as exemplified by Li Zhi who, “in his Fen shu 焚書 … cites [Water Margin] as a prime example of his notion of the free expression of the childlike mind” – “within the late Ming intellectual context the sort of natural openness associated with [Li Kui] was pointedly contrasted to the narrow moralizing of the Confucian pedant [daoxue qi 道學氣]”.683) Only a few decades after Li Zhi’s early 17th-century commentaries, a major event occurred in the evolution of Water Margin. To appreciate the significance of this event, it should be noted first of all that the earlier versions of Water Margin had the Liangshan brigands submit to the imperial government eventually, then turn around to fight other rebels (e.g., Fang La 方臘) for its sake, and ultimately wither away through attrition via combat and the villainous intrigue of their enemies. Theirs may be thought of as a story of the integration of the demonic into the demonizing hegemony, with tragic results. This narrative of “returning to correctness” (guizheng 歸正)684 made a near about-turn, however, around 1644 when the maverick critic-cum-editor Jin Shengtan 金聖嘆 (1610-1661) produced the truncated, 70-chapter Guanhuatang 貫華堂 edition of Water Margin.

680 For a detailed discussion on this trend and its reflection in late Ming fiction, see ibid., 61-119. 681 Ibid., 62. 682 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 356. 683 Ibid., 357. 684 See page 112 of the present dissertation.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 129

In Jin’s version, the story ends abruptly with the 108 heroes at the zenith of their success, their identities as astral spirits dramatically confirmed by a mysterious stele with heavenly script, and would have Liangshan’s brigands captured and executed en masse by the authorities only within a sort of portentous dream dreamt by the character Lu Junyi. The text does not go on to narrate their co-optation by the imperial government and their tragic deaths. Jin’s truncated edition became the most popular – indeed, the only prevailing one - of the multiple versions of Water Margin from then on, to the point of causing all its forerunners to be virtually forgotten by readers at large.685 This development, it may be argued, testifies to a widely shared refusal to see the romanticized, idealized energy of the demonic subdued and dissipated pitiably, as well as a popular sentiment that would rather have the demonized rebels stay unintegrated and triumphant.686 We today may not think very much of such sentiments, but an apocryphal incident which supposedly occurred during the reign of the Ming emperor Xizong 明熹宗 (i.e., 1621 - 1627) may help us appreciate the perceived radicality and subversiveness of admiration for such problematic characters as the Liangshan brigands within the first hundred years after the novel’s emergence. During the political struggle between the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian 魏忠賢 (1568 - 1627) and the Donglin Faction (Donglin dang 東林黨), the story goes, Wei’s supporters compiled three blacklists of enemies to suppress. One of these lists was the Register for Dotting Generals (Dianjianglu 點將錄), in which Donglin members were enumerated and mockingly associated with the astral titles and nicknames of individual rebels in the Water Margin. On one particular occasion,

Zhongxian seized an opportunity to show the Emperor the lists. The Emperor did not understand what “Stupa-bearing Deva-king” [the nickname of the Water Margin character Chao Gai 晁蓋] referred to. So Zhongxian told him the story from the Water Margin regarding the moving [by Chao Gai singlehandedly] of a stupa from West- brook [Village] to East-brook [Village]. The Emperor suddenly clapped his hands and said, “What valour!” From then on, Zhongxian hid his book, and would never let the Emperor hear about it again.

忠賢乘間以達御覽。上不解托塔天王為何語，忠賢述《水滸傳》溪東西移塔事。上忽鼓掌曰：“勇哉。”忠賢於是匿其書，不復上聞。687

685 See Qi, Feng et al., Shuihu xue shi, 86-87; Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 292. 686 Evaluations along this line have become more common amongst Chinese literary critics since the 1980s, although not necessarily couched in explicitly demonological terms – see Chen, Shuihuzhuan yuanliu kaolun, 366-69. 687 A self-commentary in Qin Lanzheng’s 秦蘭徵 (fl. mid-17th century) Tianqi gongci 天啓宮詞 [Palatial verses from the Tianqi period], 15b-16a, in Congshu jicheng xubian 叢書集成續編 [A

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 130

Obviously Wei intended to put his enemies in a bad light. He must have explained to the Emperor who Chao Gai was, and made clear the nature of the abovementioned stupa relocation as essentially a brazen act of forceful acquisition by a village ruffian.688 Yet his scheme of aspersion backfired momentarily. He must have presupposed: Surely the Emperor would unreservedly condemn rebellious bandits like those in the Water Margin! But a positive attitude towards the imperially demonized ran deeper and stronger than was expected by Wei, hardly a figure of ideological orthodoxy himself, and probably many other people in the early 17th century. Indeed, over time, perceived haloing of the demonized associated with Water Margin actually became such an unacceptable phenomenon to defenders of traditional values that the novel was repeatedly proscribed,689 and quite a number of sequels were written in the Qing and Republican period with the clear intent to give the heroes of Liangshan Marsh the treatment they “deserved”, as it were. These reactionary sequels sought to re-affirm a pro-conformity moral / imperial order by condemning the rebels unequivocally, and / or reforming or punishing them severely. The revisionist écriture would go so far as to slaughter the rebels completely and brutally, as seen in A Record of the Eradication of Bandits (Dangkouzhi 蕩寇志), a sequel written by Yu Wanchun 俞萬春 (1794- 1849).690 Popular reception and the fictional subjugation of the 108 heroes aside, whether or not the novel itself in its pre-1644 forms set out to glorify the Liangshan brigands in their capacity as demonic characters is somewhat debatable, even though a reading on the affirmative side is not implausible. Certainly there is no lack of those who, like Maram Epstein, simply sees Water Margin as “an unruly, anti-state novel that seems to condone rebellion”.691 The likes of Andrew H. Plaks, however, may argue that what is in Water Margin is “neither a blind approval of the Liang-shan mentality in disregard of its more troubling

collection of the collected books, 2nd series](Taipei City: Xinwenfeng, 1989), 279:495-96. Punctuations mine. 688 This instance of Chao Gai’s “heroics” may be found in: Shi and Luo, Li Zhuowu xiansheng, comm. Li Zhi, 14.1b-2a, in XXSKQS, vol. 1791. 689 Noted in detail in Chen, Shuihuzhuan yuanliu kaolun, 378-85. 690 See Wong Hoi Sing 黄海星, Gudian xiaoshuo xushu yanjiu – yi Shuihu xushu wei zhongxin 古典小説續書研究——以《水滸》續書為中心 [A study of sequels to classical fiction, centred around the sequels to Water Margin](Hong Kong: Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, University of Hong Kong, 2013), 48-54 (esp. 51-52, 54), 59, 111-13. Cf. Chen, Shuhuzhuan yuanliu kaolun, 399-404; condemnation for Water Margin in different rhetorics over the centuries, as summarized in Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 348-49. 691 Epstein, Competing Discourses, 44.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 131

implications, nor a bitterly cynical denunciation of all that the band stands for, but rather a manifestation of a basic uncertainty”, “a questioning of some of the most deep-seated beliefs about the nature of the individual hero and the significance of human action”.692 According to such a view, “a reading of the [Water Margin] as a kind of partisan attack on either brigandry or ‘defeatism’ can be just as misleading as taking it to be a wholehearted celebration of anti-authoritarian elan”.693 Yet a certain sheen on the dark, transgressive side lingers on – in the very least, according to John Fitzgerald’s analysis:

[I]n its basic structure, its repetitions, and patterns of relations, the [Water Margin] myth seriously contemplates disloyalty to the emperor. The novel has preserved the seductive appeal of disloyalty in its structure, even as the plot carries the tale to a weak and submissive conclusion.”694

As for Jin Shengtan’s 70-chapter Water Margin, it too, along with Jin’s own (ostensibly brigandage-condemning) commentaries for the novel,695 is inherently amenable to a similar range of possible interpretations. This explains the diversity of conflicting opinions from the Qing down to the late 20th century on Jin Shengtan’s true intentions regarding Water Margin.696 Again, some scholars see contradictions and “ironic intention” on Jin’s part. 697 Robert E. Hegel, for example, recognizes that the ending of Jin’s Water Margin is “ambiguous for the ruling dynasty”, suggestive of the powerlessness of the imperial court to destroy the outlaws of Liangshan Marsh, in contrast to the “older versions [that] had narrated the suppression of successive rebellions by imperial strategies”. 698

692 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 320. Cf. Plaks’ highlighting the undermining effect of “the ironic dimension” in Water Margin that “comes into play in the deflation of heroic myths and stereotypes from the popular tradition” (Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 499). 693 Ibid., 352. 694 Fitzgerald, “Continuity within Discontinuity,” 379. Italics mine. 695 Jin Shengtan’s contributions to the text of Water Margin went beyond discarding chapters and attaching his comments. It has been pointed out that Jin resorted to “a deliberate misreading and rewriting” (Epstein, Competing Discourses, 45) of the novel to promote its aesthetic value. Some of Jin’s distortions and strategic reworkings of the Water Margin text are detailed in Hegel, The Novel, 79-82, noted to be for the primary purpose of “demonstrat[ing] how unworthy rebels and brigands, particularly their leaders, are to receive the emperor’s pardon.” (Hegel, The Novel, 82). See also Liangyan Ge, “Authoring ‘Authorial Intention:’ Jin Shengtan as Creative Critic,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 25 (Dec. 2003): 9-11. 696 See Qi, Feng et al., Shuihu xue shi, 88; Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction, 37-40; Hegel, The Novel, 78. 697 See Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction, 40-42; Hegel, The Novel, 78. Cf. the general observation that early Chinese fiction commentators propagated the belief that fiction writers never directly expressed what they meant – see Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction, 93. 698 Robert E. Hegel, “Conclusions: Judgments on the Ends of Times,” in Dynastic Crisis and Cultural Innovation from the Late Ming to the Late Qing and Beyond, ed. David Der-wei Wang and Shang Wei (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2005), 531.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 132

According to Hegel, what we have here is a case of unwitting self-defeat – i.e., the actual effect of Jin’s work on Water Margin simply contradicts his revisionist intentions:

[Jin Shengtan’s] brief conclusion for [Water Margin] – the dream executions – is puzzling, not stirring; his verbose commentaries notwithstanding, the reader upon finishing the novel is left with the exhilaration of the feast, not an impression of bloody recompense for wrongdoing. Despite the stringent condemnation of rebellion against authority in [Jin’s] commentaries (he allows his characters no chance to reform), the bulk of the work as he left it affirms the exuberant vitality, and by implication the anti-authoritarian stance, of its heroes.699

Hegel assures us that Jin Shengtan’s “aim in editing the text was to emphasize the [original] work’s condemnation of outlawry and rebellion”; 700 that “[Jin’s] stand on banditry and rebellion was unambiguous”;701 that Jin supported the policy of exterminating, rather than pardoning, rebels in real life, and had chosen the novel as an outlet for expressing such a view; 702 such that it was ironic and out of misunderstanding that Jin’s Water Margin “continued to be seen as advocating rebellion in the name of loyalty and altruism”.703 On the other hand, scholars like Andrew H. Plaks see de facto reprieve for the demonized in Jin’s Water Margin, a release from the twilight-of-the-heroes tragedy of the earlier editions. He concedes that there is a “sense of ambiguity in [Jin Shengtan’s] ending”, which is also present in the pre-truncated fanben versions;704 and that:

[Jin] does not fail to insert a note of impending doom and futility at the end in the final twist of [Lu Junyi’s] dream vision. Given [Jin Shengtan’s] loud declarations of hostility to the aims and methods of [Song Jiang] and his men, the addition of this prophecy of doom is all but obligatory, as his text would otherwise close with the band [exactly] at their greatest point of triumph. It is true that by eliminating the later episodes, he also deprives the bandits of their chance to perform honorable service to the nation, but at the same time his truncation leaves them unscathed, and unpunished, at the height of their powers.705

699 Hegel, The Novel, 78. Italics mine. 700 Ibid., 77. 701 Ibid., 78. 702 Ibid., 83. Cf. the perceived connection between Jin’s work and the socio-political circumstances around him (i.e., the chaos of the Ming-Qing transition): “The issues of order and chaos raised in this novel are perennial ones within the traditional Confucian vision, so that by 1644 [Jin Shengtan] could, with considerable conviction and pathos, take it as a nearly allegorical exploration of what was causing the world to crumble all around him.” (Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 354) 703 Hegel, The Novel, 84. 704 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 311. 705 Ibid., 310-11. Italics mine. However, according to Robert E. Hegel, “[Jin’s] use of the dream world as setting for this punishment [i.e., the execution of the Liangshan bandits] should not be viewed as negating its reality. In his lengthy comment on chapter 13, [Jin Shengtan] sighs in sympathy with the Buddhist tenet that life is but a dream, insubstantial and transient. In this context, then, the

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 133

Whatever the case may be, the ambiguity of Jin Shengtan’s truncated Water Margin is by no means unique in the broader context of the development of Chinese fiction. It has been noted that writers, editors and commentators of late imperial Chinese fiction tended to exploit “the thematic tension created by the conflicting orthodox desire to create patterns of order and the heterodox content of the fiction [at hand]” to produce “ambiguous and heteroglossic narratives” that must have afforded their readers the enjoyment of interpretive latitude.706 Within this very latitude, the possibility of reading post-1644 Water Margin in terms of increasing demon-glamorization is tenable. After all, as pointed out by Andrew H. Plaks, Jin Shengtan was amongst the admirers of Li Kui’s perceived ingenuousness, for “at numerous points in his commentary he departs from his unconcealed disgust for the aims and purposes of the band as a whole to express a preference for [Li Kui]’s forthrightness and daring over the qualities of his less transparent brother [i.e., Song Jiang].”707 Not unlike Li Zhi’s superlative exaltations, Jin praises for some of Water Margin’s heroes as moral or existential paragons are collectively eyebrow-raising, given the characters’ dark side: e.g., Lu Zhishen is hailed as “a broad[-hearted] person” (kuoren 濶人), Yang Zhi 楊志 “an upright person” (zhengren 正人), Chai Jin 柴進 “a good person” (liangren 良人), Li Kui “an authentic person” (zhenren 真人), Lu Junyi “a magnificent person” (daren 大人) and Wu Song 武松 “a heavenly person” (tianren 天人).708

As far as the chronological development of demonogloria is concerned, the early Qing novel The Latter Water Margin (Hou shuihuzhuan 後水滸傳) by an unidentified Master of the Azure Lotus Room (Qinglianshi zhuren 青蓮室主人) has to be mentioned here. As noted in section 3.2 of the present dissertation, it stands out amongst the many latter-day sequels to Water Margin. The dates for the novel’s composition and publication are uncertain, but it is probably written during the Shunzhi period (1644 - 61) or the early Kangxi period (1662 - 1722),709 which means it predates NXWS’s first publication by a few decades. The 45-chapter Latter Water Margin begins where the 120-chapter fanben versions of the original Water Margin ends. It tells the story of the twin brothers Yang Yao 楊么

dream execution is meant to be as ‘real’ as any other section of the work.” (Hegel, The Novel, 78) Even so, most readers will agree that death in a dream is still reprieve compared to death in waking life. 706 Epstein, Competing Discourses, 54. 707 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 356. 708 From Jin’s comments for chap. 25 of the Guanhuatang edition of Water Margin, cited in Qi, Feng et al., Shuihu xue shi, 278. 709 See Qi, Feng et al., Shuihu xue shi, 369.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 134

(based on a historical leader of rebels against the Southern Song government, operating around the Dongting Lake region)710 and Wang Mo 王摩, who are the reincarnations of Liangshan Marsh’s Song Jiang and Lu Junyi in the Southern Song. A number of the Liangshan heroes, including Li Kui, are also reborn. Under the leadership of Yang Yao and Wang Mo, they once again form a formidable conglomerate of brigands, combating corrupt and oppressive government officials as they had in their previous life. Towards the end, they become quite unstoppable as they move around in the Dongting Lake (in present-day Hunan Province) in a human-powered paddle-wheel warship. Imperial troops led by the famous military commander Yue Fei 岳飛 (1103 - 42) eventually overpower them, but fail to capture them.711 Yang, Wang and 34 other reincarnated heroes escape into underground tunnels together, where they drop dead suddenly, and become happily reunited with all their former comrades as astral spirits again. In the final scene of the novel, in the bowels of the earth, they “turn into black pneumas, congeal into masses, and no longer go out” 化成黑炁凝結成團不復出矣.712 There are a few striking things to note in this novel. Firstly, the story carries on with the Water Margin’s motif of demons-as-bandit-heroes, but underscores the non-human, demonic identity. Apart from their being demonized rebels against the imperial rule, Yang Yao and Wang Mo are named with Chinese characters meant to be homophonic with yaomo 妖魔 (goblins and archdemons); in fact, their mother originally called them Yao’er 妖兒 and Mo’er 魔兒. 713 According to their mother, these two brothers were accompanied by ominous manifestations in their infancy: they were born soon after she saw the arrival of “two masses of black pneumas” (liang tuan heiqi 兩團黑氣)(which echoes the heroes’ reverting to their original forms as “black pneumas” at the end of the novel); even in the moments after their birth, the “black pneumas” continued to tumble in their presence and then caused their familial house to burn down; and “people often saw the two babies take on bizarre appearances, and so they said they were demons, and would hinder and cause harm to their parents when they grew up in the future” 常有人看見現出怪相人便指說是妖魔日後養大必要妨害爹娘.714 In Chapter 27, when Yang Yao’s comrades rescue him

710 Mentioned, e.g., in Yue Fei’s 岳飛 (1107 - 42) biography in Tuotuo 脫脫 (1313 - 1355) et al., Songshi 宋史[History of the Song](Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977), fasc. 365, 33:11381-384. 711 This part of story is based on the historical event of Yue Fei’s quelling of Yang Yao’s rebel forces in 1135 AD – see ibid., fasc. 365, 33:11384. 712 Qinglianshi zhuren 青蓮室主人 (fl. mid-17th century), Hou shuihuzhuan 後水滸傳 [The Latter Water Margin](17th century; repr., Dalian: Dalian chubanshe, 2000), 45.17b. 713 See ibid., 2.5a. 714 Ibid., 2.3b.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 135

from execution at Kaifeng, He Yunlong 賀雲龍, a magic-wielder amongst them, cause the 36 heroes’ astral-spirit form to become visible; as a result, they each appear “to have an additional large head behind their head, and look extremely intimidating” 頭腦後又生一個大頭腦相貌十分兇惡, such that the soldiers around them “become so frightened that their souls and courage dissipate … and dare not pursue them” 嚇得魂膽俱消 ……不敢追殺 715 as the rebels fight their way out. This reads almost like a terrifying display of mass demonic possession. Secondly, demonic asuraism and indomitability are taken further here than in the earlier Water Margin (both before and after Jin Shengtan). For example, in Chapter 21, Wang Mo rejects Buddhist salvation as he declares: “Even if the World-honoured One [i.e., Buddha] himself asks me to become a buddha, I will have no patience for [a life of] eating grass roots and sipping plain water” 便是世尊呌俺成佛俺也不耐煩喫草根呷白水 716 – which can be read as an intertextual reversal of Sun Wukong’s buddhification in Journey to the West. A more impressive display is in Chapter 41, when Yang Yao manages to sneak into the imperial palace at Lin’an 臨安 (present-day Hanzhou, Zhejiang) to remonstrate with the emperor Gaozong 高宗 (1107 – 87; r. 1127 - 62) face to face, and boldly enumerate his errors as a ruler. Amazingly, Gaozong is so delighted that he rewards Yang Yao with wine and lets him go, despite urgent advice to the contrary from his subjects. The emperor’s reasons for doing so are: “I am pleased with your loyalty and forthrightness, pleased with your courage and decisiveness, pleased with your untrammelled heroic conduct” 喜汝忠直喜汝果敢喜汝豪俠.717 (This episode is, of course, strongly reminiscent of, if not directly inspired by, the anecdote of Xizong’s admiration for Water Margin’s Chao Gai, which I have recounted earlier in this section.) Gaozong then attempts to rope Yang Yao into surrendering himself and serving him, but Yang pushes the offer back firmly with two conditions of his own:

I will not submit as long as there are treacherous and flattering subjects in your court. I will not submit as long as no one can defeat me. … If Your Majesty can execute [the treacherous subject] Qin Hui and others, I would surely be willing to be your good subject. Alternatively, if there is someone who could overcome me with strength [in battle], I would also be willing to be your good subject. Otherwise, I will not be willing.” (Emphasis mine)

715 Ibid., 27.5a. 716 Ibid., 21.13b. 717 Ibid., 41.11a.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 136

朝有奸佞不歸，無人能勝楊么者不歸。…… 陛下若能誅秦檜等，么必願為良臣；再有人以力屈服楊么者，亦願為良臣。如其不然，非所願也。718

Yang Yao’s second condition speaks of a raw respect for power, which is in tune with the obsession with power on the part of NXWS’s Demonic Tradition – a respect that is here placed on par with expectation for moral correctness. The fact is: already in Chapter 27, in a conversation between Yang Yao and Wang Mo about Water Margin’s Song Jiang, Yang has made it clear that he will not be “weak and lacking in resolve” 懦弱沒主見 like Song Jiang, who by virtue of these weaknesses ended up getting his comrades and himself killed.719 That is to say, Yang has already made up his mind that he will not be so easily absorbed into the imperial order. Clearly, the author of The Latter Water Margin is writing to rectify what he perceives to be tragically wrong or unsatisfying with the original Water Margin. In the end, as we have seen, Yang Yao and his comrades are neither annihilated nor assimilated. When total defeat presses itself upon them, they simply step out of the realm of human conflicts, and return to their supernatural point of origin – much like NXWS’s Demonics who “return to their original stations once the ‘Numbers’ have run their course” 數完則仍歸本位.720 In direct contradiction to official history, these rebels are not executed,721 not even in a dream as the brigands of Liangshan Marsh are at the end of Jin Shengtan’s truncated Water Margin. Short of letting Yang Yao and his fellow outlaws actually win, this is as far as demon-glamorization goes without letting the demonizers claim an orthodoxy-affirming, complete victory.

If we agree with Mark R. E. Meulenbeld that “Watermargin illustrates the process of transformation that demonic spirits may traverse once they fight for the greater benefit of mankind”,722 then we may say that, from the early editions of Water Margin to Jin Shengtan’s edition and then to The Latter Water Margin, there is a progressive shift from the demonic as admired but ultimately assimilated, to the demonic as admired and (barely) successfully resistant to assimilation. That the sublime demonic in NXWS wins, dominates, and even turns around to permeate the “orthodox” is only the next logical step in the crescendo of demonogloria.

718 Ibid., 41.11b. Punctuations mine. 719 Ibid., 27.12a. 720 See page 76 of the present dissertation. 721 The historical Yang Yao was captured and executed in 1135 AD – see Tuotuo et al., Songshi, fasc. 365, 33:11384. 722 Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 212.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 137

4.1.3 The Unsubdued Belles Femmes and Ji Yun’s Infernal Man-eaters

Other than Water Margin and its sequels, 16th- and early 17th-century China saw the development of two other monumental novels of seemingly great demonological importance: Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods (also known as Canonization of the Gods).723 However, despite the abundance and dynamism of their demonic characters, these two works are actually not of too much interest to us here since they do not rise above the age-old patterns already imprinted in Liu Ji’s “The Two Demons” and the Water Margin – i.e., those of the struggles and eventual defeat / integration of the demonic. In particular, such a pattern is quite unavoidable in Journey to the West if we consider the nature of this novel. In his exposition on this masterwork, Andrew H. Plaks cites from its Chapter 13 (“With the emergence of consciousness, all types of demons come forth; with the extinction of consciousness, all the demons are extinguished” 心生種種魔生心滅種種魔滅) and explains: “In other words, all the demons who threaten the life and limb of the [novel’s] travelers are essentially manifestations of the unenlightened state of the mind in its process of cultivation.”724 He recognizes the Journey to the West’s allegory as “essentially a psychomachia of the process of the cultivation of the mind as construed by sixteenth- century thinkers”, “heavily charged with the language of syncretic [xinxue Neo- Confucianism], which substantially conditions the meaning of its allegorical figures”. 725 Accordingly, the demons essentially serve to underscore “the danger that the completeness of individual consciousness within the self may give rise to the illusion that the self is complete unto itself”; 726 and thus an important abstract principle behind subduing the demons in the novel is “the contraction of the bounds of selfhood”, or reducing the enemy “to the vulnerable proportions of a finite self”,727 as seen in how Sun Wukong sometimes defeats the demons not with strenuous external attacks but by shrinking himself and getting inside them.728 That is to say, the allegory in question is really about “the harmonizing of the self within a network of human relations in society and the world at large”.729 In view of xinxue’s credo that every individual has the potential to become a sage, which entails the

723 Regarding their dates and development from earlier materials, see: ibid., 65-66; Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 183-99. 724 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 245. 725 Ibid., 258. 726 Ibid., 270. Cf. Rob Campany’s key insight quoted in note no. 457 of the present dissertation. 727 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 258. 728 Ibid., 257. 729 Ibid., 264.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 138

very possibility and necessity of overcoming the internalized demonic, it is unsurprising that the self-cultivational allegory of Journey to the West can only be informed by the ultimate victory of all that is “right” and “good” over the demons. The demonological heart of the Investiture of the Gods, on the other hand, is about more external, socio-religious concerns. In its fictional struggles against and eventual canonization of pro-Shang, anti-Zhou militants and sorcerers, this novel illustrates the subsumption and re-harmonization of “demonic” forces in a cosmogonic / politogonic process, 730 or as Mark R. E. Meulenbeld suggests, encodes a narrative for liturgical integration, for “[t]ransforming [l]ocal [s]pirits into Daoist [g]ods”.731 Either way, it is again a grand, triumphalistic affirmation of the hierarchies of demonizing orthodoxy. As such, there is, in principle, no room in it for any radical unruliness that might break through into the near-absolute asuraism sported in NXWS. (Having said that, that this novel presents the demonic characters and their actions not as an anomalous departure from the way the world should be, but as a natural and necessary part of the larger cosmic order – “programmed into the schedule of events”,732 as it were – seems to prefigure the Demonic Tradition’s occupying a niche in the cosmic cycles of destruction in NXWS. But in the case of NXWS, the Demonics’ remarkable freedom and unpunishability733 are in fact a deeper affirmation of such naturalness and necessity, in contrast to how the demons in Investiture of the Gods can actually be held accountable for overdoing the evils they are ordained by higher powers to do.734)

When moving on to the 17th century and beyond, in tracing the rise of the demonic in China’s narrative literature, there is no skipping over the surge of dazzling literary accounts of a particular recurring archetype. By these I mean the stories about mysterious, dangerous, non-human (mostly female) entities that prove to be lovable beauties right to the end. Prominent embodiments of this trend can be found, among many other places, in Pu Songling’s 蒲松齡 (1640-1715) Strange Tales from the Chitchat Studio (Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋志

730 See Campany, “Cosmogony and Self-cultivation,” 96-102. This aspect of Investiture of the Gods supposedly also relates to self-cultivational philosophies of the Ming, including Wang Yangming’s xinxue, as a rival approach – see Campany, “Cosmogony and Self-cultivation,” 81-84, 102-103. 731 Subheading in Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 185. 732 Campany, “Cosmogony and Self-cultivation,” 102. 733 See pages 75 to 76 of the present dissertation. 734 As noted in Campany, “Cosmogony and Self-cultivation,” 99.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 139

異; 735 largely completed in 1680, its earliest known publication being in 1766),736 Yuan Mei’s 袁枚 (1716 - 1798) That Which the Master Did Not Speak of (Zibuyu 子不語; first published in 1788),737 Wang Tao’s 王韜 (1828-1890) short stories - collected in his Casual Records of the Song-river Recluse (Songyin manlu 淞隱漫錄)(1875) and elsewhere - as well as the hugely popular, vast and cross-media corpus of the Story of the White Snake (Baishezhuan 白蛇傳) cycle.738 The popularity of such stories from the 17th century onwards represents a transition noticed by literary scholars to various extents. For vernacular stories involving alluring supernatural entities, Patrick Hanan sees an earlier beginning for the trend, that “even in the early period [i.e., before about 1450] there is a development of the demon’s character from succubus to impish lover, and by the middle of the Ming, the gothic type of demon story has died out, leaving only the quasi-fairy story”.739 More recently, limiting herself to the 17th century and predominantly to ghosts, Judith T. Zeitlin has examined the phenomenon of the aestheticization of the ghostly lover, and rightly described it as a cultural reversal of a long- standing negativity.740 She marvels at the “extraordinary transformation” that was a “shift from frightening to frightened”,741 such that the new amorous revenant not only possesses astounding physical attractiveness, but is also often sickly, frail, melancholic and gifted with a literatus’ talents. 742 Indeed, what Pu Songling, a key driver of this phenomenon, accomplished in his tales of the supernatural has been called “a poetic re-making of the spirit world” 幽冥世界的詩意再造.743 (Incidentally, the seductive fox spirit in the literary tradition of the Ming-Qing period also underwent a similar transformation.)744 Much of this can be

735 As noted to some extent in Wu Jiucheng 吳九成, Liaozhai meixue 聊齋美學 [The aesthetics of the Chitchat Studio](Guangzhou: Guangdong gaodeng jiaoyu chubanshe, 1998), 290-293. 736 See Li Jianguo 李劍國 and Chen Hong 陳洪, eds., Zhongguo xiaoshuo tongshi . Qingdai juan 中國小説通史 . 清代卷 [A comprehensive history of Chinese fiction (The Qing dynasty fascicle)](Beijing: Gaodeng jiaoyu chubanshe, 2007), 1599-1600; see esp. 1599n1 for the years of Liaozhai zhiyi’s composition. 737 Year of publication as established in: Zheng Xing 鄭幸, Yuan Mei nianpu xinbian 袁枚年譜新編 [A newly compiled biographical chronology of Yuan Mei](Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2011), 544-45. 738 The transformation of the White Snake in Qing dynasty stories from a purely malicious succubus to a humanly lovable, heart-tugging (though still dangerous) woman has been noted in: Pan Jiangdong 潘江東, “Baishe gushi yanjiu” 白蛇故事研究 [A study on the stories of the White Snake], in Baishe gushi yanjiu fu ziliao huibian 白蛇故事研究附資料彙編 [A study on the stories of the White Snake, appended with collected materials](Taipei City: Taiwan xuesheng shuju, 1981), 1:23-52, esp. 41. 739 Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story, 45. 740 See Zeitlin, The Phantom Heroine, 16-28. 741 Ibid., 27. 742 Ibid., 24-25. 743 Li and Chen, Zhongguo xiaoshuo tongshi, 1610. 744 Noted in: Kang, The Cult of the Fox, 72-96.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 140

seen as part of a wave of qing 情 (sentiments / passions / love)-centered aesthetics, for which Tang Xianzu’s 湯顯祖 (1550-1616) late 16th century masterpiece The Peony Pavilion (Mudanting 牡丹亭) constituted a major influence.745 (As noted by Zeitlin, “[t]he immediate stimulus for the profusion of phantom-heroine roles in the late Ming and early Qing was the sensation caused by Peony Pavilion and its female protagonist, Du Liniang”.746) This wave had deep affinities with the xinxue-influenced pursuit for greater human authenticity (mentioned in the previous section) as espoused by Ming maverick literati such as Tang Yin 唐寅 (1470- 1524), Xu Wei 徐渭 (1521-1593), Li Zhi and others.747 While it is tempting to subsume the trend of the aestheticized female entity under that of increasing glamorization or –positivization of the demonic, particularly the Yin- demonic with its soft, feminine side accentuated, such a generalization is not without its limits. First of all, Zeitlin’s characterization notwithstanding, over the course of the 17th, 18th and 19th century, the aestheticized non-human woman in Chinese literary accounts is actually not always weak, frail and leaning on her human lover. She is sometimes empowered, charged to an impressive degree with a sense of control over her own life, or even – through sometimes magical means - the circumstances of others for better or for worse. Such empowerment, which one may argue is really aestheticization at a deeper level, can be seen already in Strange Tales from the Chitchat Studio,748 certainly in That Which the Master Did Not Speak of,749 and more prominently by the time of Wang Tao.750 Be she a ghost, a fox

745 Zeitlin, The Phantom Heroine, 13-14; cf. Liu Shuli 劉淑麗, Mudanting jieshou shi yanjiu 《牡丹亭》接受史研究 [History of the reception of Peony Pavilion](Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2013), 175-94, 298- 342; Xu Fuming 徐扶明, ed., Mudanting yanjiu ziliao kaoshi 牡丹亭研究資料考釋 [A philological study and explication of research materials for Peony Pavilion](Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987), 81-138, 213-320; Qi Zhixiang 祁志祥, Zhongguo renxue shi 中國人學史 [History of the Chinese study of the human being](Shanghai: Shanghai daxue chubanshe, 2002), 375-83. 746 Zeitlin, The Phantom Heroine, 136. 747 See Liu, Mudanting jieshou shi yanjiu, 192; Luo Yuming 駱玉明, “Ming zhongye Jiangnan caishi (zonglun)” 明中葉江南才士（總論） [Jiangnan’s talented gentry in the mid Ming (A general discussion)], in Zongfang beige – Ming Jiangnan caishi shi 縱放悲歌——明江南才士詩 [Unrestrained and elegizing – the poetry of Jiangnan’s talented gentry in the Ming](Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju (Xianggang), 1990), 1-5. Cf. Qi, Zhongguo renxue shi, 360-61, 363-69. 748 See, e.g., “Nie Xiaoqian” 聶小倩, in Pu Songling 蒲松齡 (1640 - 1715), Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋志異 [Strange tales from the Chitchat Studio], Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小説集成 (1751; repr. in facsim., Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990)(hereafter cited as LZZY(G)), 1:162-172, 2.17b-22b. 749 See, e.g., “Qian Zhongyu” 錢仲玉 and “Xie Tanxia” 謝檀霞, in Yuan Mei 袁枚, Zibuyu 子不語 [That which the Master did not speak of], 19.2b-3a, 20.1b-2a, in BJXSDG, vol. 10. 750 See, e.g., “Li Renqiu” 黎紉秋 and “Feng Peibo” 馮佩伯, in Wang Tao 王韜, Songyin manlu 淞隱漫錄 [Casual records of the Song-river Recluse], col. and punct. Wang Siyu 王思宇, 2nd ed. (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2006), fasc. 3, 128-32; fasc. 5, 232-35.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 141

spirit or any other entity of a conventionally demonized (or unclear) category, 751 the aestheticized lover could go forth proactively to win the love of a man or resolutely leave it behind;752 she could make her lover rich and successful,753 lead him to attain immortality,754 or save him from death and other troubles;755 she might even punish or kill enemies or potential violators. 756 Indeed, by the late 19th century, Wang Tao had no qualms about showing such entities as easy overcomers – even consequence-free killers – of exorcists,757 a characterization which had become quite imaginable ever since demonesses played a Celestial Master like a toy in NXWS.758 Wang’s de-potentization of traditional exorcists is probably not too surprising, given that, two centuries earlier, Pu Songling was already ceding ground to the dark presences when he had a Daoist priest proclaim to a pining paramour of two phantoms, “These are very good ghosts, you should never be disloyal to them!” 此鬼大好不宜負他 759 (That is to say, “Let’s not exorcize them!”) In any case, the non-human belle dame may eventually be comfortably integrated or (where she is a ghost) re-integrated into the familiarity of human existence and social life, as in the case of Pu Songling’s Nie Xiaoqian 聶小倩 or his Xiaoxie 小謝 and Qiurong 秋容.760 But, even after being “domesticated”, she may still retain a degree of disturbing otherworldliness to the end,761 or simply take initiative to unperturbedly go away, leaving everything behind762 – that is to say, in and through her, a shade of the demonic can remain free and not exterminated. Her being kept unsubdued parallels the same condition we find the 108 Liangshan brigands in at the end of Jin Shengtan’s truncated Water Margin.

751 Even a jiangshi 僵屍 (animated corpse; literally “stiff corpse”) has been presented as a pretty, loving wife and active defender of her human family – see “Jiangshi ju zei” 僵屍拒賊 [An animated corpse resists a thief], in Xu Zibuyu 續子不語 [A continuation of That Which the Master Did Not Speak Of], 4.3b, in Yuan, Zibuyu. 752 See, e.g., “Shuang deng” 雙燈 [Two lanterns], in LZZY(G), 1:537-39, 4.48a-49a; and “Zibuyu niangnang” 子不語娘娘 [Lady That-which-the-Master-did-not-speak-of], in Xu Zibuyu, 2.11b-12b, in Yuan, Zibuyu. 753 See, e.g., “Zibuyu niangnang,” in Xu Zibuyu, 2.11b-12b, in Yuan, Zibuyu. 754 See, e.g., “Bai Qiuying” 白秋英, in Wang, Songyin manlu, fasc. 2, 54-58. 755 See, e.g., “Lianxiang” 蓮香, in LZZY(G), 1:221-36, 2.46a-53b. 756 See, e.g., “Yingning” 嬰寧, in ibid., 1:147-161, 2.10a-17a. 757 See, e.g., “Lianzhen xianzi” 蓮貞仙子 [The Lotus-chastity Transcendent Maiden] and “Xu Zhongying” 徐仲瑛, in Wang, Songyin manlu, fasc. 1, 40-44; fasc. 6, 260-64. 758 As recounted in section 3.1.3 of the present dissertation. 759 “Xiaoxie” 小謝, in LZZY(G), 2:791, 6.28a. 760 See ibid., 1:170, 2.21b; 2:791-94, 6.28a-29b. 761 E.g., the unnamed jiangshi 僵屍 (literally “stiff corpse”; i.e., animated corpse) in Yuan Mei’s “Jiangshi ju zei” resides in a coffin with her human family – see Xu Zibuyu, 4.3b, in Yuan, Zibuyu. 762 As in the case of, e.g., He Luoxian 何洛仙 in Wang Tao’s “Xu Zhongying” – see Wang, Songyin manlu, fasc. 6, 264.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 142

Secondly and more importantly, not infrequently the aestheticized entity can be made so lovable and so positivized unto social-relational normalcy or moral excellence that thinking of her as “demonic” tends towards untenability. As seen above, Pu Songling could make even a Daoist exorcist admit that it was fine to be haunted by certain ghosts, in view of their loving devotion, even though sleeping with them was still fatally detrimental to the vital energy of their human paramour.763 In a number of the stories of shady heroines, the amorous Other is further made unamenable to even the simplistic attachment of demonizing taxonomic labels, by virtue of her being kept typologically vague to the end,764 or presented as straddling different categories. This is especially true with Wang Tao’s women, with whom we commonly find ourselves wondering: “What creature exactly is she?” or “Is she a fox spirit and a transcendent?” and so on. 765 All in all, in dealing with such stories, the rubric of increasing glamorization of the demonic-qua-demonic can become ill-fitting at some point. Obviously here is not the place to delve any deeper into the wide-range phenomenon of the dark belle dame of late imperial Chinese literature, or further attempt to unravel its complexities and subtleties. Having limited myself in this chapter to focus primarily on the parameter of demonic “indomitability” or “dominance”, it suffices at this point to reiterate that Chinese fiction up to the end of the 19th century had, from time to time, imagined attractive women of a demonic shade who remained, to the end, unsubdued or even unsubduable by the traditional forces of exorcism. Stories in this vein existed side by side with the more traditional tales of abominable succubi who ultimately succumbed to exorcism, reminding us that demonogloria represents, after all, an alternative perspective existing in tension with the mainstream. The mystique and freedom of the likes of Wang Tao’s unsubduable maidens, in particular, could have been partially inspired by NXWS’s asuraic Demonics.

That the motif of archdemonic indomitability a la the Demonic Tradition did not die out after NXWS is also clear in Ji Yun’s 紀昀 (1724 – 1805; styled Xiaolan 曉嵐) Yuewei caotang biji 閱微草堂筆記 (Brush Notes from the Cottage for Inspecting Subtleties), a

763 See LZZY(G), 2:791, 6.28a, where the virtuous ghosts of Xiaoxie and Qiurong refrained from sex with their shared paramour so as not to endanger his life. 764 See, e.g., “Zibuyu niangnang,” in Xu Zibuyu, 2.11b-12b, in Yuan, Zibuyu; and “Bai Qiuying,” in Wang, Songyin manlu, fasc. 2, 54-58. 765 As in the case of, e.g., “Lianzhen xianzi”, “Zhu Xiaoping” 諸曉屏 and “Xu Zhongying,” in Wang, Songyin manlu, fasc. 1, 40-44; fasc. 5, 236-40; fasc. 6, 260-64.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 143

miscellany of diverse contents (mostly accounts of the strange) completed over a course of nine years from 1789 to 1798.766 Ji Yun was writing in a time when the genre of collected accounts of anomalies was enjoying a strong revival.767 Traditionally, this genre had an ideological function, for, in them:

anxiety towards threatening others was frequently resolved by creating a new sense of certainty in understanding the cosmological/moral principles that govern them. The feared powers of heterodoxy and the unfamiliar are thereby harnessed, domesticated, and appropriated.768

Hence, paralleling the different demonizing systems of suppression and integration mentioned in this study, these writings served “either to coopt anomalies in the service of strengthening the old socio-political order or to assimilate them so as to reconfigure correlative cosmologies”.769 And yet, in the 6th fascicle of Yuewei caotang biji, when Ji Yun tells us about archdemons serving as magnificent devourers of sinful souls, he goes a long way towards undermining the well-established highest power of cosmic control, represented by Buddha. The narrative in question is attributed to Mingxin 明心, a monk of the Hong’en Monastery (Hong’en si 宏恩寺). According to him, an old Buddhist monk from India once “entered the underworld” (ruming 入冥) in spirit. In his vision of the afterlife, he saw thousands of people, naked and bound, outside a bureaucratic office. In the presence of a seated official, a functionary was taking a roll call of these souls, “picking out the fine- and coarse-bodied among them, and measuring how fat or skinny they were, as if they were goats or pigs being sold at a butcher’s shop” 一一選擇精粗揣量肥瘠若屠肆之鬻羊豕. Perplexed, the monk asked one of the functionaries present what was going on.

The functionary said, “The archdemons of the heavens eat humans for food. Even though Buddha had exercised great divine powers to subjugate the Archdemon King, converting him such that he abided by the Five Prohibitive Precepts [of Buddhism], his kind were numerous and not always submissive. They said, ‘Since eternity past, we archdemons have been eating humans like humans have been eating grain. We will not eat people only if Buddha can stop people from eating grain.’ Thus did they argue. Even the Archdemon King could not restrain them.

766 The story to be recounted below comes from the earliest part of Yuewei caotang biji - see Zhou Jiming 周積明, Ji Yun pingzhuan 紀昀評傳 [A critical biography of Ji Yun](Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 1994), 92-94. 767 See Chiang, Collecting the Self, 37-38; cf. Tan, Zhongguo xiaoshuo fada shi, 293-97. 768 Ibid., 67. 769 Ibid., 248.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 144

Seeing that so many people were already unrepentantly lost in the great waves of the sea of sin, such that the Hell of Incessant Suffering could no longer contain them, Buddha sent an official document to the Yamas [i.e., the Kings of Hell], asking that the convicts of this Hell be transferred for the archdemons to devour, so that they would be sated and thus spare the living from harm.”

吏曰：「諸天魔衆，皆以人為糧。如來運大神力攝伏魔王，皈依五戒，而部族繁夥，叛服不常。皆曰：『自無始以來，魔衆食人，如人食穀。佛能斷人食穀，我即不食人。』如是嘵嘵，即彼魔王亦不能制。佛以孽海洪波，沉淪不返；無間地獄，已不能容，乃牒下閻羅，欲移此獄囚，充彼啖噬。彼腹得果，可免荼毒生靈。770

The Ten Kings of Hell had a discussion, and concluded that four kinds of people were the worst sinners that caused the people to suffer most – i.e., functionaries, runners for government offices, the relatives of officials, and the servants or slaves of officials. And so, the explanation continues:

“[ … ] such individuals are being cleared out of our Hell to be supplied for their cooking. Because the fair-skinned ones, the soft and crispy ones and the fat ones are for the Archdemon King to eat, and the more unrefined bodies are for the multitudes of archdemons to eat, we are sorting them first before sending them out. Those amongst them of less severe karma typically dissipate into nothingness upon cutting and cooking. The more serious sinners have their bones tossed out [after being eaten by the archdemons]; these are restored to their original forms as the karmic winds blow upon them, such that they get butchered again for food. The cycle may be repeated for two or three times, or thousands of times. Those with the worst karma can end up being restored a few times daily; and for them, the cutting, the picking of their flesh, and the roasting never end.”

是以清我泥犁，供其湯鼎。以白晰者、柔脆者、膏腴者，充魔王食；以粗材充衆魔食；故先為差別，然後發遣。其間業稍輕者，一經臠割烹炮，即化為烏有；業重者，拋餘殘骨，吹以業風，還其本形，再供刀俎，自二三度至千百度不一；業最重者，乃至一日化形數度，刲剔燔炙無已時也。」771

The account essentially goes on to end with the Indian monk’s awakening and propagation of his message, adding that the four types of people mentioned nevertheless had great capacity to do good and thus to go to a Buddhist Pure Land after death.772

770 Ji Yun 紀昀 (1724 - 1805), Yuewei caotang biji 閱微草堂筆記 [Brush Notes from the Cottage for Inspecting Subtleties], 6.1a, in BJXSDG, vol. 10. Punctuations mine. 771 Ibid., 6.1b. Punctuations mine. 772 Ibid.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 145

From a story-teller’s point of view, the anthropophagous archdemons function only as a bogeyman in this moralistic cautionary tale, but the extent of their power and unruliness is astounding despite their being put to serve the existing cosmic penal system. The precedent of the unconquerable Demonic Tradition standing tall vis-à-vis Buddha and Laozi in NXWS has made it imaginable for Ji Yun to render the archdemons too powerful for Buddha to fully control. This is, again, a big step further into demonogloria from Su Wukong of Journey to the West, who famously wreaked havoc in Heaven but was ultimately subdued by Buddha.773 Also, in Ji Yun’s narrative, that the archdemons comes across as a vast, anti- human, numinous underside of the universe is also in tune with the portrayal of the Demonic Tradition in NXWS as an equally unfathomable, and awe- and fear-inspiring cosmic fixture. It has been said that Qing accounts of the strange flourished as a response to failing, earlier worldviews, which would include those of the Song-Ming Neo-Confucians. These were failures that needed to be resolved intellectually in the view of, firstly, the fall of the Ming to the Manchus, and later, the decline of the Qing from the late Qianlong period onwards. As Sing-chen Lydia Chiang puts it:

The complexity of High Qing strange tale collections reflects a messy and atavistic process that ranges from alienation from Song-Ming cosmology to tempered confidence in its moral and epistemological certainty. However, the unprecedented quantity of anomaly account collections produced during the High Qing indicates a sense of urgency to rebuild alternative cosmic paradigms from the ruins of Song-Ming cosmologies.774

This sense of urgency may reflect a widespread perception of how overwhelmingly threatening the forces of the demonized were. This can explain why the monsters in Yuewei caotang biji are often profoundly subversive despite Ji Yun’s pronounced tendency to assert the values of orthodoxy against or through them. As observed by Chiang:

Ji Yun’s discussions of the female drought-demon, jiangshi [僵屍; literally “stiff corpse”; i.e., animated corpse], and the licentious and crafty fox is much more than a study note on folklore and contemporary xiaoshuo. His is an effort to intervene in the popular discourse of the powers of the demonic and of the trickster, which may undermine public confidence in cosmic law and order. However, on the other side of Ji Yun’s eloquent denouncement may have been the social reality of pervasive mistrust in the effectiveness of the symbolic political

773 An episode that can be found in Wu, Xiyouji, chap. 7, 54-58. 774 Chiang, Collecting the Self, 249.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 146

order that was reflected, rather than invented, by such folklore and literati tales.775

Ji Yun’s sinner-munching archdemons perch just beyond the edge of civilization, and in constant tension with it. As he tells us, they have to be fed constantly, so that they do not encroach upon the bubble of cosmic / social security and stability that Ji Yun is eager to maintain (and which, ironically, would have to be maintained through the constant presence of the kind of sinners Ji Yun is condemning), even though it is not the ostensible intent of his narrative to focus on this precarious state of affairs. The archdemons are certainly not given the moralistic stamp of approval, but they are channelled to support the dominant value system without having to change their nature and behaviour essentially. At the same time, they loom in the background of the world, inspiring such awe and “creature-feeling”776 in readers as typically invoked by the mysterium tremendum et fascinans. 777 Demon- magnification is thus reflected, striven against, and yet also continued in Yuewei caotang biji’s story of the infernal man-eaters.

4.1.4 Rising Demonogloria: A Rough Timeline

For the sake of clarity, the literary examples discussed in the previous sections may be arranged in a quasi-tabular timeline like the following, incorporating NXWS itself and primarily highlighting the parameter of demonic “indomitability” or “dominance”:

Late 14th Liu Ji’s “The Two Demons” century • The demonic: Implicitly admirable; of cosmic magnificence, but limited defiance at heart; ultimately subdued, but maintaining an intrinsic irregularity of being 15th century

775 Ibid., 101. 776 A term used by Rudolf Otto in connection to the experience of the numinous, alternatively called “the consciousness of creaturehood” – see Otto, The Idea of the Holy, 10, 21. 777 For the idea of the numinous Other as both mysterium tremendum and mysterium fascinans, see ibid., 12-24, 31-40.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 147

16th Fanben versions of Water Margin century • The demonic: Popularly admired by readers, despite being condemned by defenders of orthodoxy; powerful but eventually assimilated and met with tragic demise Journey to the West • The demonic: Powerful but eventually destroyed, or subdued and assimilated 17th Commentary on Water Margin, century attributed to Li Zhi

• The demonic: Admired; superlatively exalted (in the terms of Confucian and Buddhist orthodoxy) Investiture of the Gods

• The demonic: Powerful but eventually eliminated and assimilated Stories of the aestheticized female ghost / fox spirit and other shady heroines Jin Shengtan’s 70-chapter Water (Told by Pu Songling, Yuan Mei, Margin Wang Tao, etc.)

• The demonic: Powerful and not subdued, assimilated or eliminated (except for mass execution in a dream) The Latter Water Margin • The demonic: Aestheticized, idealized • The demonic: Identity as demons and loved; often “domesticated”, but underscored; powerful and eventually sometimes also unsubdued or defeated, but not destroyed or unsubduable to the end assimilated 18th NXWS century • The demonic: Self-defined being; at its most glorious, marked by near- absolute asuraism; being timeless masters of the world who break into human history; dominating over traditional orthodoxies; appealingly

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 148

free and sublime; mirrored by the “good guys” The account of infernal man-eaters in Ji Yun’s Yuewei caotang biji

• The demonic: A constantly threatening, numinous, cosmic background to the human world; superficially assimilated, but essentially unruly and unsubduable 19th century

(Table 3: A rudimentary timeline of the development of demonogloria in the narrative literature of late imperial China)

Needless to say, there are many gaps in this timeline, which I have to leave to future research to fill in. But even in this rough timeline, a sort of build-up, as uneven as it is, to the height of demonogloric radicality in NXWS is discernible. By contextualizing the novel this way, as far as the narrative literature of late imperial China is concerned, it becomes unmistakably clear that there was a current of demon-glamorization and –positivization which reached its peak in the demonological outlook of Lü Xiong’s novel and which NXWS in turn fed into. . 4.2 Reconsidering Barend J. ter Haar’s “Demonological Paradigm”

Having roughly outlined the trend of demonogloria in late imperial China’s narrative literature, it is hard to imagine that the phenomenon was restricted to literature and not also discernible in other domains. With this in mind, it becomes necessary for us to take another look at Barend J. ter Haar’s demonological generalization mentioned in Chapter 1 of the present dissertation. In his 2002 essay “China's Inner Demons: The Political Impact of the Demonological Paradigm”, Ter Haar argues that a particular perennial “demonological paradigm” permeated (and continues to permeate) a large swath of Chinese civilization from medicine, society, politics to religious culture. It is a structure of perception and action, according to which the demonized Other must always be confronted and fought, denied of any foothold

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 149

in the life of the individual or the community.778 It is “about violent conflicts … not about harmonic integration. Demonic beings must be expelled, destroyed, or otherwise disposed of”. 779 While this view is traditionally bolstered by the apparent rigor of imperial state religion and of the Daoist and Buddhist orthodoxies that had been exorcizing demons for the Chinese people since the Six Dynasties,780 Ter Haar himself admits that “[s]ome demons are reintegrated in the normal universe when they are worshipped as deities. [ … ] In fact, the bureaucratic metaphor in Chinese religious culture could be explained as an attempt to disguise the demonic origin of most local deities”.781 The actual dynamic complexities behind the continuous process of legitimizing “demonic gods”782 and consciously assimilating them into the demonizing systems of state religion or “orthodox” pantheons - long noted by Sinologists 783 – indicate that Ter Haar has somewhat overstated the Chinese people’s antagonism towards the demonic. (Indeed, Mark R. E. Meulenbeld has gone so far to state that “the Ming state is constructed on a demonic foundation”.)784 Such problematics aside, the trend of demonogloria uncovered in this chapter of the present dissertation further confirms that Ter Haar’s formulation is not the whole story of how China relates to her demons. The demonological outlooks of NXWS and other works of literature constitute a non-negligible counter-example against Ter Haar’s macro-cultural generalization. The old demonological paradigm he describes, which informed even the likes of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace’s demonological messianism, presupposes that people want to be on the side of the light, struggling against the demons.785 But as even Yuejun is fascinated with Princess Chamo in NXWS and drawn into the demonic, demon- glamorizing literature offers a set of counter-propositions, suggesting: Are demons not appealing existentially? Why not love the demons? Why not be demonic? Why not partake in the allure of the demonic?

778 See Ter Haar, “China's Inner Demons,” esp. 29-37. 779 Ibid., 31. 780 See Poo, “Images and Ritual Treatment”. 781 Ter Haar, “China's Inner Demons,” 30. 782 A term frequently used (in the singular or plural) by Mark R. E. Meulenbeld to talk about Chinese religion – see, e.g., Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 109, 115, 139, 148, 152, 181, 184. (Cf. Ter Haar’s characterization of even the popular martial deity Guan Yu 關羽 as one of the “demons” (Ter Haar, “China’s Inner Demons,” 32).) 783 See, e.g., Cedzich, “The Cult of the Wu-t’ung / Wu-hsien”; Szonyi, “The Illusion of Standardizing the Gods”; Katz, “Demons or Deities?”; the discussion on the sublimation of demonic entities for Daoist Thunder Ritual (leifa 雷法) and for supporting the Ming state, in Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 147-67. Significantly, Mark R. E. Meulenbeld points out that “[d]espite the pervasive rhetoric of the need to annihilate devious spirits, Daoists are well aware of their martial guards’ demonic origins” (Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 204). 784 Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 148. 785 See Ter Haar, “China’s Inner Demons,” 29-52.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 150

Any doubt that such seemingly wild notions from works of fiction did not reflect socio-religious realities is dispelled when we turn to look at traditional Chinese religious culture again, and see the above questions implicitly answered in the affirmative now and then. It suffices here to consider examples from Mark R. E. Meulenbeld’s 2015 study on demonic warfare: 11th century ritual theatrics in which soldiers dressed up like “demonic spirits”, very much like how present-day “martial arts groups that … participate in temple processions in order to entertain the gods to whom they pledge allegiance” put on “demonic masks” and paint “ghostly faces” on themselves;786 13th-century Daoist magic that purported to transform human soldiers into colossal “demonic gods with blue faces”, “generals of Black Death (Heisha)” to engage in real-life warfare; 787 a Yuan dynasty case of real-life city- defenders enacting a similar transformation to fight pirates;788 or, as recounted by Ter Haar himself, the way “bandit-rebels” sometimes “adopted violent titles or names of divine generals summoned in exorcism” (such as “King Who Weeds and Levels”, “King Who Kills Completely”, etc.), hoping to thereby take on “the strong vital force connected to the name” and reinforcing the “perception of themselves as demonic forces with a license to kill”.789 Do all these not echo, even if only momentarily, D. H. Lawrence’s (1885 - 1930) cry at the sight of the insignificance of humans within Nature’s vastness: “I wish one could cease to be a human being, and be a demon. – Allzu Menschlich.”?790 Are such sentiments not rooted in the glamorization and idealization of the demonic of the sort embodied in the likes of NXWS? Undoubtedly we can agree with Ter Haar that “[h]istorically, the fear of a permanent demonic threat belongs to the oldest substratum of Chinese religious culture”,791 and that “[o]ne of the most basic notions in traditional Chinese religious culture is the persistent and fundamentally violent danger to human beings posed by all kinds of demons”. 792 The demonic is hated negativity, but the evidence of NXWS and the literary trend of demonogloria behind it suggest that it is also, to a lesser degree, something quite opposite in the Chinese mindset. As a historical phenomenon, the embracing of the demonic coexists with the perennial animosity against the demonic, and is not completely negated by it. The

786 Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 12. 787 Ibid., 115. 788 See ibid., 116. Cf. pages 95 to 96 of the present dissertation for a similar mass masquerade in NXWS. 789 Ter Haar, “China’s Inner Demons,” 35. 790 D. H. Lawrence to Katherine Mansfield, 9 February 1919, in The Selected Letters of D. H. Lawrence, ed. James T. Boulton (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 167. “Allzu Menschlich” is German for “all too human”. 791 Ter Haar, “China’s Inner Demons,” 31. 792 Ibid., 29.

Nüxian waishi and Late Imperial Chinese Demonogloria 151

“demonological paradigm” posited by Ter Haar has to take this into account and be adjusted accordingly if it is to help us gain a more accurate and complete understanding of the Chinese civilization.

152

Chapter 5

Conclusion

5.1 Demonological Tensions and Transgressive Impact

According to the Indologist Heinrich Zimmer, “[s]heer nature, blending beauty with hideousness, charm with the grotesque, ambivalent and ambiguous, beyond or beneath human moral and social values and commands,” can sometimes be made manifest in artistic images “as the perennial antagonist to the purely human value of society, ethics, family, and the spiritual pursuits of mankind.”793 He also marvels:

After millenniums of the struggle of the [religious and spiritual] gurus to disengage man from the brutish thrall of the demonic powers of sheer nature, these – unabated, unconquered, and unreconciled – still were there. And they are both shocking and attractive. Not even attempting to conceal what is grotesque and hideous, they show forth triumphantly the basic monstrousness and ambivalence of life.794

The qualities of the demonic described as such are very much what the demonology of NXWS’s narrative conveys. In the present study, analysing NXWS in terms of contruals of the demonic has uncovered a distinctive, radical demonology with three major facets: (I) The demonic as existentially self-defining (and not simply the product of being demonized by a hegemonic system); (II) The demonic as ultimately insuperable and dominant; (III) The demonic as a sublime, suggestively desirable part of reality or mode of being. Manifestations thereof include: (1) asuraism (Yang-demonic qualities); (2) dialectic self- alterity; (3) a strange attractiveness beyond the merely erotic; (4) pervasiveness and subversiveness. (Point (II), in particular, necessitates the rethinking of Laurie Cozad’s demonological schema for more universal applicability.) Situating the abovementioned demonology in a very rudimentary history of Chinese demonogloria reveals Lü Xiong’s novel as being a pinnacle in the evolution of demon-

793 From The Art of Indian Asia, edited by Joseph Campbell, 2nd ed. ([Princeton]: [Princeton University Press], 1960), cited in Joseph Campbell (assisted by M. J. Abadie), The Mythic Image (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974), 270. Italics mine. 794 Ibid., 271. Italics mine. Conclusion 153

glamorization within the Chinese literary domain. The novel serves as a prominent counterexample for questioning Barend J. ter Haar’s “demonological paradigm”, and thereby for accentuating the need to re-imagine the demonological dynamics of the Chinese civilization, in view of the tension between conflicting impulses (i.e., of struggling against the demonic, versus that of being drawn into the demonic). Thus I rest my case that NXWS is a text of extraordinary demonological significance. The potency and radicality of this novel’s demonological outlook is significant both synchronically and diachronically.

It seems worthy of mention here that, apart from the issue of demon-glamorization, there might be a second pair of conflicting tendencies also co-existing in demonological tension in NXWS, but which lies beyond the scope of the present dissertation. By this I mean two different perceptions of the demonic – that of the demonic as essence, and of the demonic as function. Evidence for both abound throughout NXWS when one consciously looks for it. What Christine Mollier says in the context of early Daoist demonology is illustrative of the latter perception: “The division between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ demon is a question of status and title.”795 The implied changeability of a demon’s status to that of an “orthodox” deity is predicated on the view that there is a deep, ontological commonality between the divine and the demonic. As pointed out by Mark R. E. Meulenbeld:

Many manuals for [Daoist] Thunder Ritual explain that there exists a firm cosmological kinship of all spiritual essences with the primordial union of all being: all demons, gods, and other spirits that are commonly worshiped in temples merely are derivatives of the primordial breath of the cosmos contained within hundun [混沌]. This term, referring to the hodgepodge of pure energies that exists at the beginning of the cosmic cycle of life and death, is posited by many ritualists as a unifying principle for connecting the spirits of local communities with the liturgical structure of Daoism.796

Seeing the demonic in terms of function only is precisely what (Meng) Yishan (孟)嶧山, one of NXWS’s original commentators, does when he comments on the novel’s Chapter 91. Here, he recognizes the bagging of Fire-head Piyena in Princess Chamo’s satchel as an allegory for coitus, and speaks of the calculated use of the female sexual organ relativistically:

795 Mollier, “Visions of Evil,” 89. 796 Meulenbeld, Demonic Warfare, 110.

Conclusion 154

Some may say that instances of the subjugation of Fire-head by the red-jade satchel are numberless in this world, like the grains of sand of the Ganges River – could it be that they all belong to the Way of the Demons? I say: When used for what is correct, it is of the Orthodox Way; when used for what is deviant, it is of the Way of the Demons.

或謂世間以紅玉袋而降火首者，恒河沙不可數，豈盡魔道乎？曰：以正用之，斯爲正道；以邪用之，則爲魔道。797

And yet, the emphasis in NXWS on the demonic (at its most sublime) as a self-defined mode of being points to the other direction - that of the demonic-as-essence. It is why, for example, Mantuoni remains a “demonic nun”798 even though she assists the “good guys” throughout the novel. Only further research may clarify this matter.

Equally worthy of exploration is my suspicion that something else drove the radicality of NXWS’s demonology other than the various motivations enumerated earlier in section 2.3. While here is not the place to seriously pursue this, it is nevertheless tempting to put forth some preliminary speculations. Some of the literary trends of the historical period of Lü Xiong’s birth and upbringing may provide clues. As noted by Patrick Hanan, although “[m]ost writers [of Chinese vernacular stories] worked within the idea of a morally active universe in which justice is a function of human and suprahuman ethical law, and in which ultimate tragedy is therefore ruled out”,799 there were some writers who doubted this basic premise of cosmodicy.800 One significant example given by Hanan is Aina Jushi 艾衲居士 (fl. late 17th century), who, like Lü Xiong, was “writing in the aftermath of the Manchu invasion of China” and similarly “driven to see history as the product of vast, impersonal forces”801 – possibly as the result of experiencing the trauma of the worldview-shattering Ming-Qing transition. For the genre of the novel, Robert E. Hegel makes a similar observation: the predominant worldview that informs Ming-Qing novels “assumes that the universe is structured and that structures have moral value, that virtue will be rewarded and wrong-doing will be punished, and that the universe is ultimately comprehensible in moral terms”;802 however, “a survey of selected Ming and Qing novels

797 NXWS(G), 5:2128, 91.7b. Punctuations mine. 798 See page 59. 799 Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story, 26. 800 See ibid., 27. 801 Ibid. 802 Robert E. Hegel, “Unpredictability and Meaning in Ming-Qing Literati Novels,” in Paradoxes of Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. Eva Hung (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994), 148.

Conclusion 155

reveals an increasing degree of destabilization of moral order”, to the point of pulling the rug from under the “traditional beliefs that goodness and order can or will triumph in human society”.803 This general shift from cosmodicy, possibly rooted in the pain of loyalism for the Ming, opened up the possibility of imagining extreme yet victorious and unpunishable evil, such as NXWS’s Demonic Tradition. Another factor to consider is the exhaustion of the qing-centred aesthetics before the end of the 17th century. Maram Epstein has pointed out that, as demonstrated by Feng Menglong’s 馮夢龍 (1574 - 1646) History of Love (Qingshi 情史), “writers of fiction were quick to assimilate the self-expressive rhetoric of qing into conventional and didactic orthodox narratives, thereby blurring the boundaries between the two”, such that “the adversarial edge of the aesthetics of qing was quickly dulled”, even though “it continued to circulate as a mode of expression that was somehow more genuine and impassioned”.804 She also notes that, as the Chinese vernacular novel developed through the Ming and Qing,

it is clear that as writers began adopting the rhetoric and iconography of qing as a means to reinvest more conventional values with a sense of authenticity and passion, gender reversals [as a common feature for challenging orthodox norms] lost much of their transgressive edge.805

This loss of “transgressive edge” was probably true on a more general scale. That is to say, it probably applied more broadly to the initially stimulating antics flaunted by the protagonists of late Ming fiction – i.e., the “rebellious actions and emotions [that] represent a corrective to the spiritually empty gestures of stereotyped scholars and bureaucrats who try to profit from an increasingly ineffective and corrupt status quo”.806 As exemplified by the commentary to Water Margin attributed to Li Zhi (briefly discussed in section 4.1.2 of the present dissertation), “[t]he philosophical defense of emotions, even those acknowledged as selfish, as a positive and fundamental part of human nature led to an impassioned heralding of the unorthodox, the private, the individual, and the eccentric”; 807 but the freshness and sting of qing-centred aesthetics eventually ebbed:

803 Ibid., 162. The novels surveyed include Sui shi yiwen 隋史遺文 [Forgotten Tales of the Sui, 1633] and HLM, contrasted against the likes of Journey to the West, Jin Ping Mei 金瓶梅, Sui Tang yanyi 隋唐演義 [Romance of the Sui and Tang], and Sui Yangdi yanshi 隋煬帝艷史 [The Merry Adventures of Emperor Yang, 1631]. 804 Epstein, Competing Discourses, 305. 805 Ibid., 307. 806 Ibid., 118. 807 Ibid.

Conclusion 156

[T]he collective soul-searching brought on by the shock of the humiliating defeat of the Ming dynasty to the culturally inferior Manchus spelled an end to the philosophical interest in qing, an intellectual movement that came to be blamed for contributing to late Ming self-indulgent decadence.808

Writing in the late 16th century and early 17th century, Lü Xiong must have felt the need for a renewed subversive edge, a new, anti-normative principle of character- and world- building beyond the hackneyed self-justification in terms of qing. It was in mo, the demonic- qua-demonic, that he found the delivery of impact he needed for his novel. Again, only further research may confirm these speculations of mine.

5.2 Some Pursuable Lines of Inquiry

All in all, there is much richness in the reading of NXWS as a piece of demonology, waiting to be explored. As an ending note, I hereby briefly outline four other promising, related possibilities for future research.

First of all, the rudimentary trajectory of Chinese demonogloria given in section 4.1.4 of the present dissertation is something that needs to be expanded upon. Gaps in Table 3 are waiting to be filled in, just as the periodic table had to be filled in by generations of chemists after Dmitri Mendeleev (1834 - 1907). The more complete history of Chinese demonogloria will have to cover periods before the early 14th century and after the 19th century, different genres of writing, as well as domains of culture and sociality outside of literature.

Secondly, in view of the fact that Fate (the “Numbers”) rules over everything and every event in NXWS, 809 and that the Demonic Tradition functions as an agent of the “Numbers” in effect while simply doing whatever it wants,810 the question of whether the “Numbers” are really the ultimate demonic in NXWS presents a different angle of demonological inquiry.811 For a study along this line, it will be paramount to refer to Yue Hengjun’s 樂蘅軍, Yizhi yu mingyun – Zhongguo gudian xiaoshuo shijieguan zonglun 意志與命運——中國古

808 Ibid. 809 See page 76 of the present dissertation, esp. note no. 445. 810 See pages 75 to 76. 811 Cf. the Goethean idea that Fate itself is demonic – see Zucker, “The Demonic,” 43.

Conclusion 157

典小説世界觀綜論 [Will and Fate – A general survey of the worldviews of Chinese classical fiction], which argues that, from the Tang to the Song and Ming, Chinese fiction saw a shift from the glorification of the human will to the affirmation of the dominance of Fate (which can be indifferent to morality) over will.812 This observation should be considered alongside Andrew H. Plaks’ opposing analysis, which essentially argues that, in each of the four masterworks (Si da qishu 四大奇書) of the Ming novel, there is a conditional affirmation of will in spite of Fate.813 In any case, it should be recognized that NXWS’s attempt at fusing moral imperative at the human plane with overwhelming cosmic fatalism is mostly a continuation of the Ming novelistic paradigm as generalized by Plaks, with an intent to put a positive twist on “the recurrent emphasis on failure and meaninglessness, the intimations of cosmic futility, which succeeds in placing the entire mimetic edifice of the works into the status of passing dreams of vanity”.814 The significance and role of demonic will in NXWS’s fatalistic scheme will have to be figured out.

A third pursuable line of inquiry would be an in-depth examination of NXWS that puts it in close dialogue with a specific system of modern Western cultural / philosophical demonology. A fitting system of thought to be brought in for this would be that of the multidisciplinary scholar Eugene Thacker as represented in, among other texts, his “Swarming: Number versus Animal?” (2009), “The Shadows of Atheology: Epidemics, Power and Life After Foucault” (2009), After Life (2010), In the Dust of This Planet (2011), “After Life: Swarms, Demons and the Antinomies of Immanence” (2011), “Occultural Studies 3.0: Devil’s Switchboard” (2011), and “Dark Media” (2014).815

812 See Yue Hengjun 樂蘅軍, Yizhi yu mingyun – Zhongguo gudian xiaoshuo shijieguan zonglun 意志與命運——中國古典小説世界觀綜論 [Will and Fate – A general survey of the worldviews of Chinese classical fiction](Taipei City: Da’an chubanshe, 2003), 1-273, esp. 96, 156-57, 159, 182, 187- 89, 256, 273. 813 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 509, 511-12. Cf. Plaks’ view that there had been “new emphasis on individual responsibility for human action” in the 17th century, as “moral imperatives of a rational universe” replaces “inexorable truths beyond human control”, even though “[t]he use of the novel medium to work out the implications of moral dilemmas involving conflicts between greater and lesser goods, or between free will and predetermination, had been developed during the sixteenth century” (Plaks, “After the Fall,” 552-53). 814 Plaks, The Four Masterworks, 510. 815 Eugene Thacker, “Swarming: Number versus Animal?”, in Deleuze and New Technology, ed. Mark Poster and David Savat (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), 161-84; “The Shadows of Atheology: Epidemics, Power and Life After Foucault,” Theory, Culture & Society 26, no. 6 (2009): 134- 152; After Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010); In the Dust; “After Life: Swarms, Demons and the Antinomies of Immanence,” in Theory After Theory, ed. Jane Elliott and Derek Attridge (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2011), 181-93; “Occultural Studies 3.0: Devil’s Switchboard,” 26 May, 2011, in “Occultural Studies Column,” Mute magazine website, accessed March 29, 2014, http://www.metamute.org/editorial/occultural-studies-column/occultural-studies-3.0-devils-

Conclusion 158

In view of the anti-human ways, the numinosity and the extreme Otherness of the demonic in NXWS, it will be fruitful to refer to Thacker’s notion of the world recognized as “world-without-us” (rather than “world-for-us”)816 and “world-in-itself-for-us”,817 or of the utterly “unhuman”, 818 all of which represents the boundaries to (human-centred and human-structured) thought and being. Thacker tends to progressively push his conceptual categories towards paradoxical limits where they break down and negate themselves, such that his various lines of thought lead to and converge on the reality of the universe as being resistant to humanization or thought itself. Reality at that level, according to him, is where philosophical demonology, the non-thought of “the demon as an ontological problem”,819 should operate, for “demons are a stand-in for the limits of our ability to comprehend the world, either in terms of the human or the divine”.820 Thackerian thought as such and NXWS can serve to illuminate each other profoundly. Of particular noteworthiness are Thacker’s ruminations on the ontology and phenomenology of swarms and swarming, 821 which would surely find a splendid source for illustration, corroboration and possibly supplementation in such episodes in NXWS’s story as the battle between Piyena and the Nine Demon Children,822 or the bullying of the Celestial Master Hanxu at the hands of Princess Chamo’s demonesses.823

My fourth and final suggestion for future research arises from the observation that NXWS’s radical demonology and the late imperial Chinese demonogloria it epitomizes unfolded during what may be seen as the early florescence of modernity in China. It seems worthwhile to take this observation, juxtapose it against the association of the demonic with modernity in the West, and work out the meta-cultural implications. Examples for the abovementioned Western association abound. William Blake’s (1757 - 1827) immortal lines “And was Jerusalem builded here / Among these dark Satanic

switchboard ; “Dark Media,” in Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation, by Alexander R. Galloway, Eugene Thacker and McKenzie Wark (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014), 77-149. 816 See Thacker, In the Dust, 4-9. 817 See ibid., 52-54, 155-57. 818 Ibid., 80; Thacker, “The Shadows of Atheology,” 135, 148-49. Note that “unhuman” does not mean the same thing as “inhuman”. 819 Thacker, In the Dust, 45. 820 Thacker, “Occultural Studies 3.0”. 821 As expounded in Thacker, “Swarming: Number versus Animal?” and “After Life: Swarms, Demons and the Antinomies of Immanence”. 822 In NXWS(G), 5:2111-18, 90.7a–91.2b. 823 Recounted in section 3.1.3.

Conclusion 159

Mills?”824 are commonly thought to be a criticism of the factories of the Industrial Revolution and what they embodied.825 On a different front, “modern art has an essentially demoniacal tendency”, according to Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), “[a]nd it seems that this satanic side of man … increases every day”.826 Observations of the demonic nature of aspects of modern life may not even explicitly employ the word “demonic”; for instance, in 1960, the eminent psychological and social philosopher Erich Fromm has warned his readers: “[…][W]e are quickly approaching a society governed by bureaucrats who administer a mass-man, well fed, well taken of, dehumanized and depressed. We produce machines that are like men and men who are like machines.”827 Further into the decade, his essay “Prophets and Priests” sees 20th century Western culture as one that is:

increasingly dominated by the bureaucratic organizations of the big corporations, governments, and armies, and by the central role of man-made things, gadgets, and machines. This bureaucratic industrialism tends to transform human beings into things. It tends to replace nature by technical devices, the organic by the inorganic.828

Elsewhere, Fromm further points out how such a demonic milieu can generate more of the demonic: “But man is not made to be a thing, and with all the satisfactions of consumption, the life forces in man cannot be held in abeyance continuously”; and unless we “[master] the machine again, making production into a means and not an end, using it for the unfolding of man”, “the suppressed life energies will manifest themselves in chaotic and destructive forms”.829

824 From William Blake’s “Preface” to Milton: a Poem in 2 Books – see David V. Erdman, ed., The Poetry and Prose of William Blake, comm. Harold Bloom (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1965), 95. 825 As seen in, e.g., William Greider, “‘These Dark Satanic Mills’,” in Marx and Modernity: Key Readings and Commentary, ed. Robert J. Antonio (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2003), 327-28; Mark Lussier, “Blake and Science Studies,” in Palgrave Advances in William Blake Studies, ed. Nicholas M. Williams (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 188-89. 826 Charles Baudelaire, L’Art romantique, cited from “Baudelaire,” in “Convolutes”, in Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, trans. Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999), 236. On the same page, Walter Benjamin notes after citing Baudelaire: “The concept of the demonic comes into play where the concept of modernity converges with Catholicism.” 827 Erich Fromm, “Let Man Prevail,” in On Disobedience: Why Freedom Means Saying “NO” to Power (New York: Harper Perennial, 2010), 53. This essay originally appeared in Erich Fromm, Let Man Prevail: A Socialist Manifesto and Program (New York: [The Call Association], 1960). 828 Erich Fromm, “Prophets and Priests,” in On Disobedience, 36. This essay originally appeared in Ralph Schoenman, Betrand Russell, Philosopher of the Century: Essays in His Honour (London: Allen & Unwin, 1967). 829 Fromm, “Let Man Prevail,” 55.

Conclusion 160

Through a study that connects NXWS to the dark side of modernity at large, the already ample demonological significance of this 18th-century Chinese novel could be further expanded. It might be shown to bear deep relevance for the cultural and socio- political life of today.

161

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I

A CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SYNOPSIS OF NÜXIAN WAISHI

CHAPTER 1 During a grand banquet held in Heaven one day, the Supreme Thearch (Shangdi 上帝) stated that, as the end of an epochal cycle had come, it was time for mortals to be afflicted by war again. He had ordered the Celestial Wolf Star (Tianlangxing 天狼星) to descend to the human world, where he was to become an Emperor of the Ming, reign for 34 years, and cause some 5 million people to die. On his way to the mortal plane, the lust-driven Celestial Wolf Star tried to take the moon goddess Chang’e 嫦娥 with him by force, but failed. Chang’e complained to the Supreme Thearch about the harassment. The Thearch then ordered her to be born in the world of the mortals as well, for she was destined to become the Celestial Wolf Star’s nemesis on earth, and also to settle unfinished business with the king Houyi 后羿, who had been her mortal husband in high antiquity before she ascended to the moon. The Thearch told Chang’e that while she would act as an agent of predestined catastrophe on earth, she must uphold the good values of familial bonds and unfaltering loyalty. The Mother-of-demonic-children Heavenly Venerable (Guizimu Tianzun 鬼子母天尊) volunteered to help Chang’e in the human world. The Supreme Thearch revealed that the Heavenly Venerable’s involvement was also part of the Numbers’ (shu 數) predestination, except that her time had not yet come. It was further revealed that a female transcendent Bao (understood to be Bao Gu 鮑姑, the wife of Ge Hong 葛洪 the famed Daoist adept of the Eastern Jin)830 would also descend amongst mortals to be the moon goddess’ mentor. Thus assured, Chang’e went forth to be born as a human.

CHAPTER 2

830 As seen in the story “Cui Wei” 崔煒 from Pei Xing’s 裴鉶 (fl. 9th century) Chuanqi 傳奇 [Tales of wonder], in Li et al., Taiping guangji, 34.15a-17b, in BJXSDG, vol. 2. Appendix I 162

With signs and wonders, a daughter was born to a Provincial Graduate Tang Kui 唐夔 in Putai 蒲臺, Jinan 濟南, Shandong. She was named Sai’er 賽兒. A fortune-teller foretold that she would be nobler than an empress, and hold great military power. On the day Sai’er was born, Houyi (see Chapter 1) was reborn as Lin Youfang 林有芳 in Jining 濟寧, Shandong. There was still half a year left in the duration for which Houyi was destined to be Chang’er’s husband, and the two were to fulfill their lot. (The author expounds at length on the timeless inevitabilities of “cause and effect” (yinguo 因果).)

CHAPTER 3 Bao Gu (see Chapter 1) came to the Tang family in the guise of a mortal woman to be a wet nurse for Sai’er, whose mother died not long after her birth. Bao Gu gained Tang Kui’s utmost respect. She educated Sai’er. Over the years, Sai’er showed signs of being an intelligent girl with very extraordinary thinking and aspirations. On the day she turned 14, Sai’er declared that she would never want to marry. Bao Gu revealed to Sai’er her true identity as Chang’e, her grudges with the Celestial Wolf Star, and that she was destined to be married to Houyi for half a year (see Chapter 1). The prospects of being defiled by carnal relationship and thus rendered too impure to re-attain transcendence distressed Sai’er, but Bao Gu assured her she would be fine. On the following day, Bao Gu agreed with Tang Kui that they should begin to look out for a fine man to be Sai’er’s husband.

CHAPTER 4 As news spread, matchmakers converged at the Tang family. Sai’er rejected many suitors. At Bao Gu’s suggestion, she declared that she would only marry someone born in the same two-hour period (shi 時), day, month and year she was born. Meanwhile, a transcendent (sent to help Sai’er indirectly, according to Bao Gu in Chapter 5) came to teach Lin Youfang (see Chapter 2) sexual techniques, and directed him to seek his would-be wife in Putai. Eventually, Lin, who met the time-of-birth requirement almost fully, was accepted by the Tang family.

CHAPTER 5

Appendix I 163

Bao Gu revealed that Lin Youfang had been taught how not to ejaculate during sexual intercourse (see Chapter 4)(and therefore would not actually defile Sai’er’s body), and that having fed Sai’er with her own milk had laid the damsel a good foundation towards re-attaining transcendence. Bao Gu began to teach Sai’er techniques of inner cultivation, so that when she had sex with Lin in the future, she could maintain a pure body with her primal Yin intact despite the loss of virginity. Sai’er father Tang Kui (see Chapter 2) fell accidentally, and died from complications from his injury. Being an upright man, he was to become Jinan’s city god after death. After 49 days had passed since Tang Kui’s funeral, Lin Youfang sought to formally wed Sai’er. Sai’er expressed anger over the insensitivity of such hurry. Incidentally, Lin’s parents also died. After the funeral, Lin moved to Putai and lived in a house behind Sai’er’s residence.

CHAPTER 6 Lin Youfang became a close client to Liu Yan 柳烟, a new courtesan in Jining. When the period of mourning was finally over for both Lin and Tang, a formal wedding was held for Youfang and Sai’er. Sai’er managed to delay sexual intercourse with her husband for two consecutive nights. She had no choice but to give in on the third night, and she grieved over the loss of her virginity subsequently. Bao Gu told her to bear with it, and to remain determined to attain transcendence. Despite Lin’s efforts to arouse her sexually, he found it very difficult to get his wife to have sex with him again. Sai’er repeatedly tried to influence her husband into seeking transcendence, but he would not listen. Eventually Lin thought of bringing Liu Yan home, so that she could help to influence Sai’er to be more erotically inclined. Meanwhile, Liu Yan had moved to Putai. Lin went out one night to be with her, but died from uncontrollable ejaculation during sexual intercourse with her. Liu Yan then surrendered herself to be Sai’er’s maidservant for causing Lin’s death. Sai’er grieved for her husband. She fulfilled her duties as a filial daughter and loving wife, burying her parents and husband in auspicious land.

CHAPTER 7 Liu Yan came to admire Sai’er deeply, and also to gain her favour. Bao Gu rescued Sai’er from a shameless molester, and took her to a remote location known as the Gateless Grotto-heaven (Wumen Dongtian 無門洞天) to meet Mantuoni 曼陀

Appendix I 164

尼. This powerful Buddhist nun, acting on the orders of the Great One of the Southern Sea (Nanhai Dashi 南海大士; i.e., Guanyin of the Southern Sea), was to be her other mentor and assistant. Mantuoni was revealed to be formerly of the Demonic Way (modao 魔道). Presently, on behalf of Guanyin of the Southern Sea, she bestowed a sword and a Heavenly Book to Sai’er. Sai’er returned to Putai with Mantuoni and Bao Gu.

CHAPTER 8 Bao Gu and Mantuoni borrowed a palace from a Dragon King for Sai’er to study the Heavenly Book. Mantuoni was revealed to be an aunt of Chamo 刹魔, lord of archdemon kings, and herself a niece of the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable (Guimu Tianzun 鬼母天尊 ; an alias of the Mother-of-demonic-children Heavenly Venerable (see Chapter 1)). Meanwhile, Miaogu 妙姑 (Sai’er’s cousin, who was actually an incarnation of Chang’e’s attendant), Liu Yan (see Chapter 6 and 7) and Laomei 老梅 (a faithful maidservant from the Tang family) were taught magic. The formal instruction of Sai’er in the esoteric ways of the transcendents began. The Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens (Jiutian Xuannü 九天玄女) came once every nine days to teach Sai’er the secrets of the Heavenly Book. After 81 days of learning and practice, Sai’er became more powerful than the transcendents of the Heaven of Grand Veil (Daluo zhuxian 大羅諸仙). She was also taught how to use her magical sword. Laozi 老子 himself provided additional help by giving her three elixir pills. From here on, Sai’er was to be called Yuejun 月君.

CHAPTER 9 When famine struck the local county due to natural disasters, Yuejun offered to provide financial aid to all the needy. This act of charity attracted undesirable attention. Coveting Yuejun’s beauty and wealth, the Prefect of Jinan sought to marry her by force. In a spectacular magical confrontation, Yuejun had him castrated, and distributed his wealth to the commoners.

CHAPTER 10

Appendix I 165

Yuejun found Qiaogu 巧姑, the incarnation of another former attendant of hers from the lunar palace. As they served Yuejun now, Miaogu (see Chapter 8) and Qiaogu reverted to their original names: Suying 素英 and Hanhuang 寒簧. Hanhuang’s earthly father and uncles, being great martial artists with many followers of their own, became Yuejun’s subordinates. Yuejun was told that a friend of theirs, a knight-errant named Bin Hong 賓鴻, had a niece who was languishing under the bewitchment of an incubus (a monkey goblin). Yuejun proceeded to subdue the monkey goblin, and named him Ma Ling 馬靈. Gold, silver and weapons were stored in Ma Ling’s cave for the purposes of the future war against the Celestial Wolf Star (see Chapter 1). Bin Hong was to train future soldiers for Yuejun.

CHAPTER 11 With the region under his jurisdiction suffering from drought, the Prefect of Qingzhou 青州, Shandong, sought to reward anyone who could bring about rain. Yuejun wanted to do just that, but was contested by a Daoist priest called Kui the Perfected One (Kui Zhenren 奎眞人). The priest claimed that Yuejun was a devious fox demoness. He dispatched a divine general to kill her, but to no avail. In public view, Yuejun and Kui competed in magic for a few rounds, with the former winning every time. In the end, Kui employed evil sorcery to try to bring about rain, only to be thwarted by Mantuoni. It was Yuejun who successfully made rain for the people of Qingzhou. Kui was let off after a beating.

CHAPTER 12 Yuejun, now famous, was invited by officials from Kaifeng 開封, Henan to deal with a woman-abducting incubus (a deer goblin). Thanks to Liu Yan’s trickery, the incubus was ultimately captured and executed by Yuejun, and the abducted women rescued. Yuejun made known to the local officials that she would exercise magic to deal with locusts that were coming in from the south.

CHAPTER 13 (The author expounds at length on the nature of locusts.) While flying in the air with Mantuoni and Bao Gu to destroy the locusts with magical implements, Yuejun noticed the presence of a worthy adviser at Songshan 嵩山.

Appendix I 166

The man in question was Lü Lü 吕律, a scholar who foresaw the future victory of the Prince of Yan (i.e., the future Yongle Emperor) in his rebellion (which had been going on for two years at this point), as well as the rise of Yuejun as lord of the Central Plains, and sought to serve her. Yuejun visited Lü Lü in the guise of a young scholar to speak with him. Although she did not reveal her true identity, she recognized Lü as a talent she would have use for in the future. The locusts were successfully dispelled.

CHAPTER 14 With the predestined opposition against the Celestial Wolf Star in mind (see Chapter 1), Yuejun and Bao Gu went looking in Shandong for a location for their base of operation. They found a topographically suitable valley known as Xieshizhai 卸石寨. Since the ordained time had yet to come, they then decided to take a tour of the great mountains of China. Yuejun and Bao Gu flew over much of China. Everywhere they went, they left poems, and met well-known goddesses and various female spirits, including historical figures. While in the vicinity of the Qian Mausoleum (i.e., the tomb of the Tang rulers Gaozong (唐)高宗 and Wu Zetian 武則天), the duo was harassed by the ghost of Wu Zetian, who asked Yuejun to speak on her behalf to Chamo (see Chapter 8). She was hoping that the lord of demons would accept her into the Demonic Way (see Chapter 7). Eventually Yuejun and Bao Gu returned to Shandong.

CHAPTER 15 (The author turns back the clock to narrate how the rebellion of the Prince of Yan – the incarnation of the Celestial Wolf Star (see Chapter 1) - came about.) Zhu Di 朱棣 the Prince of Yan, one of the sons of the Hongwu 洪武 Emperor, had long harboured thoughts of becoming emperor himself. A vagrant monk by the name of Daoyan 道衍, alias Yao Guangxiao 姚廣孝, discerned his desire and came to him to be his adviser. After the Hongwu Emperor’s death, the Jianwen 建文 Emperor ascended the throne. After observing the situation at the capital city for himself, Zhu Di made preparations for his rebellion. When the Emperor deposed a number of princes, Zhu Di feigned madness, but his trickery was seen through. So he initiated military action with his Jingnan troops (Jingnan shi 靖難師) in what he called the 32nd year of the reign of Hongwu.

Appendix I 167

Thanks to Daoyan’s advices and ruses, as well as his own military acumen, the Prince of Yan won one victory after another. The commanderies Zhending 眞定 and Baoding 保定 fell to him.

CHAPTER 16 The Prince of Yan defeated a huge imperial army led by Li Jinglong 李景隆. In the 2nd year of Jianwen, the Prince decimated Li’s army. He went on to invade Jinan, Shandong, which was defended by the Administration Vice Commissioner Tie Xuan 鐡鉉. The Prince tried to justify his rebellion to Tie twice, only to be stumped by the latter’s arguments. At one point Tie almost killed or captured the Prince with a trap, but the latter escaped. Along with other imperial forces, Tie managed to launch a strong counterattack, and forced the Prince back to Beiping 北平 (present-day Beijing).

CHAPTER 17 In the 3rd year of Jianwen, the troops of the Prince of Yan regrouped and defeated the imperial forces soundly at Jiahe 夾河. A valiant fighter for the Jianwen Emperor, known as Zhang the Black Flag (Zhang Zaoqi 張皂旗), was killed in action. In this and a subsequent battle, the Prince was helped by a timely wind. The Erudite Fang Xiaoru 方孝孺 suggested to the Jianwen Emperor that they could sow suspicion between the Prince and his son Gaochi 高熾 (i.e., the future Hongxi 洪熙 Emperor – see Chapter 100), so that they would kill each other. The ruse failed. The Prince’s army crossed the river Huai, and was confronted by troops led by He Fu 何福 and Ping An 平安. In the ensuing conflict, the Prince was almost killed by Ping An, but a divine figure which emerged from the ground protected him momentarily. The progress of the rebels was halted for the time being.

CHAPTER 18 With the great imperial general Xu Huizu 徐輝祖 joining He Fu and Ping An, the Prince of Yan was forced to retreat for over 50 li, but he was encouraged by a past prophecy of success to push back. At a crucial juncture, the imperial court decided to pull Xu back. As a result, the Prince was able to break through southwards, and eventually take over Yangzhou 揚州. Then, with the help of generals who turned their back to the Emperor, his army was able to cross the Yangtze River.

Appendix I 168

It was the 4th year of Jianwen. Aware that all was lost, the Jianwen Emperor proposed to the Prince that they ruled southern and northern China respectively. The proposal was not accepted. Traitors (including Li Jinglong (see Chapter 16)) opened the gates of the capital city Jinling to the Prince. When the Emperor wanted to kill himself, a box bequeathed by the Hongwu Emperor – meant to be opened at such desperate times – provided a way out. Using items in the box and following the instructions therein, the Emperor and two loyal subjects shaved themselves, disguised themselves as Buddhist monks, and escaped through the Ghost Gates (guimen 鬼門) with eight other men. Cheng Ji 程濟, one of the Emperor’s ten followers, was asked to cast an oracle. His interpretation of the oracle was this: a woman would rise with military power and uphold the fallen Emperor; however, neither she nor the Prince of Yan would be able to destroy the other; ultimately, her endeavour would somehow come to an end without success.

CHAPTER 19 In the 4th year of Jianwen, Yuejun returned to a war-torn Shandong. It was time for her to support the Jianwen Emperor. She set up a base at Xieshizhai (see Chapter 14), and gathered the army she had been raising (see Chapter 10). Newcomers came to join her on the first day, including a son of Zhang the Black Flag (see Chapter 17), and a skilled female warrior named Manshinu 滿釋奴. Yuejun’s army defeated the garrison at Sizhou 泗州, and crossed the river Huai. At this point Yuejun received news that the Jianwen Emperor had burnt himself to death, and the Prince of Yan had made himself Emperor. Bao Gu was sent to Jinling to find out if the Jianwen Emperor had indeed died, so that Yuejun could decide what to do next. Meanwhile, her army returned to Xieshizhai for the time being.

CHAPTER 20 Through casting an oracle, Lü Lü realized that he had been visited by Yuejun in person (see Chapter 13). He and two other interested men came to Xieshizhai to help in Yuejun’s cause. Yuejun wanted Lü to serve as her military adviser. With a spoken exposition, he managed to convince her officers of his capability. Ma Ling transported silver to Xieshizhai from Yuejun’s treasury cave (see Chapter 10). Bao Gu returned to Xieshizhai to report that the Jianwen Emperor had escaped, the Prince of Yan was now the Yongle Emperor, and that he had slaughtered many people loyal

Appendix I 169

to the former Emperor, as well as condemned their wives and daughters to a lowly life under the Music Office (jiaofang 敎坊). Yuejun decided that Mantuoni and Bao Gu should go and rescue these women.

CHAPTER 21 (The author turns back the clock to narrate what the Prince of Yan did after entering Jinling 金陵 triumphantly.) The Prince of Yan took control of the capital city Jinling. Hailed by numerous supporters (including Ru Chang 茹瑺 the Minister of War), he ascended the imperial throne. The new (Yongle) Emperor shed much blood as he quelled resistance (in various forms) from brave individuals who would rather die as the Jianwen Emperor’s loyal subjects. One of these individuals was Fang Xiaoru (see Chapter 17), whose ten families (comprising 873 people) were executed. The wives and daughters of many of similar defiers were condemned to a lowly life under the Music Office. There were those who tried to lead military forces to fight the new Emperor, including the Prefect of Suzhou 蘇州 who appointed Qian Qin 錢芹 as his Army Libationer, but they all failed and mostly died. With advice from Daoyan (see Chapter 15), the Yongle Emperor implemented a policy of surveillance and suppression over the families of all the officials who had served the Jianwen Emperor. In many places across the Chinese empire, brave and loyal individuals continued to show resistance and die for it as the new Emperor’s edict of enthronement was being propagated.

CHAPTER 22 At Jinan, Shandong, Tie Xuan (see Chapter 16) refused to acknowledge the Yongle Emperor, but he found himself representing only a very small minority. He chose to go to the capital city to die. There he rebuked the Yongle Emperor, and was tortured and killed. When the Emperor taunted his corpse, it continued to show defiance. The Imperial Censor Jing Qing 景清, who had feigned submission to the Emperor, sought an opportunity to assassinate him. His attempt failed because of an astrological forewarning. The Emperor had him killed, and a stuffed effigy made out of his skin. When the Emperor taunted the effigy, it lunged at him to his horror. Liu Chao 劉超, a strong teenager from one of the families executed in connection to Jing Qing, was rescued by a mysterious Daoist priestess, who took him to join Yuejun’s army.

Appendix I 170

The Yongle Emperor found himself haunted by the vengeful spirits of Tie Xuan and Jing Qing. The hauntings ended after a ritual of offerings and an imperial conferral of official titles were conducted for the two heroes. The new Emperor was beseeched by his eldest son Gaochi (see Chapter 17) to show more mercy. He was also told that the women sent to the Music Office (see Chapter 21) had mysteriously vanished behind closed doors. He was further informed about the rise of Yuejun at Xieshizhai, whereupon he issued orders for troops at Qingzhou and Dengzhou 登州 to quell her “rebellion”.

CHAPTER 23 (The author reveals that the Daoist priestess who rescued Liu Chao (see Chapter 22) was Nie Yinniang 聶隱娘 (a swordswoman from Tang fantasy fiction),831 and that she was one of the many female transcendents who were converging around Yuejun at this time of predestined catastrophe in accordance to the Numbers (see Chapter 1).) Bao Gu and Mantouni came to the capital city, and rescued through magical means the women under the Music Office (see Chapter 20), as well as several men who were imprisoned as sons of the Jianwen Emperor’s loyal subjects. They were all taken to Yuejun at Xieshizhai. Nie Yinniang and Liu Chao also arrived at Xieshizhai to help in Yuejun’s cause.

CHAPTER 24 In the autumn of the 4th year of Jianwen, Yuejun held a grand audience to survey the strategic and martial capabilities of her followers. They discussed what should be done about the imperial troops from Qingzhou, Shandong that were coming to destroy them (see Chapter 22).

CHAPTER 25 The military adviser Lü Lü (see Chapter 20) was given the authority to lead Yuejun’s army in the upcoming battles. As part of Lü’s stratagem, Manshinu (see Chapter 19) allowed herself to be captured by the imperial troops, deceived them, and led them to defeat. The people of Qingzhou welcomed Yuejun as she took over their city. Yuejun subsequently had the leaders of the defeated imperial troops sawed into two and/or

831 See “Nie Yinniang” from Pei Xing’s Chuanqi, recorded in Li et al., Taiping guangji, 194.26b-28b, in BJXSDG, vol. 2.

Appendix I 171

beheaded, while a corrupt local District Magistrate had the top of his head cut open to the satisfaction of the commoners.

CHAPTER 26 A certain Tong Ran 仝然, skilled in the mantic arts, joined Yuejun’s forces along with Si Tao 司韜, the son of a bureaucrat whose family was executed for resisting the Yongle Emperor. With Tong Ran’s help, Yuejun’s generals took over the city of Laizhou 萊州, Shandong on the same day Qingzhou was taken (see Chapter 25). Local residents then took a long-hated corrupt official and his accomplice to the new administration to seek justice. Elaboration of the charges and a brutal execution ensued. Lü Lü then led Yuejun’s troops on to Dengzhou, on the way to which they were to clash with imperial forces led by Zhang Xin 張信.

CHAPTER 27 Yuejun thought it was time to meet Princess Chamo (Chamo Gongzhu 刹魔公主), Mantuoni’s niece and lord of the Demonic Tradition (mojiao 魔敎)(see Chapter 7, 8 and 14), in view of the assistance she would need from her in the future. Mantuoni gave a brief explanation about the Princess and her order before flying off to the north of Mount Sumeru to invite her niece. On the next day, the Princess arrived at Xieshizhai in Shandong with a retinue of demonesses. She found Yuejun likeable, and the two became sworn sisters. As they feasted, the Princess revealed that Wu Zetian had come to her with Yuejun’s mark of referral, and was now under her command (see Chapter 14). Princess Chamo and Yuejun conversed throughout the night, touching on matters of sex at one point. At sunrise, Mantuoni’s aunt the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable (see Chapter 1 and 8) unexpectedly appeared to see Princess Chamo. Gathered in a pavilion on a lofty mountaintop, the Heavenly Venerable, Princess Chamo, Yuejun, Mantuoni, Bao Gu and Nie Yinniang (see Chapter 23) then viewed from afar the battle between the troops of Lü Lü and Zhang Xin (see Chapter 26), in which the Princess meddled slightly. Before they left, the Heavenly Venerable and the Princess gave Yuejun a stick of incense and a strand of hair respectively, which she could use to call upon them for help when in need.

CHAPTER 28

Appendix I 172

Despite a minor setback and some unintended slaughtering of civilians, Lü Lü defeated Zhang Xin in a swift attack and captured the city of Dengzhou, Shandong (see Chapter 26). Wei Qing 衛青, Commander of Manjiadong 滿家峒 – who came to support Zhang Xin – was forced to escape by sea. Jiaozhou 膠州 later also fell to Lü Lü through Tong Ran’s (see Chapter 26) persuasion. Yuejun conveyed her messages and orders to the front lines via the monkey goblin Ma Ling (see Chapter 10).

CHAPTER 29 After Princess Chamo and the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable had left (see Chapter 27), Yuejun ordered a palace for the still missing Jianwen Emperor to be set up in Qingzhou, complete with a portrait to represent his presence. Some bureaucratic protocols were established for the administration surviving in the name of the ousted Emperor under Yuejun’s efforts. In the spring of “the 5th year of Jianwen”, Yuejun proceeded to Qingzhou to pay respect to the Emperor’s image, along with a retinue of 72 female Daoist adepts. Her next destination was the newly conquered territories of Laizhou and Dengzhou, where she was to pacify the people. An uncouth female warrior known as Nüjingang 女金剛 offered her allegiance along the way, and was assigned to be the defender of Yuejun’s standard. At Laizhou, Shandong, Yuejun designated Gao Xianning 高咸寜 as her military vice adviser. She also distributed elixir pills to the old and sick amongst the commoners. When moving on, she was attacked by a swarthy stranger, who was subsequently defeated by Nüjingang.

CHAPTER 30 The swarthy stranger turned out to be Sai Li Kui (賽李逵; literally “Comparable to Li Kui”), a man trying to avenge his sworn brother who was killed in Yuejun’s conquest of Laizhou (see Chapter 26). Yuejun kept him in custody. Arriving at Dengzhou, Yuejun was received by Lü Lü and his generals. She issued orders to execute, among others, Zhang Xin (see Chapter 28) and Sai Li Kui; to assign official posts, and to honour the heroes who had fallen in battle. Two female performers named Xiangfeng 翔風 and Huixue 廻雪 came to offer their allegiance to Yuejun. They amazed everyone with their dance and acrobatics at a banquet

Appendix I 173

for her officers. Then, together with Bao Gu, Mantuoni, Suying and Hanhuang (see Chapter 10), Yuejun flew to the Penglai Pavilion for a gathering of female transcendents.

CHAPTER 31 Seventeen female transcendents and goddesses arrived at the extravagant settings of the Penglai Pavilion for a joyous gathering with Yuejun, Bao Gu and Mantuoni. They presented otherworldly gifts and feasted. (Among the gifts was a willow twig from the vase of Guanyin of the Southern Sea, meant to help Yuejun in a future drought.) Thanks to a magical screen of heavenly music borrowed from Princess Chamo, the women’s hearts were apparently stirred up to linger on matters of romantic love. A drinking game of composing poems on this subject ensued, ending with a ribald pun from Mantuoni. After the transcendents and goddesses left, Princess Chamo suddenly appeared with exotics gifts for a nocturnal visit. She laughed at the poems left by the previous batch of guests, and trumped them with her own poem. Yuejun took the opportunity to learn from her more about the Demonic Tradition. Princess Chamo left after disrupting a performance of the drama The Peony Pavilion arranged by Bao Gu. Various goddesses continued to visit Yuejun for days to come.

CHAPTER 32 In the spring of “the 5th year of Jianwen”, the Yongle Emperor moved northwards to prepare for the establishment of Beiping as the new capital city. He also dispatched Li Yuan 李遠 to quell the “rebellion” of Yuejun. Li’s attack on Qingzhou pushed its defenders to their limits. News reached Dengzhou when Yuejun was still meeting her otherworldly guests (see Chapter 31), so Lü Lü took the liberty to send reinforcements to Qingzhou, which repelled Li Yuan. Li tried to push back, but was further repelled by Nie Yinniang’s (see Chapter 23) magic, Manshinu (see Chapters 19 and 25) and 30 female militants. In a last-ditch attack, Li Yuan’s troops were startled by firecrackers and decimated. Li ultimately killed himself. Lü Lü’s army marched on to confront another imperial army in the vicinity of Jinan.

CHAPTER 33 Meanwhile, with a help of a hot-blooded strongman, Jing Xing 景星 the son of Jing Qing (see Chapter 22) sought to assassinate the Yongle Emperor. Nie Yinniang, sent by Yuejun to rescue a prisoner – who was Tie Ding 鐡鼎, the son of Tie Xuan (see Chapter 22) – saw

Appendix I 174

through their intention. She led the duo to complete her mission. Both Tie and Nie convinced the two heroes to join Yuejun in her cause. Nie accompanied the three men to Jinan, where they met a few other pro-Jianwen heroes as well as Yuejun’s military vice adviser Gao Xianning (see Chapter 29), who had infiltrated the city earlier.

CHAPTER 34 Nie Yinniang returned to Lü Lü’s camp near Jinan to report about the Jianwen loyalists presently hidden in the city. Lü Lü routed the troops from Jinan till they either ran north or retreated into the city. He also intercepted an imperial reinforcement (led by Marquis Liu Sheng 柳升) of some 90,000 men bent on recovering Qingzhou, Laizhou and Dengzhou. Liu Sheng’s stratagems were repeatedly anticipated and countered.

CHAPTER 35 The remnants of Liu Sheng’s forces retreated into the city of Jinan. The ghost of Zhang the Black Flag (see Chapter 17) showed Lü Lü’s army where to attack. Jinan thus fell to Lü, but Liu Sheng escaped. The Prince of Qi (Qiwang 齊王), a son of the Hongwu Emperor, was politely evicted from the city for having submitted to the Yongle Emperor. Some of the captured officials and functionaries were treated with honour and mercy, while others who were despicable traitors to the Jianwen Emperor were executed.

CHAPTER 36 Five of the ten men who had followed the Jianwen Emperor as he escaped (see Chapter 18) had been ordered to leave him so as not to attract attention; presently they came to Lü Lü to offer help to search for their Emperor. Nine men (including the unruly Zeng Biao 曾彪) related to deceased loyal subjects of the said Emperor also came to help in Yuejun’s cause. Yuejun was welcomed by numerous commoners as she entered Jinan. A female transcendent revealed to be Gongsun Daniang 公孫大娘 (understood to be a skilled sword-

Appendix I 175

implement dancer mentioned in Tang poetry)832 wanted to meet Yuejun, but had to leave to rescue someone (see Chapter 39). Lei Yizhen 雷一震 (who debutted in Chapter 24), one of Yuejun’s generals, being rough to her, was humiliatingly and physically subdued by her before she left. Yuejun wanted to establish Jinan as the Jianwen Emperor’s capital city, and ordered that a suitable mansion be selected and converted to a palace for him. Instead of the five aged volunteers mentioned above, Yuejun assigned four young men - sons of the several fugitives still accompanying the Jianwen Emperor - to go look for the missing Emperor. She also got Nüjingang (see Chapter 29) and Nie Yinniang to demonstrate superhuman strength, so as to humble Zeng Biao.

CHAPTER 37 In the summer of “the 5th year of Jianwen”, Yuejun ordered Lü Lü and Gao Xianning to hold discussions with her other subjects, so as to draft up a new bureaucratic structure and a new system of examinations for roping in talents for government service. The draft was presented in detail and approved by Yuejun. Various individuals of her administration were assigned to official posts accordingly.

CHAPTER 38 The military advisers Lü Lü and Gao Xianning suggested to Yuejun that they annex Linqing 臨清 and Jining, Shandong, to secure the position of their regime. The plan was approved. Lü was to lead troops to attack Jining and Gunzhou 袞州, while Gao was to target Linqing and Dongchang 東昌. Dongchang surrendered before the armies set out. In the subsequent battle, Linqing was taken, and its violent Prefect and his accomplices were executed to the joy of the commoners. A small victory was gained, meanwhile, for Lü Lü in the battle for Jining.

CHAPTER 39

832 See Du Fu’s 杜甫 (712 - 770) “Guan Gongsun Daniang dizi wu jianqi xing bing xu” 觀公孫大娘弟子舞劍器行並序 [Ode about watching a sword-implement dance performed by Dame Gongsun’s disciple, with an introduction], in [Peng Dingqiu 彭定求 (1645 - 1719) et al., eds.,] Quan tangshi 全唐詩 [The complete Tang poems](Bejing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), fasc. 222, 4:2356-2357. See also Altenburger, The Sword or the Needle, 208-209.

Appendix I 176

(The author turns back the clock a little to narrate the story of Fan Feiyun 范非雲, also known as Fan Feiniang 范飛娘.) Fan Feiniang, a skilled sword fighter, was the wife of a soldier loyal to the Jianwen Emperor. Her husband killed himself when he learnt of the Yongle Emperor’s usurpation of the throne. A local Prefect sought to marry the widowed Fan by force, and thus she planned to kill him and then herself. Gongsun Daniang appeared to help Fan Feiniang (see Chapter 36), and persuaded her to go serve Yuejun instead of ending her own life. After killing the lecherous Prefect, Fan escaped with Gongsun. On the way to Shandong, they came across a scholar whom they suspected (and then confirmed) to be a woman in disguise. The “Female Licentiate” (Nüxiucai 女秀才), surnamed Liu, turned out to be desirous of serving Yuejun too. She knew the magical art of invisibility, and had tried to assassinate the Yongle Emperor, but could not get past the stellar deities and divine generals that protected him. The three women infiltrated Jining together, hoping to help capture the city for Yuejun. They learnt that the citizens were mostly willing to surrender to Yuejun, except that they feared Fang Sheng 房勝, the Canal Supervisor who was defending the city.

CHAPTER 40 The “Female Licentiate” sneaked out of Jining, came to Lü Lü’s camp, and told him to coordinate his attack with the three women’s killing of Fang Sheng (see Chapter 39). Jining fell to Lü Lü, thanks to such coordinated efforts. Gongsun Daniang went on to slaughter an entire monastery of lecherous monks, sparing only two small boys and an old monk, before departing to report to Yuejun. After a few days, Lü Lü’s army moved on to Gunzhou (see Chapter 38). As it turned out, the people of Gunzhou had driven their Prefect away, and presently surrendered. A hundred-odd scholars invited Lü Lü to visit the Temple of Confucius at Qufu 曲阜 County. The descendant of Confucius also requested to meet him.

CHAPTER 41 Lü Lü talked with Confucius’ descendant (Kong) Fuli (孔)復禮. Kong denied the legitimacy of the Yongle Emperor. Lü expounded on his own views on the orthodox lineage of the Dao of Confucianism, and how the Neo-Confucians of the Song were not exactly on the right track.

Appendix I 177

Lü received word that Jing Xing (see Chapter 33), who had been ordered by Yuejun to lead some troops to attack Yizhou 沂州, Shandong, needed help urgently. With the ruse of disguising as transporters of supplies, Lü’s soldiers sneaked into Yizhou and helped to capture the city.

CHAPTER 42 Gongsun Daniang, Fan Feiniang and Liu the “Female Licentiate” arrived in Jinan, Shandong, to meet Yuejun (see Chapter 40). In the 12th month of “the 5th year of Jianwen”, the Jianwen Emperor’s portrait was moved from Qingzhou (see Chapter 29) to Jinan. In Beijing, the Yongle Emperor was alarmed by what Yuejun had been doing. In anger, he cast Liu Sheng (see Chapters 34 and 35) into prison. Li Jinglong (see Chapter 16 and 18) suggested to the Emperor that he should make use of poisons, of which he offered three varieties. These were from Kui the Perfected One (see Chapter 11), who was bent on avenging himself on Yuejun. The Emperor subsequently tried out all three poisons on the Princes of Wu, Wei and Xu (Wuwang 吳王, Weiwang 衛王, Xuwang 徐王). A seemingly insane Daoist priest singing prophetic riddles in the streets was brought before the Yongle Emperor. He called himself Half Man-of-Dao (Ban Daoren 半道人). He had prophesied the fall of the Jianwen Emperor; presently he predicted that the efforts to reinstate the missing Emperor would fail, as well as how and where the Yongle Emperor would die, but the Yongle Emperor guessed his meaning wrongly. The Half Man-of-Dao subsequently vanished. Out of misinterpretation of the prophecy, the Yongle Emperor handed a sword to a man named Yumu’er 榆木兒, and dispatched him, along with two officials (including Hu Jing 胡靖), supposedly to look for the legendary transcendent Zhang Sanfeng 張三丰. The true intention was really to seek out the Jianwen Emperor and kill him. The Half Man-of-Dao suddenly appeared before the trio later, claiming to be Zhang Sanfeng himself.

CHAPTER 43 The Half Man-of-Dao spoke in more riddles before vanishing again. The Yongle Emperor received a memorial from Wei Qing (see Chapter 28) via officials sent by the King of Japan. It stated that Wei Qing had been blown by a wind to Japan during the battle for Dengzhou; that he had made a pact with the King of Japan; and that the Japanese would lend him 100,000 soldiers to recover Laizhou and Dengzhou.

Appendix I 178

Li Jinglong recommended Kui the Perfected One to the Yongle Emperor (see Chapter 42). Kui claimed that the astrological omens did not bode well for an attack on Shandong now. However, the Emperor would not listen. He planned to sandwich Yuejun between his own forces and the Japanese troops guided by Wei Qing. Kui recommended to the Emperor an evil magic to secure his victory. It was to involve 60 lads chanting 60 different incantations to cover all 60 combinations of the Chinese sexagenary cycle, and was thus guaranteed to effect the death of entire targeted populations. After testing the power of Kui’s sorcery, the Emperor decided to go ahead with the sexagenary hex. Preparations for it began. Meanwhile, the Princes of Wu, Wei and Xu died from the Emperor’s poisons (see Chapter 42).

CHAPTER 44 In the spring of “the 6th year of Jianwen”, Yuejun’s administration also became aware, through astrological omens, of the upcoming threat from Japan. Yuejun made arrangements to lead the invaders to land in Laizhou. Instead of mobilizing troops, she positioned only a small number of her ladies – i.e., Nie Yinniang (see Chapter 23), Gongsun Daniang, Fan Feiniang (see Chapters 36 and 39), Suying, Hanhuang (see Chapter 10), Manshinu (see Chapter 19), Xiangfeng (leading 12 unnamed women) and Huixue (also leading 12 unnamed women)(see Chapter 30) – to destroy these enemies. (The author gives an account of how Wei Qing had persuaded Japan’s Great General (i.e., Shogun) to attack Shandong with 100,000 men in 200 vessels (see Chapter 43). A hurricane destroyed 17 vessels en route, taking the lives of 8,500 men (including Wei Qing himself).) The remaining invaders landed in Laizhou, and were slaughtered by Yuejun’s 32 ladies with their magical and/or martial prowess. Xiangfeng was taken by the Japanese, and – lustful at heart - died in excessive orgasm as one of their chieftains raped her. In the end, only a few hundred Japanese managed to survive and return to their homeland.

CHAPTER 45 Yuejun recalled that her father Tang Kui was supposed to have become Jinan’s city god (Chapter 5), but later learnt that his spirit had been re-posted to Kaifeng.

Appendix I 179

Yuejun’s territories were struck by an ordained drought. The people beseeched her to make rain. With a spectacular display of magic, Bao Gu and Mantuoni helped to make them understand that the disaster was profoundly unavoidable, such that they would be grateful for whatever limited relief Yuejun could bring. Subsequently Yuejun caused some rain to fall by using Guanyin’s willow twig (see Chapter 31).

CHAPTER 46 Conflict between Yuejun and the Yongle Emperor halted temporarily because of the drought affecting both their territories. In “the 8th year of Jianwen”, Yuejun’s administration formally honoured Confucius, and conferred honorific titles on subjects who died for their loyalty to the Jianwen Emperor, the heroes fallen in battle, the prominent women serving under Yuejun, as well as a few deities. In “the 9th year of Jianwen”, Yuejun arranged for the daughters of loyal subjects – who had been rescued in the 4th year (see Chapter 23) – to marry their male counterparts.

CHAPTER 47 In “the 9th year of Jianwen”, honorific titles were conferred on Yuejun’s ancestors (including her parents), and an imperial ancestral temple was built in Putai County to house their spirit tablets. Yuejun travelled there with her retinue to pay respect and make offerings. Two hunters, sons of men who fought against the Yongle Emperor’s army in the Jingnan Campaign, came to offer their allegiance to Yuejun. They were placed in her army. Yuejun rejected a suggestion that she should go to Taishan 泰山 and conduct the rites of Feng and Shan 封襌, but travelled to Taishan nevertheless to watch the sunrise there. There, Yuejun was welcomed by the goddess the Primordial Sovereign of the Turquoise Morning Clouds (Bixia Yuanjun 碧霞元君). As she viewed the sunrise with her bureaucrats, Yuejun shared some of her knowledge about cosmology and eclipses, and composed a poem with them.

CHAPTER 48 In “the 10th year of Jianwen”, swarms of locusts and other pestilent insects wreaked havoc in the agricultural fields of Yuejun’s people. As a countermeasure, Yuejun swallowed 3,000 needles and refined them in her body into magical weapons. These were released, killing all the insects in question.

Appendix I 180

In “the 11th year”, Yuejun sent her officials to various foreign countries to gain their recognition and submission, as well as to get them to contribute grain for relief for the natural disasters in Shandong. The diplomatic mission was successful in Korea. Plague struck Yuejun’s territories in the middle of the year. He the Transcendent Maiden (He Xiangu 何仙姑) appeared to help by allowing Bao Gu to take her palm-fibre rain cape. Yuejun’s women cut up the cape and distributed bits of it amongst the people, so that they could make a concoction with them, drink it and be healed. The plague was eventually cleared, with the people crediting Yuejun for the good work.

CHAPTER 49 In “the 11th year of Jianwen”, the Yongle Emperor sent two armies, led by Marquis Zheng Heng 鄭亨 and Li Jinglong (see Chapter 16, 18, 42 and 43)(accompanied by Kui the Perfected One (see Chapter 43)) respectively to recover Wuding 武定 Prefecture, Shandong. Zheng Heng’s forces clashed with those led by Gao Xianning (see Chapter 29) near Wuding. Zheng was soundly defeated and killed, as were the majority of his troops.

CHAPTER 50 Aware of the presence of Kui the Perfected One, Gao Xianning and his comrades anticipated the use of deviant magic on the part of Li Jinglong’s army. As Kui, with the phantasms he conjured up, later did prove to be quite a threat in the battlefield, Yuejun sent Nie Yinniang and Gongsun Daniang to the front lines at Wuding to deal with him. However, in the subsequent combat, Nie and Gongsun had to retreat when their magical swords were defiled and rendered useless by some foul blood released by Kui. And so, Bao Gu and Mantuoni joined Nie and Gongsun in the third round of the battle, and turned the tide to their favour by beating Kui’s tricks with their magical fan and mirror. Lü Lü’s soldiers then pushed Li Jinglong’s army to the brink of total defeat.

CHAPTER 51 Kui the Perfected One assured Li Jinglong that he would secure victory on the next day with specially prepared sorcery. He proceeded to set up a Yang-extinguishing Umbrella (Mieyang san 滅陽傘), a concentration of defiling materials guaranteed to keep all things transcendental and pure away. Kui also activated 50 lads to initiate the sexagenary hex (see Chapter 43).

Appendix I 181

As a result, many in Lü Lü’s army began to fall sick. Mantuoni explained that nothing could be done about the deadly hex unless the Yang-extinguishing Umbrella was dealt with first. Bao Gu tried to ruin the Umbrella, but was unable to get near it, for fear of being defiled. Yuejun thus had to burn the incense of the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable to ask for help (see Chapter 27). Eventually Kui and his Umbrella were violently hacked into two by the Heavenly Venerable. Under the magical efforts of Bao Gu, Mantuoni, Nie Yinniang and Gongsun Daniang, the sick on Lü Lü’s side recovered; even most of the men who died from the sexagenary hex were brought back to life. In the final round of battle, Li Jinglong was surprisingly killed by someone from his own camp. His army was completely routed.

CHAPTER 52 The man who killed Li Jinglong turned out to be Ping Yan’er 平燕兒, the son of Ping An (see Chapter 17). He subsequently became one of Lü Lü’s officers. (The author now turns his attention to the four men sent by Yuejun to look for the Jianwen Emperor (see Chapter 36). Two of them, Zeng Gongwang 曾公望 and Cheng Zhixing 程知星, were to search in Henan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, etc. The other two, Ye Yongqing 葉永青 and Yang Jiye 楊繼業, were to search in Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, etc.) Chuo Yan’er 綽燕兒, a vagrant knight-errant who once tried to assassinate the Yongle Emperor, secretly followed Zeng Gongwang and Cheng Zhixing for two years before revealing himself to them. The three men continued the search for their Emperor together. The trio found some clues in Guangxi and Yunnan. In the latter province, they chanced upon Yumu’er (see Chapter 42), and learnt that he was looking for the Jianwen Emperor too. Chuo Yan’er killed him and took the sword given to him by the Yongle Emperor (see Chapter 42). He and his two companions went on to Sichuan, and then travelled downriver along the Yangtze River.

CHAPTER 53 (The author now turns his attention to Ye Yongqing and Yang Jiye (see Chapter 52).) Following a lead they found in Zhejiang, Ye Yongqing and Yang Jiye travelled long and far, and met many individuals sympathetic to their cause. They came to hear that the Jianwen Emperor was unwilling to go to Yuejun’s administration in Jinan because of the risk of being

Appendix I 182

caught en route. A poem written by the fugitive Emperor for Yuejun was to be delivered to Jinan.

CHAPTER 54 In “the 13th year of Jianwen”, the four men sent by Yuejun to look for the Jianwen Emperor returned to Jinan, Shandong. Yuejun read the Emperor’s poem, and also received a message delivered on his behalf, which stated that he would take up his throne again only after his subjects had taken over the lower Yangtze and Huai region. Yuejun rewarded Chuo Yan’er, and kept the sword he took from Yumu’er (see Chapter 52). As a result of the diplomatic efforts two years ago (see Chapter 48), envoys from eight foreign nations came to Jinan to pay tribute. At Yuejun’s court, the foreigners were awed by the presence of Yuejun’s ladies and her ability to understand and speak their various languages. A few envoys who could speak the Chinese language raised questions about the legitimacy of Yuejun’s regime and of Yuejun herself, but were stumped by the arguments and explanations of her eloquent subjects. After the envoys had left to go home, Yuejun was told that the Yongle Emperor had sent the eunuch Zheng He 鄭和 to look for the Jianwen Emperor overseas, and that he was caught by the Japanese and now delivered to her government. Yuejun ordered her men to cut off the eunuch’s ears and nose, and then deliver him to the Yongle Emperor, so as to humiliate him.

CHAPTER 55 The Yongle Emperor was told about Yumu’er death (see Chapter 52), Zheng He’s humiliating return (see Chapter 54), and that Zhang Chong 張冲 (also known as Hanxu 涵虚), the Celestial Master at Mount Longhu (Longhushan 龍虎山), Jiangxi, was going to spiritually investigate who or what Yuejun really was. Envoys from Yuejun came to him to deliver a formal message of warning, telling him to return the imperial throne to the Jianwen Emperor. They also stumped him as he attempted to verbally vindicate his usurpation. Subsequently the Yongle Emperor sent his own envoys to Yuejun to assess her. They were either shamed for their lack of loyalty to the Jianwen Emperor, or humiliated with magical transformation.

CHAPTER 56

Appendix I 183

The Yongle Emperor ordered the Celestial Master Hanxu (see Chapter 55) to subdue the presumably demonic Yuejun. For this matter, Hanxu travelled to the capital city Jinling and met the Emperor’s eldest son Gaochi (see Chapter 22). He then ascended in spirit to the heavenly realms to seek an audience with his ancestor the first Celestial Master Zhang, so as to find out who or what Yuejun really was. In Heaven, Hanxu was told about the grudges between Chang’e and the Celestial Wolf Star (see Chapter 1), and that he was not to reveal this secret. He was also given a warning in the form of an enigmatic couplet. After returning to his own body, Hanxu was questioned by Gaochi, but could only give an ambiguous answer. He was hence asked to find out when the ongoing civil war would end. But when Hanxu went on a second out-of-body (and ultimately futile) trip to do that, a dead monkey fell out of the sky.

CHAPTER 57 The carcass turned out to be Yuejun’s monkey goblin Ma Ling (see Chapter 10 and 28). Having chanced upon the Celestial Master, Ma had wanted to seize the exorcist’s soulless body out of mischief, but was hacked to death by Hanxu’s guardian deity. Hanxu dispatched a “merit officer” (gongcao 功曹) to take Ma Ling’s spirit to the underworld for punishment, even though he realized that he was going against the enigmatic warning of the first Celestial Master Zhang (see Chapter 56). Meanwhile, the Yongle Emperor’s adviser Yao Guangxiao (see Chapter 15) put Ma Ling’s carcass on public display, and spread word that the “rebels” in Shangdong were animal goblins. Half of the people in the Jingnan region became convinced. Hanxu’s “merit officer” later reported that he had run into Kumbhānda (Jiupantu 鳩盤荼; one of the demonesses in Princess Chamo’s retinue in Chapter 27), who took Ma Ling’s spirit by force and declared she would harm Hanxu (for killing Ma Ling). Hanxu realized that this was foretold in his ancestor’s enigmatic warning (see Chapter 56). On the next day, he gave another ambiguous answer to Gaochi’s query. Meanwhile, Kumbhānda informed Yuejun about Ma Ling’s death. Ma was subsequently to be inducted into the Demonic Way. Princess Chamo became furious that none of Yuejun’s ladies apparently had the guts to take revenge on Hanxu. So she sent nine demonesses to confront Hanxu, manhandled him like he was a toy, put his spirit in bondage, and took him to see Yuejun. He was mercifully pardoned by Yuejun.

Appendix I 184

Shaken, Hanxu bade farewell to Gaochi to return to Mount Longhu. However, he was further humiliated en route by two mountain goddesses, who acted on the orders of Princess Chamo. In the end, Hanxu was barely let off, but not without the goddesses taking one of his attendants.

CHAPTER 58 In “the 15th year of Jianwen”, with suggestions from Lü Lü, Gao Xianning and others, Yuejun planned to move in on the south, Huai’an 淮安, Jiangsu, being one of the targets. (The authors gives an account of how six men in Huai’an, mostly sons of deceased Jianwen loyalists, came together and established contact with Jing Xing at Yizhou, Shandong (see Chapter 41), through a ruse. These men were to help Gao Xianning from the inside to annex Huai’an.)

CHAPTER 59 In the autumn of “the 15th year of Jianwen”, Lü Lü and Gao Xianning were ordered to attack the Henan and Huaibei 淮北 regions respectively. A few men infiltrated Huai’an and liaised with the collaborating insiders (see Chapter 58). Meanwhile, troops led by Jing Xing launched an attack from Yizhou and closed in on Huai’an, which was defended by about 200,000 men. Yuejun’s military vice adviser Gao Xianning anticipated a sneak attack on Jing Xing’s camp. He was thus able to rout the imperial defenders with an ambush of incendiary weapons as well as soldiers disguised as fearsome- looking spirits.

CHAPTER 60 The insiders (see Chapter 58 and 59) had helped to capture the city of Huai’an, but suffered loss at the hands of the deceptive officer Ji Gang 紀綱. Gao Xianning ordered him to be tortured, and his entire family brutally executed. Several other local officials, all known for killing the Jianwen Emperor’s loyal subjects or causing great harm to the people, were also executed to the joy of the populace. The Prefect of Xuzhou 徐州, Jiangsu, surrendered to Gao Xianning. Yuejun’s ladies Gongsun Daniang, Fan Feiniang and Manshinu came to Gao to help in the next battle, which was for the city of Gaoyou 高郵, Jiangsu. Gao Xianning took over Gaoyou within a day.

Appendix I 185

The next battle was for Yangzhou. Ordered by Gaochi the Yongle Emperor’s eldest son, Ru Chang (see Chapter 21) came to the battlefield with a reinforcement of 30,000 men. Nevertheless, Gao Xianning won a spectacular initial victory against the defenders of Yangzhou.

CHAPTER 61 It was revealed that Gongsun Daniang and Fan Feiniang had found Hu Taiyu 胡胎玉, a daughter of a pro-Jianwen official who had been executed (in Chapter 21) for defying the Yongle Emperor; and that, through Taiyu’s indirect connections, they were able to persuade a soldier in Yangzhou to open the city gates at the right time. Gongsun Daniang then informed Gao Xianning about her arrangement. In the spring of “the 16th year of Jianwen”, with Gongsun Daniang and Fan Feiniang stirring up chaos in the city and the collaborating insider opening the gates, Gao Xianning captured Yangzhou. The imperial troops dispersed in panic.

CHAPTER 62 Gao Xianning’s generals were eager to seize large vessels and cross the Yangtze River. However, the Yongle Emperor’s adviser Daoyan (see Chapter 15) anticipated such a raid and surprised them with an ambush. Lei Yizhen (see Chapter 36) lost his life as a result. Daoyan then initiated a two-pronged riverine attack to recover Yangzhou and Huai’an. His warships, however, were damaged and dispersed by the vengeful spirits of Lei Yizhen and the comrades who died with him. Daoyan was told that Chuzhou 滁州 (in present-day eastern Anhui) had just been lost because of three traitors.

CHAPTER 63 The “traitors” at Chuzhou were the Ma 馬 brothers, who were two great warriors and a strategist, whose father fought in the Jingnan Campaign for the Jianwen Emperor and was killed. The brothers were helped by three other formidable fighters, including a Shaolin monk called Wujie 無戒. By offering a dead tiger and hiding weapons in the carcass, these men managed to meet the Prefect of Chuzhou and killed him. With their own men, they defeated hundreds of Chuzhou’s soldiers, and offered their allegiance to Jing Xing, who was attacking the Jiangbei 江北 region on Gao Xianning’s order.

Appendix I 186

The Jiangbei cities of Yizhen 儀眞, Liuhe 六合 and Tianchang 天長 surrendered to Jing Xing. The Ma brothers offered to help Jing Xing conquer Luzhou 廬州 (in present-day Anhui) by liaising with an insider who could get near to city’s Commissioner-in-chief during the Duanwu Festival (Duanwujie 端午節) celebrations. Chuo Yan’er (see Chapter 52 and 54) and other warriors was thus able to assassinate the said Commissioner-in-chief. In the ensuing chaos, Jing Xing attacked and took over the city. He then rounded up Luzhou’s corrupt and hated officials, punishing them mostly with torture and death.

CHAPTER 64 (The author turns his attention to Lü Lü’s military exploits in the Henan region (see Chapter 59).) The Prefect of Guide 歸德 (in present-day Henan) and the county officials under him were successfully persuaded to surrender to Lü Lü. A discussion ensued with regard to how Lü’s army should proceed to conquer Kaifeng. Qian Qin (see Chapter 21), who apparently had taken refuge with the Prefect, would now help Lü Lü in his campaign.

CHAPTER 65 Lü Lü sent half of his army to Kaifeng, while he led the other half to attack Bozhou 亳州 (in present-day Anhui), which was defended by the superb archer Chu Bao 楚寶. The battle for Bozhou came down to a wager, an archery contest between Chu Bao and Lü Lü’s master archer Chu Youji 楚由基. Chu Bao lost and killed himself out of shame. Despite some brief resistance thereafter, Bozhou surrendered. Many neighbouring prefectures and counties also surrendered to Lü Lü. An assassination attempt on Lü by Chu Bao’s son and foster son was foiled. Chuo Yan’er (see Chapter 63 and 60) came to Lü on Gao Xianning’s order to report the victory at Huai’an. Lü then sent him to infiltrate Kaifeng.

CHAPTER 66 Kaifeng was defended by the Commissioner-in-chief Tan Zhong 譚忠, at whose hands the first wave of attackers sent by Lü Lü suffered a considerable loss. Tie Ding (see Chapter 33) arrived at the front lines as Marshal. He disseminated false information through different means, such that Tan Zhong was misled into a trap. Tan

Appendix I 187

managed to escape with only less than 2,000 men. The majority of his men either surrendered or were killed in battle.

CHAPTER 67 Tan Zhong retreated to the Henan city of Chenliu 陳留 and was strengthened by a small reinforcement. Under instructions from Lü Lü, Tie Ding advanced to Chenliu in the spring of “the 16th year of Jianwen”. In order to entice Tan Zhong into attacking, Tie put up an illusion of prolonged slackness. Tan fell for it, failed, and ultimately escaped with only a hundred-odd horsemen. Meanwhile, Lü Lü personally led a small group to go to Kaifeng. Chuo Yan’er had already entered the city (see Chapter 65); after assassinating the Provincial Administration Commissioner and the Regional Military Commissioner under Tan Zhong, he signalled for his comrades outside to swiftly climb over the city walls. Kaifeng was thus taken. Lü subsequently rounded up the imperial officials in the city and executed a traitorous former District Magistrate.

CHAPTER 68 With Yuejun’s approval, Qian Qin (see Chapter 64) set out to locate the Jianwen Emperor, and to beseech him to take up his throne in Jinan. Tie Ding became Lü Lü’s disciple. The two talked about, among other things, astrological omens and principles of strategy. Lü Lü planned to turn his army westward and annex Henan Prefecture. He anticipated that the Yongle Emperor’s adviser Daoyan (see Chapter 62) would incite Yunyang 鄖陽 – a small state (in present-day Hubei) that had been independent of the central government for over a hundred years – to attack him. He had therefore asked Yuejun to send a transcendent to subdue Yunyang. After Lü Lü left with his army, two imperial Princes initiated a revolt in Kaifeng, which endangered Tie Ding’s life. On Bao Gu’s orders, Gongsun Daniang and Fan Feiniang came to rescue him. The revolt was eventually put down, and the parties responsible punished.

CHAPTER 69 Lü Lü’s army crossed the Yellow River in the spring of “the 16th year of Jianwen”. Henan Prefecture was defended by the Commissioner-in-chief Zhao Qing 趙清. Unbeknownst to him, three of his officers were actually sons of the Jianwen’s Emperor’s loyal

Appendix I 188

subjects who had been killed by the Yongle Emperor, and they were secretly liaising with Lü Lü. Zhao Qing was lured far away from his city by Lü Lü’s feigned defeats. Zhao’s army was eventually routed, but he escaped with his subordinate Zhang Zhi 張騺. Henan fell to Lü Lü with the three insiders’ help. Two Daoist priests, who were actually also sons of martyrs who defied the Yongle Emperor, drugged and captured Zhao Qing and Zhang Zhi. After being delivered to Lü Lü, Zhao committed suicide. Zhang, revealed to have been an oppressor of the people, was executed.

CHAPTER 70 (The author turns his attention to Yunyang (see Chapter 68).) Yunyang was presently ruled by Liu Tong 劉通, who called himself an emperor. His empress Lian Dai 連黛 was a sexually powerful sorceress and martial artist. Having received Lü Lü’s request to deal with Yunyang (see Chapter 68), Yuejun sent Liu Yan (see Chapter 6, 7 and 12) to subdue Liu Tong with her sexual prowess. Yuejun was unwilling, but this was her destiny. Liu the “Female Licentiate” (see Chapter 39 and 40) volunteered to go with Liu Yan. The two were to pretend to be mother and daughter. Bao Gu provided them with magical aid. After entering the domain of Yunyang, Liu Yan and her “mother” rendered themselves invisible with magic, sneaked into Liu Tong’s palace, and saw him have sex with Lian Dai. They also saw Lian Dai gather her troops to set out for battle. Her troops included female fighters and some formidable sorcerers. Liu Yan and her “mother” subsequently allowed themselves to be seen by Liu Tong during a hunting trip. They were taken to his palace. In the end, as Liu Tong had sex with Liu Yan and found her very satisfying, he made her a second empress. Liu Yan then persuaded him to make peace with Yuejun and acknowledge the Jianwen Emperor nominally.

CHAPTER 71 In the 5th month of “the 16th year of Jianwen”, Lü Lü’s army advanced from Henan Prefecture towards Nanyang 南陽 Prefecture (the prefectural city of which being present- day Nanyang, Henan). Lian Hua 連華, the son of one of the Jianwen Emperor’s loyal subjects who died for defying the Yongle Emperor, came from Yunyang to Lü Lü. He told Lü

Appendix I 189

that Daoyan had successfully persuaded Liu Tong (see Chapter 70) to attack Yuejun (see Chapter 68). He also revealed what sort of magic Lian Dai and her subordinates could use (see Chapter 70). Lü Lü then relayed such information to Yuejun. Gongsun Daniang and Fan Feiniang came to Lü Lü to help him counter the invasion from Yunyang. Their army encamped on the bank of the river Baishuihe 白水河 on Nanyang’s borders. Lian Dai’s army soon arrived. Women from both sides came out to fight each other a few times. This was followed by a clash between two male generals, with Lü Lü’s side winning.

CHAPTER 72 Lian Dai’s sorcerer Yin Tianfeng 尹天峰 beat Lü Lü’s troops back 20 li with a magical barrage of trees. Gongsun Daniang and Fan Feiniang concluded that this could be overcome only with the help of Bao Gu and Mantuoni, so they went off to invite them. Lü Lü managed to capture Lian Dai through a cunning ruse, but released her on Yuejun’s instruction. Bao Gu and Mantuoni arrived at the battlefield. Yin Tianfeng set off his barrage again, but it was neutralized by Bao Gu as she employed Yuejun’s pneuma pellets. When Lian Dai’s other sorcerer, the monk Shilong 石龍, released a fire dragon, Mantuoni killed it with a needle, which was a gift to Yuejun from a transcendent (given in Chapter 31). (The author expounds on the principles of such magical implements and counteractions.) Lian Dai released a rain of centipedes, which were then completely consumed by Mantuoni’s Heavenly Rooster. Next, Shilong unleashed a gigantic, violent elephant, but it was frightened off by Bao Gu’s transcendent mouse. Consequently Lian Dai’s army had to retreat. In the next morning, Yin Tianfeng came forth to fight Gongsun Daniang. He tried to surprise her with a spiritual doppelganger, only to be beaten back by Gongsun’s more authentic version of the same trick. When Yin resorted to using a magical barrage of rocks, it was countered by Mantuoni’s all-sucking copper jar. Mantuoni fanned the resultant dust back at Lian Dai’s troops, smothering them and forcing them to retreat again.

CHAPTER 73 (The author explains that Mantuoni’s jar was originally owned by a demonic monk of the West, now borrowed from Princess Chamo.)

Appendix I 190

An edict from Liu Tong came to Lian Dai, informing her about his new empress, and his intention to make peace with Yuejun and acknowledge the Jianwen Emperor (see Chapter 70). Reluctant to give up, Lian Dai attempted a nocturnal sneak attack on Lü Lü’s camp with sorcery, only to suffer great loss as Mantuoni easily countered the attack. Lian Dai now had no choice but to make peace on Liu Tong’s behalf, and subsequently returned to Yunyang. Lian Zhu 連珠, her adopted daughter and one of her female combatants, and being also the sister of Lian Hua (see Chapter 71), left her to join Yuejun. Lian Zhu wrote to Lian Dai to tell her that Liu Yan was actually sent by Yuejun (see Chapter 70), so that she would treat Liu Yan well.

CHAPTER 74 In the autumn of “the 16th year of Jianwen”, having subdued Yunyang (see Chapter 70 and 73), Lü Lü’s army went ahead to Nanyang. Lü deduced (correctly) that the imperial officials in the city had run away. The city was thus easily taken over. Runing 汝寧, the final prefecture of the Henan region, also fell to Lü Lü without a fight. Lü Lü took time to visit an ancient shrine near Nanyang for Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮, the famous Counsellor-in-chief of Shu 蜀 of the Three Kingdoms period. He spent the night there, and was visited by Zhuge Liang in a dream. Zhuge told him that the two of them were alike in many ways, but he also enumerated how Lü Lü and Yuejun had acted wrongly. The dream ended with an admonishment for Lü Lü to act with more mercy. Lü soon received news that Jing Xing (see Chapter 63) had taken control over the entire Huaixi 淮西 region.

CHAPTER 75 Yuejun received Hu Taiyu (see Chapter 61) and Lian Zhu (see Chapter 73) as her disciples. In the 9th month of “the 16th year of Jianwen”, Yuejun travelled to Kaifeng with a number of her ladies to visit her deceased father, who had become Kaifeng’s city god (see Chapter 45). In Henan, when she was visited by the ghost of Lei Yizhen (see Chapter 62), she promised to honour him with official titles. She also received into her bureaucratic ranks two men who were sons of loyalists martyred for the Jianwen Emperor. Yuejun was warmly welcomed by the people of Kaifeng. She was however surprised to be informed that her father had just been re-posted by Heaven as the city god of Pingyang 平陽 (in present-day southwestern Shanxi). Yuejun’s faithful maidservant Laomei (see

Appendix I 191

Chapter 8) revealed that Yuejun’s parents had appeared in her dream, wanting her to join them as an adopted daughter.

CHAPTER 76 In a dream, Yuejun visited a terrace at Songshan, Henan, which she momentarily mistook for her lunar palace. There, she met 15 goddesses. They feasted and composed lyrics and poems with a lunar theme. Yuejun woke up to find that Laomei had just passed away to serve Yuejun’s deceased parents on her behalf (see Chapter 75). Shaken by the perception of her own failure to be a filial daughter, Yuejun flew to Jinan, Shandong, and told Bao Gu and Mantuoni that she wished to leave everything behind and live a carefree life in remote islands. Her two mentors dissuaded her, reminding her of the need to play out her role to the end as the agent of the ongoing round of predestined catastrophe (see Chapter 1).

CHAPTER 77 Yuejun assigned her old and new subjects to various official positions. She also bestowed honorific titles to the loyal dead, including Lei Yizhen (see Chapter 75). In the spring of “the 18th year of Jianwen”, Lü Lü led an army to annex Xiangyang 襄陽 Prefecture (in present-day Hubei). Dong Chunqiu 董春秋, related to a loyal Imperial Censor whose whole family was executed by the Yongle Emperor, came to offer help. After Lü foiled an ambush and routed the imperial defenders of Xiangyang with incendiary weapons, the prefectural city surrendered. The citizens welcomed Lü Lü warmly. Lü then targeted the neighbouring city of Fancheng 樊城. In accordance with Dong Chunqiu’s suggestion, a weir was built in the Xiang River833 so as to flood the city. The citizens of Fancheng revolted against their garrison general Wu Yun 伍雲 and surrendered to Lü. Lü executed Wu as the despicable man who had taken Fang Xiaoru to the Yongle Emperor to be punished (in Chapter 21), as well as an official hated for the harm he had been causing to the local populace. Dong Chunqiu sought to learn from Lü Lü. The two talked at length about military formations.

833 The author has apparently mistaken the Han River (Hanjiang 漢江) for the Xiang River (Xiangjiang 湘江).

Appendix I 192

CHAPTER 78 With the intention to conquer Jingzhou 荊州 (in present-day Hubei), Lü Lü sent Chuo Yan’er (see Chapter 67) for reconnaissance. Meanwhile, Anlu 安陸 Prefecture (in present- day Hubei) surrendered to Lü’s army. Liu Chao (see Chapter 22 and 23) and his comrades swiftly captured the city of Jingmen 荊門 (in present-day central Hubei). Under the orders of the Yongle Emperor’s adviser Daoyan, the imperial defenders of Jingzhou had drafted 40,000 men from non-Han ethnic groups (the Yao 傜, Zhuang 僮 and Liang 俍) to fight at the forefront. These “barbarians” were decimated by troops led by Liu Chao, Chu Youji (see Chapter 65) and another general with a combination of head-on fighting, drugging, fire, and incendiary weapons.

CHAPTER 79 The defenders of Jingzhou gathered some 20,000 men and beat back Lü Lü’s troops a little. A signal was given for Chuo Yan’er, who was already within the city (see Chapter 78). In accordance with Lü Lü’s instructions, Chuo replaced the flags at the local Guandi 關帝 temple with a flag signifying Yuejun’s regime, along with two bearing an encouragement for rebellion and surrender. The flags and their message sowed disunity and fear amongst the imperial troops. After the spirit of Guandi actually appeared at the city gates and beheaded their Commissioner-in-chief Wu Yong 吳庸, Wu’s foot soldiers and citizens were convinced that Yuejun’s forces represented the true Son of Heaven, and welcomed them. After Jingzhou fell to Lü Lü, a Regional Military Commissioner under Wu Yong was executed along with two hated bandits associated with Wu’s subordinate.

CHAPTER 80 Wu Xuecheng 吳學誠, a former Expositor-in-waiting for the Jianwen Emperor, travelled up and down the Yangtze River for years as a fisherman, in the hope of meeting his beloved fugitive Emperor. He found and raised Hu Fu 胡復, the surviving child of a family that was implicated in the execution of Fang Xiaoru’s clans (see Chapter 21). When Wu heard that all of Huguang 湖廣 Province had fallen to Lü Lü and that the spirit of Guandi had actually appeared to kill the Commissioner-in-chief at Jingzhou (see Chapter 79), he felt he needed to assess if this was a genuine supporter of the Jianwen

Appendix I 193

Emperor. He visited Lü, talked to him, and was convinced that he was a worthy man with a just cause. Wu and Hu Fu thus proceeded to Jinan, Shandong, to serve Yuejun.

CHAPTER 81 Qian Qin (see Chapter 68), along with two sympathetic contacts, finally found the Jianwen Emperor in the mountains of Yunnan. The only attendant still with him was Cheng Ji (see Chapter 18). After casting a highly unfavourable oracle, Cheng warned the Emperor that he must not go to the government in Jinan for the time being. The Emperor also hesitated to go because he had heard about the Celestial Master killing a monkey goblin from Yuejun (see Chapter 56 and 57). The Emperor revealed that his son Wenkui 文煃 was presently in Liping 黎平, Guizhou. He decided that Wenkui should be sent to Yuejun first, and that he himself would follow only after Yuejun’s regime had taken Beiping. He then left a considerable number of his own writings to Qian Qin for his subjects in Jinan to look at. Qian and his companions subsequently travelled to Guizhou and then Sichuan to fetch Wenkui, but it was to no avail. Qian eventually died of sickness in Jingzhou, pining to the end for the Jianwen Emperor to be restored to his throne.

CHAPTER 82 In the autumn of “the 19th year of Jianwen”, Yuejun received Wu Xuecheng in Jinan (see Chapter 80) and made him Grand Preceptor. She also received news about the Jianwen Emperor, as well as the writings he sent (see Chapter 81). The latter brought joy to the subjects in her administration. Yuejun ordered that civil service examinations be conducted in accordance to the new system drafted years ago (see Chapter 37), so as rope in worthy talents in her territories. In the spring of “the 20th year”, men of different talents gathered in Jinan to take the written and martial examinations. (The author expounds at length on the merits of the new system and the demerits of the imperial civil service examinations in real life.) A number of individuals (including Hu Fu (see Chapter 80)) related to people who died in loyalty to the Jianwen Emperor passed and were accepted into service for Yuejun’s regime. Two of the successful candidates, however, turned out to be Yuejun’s relatives. Yuejun sent them home, telling them that they could serve as officials only after the Jianwen Emperor had been restored to his throne.

Appendix I 194

CHAPTER 83 Two men were sent by the Jianwen Emperor to read out his edict at Jinan. It mostly expressed appreciation of his subjects, and asked the administration to formulate a set of protocols for the imperial court that would put the Emperor and his subjects on more of an equal standing. Yuejun declared that she would personally lead an army to conquer Beiping, so that the fugitive Emperor would take up his throne again (see Chapter 81). The requested protocols were set out accordingly for the Jianwen Emperor’s perusal. After engaging in discussion with a few of her ladies, Yuejun promulgated a set of rules of propriety regarding women.

CHAPTER 84 Yuejun received elaborate proposals from her advisers Lü Lü and Gao Xianning regarding revisions to the law, taxation, corvée, currency and the management of the salt trade. These were relayed to the Jianwen Emperor for his approval.

CHAPTER 85 In “the 22nd year of Jianwen” and the following year, a series of natural disasters and pestilences in Yuejun’s territories prevented her from waging war on Beiping (see Chapter 83). Faced with the cries of her suffering people, Yuejun declared that she would save them with miraculous grain and gold. She and her ladies discussed how that promise could be fulfilled. Eventually Mantuoni was sent to take a loan from Princess Chamo (see Chapter 27 and 31). The loan came in the form of a tremendous hoard of gold beneath the Jianwen Emperor’s palace in Jinan itself (see Chapter 36), buried in the Yuan dynasty by a corrupt official.

CHAPTER 86 Luzhou in Huaixi was not affected by the natural disasters (see Chapter 85). Jing Xing, now Luzhou’s Commander (see Chapter 63), was eager to launch an attack on Anqing 安慶 (in present-day southwestern Anhui), hoping to take it and then cross the Yangtze River to advance towards Jinling. The Yongle Emperor’s adviser Daoyan, however, anticipated this, and set up heavy defences at Dalongshan 大龍山 near the city of Anqing.

Appendix I 195

In the spring of “the 24th year of Jianwen”, Jing Xing went ahead with 1,000 vessels and launched a two-pronged attack on Anqing and Dalongshan. However, he suffered a crushing defeat under a barrage of incendiary projectiles and explosives. Among the heroes killed were two of the Ma brothers (see Chapter 63). Wujie (see Chapter 63) subsequently went off alone to seek revenge for them.

CHAPTER 87 Daoyan left Jinling with the intention to meet his teacher, a powerful monk from Silla (Korea), and beseech him to capture the presumably demonic Yuejun. Daoyan came to Suzhou first to visit his elder sister. His sister, however, refused to acknowledge him. She rebuked him furiously for instigating the Prince of Yan to rebel and causing the death of so many virtuous men and women (see Chapter 15 and 21). When Daoyan came to Tiantai Mountain (in Zhejiang), he ran into two commoners who wanted to kill him the moment they heard who he was.

CHAPTER 88 For his own safety, Daoyan decided to travel incognito. Nevertheless, everywhere in Zhejiang, he could see how much he was hated by the people. In Hangzhou, he accidentally offended a lowly Police Chief who did not realize who he was, and was savagely and very humiliatingly beaten as a result. When Daoyan came to the county of Chongde 崇德, Jiaxing 嘉興 (in Zhejiang), he was killed by the Shaolin monk Wujie (see Chapter 63 and 86), who then killed himself to avoid capture.

CHAPTER 89 Two cranes flew to the Yongle Emperor and transformed into Daoist priests. They claimed to represent Lady Taibei (Taibei Furen 太孛夫人) of Zhongnan Mountain, whom they described as a sworn enemy of Yuejun and possessing great magical abilities. Through them, the Yongle Emperor gave the Lady a golden ridgepole so that she might help him destroy Yuejun. He then ordered his eldest son Gaochi (see Chapter 17, 22, 56, 60), to come to Beiping, so as to send him to Zhongnan Mountain (in Shaanxi) to look for Lady Taibei. Depending on what she turned out to be, he was to either invite or destroy her.

Appendix I 196

A mysterious Daoist priest known as Gold-foil Zhang (Jinbo Zhang 金箔張) transported the Emperor’s eldest son to Beiping magically. He refused to serve the Yongle Emperor, and left his son an enigmatic prophecy of a series of future events before he left. Another Daoist priest, who claimed to have a painting to present, was brought before the Yongle Emperor by mistake.

CHAPTER 90 The Yongle Emperor was presented with a painting of Yuejun. He was stunned to see her beauty. The painter who presented the image suggested that he marry her. Daoyan’s teacher (see Chapter 87), a demonic monk known as Fire-head Piyena (Huoshou Piyena 火首毘耶那), offered to capture Yuejun for the Yongle Emperor. The Emperor approved happily. Piyena proceeded to erect a lotus platform with a provocative message on the borders of Shandong. There he sat and waited. Bao Gu, Mantuoni and Nie Yinniang came and tried to attack him with magic, but could not prevail against his magical alms bowl. All of a sudden, nine demonic infants who were the sons of the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable (see Chapter 1, 27 and 51) descended from the heavens, angered by Piyena’s appearance as they were passing by. They bashed him savagely.

CHAPTER 91 Piyena fought back with his internal fire and python-dragons, and ultimately trapped the nine demonic infants (the Nine Demon Children) in his alms bowl, but they escaped into the ground at the last moment. Bao Gu, Mantuoni and Nie Yinniang retreated temporarily. Yuejun decided to burn Princess Chamo’s hair (see Chapter 27) to ask her for help against Piyena. After receiving the call for help, Princess Chamo swiftly flew to Piyena’s lotus platform, paralyzed and softened him by urinating on him, and then stuffed him into a pouch. She presented the subdued Piyena to Yuejun before she left.

CHAPTER 92 In “the 25th year of Jianwen”, having heard nothing from the Jianwen Emperor for three years, Yuejun wished to urge him again to come to Jinan. A list of the loyal dead was prepared for his perusal.

Appendix I 197

The Yongle Emperor sent two envoys to Yuejun, hoping to somehow marry her. One of them was the Daoist priest who had painted Yuejun clandestinely (see Chapter 89 and 90). The other was the Hanlin Academy’s Senior Compiler Hu Jing, who had drafted the Yongle Emperor’s enthronement edict when Fang Xiaoru resolutely refused to do so (in Chapter 21), and had also accompanied Yumu’er to look for the Jianwen Emperor in order to kill him (see Chapter 42). Hu Jing tricked Yuejun’s subjects into thinking that he actually had some loyalty to the Jianwen Emperor at heart, but his falsehood was eventually seen through. The two envoys were severely humiliated with Nie Yinniang’s magical transformation, and by the officials and commoners of Jinan before they were driven out. The letter they bore from the Yongle Emperor to Yuejun was not even opened.

CHAPTER 93 Many parts of China began to acknowledge the Jianwen Emperor and send official delegates to Jinan. As domestic officials and foreign envoys converged, Yuejun promulgated her intention to conquer Beiping so that the Jianwen Emperor would take up his throne again (see Chapter 83). She also publicly enumerated 12 major crimes that the Yongle Emperor was guilty of. Yuejun then sent 30,000 men (led by Liu Jing 劉璟) to take Dezhou 德州 (in Shandong), and another 30,000 men (led by Si Tao (see Chapter 26)) to take Baoding Prefecture (in present-day Hebei). Gaoxu 高煦, the Yongle Emperor’s third son who was defending Dezhou, attempted a sneak attack at night on Liu Jing’s camp but failed. One of his own men within the city of Dezhou, who used to fight for the Jianwen Emperor, turned against him, fired cannons at the northern parts of the city, and opened the city gates to the besiegers. Thus Dezhou fell, and Gaoxu had to run off towards Hejian 河間 (in present-day Hebei).

CHAPTER 94 Jingzhou 景州, which was situated between Hejian and Dezhou, had fallen to Liu Jing’s troops. Anticipating an attack on this city, Liu sent 3,000 men to go there from Dezhou. Sure enough, they found their comrades at Jingzhou being hemmed in by Gaoxu’s men. In the ensuing clash, Gaoxu managed to escape to Hejian even though his troops were decimated. 3,000 of Liu Jing’s men went on and swiftly took over Hejian. Gaoxu escaped yet again with 2,000 men. Following instructions from Yuejun, Liu Jing then sent 3,000 horsemen

Appendix I 198

to pursue a portion of Hejian’s imperial troops that had left earlier to assist Baoding Prefecture. Meanwhile, Si Tao’s troops (see Chapter 93) had taken the deliberately emptied city of Dingzhou 定州. It was later almost re-captured by imperial troops from the prefectures Baoding and Zhending. Thanks to Yuejun’s foresight, the female warriors Nüjingang (see Chapter 29 and 36) and Manshinu (see Chapter 19, 25, 32, 44 and 60) arrived and helped to beat them back. In the end, aided by chaos resulting from a massive prison breakout, Si Tao also captured the prefectural city of Baoding.

CHAPTER 95 Imperial troops escaping from Baoding, along with those coming to Baoding from Hejian, were routed by pursuers sent earlier by Liu Jing (see Chapter 94). Liu Jing was then ordered by Yuejun to capture Zhuozhou 涿州, just south of Beiping. Gaochi, the Yongle Emperor’s Heir Apparent, returned to his father to report that Lady Taibei would capture Yuejun outside Beiping (see Chapter 89). The Emperor thus left Gaochi to take charge of the northern capital, while he led an army out of the Juyong Pass (Juyongkuan 居庸關) to deal with a Mongol incursion. Gaochi sent 20,000 men to defend Zhuozhou, but they suffered a demoralizing loss at the hands of Yuejun’s ladies. Nevertheless Liu Jing lost a few important subordinates - including Chuo Yan’er (see Chapter 52, 54, 63, 65, 67, 78 and 79) – before he managed to capture the city. Liu Jing pushed on to cross the river Jumahe 拒馬河 (in Beiping’s outskirts). After a heated battle, the imperial troops encamped on the north bank were crushed. As Liu Jing pursued them, two cranes appeared and transformed into two Daoist priests. They magically put up a massive wall to block Liu’s troops.

CHAPTER 96 (The author explains that this was Lady Taibei’s magic, and goes on to tell her story.) As the incarnation of the deviant star Bei 孛 that causes lunar eclipses, Lady Taibei was a perennial nemesis of the lunar goddess Chang’e. Without approval from the Supreme Thearch, she had descended to the mortal world to go against Yuejun, the earthly incarnation of Chang’e (see Chapter 1). She had come as a small girl, matured within three years, and gathered followers of her own at Zhongnan Mountain. Having informed the Yongle Emperor

Appendix I 199

of her intention to combat Yuejun (see Chapter 89), she later accepted his Heir Apparent’s invitation (see Chapter 95), and had presently arrived at Lugouqiao 蘆溝橋. Yuejun also arrived at Lugouqiao with her ladies to confront Lady Taibei. Yuejun tried to resolve her hatred and befriend her, but it was to no avail. Lady Taibei held her own against the magical implements of her opponents, and made them suffer with a swarm of venomous vermin. After Yuejun had killed the entire swarm with her insect-exterminating needles (see Chapter 48), only she, Bao Gu and Mantuoni could stand against Lady Taibei. Next, Lady Taibei unleashed a golden-back toad against the trio, but its deadly light could not harm them.

CHAPTER 97 Yuejun impaled the golden-back toad with her sword pneumas. Lady Taibei then employed a fire-shooting pearl against Yuejun, Bao Gu and Mantuoni, causing them to retreat. After a discussion about counteractions of the Five Phases (wuxing 五行), the trio concluded that the solution to their problem was sandalwood, which Mantuoni then obtained from Princess Chamo. The fiery pearl was thus neutralized. Next, Lady Taibei wielded a quicksilver-shooting tube, forcing the trio to retreat again. After another discussion about the Five Phases, Yuejun sought help from the earth goddess Lady Houtu. With two pellets of earth essence given by the Goddess, Lady Taibei’s corrosive quicksilver was absorbed, and the Lady herself rendered immobile.

CHAPTER 98 Lady Taibei remained unrepentant. Lady Houtu had her taken away and forced to serve as a regional water goddess. (A short discussion about Yin, Yang and the Five Phases ensued, explaining why the Goddess’ pellets worked.) With no more obstacles between her and the northern capital, Yuejun rendered the cannons on Beiping’s city walls unusable with talismans, and ordered her army to attack. However, just before the dawn of the decisive assault, the Demon Matron Heavenly Venerable (see Chapter 1, 27 and 51) appeared before Yuejun to take a sword from her – the sword that the Yongle Emperor had originally given to Yumu’er for killing the Jianwen Emperor (see Chapter 42, 52 and 54). The Heavenly Venerable revealed that the Supreme Thearch had ordered her to seize the Celestial Wolf Star (i.e., kill the Yongle Emperor) at Yumuchuan (in present-day

Appendix I 200

Inner Mongolia) so that he could be judged for slaughtering good and loyal people. A heavenly order would come at sunrise for Yuejun to return to her lunar palace as the goddess Chang’e. The Heavenly Venerable then flew to Yumuchuan and killed the Yongle Emperor there with the abovementioned sword, thereby fulfilling the enigmatic prophecy of the Half Man-of-Dao (i.e., Zhang Sanfeng)(see Chapter 42). (The author questions the official historical account of the Yongle Emperor’s death.)

CHAPTER 99 In the autumn of “the 26th year of Jianwen”, Yuejun made a final settlement of her earthly affairs, including repayment for Princess Chamo’s loan (see Chapter 85). At sunrise, a pyre was set on fire. As heavenly figures appeared in the clouds apparently to receive her, Yuejun ascended in public view. The maidens Suying (see Chapter 8, 10 and 44), Hanhuang (see Chapter 10 and 44), Hu Taiyu (see Chapter 61 and 75) and Lian Zhu (see Chapter 73 and 75) released themselves from their mortal bodies and ascended with her as accomplished transcendents. The female warriors Nüjingang and Manshinu (see Chapter 94) leapt into the fire in their yearning to follow Yuejun, and their spirits were taken by Bao Gu and Mantuoni to be sublimated unto transcendence. At Jingzhou, Lü Lü had received word from the Jianwen Emperor a few days earlier that he was contented to be a monk and would not take up his throne again. Presently he received a poem from Yuejun hinting to him where he should go. Consequently, Lü and Liu Chao (see Chapter 22, 23 and 78) quietly left for Sichuan, found a location known as Yuju Grotto-Heaven (Yuju Dongtian 玉局洞天), and realized that both of them had been fellow Daoist adepts there in their previous life. Thus they stayed, continued to practise, and eventually attained transcendence more than a hundred years later.

CHAPTER 100 At Hejian, Liu Jing (see Chapter 93 and 94) received instruction from Yuejun to return to Jinan, Shandong. The administration there had already been told about the Jianwen Emperor’s decision to give up his throne permanently (see Chapter 99). It also received a final poem from Yuejun. That its enterprise should come to an end was further corroborated by Cheng Ji’s oracles years ago (see Chapter 18), recent astrological indications, as well as the fact that some of their prominent leaders had quietly gone missing (including Lü Lü (see Chapter 99)). And so, the officials at Jinan settled their own affairs too and dispersed.

Appendix I 201

(The author provides a long list, detailing the names of prominent officials in Yuejun’s administration, their bureaucratic positions, their relations to virtuous individuals who died for the Jianwen Emperor, and what happened to each of them hereafter.) In the autumn of “the 26th year of Jianwen”, having witnessed Yuejun’s spectacular ascent for himself, Gaochi the Yongle Emperor’s Heir Apparent became convinced that Yuejun was truly a heavenly transcendent. With his father’s death (see Chapter 98), he ascended the imperial throne as Renzong 仁宗 of the reign period of Hongxi (洪熙). He honoured those who died in loyalty to the Jianwen Emperor, including their wives and daughters. (The author provides a list of these women, and enumerates the honorific titles conferred on them.) Another 16 years passed. In the 5th year of Zhengtong (正統) under the emperor Yingzong (英宗), the former Jianwen Emperor, now 64, allowed himself to be taken to the imperial palace. Honoured there as the Supreme Old Buddha (Taishang Laofo 太上老佛), he lived till the age of 89, and was buried in a grave marked “The Grave of the Great Master of All Under Heaven” (tianxiadashi zhi mu 天下大師之墓). (The author claims that not only had Wenkui, the Jianwen Emperor’s eldest son (see Chapter 81), survived, his descendants also continue to thrive “today”, even though all the other descendants of the Ming dynasty’s imperial lineage are no more.)

202

APPENDIX II

MY TRANSLATION OF LIU JI’S “THE TWO DEMONS”

The Two Demons 二 891

In yonder times when Pangu 1 憶昔盤古初開天地時 1 834 Sundered the universe into being, 以土為肉石為骨 Earth became his flesh, stones his bones, 水為血脉天為皮 The waters his veins and blood within. 崑崙為頭顱 For his skin, there was the firmament; 5 江海為胃腸 5 For his head, Mount Kunlun;835 嵩岳為背膂 Rivers and seas, for the stomach, intestines; 其外四岳為四肢 (As his spine the great Songshan836 did count)

For limbs, the four outer Marchmounts. 四肢百軆咸定位 With every part thus set in place, 10 He had, for two eyes in his face, 乃以日月為兩眼 The sun and moon in revolution 循環照燭三百六十骨節 10 To shine upon his skeleton - All three hundred and sixty segments - And also eighty-four thousand pores, 15 八萬四千毛竅 lest evil influences overflowed, oozing

834 Pangu 盤古 is a mythical giant, whose corporeal growth is associated with the separation of Heaven and Earth out of primordial Chaos, and out of whose corpse much of the physical world is said to have been formed. See, e.g., Xu Zheng 徐整 (fl. 3rd century AD), Sanwu liji 三五曆紀 [Records of the past pertaining to the Three (August Ones) and the Five (Thearchs)], cited in Ouyang Xun 歐陽詢 (557 - 641), Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚 [A categorized collection of literary texts], 1.2a; Hu Zuanzong 胡纘宗 (of Tianshui 天水) printed edition of the Jiajing 嘉靖 period (1522 - 1566); Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (C5912500), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. For an overview of the Pangu myth, see Lü Simian 呂思勉, “Pangu kao” 盤古考 [A textual study of Pangu], in Zhongguo shenhuaxue wenlun xuancui 中國神話學文論選萃 [Selected essays in the study of Chinese mythology], ed. Ma Changyi 馬昌儀 (Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi chubanshe, 1994), 1:479-85. 835 Mount Kunlun 崑崙 is China’s mythical omphalos or pillar of the world, according to the overview of various ancient accounts in Kominami Ichirō 小南一郎, Zhongguo de shenhua chuanshuo yu gu xiaoshuo 中國的神話傳説與古小說 [China’s mythology, legends and ancient fiction], trans. Sun Changwu 孫昌武, 2nd ed. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006), 65-71. 836 Songshan 嵩山 is the central marchmount of China’s Five Marchmounts (Wuyue 五嶽). 891 The following Chinese text of Liu Ji’s 劉基 (1311 - 1375) “Er gui” 二鬼 [The two demons] is from: CYB, 10.8b-12a. Appendix II 203

To set off wounds and sores. 勿使淫邪發洩生瘡痍 With the two eyes each other pursuing In ceaseless motion, never stopping, 兩眼相逐走不歇 The Heavenly Thearch worried; lest 20 天帝愍其勞逸不調生病患 They ailed from lack of proper rest, 申命守以兩 15 Two demons he commanded to be 名曰結璘與欝儀 Their guards, named Jielin and Yuyi.837

Yuyi grabbed the three-legged crow838 of old 欝儀手捉三足老鴉胠阝 By its feet; shod with fiery wheels he’d go, 25 胠阝踏火輪蟠九螭 Bearing nine coiled draconoids. 咀嚼五色若木英 As he chewed blossoms of five hues 身上五色光陸離 20 From the Solar Trees,839 with five hues

Did his body brilliantly glow. 朝發暘谷暮金樞 Set out he every morn from the Vale of Dawn,840 30

837 Jielin 結璘 and Yuyi 欝儀 are the names of Daoist transcendents or deities associated with the sun and the moon respectively. E.g., a line in “Gaoben zhang” 高奔章 [The ascending-up-high chapter] of Huangting neijing jing 黃庭内景玉經 [The Precious Book of the Inner Landscape of the Yellow Court] reads, “Yuyi and Jielin are good at safeguarding one” 欝儀結璘善相保, for which the commentary by Liangqiuzi 梁丘子 (i.e., Bai Lüzhong 白履忠 (fl. 722 - 729)) states, “Yuyi is a transcendent who had ascended to the sun; Jielin is a transcendent who had ascended to the moon […]” 欝儀奔日之仙結璘奔月之仙 (Huangting neijing jing 黃庭内景玉經註 [Commentary on the Precious Book of the Inner Landscape of the Yellow Court], comm. Liangqiuzi, TY401, 3.5b, in ZTDZ, vol. 11). In at least one Shangqing text from the Six Dynasties, however, Yuyi and Jielin are featured not as two individuals, but as five spirits (male thearchs) of the sun and five spirits (female thearchs) of the moon respectively - see Shangqing taishang dijun jiuzhen zhongjing 上清太上帝君九真中經 [The Shangqing Central Scripture of the Nine True Ones], TY1364, 2.3b-8b, in ZTDZ, vol. 57. 838 That the Chinese had long believed the sun was inhabited by a crow (and the moon by a toad) is attested to by cosmological motifs found in Western Han tombs – see Michèle Pirazzoli-T’Serstevens, “Death and the Dead: Practices and Images in the Qin and Han,” in Early Chinese Religion. Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC – 220 AD), ed. John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 2:964, 1001. As for the number of the crow’s legs (as well as the presence of a lunar hare), Wang Chong 王充 (27 – ca. 97) reports in “Shuori” 説日 [Speaking of the sun]: “The Confucians say that there is a three-legged crow in the sun, and that there are a hare and a toad in the moon.” 儒者曰日中有三足烏月中有兔蟾蜍 (Wang Chong, Lunheng 論衡 [Discourses Weighed in the Balance], 11.16a, in SKQS, vol. 862) 839 According to Yuan Ke’s 袁珂 analysis in his annotation to “Dahuang bei jing” 大荒北經 [The Classic of the Great Wilderness: North] in Shanhaijing 山海經 [The Classic of Mountains and Seas], the term ruomu 若木 refers to two mythical trees in the furthest ends of the east and west, associated with the rising and setting of the sun respectively. See Yuan Ke, col. & annot., Shanhaijing jiaozhu 山海經校註 [The Classic of Mountains and Seas, collated and annotated](Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1991), 437n2. 840 The Vale of Dawn (Yanggu 暘谷) is the mythical location where the sun rises in the morning. See “Tianwen xun” 天文訓 [Explanations of Heavenly Patterns], in Huainan honglie jie 淮南鴻烈解 [The Vast and Luminous [Book] of Huainan, with Classical Explanations], ann. Xu Shen 許慎 (d. 120?)(attrib.), 6.3a; Ming-dynasty Wang Yuanbin 王元賓 printed edition, Full-text Database of

Appendix II 204

To reach the Golden Hinge841 by sundown. To whip his dragons and sea-god842 on, 清晨還上扶桑枝 Early next day he’d always be found 揚鞭驅龍抶海若 843 Up again on the fusang’s bough. Beneath rose-tinted clouds billowing, 35 蒸霞沸浪煎魚龜 Fishes, tortoises boiled in waves frothing; 輝煌焜耀啓幽暗 25 As darkness opened up to glorious rays, 燠煦草木生芳蕤 Plants warmed up unto life, displays

Of fragrant flowers and lushness.

Jielin, meanwhile, on the osmanthus’ 40 結璘坐在廣寒桂樹根 Roots did sit, amidst the lunar coldness. 844 漱嚥桂露芬香菲 His throat he rinsed with aromatic dews 啖服白兎所擣之靈藥 From this tree, ingesting the numinous

Elixir ground by the hare so leucous. 845 He hopped onto the back of the toad,846 45 跳上蟾蜍背脊馬竒 30 Played with lights and shadows, 搯光弄影蕩雲漢 Shook the Milky Way as he rode. Constellations showered glimmers

Chinese Rare Books (3023400), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. 841 The Golden Hinge (Jinshu 金樞) is an obscure location in the west where the moon is said to set. See Lü Yanji’s 呂延濟 (fl. 718) annotation to Mu Hua’s 木華 (fl. 290) “Haifu” 海賦 [Rhapsody on the Sea], in Xiao Tong 蕭統 (501 - 531), Wen Xuan 文選 [Selections of Refined Literature], ann. Li Shan 李善 (? - 689), Lü Yanji et al., 12.3a; movable type-printed edition from the 2nd year of Kan’ei 寬永 (i.e., 1625), Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (D7811300), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. . 842 Wang Yi’s 王逸 (fl. 114 - 120) commentary to “Yuanyou” 遠遊 [Distant Journey](attributed to Qu Yuan 屈原 (ca. 340 BC – 278 BC)) states: “Hairuo is the name of a sea god.” 海若海神名也 (Chuci zhangju 楚辭章句 [Chapters and verses of the Songs of Chu], comm. Wang Yi, 5.7a, in SKQS, vol. 1062) 843 According to Yuan Ke’s analysis in an annotation to “Haiwai dong jing” 海外東經 [The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: East] in Shanhaijing, fusang 扶桑 refers to the eastern ruomu (see note no. 839 above), which the sun is said to ascend as it begins to rise every morning. See Yuan, Shanhaijing jiaozhu, 260n2. 844 The Chinese had long believed that an osmanthus tree grew in the moon. E.g., Duan Chengshi 段成式 (d. 863) reports: “It has been said in the past that there are an osmanthus [tree] and a toad in the moon. […] The osmanthus [tree] is 500 zhang tall […]” 舊言月中有桂有蟾蜍 [……] 桂高五百丈 [……] (Duan, Youyang zazu, 1.10b) 845 The lunar hare of Chinese mythology (see note no. 838 above) is often thought to be pounding ingredients to make an elixir. E.g., Fu Xuan 傅玄 (217 - 278) states in his “Ni Tianwen” 擬天問 [A la “Heavenly Questions”]: “What is there in the moon? The Jade Hare pounding an elixir.” 月中何有玉兎擣藥 (Cited in Li Fang 李昉 (925 - 996) et al., comps., Taiping yulan 太平衘覽 [Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era], 4.18b, in SKQS, vol. 893) 846 For the mythic motif of the lunar toad, see notes no. 838 and 844 above.

Appendix II 205

When the Demon laid out his flowers. 閃奎爍壁 892葩花摛 The osmanthus seeds he plucked he 50 手摘桂樹子 Scattered into the boundless sea, 撒入大海中

Where they became pearls in shellfishes; 散與蚌蛤為珠璣 35 Some turned into jade bits and pieces, 或落巖谷間 - Having fallen across rocks and valleys - 化作珣玕琪 Lighting the bosoms of mortals brightly 55 人拾得喫者 Who picked them up and swallowed. 胸臆生明翬 893 While the inner and outer astral officials 內外星官各職職 40 To their respective duties did tend, 惟有兩兩眼晝夜長相追 The Two Demons and their two eyes alone

Engaged in mutual pursuit without end, 60

Through days and nights they went. Whenever creatures came to take their place, By the Two Demons’ swinging sabres 有物來換之 Were they soon erased. 兩隨即揮刀鈹 Subjugated, the toad and the ancient crow847 禁制蝦蟇與老鴉

65 低頭屏氣服役使 45 Bowed their heads, hardly breathed, 不敢起意為奸欺 And did the biddings of the duo, Not daring to do evil or deceive. Once Heaven and Earth did the Two Demons pity, 天地憐兩 And release them into the world 70 暫放兩人間娭 Of humans to play but temporarily. 一乘白狗 One of the Demons rode a white dog 走向織女黄姑磯 50 Towards the stellar couple’s848 waterside rock,

847 See note no. 838 above. 848 The Yellow Maiden (Huanggu 黄姑) is another name for the Cowherd Star (Qianniuxing 牽牛星; Altair), which together with the Weaving Maiden Star (Zhinüxing 織女星; Vega), is associated with the well-known Chinese legend of a stellar couple separated by the Milky Way. For an informative overview of the Cowherd / Weaving Maiden lore, see Kominami, Zhongguo de shenhua, 2-15. 892 Kui 奎 and Bi 壁 are two of the Twenty-Eight Mansions (Ershiba xiu 二十八宿) of ancient Chinese astronomy. 893 Hui 翬, which denotes “to fly energetically” or a kind of pheasant, is probably a loan character here for hui 輝 (“splendour”).

Appendix II 206

Where, the River Drum849 beating, 槌河鼓褰兩旗 And the two Flags raising,850 he dived 75 跳下黄初平牧羊羣 Into the goats herded by Huang Chuping.851 烹羊食肉口吻流膏脂 Then from his lips dripped fat from their meat, for mutton did he cook and gobble indeed. 852 Next, to Mount Tiantai went on the Demon, 却入天台山 Where dragons and tigers did he summon 80 呼龍喚虎指麾 55 To obey his commands. The eastern rocks 東巖鑿石取金卯 894 He chiselled to obtain gold; the western rocks 西巖掘土求瓊葳 895 He dug beneath for luxuriant stocks Of jade. Boulders and caves thus rumbled, 巖訇洞砉石梁折 Stone beams broke and crumbled, 85 驚起五百羅漢半夜撥刺衝天飛 Startling five hundred arhats853 into flight -

849 The River Drum (Hegu 河鼓) of early Chinese astronomy was a trio of stars in the constellation Aquila, inclusive of the Cowherd Star (Altair). See Chen Zungui 陳遵嬀, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi 中國天文學史 [The history of Chinese astronomy]( Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1982), 2:641; cf. Kominami, Zhongguo de shenhua, 4. 850 The two Flags (qi 旗) are the Left Flag (Zuoqi 左旗) and the Right Flag (Youqi 右旗) of early Chinese astronomy. The Left Flag was a set of nine stars spread across the constellations Aquila and Sagitta; the Right Flag was a set of nine stars in the constellation Aquila. See Chen, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi, 393, 2:609-10; 641, 665. 851 Huang Chuping 黄初平 (or 皇初平) is supposedly an early transcendent who herded goats – see Ge Hong 葛洪 (284 - 364), Shenxian zhuan 神仙傳 [Biographies of Divine Transcendents], 2.1a-2a, in SKQS, vol. 1059. 852 Mount Tiantai 天台山 in Tiantai County, Zhejiang, is one of the Four Famous Mountains (Si da mingshan 四大名山) of Buddhist China, and was associated with the bodhisattva Mañjusrĩ as early as the Six Dynasties – see Robson, “Buddhist Sacred Geography,” 1371-72. 853 In Buddhist soteriology, an arhat (luohan 羅漢 or aluohan 阿羅漢 in Chinese) embodies a state of advanced attainment in the path towards enlightenment; he or she has, as understood by early Buddhism, in fact risen above the realm of desire and attained the realization of Nirvana. There are numerous references in the Buddhist corpus to “five hundred arhats”, who are said to have followed the Buddha during his lifetime, participated in the formation of the Buddhist Canon, and to inhabit various prominent mountains – see Chen Qingxiang 陳清香, Luohan tuxiang yanjiu 羅漢圖像研究 [Studies on images of arhats](Taipei City: Wenjin chubanshe, 1995), 1-3, 72-76. 894 The term jinmao 金卯 usually simply stands for the surname Liu 劉, part of the character for which can be broken up into the characters jin 金 and mao 卯. For example, according to Wang Jia 王嘉 (fl. 4th century AD), an old man who claimed to be the Essence of the Supreme Monad (Taiyi zhi jing 太一之精) once called Liu Xiang 劉向 (77 BC – 6 BC) “the son of jinmao” (jinmao zhi zi 金卯之子)(Wang Jia, Shiyi ji 拾遺記 [Uncollected Records], ed. Xiao Qi 蕭綺 (fl. ca. 6th century AD), 6.10b-11a, in SKQS, vol. 1042). What jinmao denotes in Liu Ji’s poem here is, however, unclear, but apparently mineral deposits of an auriferous nature. 895 The meaning of the term qiongwei 瓊葳, literally “fine-jade lushness”, is unclear. It may simply be a poetic expression for an abundance of jade. The only other known classical occurrence thereof is in the following line from a poem by Liu Ji himself: “Clouds are melted and the rain smelted into fine- jade lushness” 鎔雲鍊雨成瓊葳 (“Xuehe pian zeng Zhan Tongwen” 雪鶴篇贈詹同文 [The snow crane, for Zhan Tongwen], in CYB, 16.7a.

Appendix II 207

“Plap!” they went in the middle of the night.

The other Demon on a white hog rode, 一乘白豕 60 Followed by azure hares, azure goats, 從以青羊青兎赤鼠兒 854 Crimson rats. Via the Pavilioned Road 90 便從閣道出西清 855 Exited he from the Western Purity, 入少微浴咸池 To bathe in the Pool of Xian,856

Entering the Lesser Tenuity.857

When he mounted a crane of Qingtian858 身馬竒青田鶴 To go collect the fungi of Qingtian,859 95 去採青田芝 65 Lords of the transcendent cities, Chicheng,860 仙都赤城三十六洞主 And the Thirty-six Grottoes861 thronged On firebirds and phoenixes,

854 The Pavilioned Road (Gedao 閣道) of early Chinese astronomy was a set of six stars in the constellation Cassiopeia. See Chen, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi, 2:620, 646. 855 Judging from its immediate context, Western Purity (Xiqing 西清) here is almost certainly a classical astronomical reference, but what it denotes exactly is unclear. 856 The Pool of Xian (Xianchi 咸池) of early Chinese astronomy was a trio of stars in the constellation Auriga. See Chen, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi, 2:626, 642. 857 The Lesser Tenuity (Shaowei 少微) of early Chinese astronomy was a set of four stars spread across the constellations Leo and Leo Minor. See ibid., 2:598, 656-57. 858 Qingtian 青田, in present-day southeastern Zhejiang Province, was the native county of the poet Liu Ji himself – see Liu Ji’s biography in Zhang et al., Ming shi, fasc. 128, 12:3777. Mount Qingtian at this county is listed amongst the Thirty-six (Minor) Grotto-heavens of Daoist sacred geography (see note no. 861 below); as the thirtieth grotto-heaven and the dwelling place of a certain Heavenly Master Ye (Ye Tianshi 葉天師), it is called the” Great Crane Grotto-heaven of Qingtian” (Qingtian dahe dongtian 青田大鶴洞天), which underscores its association with cranes – see Du Guangting 杜光庭 (850 - 933), comp., Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji 洞天福地嶽瀆名山記 [Records of the Cavern- Heavens, Auspicuous Sites, Holy Mountains, and Marshes, as well as of the Famous Mountains], TY594, 8a, in ZTDZ, vol. 18. 859 This is apparently an early reference to Qingtian being a producer of wholesome fungi under the classical botanical category of zhi 芝. A general gazetteer of Zhejiang published in 1561 affirms that “green fungi grow in the fields [of Qingtian], which gave the mountain [i.e., Mount Qingtian] its name“ 田產青芝故以名山 (Hu Zongxian 胡宗憲 (1512 - 1565), Xue Yingqi 薛應旂 (1500 – 1575) et al., comps., Jiajing Zhejiang tongzhi 嘉靖浙江通志 [Comprehensive gazetteer of Zhejiang of the Jiajing period], 8.6b-7a, in Tianyi Ge Mingdai difangzhi xuankan xubian 天一閣藏明代地方志選刊續編 [A further selection of Ming gazetteers from the Tianyi Pavilion’s collection](Shanghai: Shanghai shuju, 1990), 24:398-99). 860 Mount Chicheng 赤城 in Tiantai County, Zhejiang, is allegedly the location of one of the Ten Major Grotto-heavens (Shi da dongtian 十大洞天) of Daoist lore. It is the sixth grotto-heaven, governed by Sovereign Wang (Wang Jun 王君). See Du, Dongtian fudi, 3a-b, in Daozang jiyao, comp. Peng Dingqiu, 10:373. 861 Together with the Ten Major Grotto-heavens (see note no. 860 above), the microcosms known as the Thirty-six (Minor) Grotto-heavens (Sanshiliu (xiao) dongtian 三十六（小）洞天) are an important part of ancient Daoist cosmography, their locations identified with prominent mountains across the Chinese landscape. For an overview of these sacred spaces, see Gil Raz, “Daoist Sacred Geography,” in Early Chinese Religion. Part Two, ed. John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi, 2:1429-37.

Appendix II 208

The Demon’s retinue to form. 馬竒鸞醫 896鳳來陪隨

862 Joined by the Hairy Maiden, 100 神 897清唱毛女和 Divine spirits sang sonorously; Smoke rose high in columns, Amidst fluttering flags of ursine emblems. 長煙裊裊飄熊旂 On the sheng and zhu863 played the Wind God864 蜚廉吹笙虎擊筑 70 And tigers; out came aquatic monsters865 罔象出舞奔馮夷 105

862 The Hairy Maiden (Maonü 毛女) is supposedly a hair-covered transcendent who used to be a lady in the palace of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shihuang 秦始皇 (Ying Zheng 嬴政; 259 BC – 210 BC; r. 246 BC – 210 BC) - see Liu Xiang 劉向 (77 BC – 6 BC)(attrib.), Liexian zhuan 列仙傳 [Biographies of transcendents], TY293, 2.7b-8a, in ZTDZ, vol. 8. In another version of the story, the maiden served in the palace of the last Qin emperor Ying Ziying 嬴子嬰 (? – 206 BC; r. 207 BC), lived for some 300 years, but eventually lost her overgrown hair, grew old and died without becoming a full-fledged transcendent – see “Xianyao” 仙藥 [Medicinals for Transcendence], in Ge Hong 葛洪 (284 - 364), Baopuzi neipian 抱朴子内篇 [Inner Chapters of the Master who Embraces Simplicity], TY1175, 11.16a- b, in ZTDZ, vol. 47. 863 The sheng 笙 is a wind musical instrument consisting of vertical pipes. The zhu 筑 is a string instrument about which little is known. 864 Feilian 蜚廉 (or 飛廉) is a god of the wind – see, e.g., Wang Yi’s commentary to “Lisao” 離騷 [Encountering Sorrow](attributed to Qu Yuan), in Chuci zhangju, comm. Wang, 1.15a (cf. Wang’s commentary to “Yuanyou”, 5.5b). 865 The wangxiang 罔象, the name of which is translated by Victor H. Mair as “nonimagoes” (Victor H. Mair, trans., Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998), 181), is a probably dangerous, supernatural creature of the water. Confucius is said to have maintained that “anomalies of the water are called the dragon and the wangxiang” 水之怪曰龍罔象, to which a commentary by Wei Zhao 韋昭 (204 - 273) adds, “Some say the wangxiang eats people […]” 或曰罔象食人 (Guoyu 國語 [Discourses of the States], comm. Wei Zhao, 5.10b, in SKQS, vol. 406). In addition, it is stated in Zhuangzi’s 莊子 “Dasheng” 達生 [Understanding Life] that “there is wangxiang in the water” 水有罔象, for which Lu Deming 陸德明 (556 - 627) provides the following gloss: “The Sima [Biao 司馬彪 (? - 306)] redaction [of Zhuangzi] has wushang (“Without Injury”) for wangxiang, saying that this creature looks like a small child, is crimson- black in colour, and has crimson claws, large ears and long arms. An alternative source says that this is the name of an aquatic god.” 司馬本作無傷云狀如小兒赤黑色赤爪大耳长臂一云水神名 (Ricang Songben Zhuangzi yinyi 日藏宋本莊子音義 [Glosses on the pronunciations and meanings of Zhuangzi (Song edition from a Japanese collection)], gloss. Lu Deming, coll. Huang Huazhen 黃華珍 (1227; repr., Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1996), 162) 896 The character yi 醫 (“to cure”) here should probably have been yi 翳 (“to cover with (or take as) a carriage canopy”). 897 The meaning and pronunciation of the character are unknown. Presumably it refers to a spiritual entity.

Appendix II 209

Too, dancing, alongside the River God,866 prancing. Ever since they bade farewell in the heavens,

They had been apart, the Two Demons; 兩自從天上別 With the passage between them blocked, 110 別後道路阻隔不得相聞知 They heard nothing, they knew nothing

Of each other. But, suddenly, shuttling

In-between was Master Hanshan,867 忽聞韓山子 Who told them what was happening. 往來說因依 75 The duo asked; they came to know 115 兩各借問 How near they were to each other so. 始知相去近不遠 They thought: “Shall we not meet And speak words of affections?” 何得不一相見敘情詞 Where their words of affections Had no means of conveyance, 120 How much they missed each other 情詞不得敘 Across the distance! 焉得不相思 80 Within fifty years of missing each other In the human world (a period briefer 相思人間五十年 Than the cooking of fifty meals 125 未抵天上五十炊 In the heavens), the cosmos reeled 忽然宇宙變差 Suddenly from a drastic upheaval.

Snow fell in the sixth month, covering 六月落雪冰天逵 The avenues of a frozen sky; 黿鼉上山作窟穴 85 Turtles and alligators were burrowing 130 蛇頭生角角有岐 Up in the mountains, but why?

Horns grew on serpents’ heads and split;

866 Fengyi 馮夷 was a man who became a god of the Yellow River through attaining transcendence by medicinal means, or through death by drowning. Lu Deming‘s gloss for the name “Fengyi” in Zhuangzi’s “Da zongshi” 大宗師 [The Great Ancestral Teacher] states: “According to Sima [Biao], The Biographies of the Pure and Refreshing says, ‘Fengyi was a native of Dishou, Tongxiang, Huayin; through ingesting the eight stones he became a water transcendent. He is the Earl of the Yellow River.’ An alternative source claims that he drowned while bathing in the Yellow River on a gengzi day in the eighth month; another claims that he drowned while crossing the Yellow River.” 司馬云清泠傳曰馮夷華陰潼鄉隄首人也服八石得水仙是為河伯一云以八月庚子浴於河而溺死一云渡河溺死 (Ricang Songben Zhuangzi yinyi, 63) Wang Yi’s commentary to “Yuanyou” simply calls Fengyi an “aquatic transcendent” (shui xianren 水仙人)(Chuci zhangju, comm. Wang, 5.7a). 867 It is unclear who “Master Hanshan” (Hanshanzi 韓山子) refers to.

Appendix II 210

Tail-wagging crocodiles broke the feet 鰐魚掉尾斫折巨鰲胠阝

868 Of giant turtles; collapsed and no more 蓬萊宮倒水没木睂 Were Penglai’s869 palaces, their every door 135 Submerged to the top in water. 欃槍枉矢爭出逞妖恠 Wingceltis spears, crooked arrow-stars,870 或大如甕盎 90 Vied to emerge, flaunting anomalies; 或長如蜲虵 They were as bulky as earthen jars, 光爍爍形躨躨 Or as long as snakes, creepy-crawlies. 140 叫鹿豕呼熊羆 They flickered; they slithered; 煽吳囘翔 They called for the deer, the bears

Large and small, the boars;

They incited Wuhui;871 they stirred grotesque Reptiles up to soar. 145 By the Heavenly Thearch’s side was no one 天帝左右無扶持 95

868 In view of the subsequent line, this has to be a reference to the ancient idea of giant, island- bearing turtles as seen in, e.g., Wang Yi’s commentary to “Tianwen” 天問 [Heavenly Questions](attributed to Qu Yuan), which cites Liu Xiang’s Liexian zhuan thus: “There is a colossal, numinous turtle; carrying the mountain of Penglai on its back, it claps, dances and frolics in the deep blue sea” 有巨靈之鼇背負蓬萊之山而抃舞戲滄海之中 (Chuci zhangju, comm. Wang, 3.7a). According to Liezi’s 列子 (fl. ca. 4th century BC) account in “Tang wen” 湯問 [The Questions of Tang], “giant turtles” (ju’ao 巨鼇) had served as a support and anchor not only for Penglai, but also four other transcendent islands - see Lie Yukou 列禦寇, Liezi 列子, ann. Lu Chongyuan 盧重元 (fl. ca. 8th century AD), 5.2a-3a, in XXSKQS, vol. 958. 869 Penglai 蓬萊 is one of several well-known legendary islands thought to be the abodes of transcendents. According to Liezi, it was supported by giant turtles – see note no. 868 above. 870 Both “wingceltis spears” (chanqiang 欃槍) and “crooked arrows” (wangshi 枉矢) refer to comets, perceived by ancient Chinese astronomers to be bad omens. As explained in “Shi tian” 釋天 [Explaining Heaven] in the pre-Han (or early Han) dictionary Erya 爾雅 [Approaching the Correct], “Broom-stars are known as wingceltis spears” 彗星爲欃槍 (Erya zhushu 爾雅註疏 [Approaching the Correct, with commentary and subcommentary], comm. Guo Pu 郭璞 (276 - 324), subcomm. Xing Bing 邢昺 (932 - 1010), 5.21b; from the Jiguge 汲古閣 edition of Shisanjing zhushu 十三經註疏 [The Thirteen Confucian Classics, with commentaries and subcommentaries], Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (A497200), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo). In “Tianguan shu” 天官書 [Treatise on the Celestial Offices] in Sima Qian’s 司馬遷 (c. 145 BC – 87 BC) Shiji 史記 [Records of the Grand Historian], it is stated: “A ‘crooked arrow’ resembles a large shooting star; it moves in a serpentine manner, is black in colour, and looks as if it is hairy or feathery” 枉矢類大流星虵行而倉黑望之如有毛羽然 (Sima, Shiji, ann. Pei, comm. Sima and Zhang, 27.31a, in XXSKQS, vol. 261). 871 Wuhui 吳囘, sometimes identified with Zhurong 祝融, is said to be a descendant of the archaic thearch Zhuanxu 顓頊, have served as a Governor of Fire (huozheng 火正), and have “become a god of the office of fire after death” 死為火官之神 – see Gao You’s 高誘 (fl. 205 - 212) commentary to “Siyue ji” 四月紀 [The Fourth Month], “Mengxia ji” 孟夏紀 [The First Month of Summer], in Lü Buwei 呂不韋 (d. 235 BC), comm. Gao You, Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋 [Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals], 4.1b, in SKQS, vol. 848.

Appendix II 211

There to help. Mosquitoes on the hunt, 蚊蝱蚤蝨蠅蚋蜞

Horseflies, fleas, lice, gnats, leeches fattened 口替膚咂血圖飽肥 Themselves - they hoped - as they nibbled On his skin, with his blood so drunken. 150 The Thearch couldn’t wave them off, 擾擾不可揮 Despite their bothersome frenzy - 筋節解折兩眼 For his joints and sinews were broken, 不辨妍與 100 And both his eyes were gummy,

Unable to differentiate 155

The beautiful from the ugly. Greatly alarmed the Two Demons became 兩大惕傷 (And saddened), 身如受搒笞 As if their own bodies were being flogged And beaten. 160 So they sought to procure medicine together 便欲相約討藥與天帝醫 To cure the Heavenly Thearch. The first matter 先去兩眼翳

Was to remove the clouding of his eyes, 使識青黄紅黑白 105 So he’d recognize the various colours: Green, yellow, red, black, white. 165

Then to be poured down from Heaven’s Pool872 便下天潢天一水 Was water of Heavenly Unity,873 洗滌盤古腸胃心腎肝肺脾 All to wash the insides of Pangu!874

His stomach, guts, the liver and spleen,

Heart, kidneys, lungs – all to be cleaned. 170

Clods of yellow earth must next be taken – Those moulded by Nüwa -875 去阝取女媧所摶黄土

872 Heaven’s Pool (Tianhuang 天潢) of early Chinese astronomy was a set of five stars in the constellation Auriga. See Chen, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi, 2:626, 642. 873 In traditional Chinese mantic numerology, the “One of Heaven” (Tianyi 天一) is associated with the generation of water. E.g., in Liu Mu’s 劉牧 (1011 - 1064) cosmogonic account, “When the two [primordial] pneumas congressed, the One of Heaven descended and generated water, while the Two of Earth ascended and generated fire. This was the beginning of form.” 若二氣交則天一下而生水地二上而生火此則形之始也 (Liu Mu, Yishu gouyin tu 易數鈎隱圖 [Charts for Probing the Hidden Meaning of the Figures of the Book of Changes], TY159, 1.2a, in ZTDZ, vol. 4) 874 See note no. 834. 875 Humankind was created long ago by the goddess Nüwa 女媧 out of earth, according to a legend recorded by Ying Shao 應劭 (140 - 206) in his Fengsutong 風俗通 [A Penetrating Account of Manners and Customs]: “Folklore says that at the beginning of the world, when there had yet to be people,

Appendix II 212

Those ears, eyes, nose, mouth to refashion, 改換耳眼口鼻牙舌睂 The teeth, tongue and brows of humans.

And then the duo would invite Xuanyuan, Fuxi, 175 然後請軒轅邀伏羲 110 Fenghou, Limu, Laolongji and Taishanji;876

Nüwa moulded humans out of yellow earth” 俗說天地開闢未有人民女媧摶黃土作人 (cited in Li et al., comp., Taiping yulan, 78.8a, in SKQS, vol. 893). For an overview of the multi-faceted mythology of Nüwa, see Yuan Ke’s annotation to Shanhaijing’s “Dahuang xi jing” 大荒西經 [The Classic of the Great Wilderness: West], in Yuan, Shanhaijing jiaozhu, 389-91n3. 876 According to Sima Qian’s “Wudi benji” 五帝本紀 [Basic Annals of the Five Thearchs], Xuanyuan 軒轅 is the given name of the Yellow Thearch (Huangdi 黃帝), who appointed Fenghou 風后 and Limu 力牧 to help govern his people; Pei Yin’s 裴駰 “collected explanations” (jijie 集解) for the same annals cite Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127 - 200) as claiming that Fenghou functioned as the Thearch’s “three ducal ministers” (sangong 三公), and cite Ban Gu 班固 (32 - 92) as claiming that Limu was the Thearch’s “Grand Councillor” (xiang 相) – see Sima, Shiji, ann. Pei, comm. Sima and Zhang, 1.2a, 1.5b, in XXSKQS, vol. 261). In Huainanzi honglie jie ’s “Lanming xun” 覧冥訓 [Surveying Obscurities], Taishanji 太山稽 (= 泰山稽) is presented as yet another subject of the Yellow Thearch (with the annotation attributed to Xu Shen stating: “Limu and Taishanji were the Yellow Thearch’s teachers” 力牧太山稽黃帝師); the same text details the how the said duo helped to establish cosmic order and general well-being:

In the past when the Yellow Thearch ruled all under Heaven, he was assisted by Limu and Taishanji. Thus did he govern the regulated movements of the sun and moon; control the pneumas of Yin and Yang; regulate the measures of the four seasons; rectify the numbers of the musical scale and the calendar; differentiate between men and women, the male and female; make hierarchy clear and stratify social ranks; cause the strong to not overpower the weak; cause the many to not do violence to the few; cause the people to keep their lives and not die prematurely; cause the crops to ripen in time and not yield a baleful harvest; cause the hundred officials to be upright, without selfish bias; harmonize all ranks of society to result in no resentment; make the laws and decrees lucid and not obscure; make his auxiliaries just and not sycophantic; cause those with fields to not overstep borders; cause those who fish to not vie for advantageous recesses; cause people to not pick up lost items on the roads; cause the markets to not set high prices perfidiously; cause the city walls to have no [need for] guarded gateways; make the townships free from bandits and thieves; cause community dwellers everywhere to cede to one another claims over money; cause dogs and pigs to regurgitate beans and grains in the roads and have no intention to fight over them angrily. And so the sun and moon were especially bright; the stars kept to their proper movements; the winds and rains were timely; the grains ripened bountifully; tigers and wolves did not devour anything wantonly, nor did birds of prey attack wantonly. Phoenixes soared in the courtyards, qilin wandered in the purlieus; azure dragons pulled carriages ahead, while the Flying Yellow [an auspicious fox-like creature, according to the annotation attributed to Xu Shen] fed at the manger. All the nations of the north and of Dan’er [in present-day Hainan Island] paid tribute.

昔者黃帝治天下而力牧、太山稽輔之，以治日月之行律，治陰陽之氣；節四時之度，正律歷之數；別男女，異雌雄；明上下，等貴賤；使強不掩弱，衆不暴寡；人民保命而不夭，歲時熟而不凶；百官正而無私，上下調而無尤；法令明而不闇，輔佐公而不阿；田者不侵畔，漁者不爭隈；道不拾遺，市不豫賈；城郭不闗，邑無盜賊；鄙旅之人相讓以財，狗吐菽粟於路而無忿爭之心。於是日月精明，星辰不失其行；風雨時節，五穀登熟；虎狼不妄噬，鷙鳥不妄搏；鳳皇翔於庭，麒麟游於郊；青龍進駕，飛黃伏皂；諸北儋耳之國，莫不獻其貢職。 (Huainan honglie jie, ann. Xu (attrib.), 11.7b-8b. Punctuations mine.)

Fuxi 伏羲 (also known as Mixi 宓羲, Baoxi 包犧 etc.) is, of course, the legendary sage credited for creating the Eight Trigrams (bagua 八卦) in high antiquity – see “Zhouyi xici xia” 周易繫辭下 [The

Appendix II 213

Lu Ban and the craftsman Chui877 they’d order; 風后力牧老龍告 898泰山稽

878 Fenglong, Qianlei they’d put to labour; 命魯般工倕 They’d sharpen axes and chisels, 使豐隆役黔羸 Prepare furnaces and hammers. 180 礪斧鑿具爐鎚 They’d gather timber from Wei and Ji,879

Obtain metals from Rushou,880 取金蓐收伐材尾箕 115 All to repair the axis 修理南極北極樞 Of the North and South Pole, 斡運太陰太陽機 To turn the pivots activating 185

Supreme Yang and Supreme Yin.

The duo would summon deities 檄召皇地示 Of the august Earth, from this land The gods of the marchmounts and 部署岳瀆神 Great rivers to deploy and covenant 190 受約天皇墀 120

Second Commentary on the Appended Statements], in Zhouyi zhushu 周易注疏 [The Zhou Book of Changes, with commentary and subcommentary], comm. Wang Bi 王弼 (226 - 249) and Han Kangbo 韓康伯 (332 - 380), subcomm. Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574 - 648), 12.6a, in XXSKQS, vol. 1. Laolongji 老龍吉 is, according to Zhuangzi’s “Zhi beiyou” 知北游 [Knowledge Wanders North], the teacher of another legendary archaic sage Shennong 神農 – see Wang Xianqian 王先謙 (1842 - 1918), Zhuangzi jijie 莊子集解 [Collected Explanations of Zhuangzi], 6.5b, in Zhonghua xu daozang chuji 中華續道藏初輯 [Supplements to the Chinese Daoist Canon, 1st series], ed. Gong Pengcheng 龔鵬程 and Chen Liao’an 陳廖安 (Taipei City: Xinwenfeng, 1999), vol. 17. 877 Both Lu Ban 魯般 (or 魯班) and Chui 倕 (or Gongchui 工倕) are legendary craftsmen. Chui is from the era of the archaic sage-king Yao 堯, according to Lu Deming‘s gloss for Zhuangzi’s “Dasheng”: “The Sima [Biao] redaction [of Zhuangzi] … says Gongchui was Yao’s craftsman, a skilful person.” 司馬本 …… 云工倕堯工巧人也 (Ricang Songben Zhuangzi yinyi, 164) For an essentially chronological overview of Lu Ban’s mythology, see Yuan Ke 袁珂, Zhongguo shenhua tonglun 中國神話通論 [General discourses on Chinese mythology](Chengdu: Bashu shushe, 1993), 357-61. 878 Wang Yi’s commentary to “Lisao” explains that Fenglong 豐隆 is a god of clouds or thunder, while his commentary to “Yuanyou” specifies that Fenglong is a god of clouds; in addition, Wang’s commentary to the latter poem identifies Qianlei 黔羸 as “a god of creation and transformation” (zaohua zhi shen 造化之神) – see Chuci zhangju, comm. Wang, 1.16b, 5.4b, 5.7b. 879 Wei 尾 and Ji 箕 are two of the Twenty-Eight Mansions of ancient Chinese astronomy. 880 According to Yuan Ke’s overview of various classical accounts in his annotation to Shanhaijing’s “Haiwai xi jing” 海外西經 [The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: West], Rushou 蓐收 is a god of metal, and also of execution and the sunset – see Yuan, Shanhaijing jiaozhu, 227-28n1. 898 The character gao 告 here is most likely erroneous, and should have been ji 吉.

Appendix II 214

At the steps of the August One of Heaven.881 They were to ensure the following: 生鳥必鳳凰 Phoenixes all birds hatched shall be, 勿生梟與鴟 And any kind of owl none shall be; 生獸必麒麟 882 Qilin all beasts born shall be, 195 勿生豺與狸 Jackals or leopard cats none shall be; 生鱗必龍鯉 125 All scaly creatures spawned shall be 勿生虵與𧔥𧔥 Dragons and carps, none shall be 生甲必龜具 899 Snakes or serpents of droughts-to-be;883 勿生蝓與蜞 All shelled creatures spawned shall be 200

Tortoises, shellfishes, none shall be

Snails or leeches, most certainly; 生木必松楠 All woody plants that grow shall be

881 The August One of Heaven (Tianhuang 天皇) here most likely refers to either: i) the mythical clan of Tianhuang (Tianhuang shi 天皇氏), represented by a group of twelve brothers said to be the earliest sovereigns of the world, each of whom reigned for 18,000 years (see Sima Zhen 司馬貞 (ca. 656 – 720), Bu Sanhuang benji 補三皇本紀 [The supplemented basic annals of the Three August Ones (for Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian)], 4a, in SKQS, vol. 244); or ii) the star known to ancient Chinese astronomers as the Great Thearch of the August One of Heaven (Tianhuang dadi 天皇大帝), located in the constellation Cepheus (see Chen, Zhongguo tianwenxue shi, 2:647). According to “Tianwen zhi” 天文志 [Astronomical Treatise] in Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 (579 - 648) et al., Jinshu 晉書 [Book of the Jin], the god of this star “presides over the multitude of spirits, and holds the charts of the myriad deities” 主御羣靈，執萬神圖 (Fang Xuanling et al., Jinshu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), fasc. 11, 2:289). 882 The qilin 麒麟 is the legendary beast widely known to the West as the “Chinese unicorn”. The perceived auspiciousness of this and some of the other creatures mentioned in this portion of the poem is evident, e.g., from “Liyun” 禮運 [The Conveyance of Rites] in Dai Sheng’s 戴聖 (fl. 74 BC – 49 BC) version of Liji 禮記 [The Book of Rites]:

The qilin, the phoenix, the tortoise and the dragon are called the Four Numinous Creatures. When a dragon is kept, the sturgeons and other fishes do not dart about in fright; when a phoenix is kept, the birds do not flit around in fright; when a qilin is kept, the beasts do not scurry around in fright; when a tortoise is kept, the sentiments of people are not lost.

麟鳳龜龍謂之四靈故龍以為畜故魚鮪不淰鳳以為畜故鳥不獝麟以為畜故獸不狘龜以為畜故人情不失 (Liji zhushu, comm. Zheng Xuan, subcomm. Kong Yingda, gloss. Lu Deming, 22.18b-19a.)

883 Wei 𧔥𧔥 refers to feiwei 肥𧔥𧔥, a mythical six-legged, four-winged snake said to be a portent of great drought in Shanhaijing’s “Xishan jing” 西山經 [The Classic of the Western Mountains]. See Yuan, Shanhaijing jiaozhu, 22. 899 The character ju 具 (“implement”) here should probably have been bei 貝 (“shellfishes”).

Appendix II 215

Pines and splendid nanmu trees;884 All grassy plants that grow shall be 205 生草必薺葵 130 Shepherd’s purses, hollyhocks, surely - None shall be the poisonous jessamine That severs one’s guts, 勿生鉤吻含毒斷人腸 Or oranges, jujubes with sharp thorns 勿生枳棘懷利傷人肌 That give flesh cuts. 210

Of the moths and locusts that harm the crops, 螟蝗害禾稼 Their larvae and eggs shall be terminated; 必絶其蝝蚳 Of the tigers and wolves that endanger 虎狼妨畜牧 135 Livestock, their breeding shall be inhibited. 必遏其孕孳 The swarms of people across the earthly locus 215 啟迪天下蠢蠢氓 Shall be taught to respect their fathers, teachers, 悉蹈禮義尊父師 To all walk in propriety and righteousness, To follow the ways of the Duke of Zhou885 奉事周文公魯仲尼 And, from the state of Lu, Confucius, 曾子輿孔子思 140 And Zengzi and Kong Ji;886 220 敬習書易禮樂春秋詩 Men everywhere shall, reverently, 履正直屏邪 887 The Six Confucian Classics study. They shall tread the path of the upright,

884 There is a range of Chinese trees that produce nanmu 楠木 timber, including Phoebe nanmu and Phoebe zhennan. See Hu Shiping 胡世平, ed., Hanyingla dongzhiwu mingcheng (niao, shou, yu; shu, hua, cai, guo) 漢英拉動植物名稱（鳥、獸、魚；樹、花、菜、果）[Chinese-English-Latin Names of Fauna and Flora (Birds, Mammals, Fishes; Trees, Flowers & Foliages, Vegetables, Fruits & Nuts)](Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2003), 503. 885 The Literary Duke of Zhou (Zhou Wengong 周文公) here is, of course, Ji Dan 姬旦 (fl. 11th century BC), better known simply as the Duke of Zhou (Zhou Gong 周公), an important paragon in the Confucian tradition thought to exemplify the excellent ways of the archaic sage-kings. For an account of his feted deeds and achievements, see “Zhou benji” 周本紀 [Basic Annals of the Zhou], in Sima, Shiji, ann. Pei, comm. Sima and Zhang, 4.5b-6a, 4.9b, 4.11a, 4.14a-15a, in XXSKQS, vol. 261. 886 Zengzi 曾子, named Zeng Can 曾參 (505 BC – 436 BC) and styled Ziyu 子輿, was Confucius’ disciple and credited with writing the Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing 孝經) – see “Zhongni dizi liezhuan” 仲尼弟子列傳 [The Biographies of Confucius’ Disciples], in ibid., 67.13a-b, in XXSKQS, vol. 262. Kong Ji 孔伋 (483 BC – 402 BC), styled Zisi 子思, was Confucius’ grandson, credited with writing the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong 中庸), and whose disciple taught Mencius – see “Kongzi shijia” 孔子世家 [The Hereditary House of Confucius] and Mencius’ biography, in ibid., 47.28a, 74.1a, in XXSKQS, vols. 261-62. 887 The Six Confucian Classics, as specified in line 141 of the poem’s original Chinese text, are: The Book of Documents (Shu(jing) 書), The Book of Changes (Yi(jing) 易), The Classic of Rites (Li(jing) 禮), The Book of Music (Yue(jing) 樂), The Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu 春秋), and The Book of Odes (Shi(jing) 詩).

Appendix II 216

And reject all slants and deviancy. Every obstinate fool shall be guided 225 Into what is good and right, regulated. 引頑嚚入規矩 There shall be harmony, prosperity, 雍雍熙熙 Everywhere felicity - None shall go cold or hungry. 不凍不饑 145 From crime and punishment 230 避刑遠罪趨祥祺 All shall veer away,

But towards auspiciousness

Instead always sway.

Yet nothing could be brought to pass, 謀之不能行 Plan though the Two Demons did. 235 不意天帝錯怪恚 Who’d expect the one on high

Had his anger wrongly lit? Said the Heavenly Thearch, “All this is mine To carry out, how dare they cross the line! 謂此是我所當為 How dare the puny demonic duo 240 眇眇末兩 150 Think such thoughts, leaking secrets to the blind! 何敢越分生思惟 Nature’s subtleties they’re divulging, 呶呶向瘖盲 How endlessly they’re yakking!” 洩漏造化微 With an urgent edict he commanded 急飛天神王與我捉此兩拘囚之 A Flying Divine Lord:888 勿使在人寰做出妖恠竒 155 245

“Have these Two Demons arrested,

And put under key and lock.

Nothing strange or monstrous must they do

In the realm of the human stock!” 飛天神王得天帝 With the Thearch’s orders the Flying Lord thus 250

888 “Boundless Flying Divine Lords” (Wuji feitian shenwang 无極飛天神王) of the ten directions are hailed in the Daoist Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters of the Numinous Treasure on Limitless Salvation (Lingbao wuliang duren shangpin miaojing 靈寶無量度人上品妙經) from the Eastern Jin period. Complete with ornate paraphernalia and extravagant retinues, they are acknowledged as “great immortal sages” (changsheng dasheng 長生大聖) who “bring salvation to people beyond measure” (wuliang duren 无量度人) – see Lingbao wuliang duren shangpin miaojing jinzhu jinyi 靈寶無量度人上品妙經 [The Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters of the Numinous Treasure on Limitless Salvation], TY1, 1.6b-7a, in ZTDZ, vol. 1.

Appendix II 217

889 At once summoned half a thousand yaksas. 立五百夜义帯金繩鐵網 Carrying golden ropes and iron nets, 尋踪逐跡莫放兩走逸入嶮巇 They followed tracks to hunt them down –

They would not let the Two Demons

Escape into treacherous grounds. 255 五百夜义箇箇口吐火 The five hundred yaksas, spewing fire each, 搜天刮地走不疲 160 Scoured heaven and earth tirelessly; 吹風放火烈山谷 They blew, they set ablaze mountains

And valleys indiscriminately. 不問杉栢樗櫟蘭艾蒿芷蘅茅茨 They cared not what burnt: firs, oaks, angelicas, Heaven-trees, mugworts, lily magnolias, 燔惔熨灼無餘遺 Sweet wormwoods, wild gingers, cypresses, Or puncture vines or cogon grasses - All was incinerated, flamed and torched,

No remnant left to stand unscorched. 265 搜到九萬九千九百九十九幽谷底 In the trough of a dark valley 捉住兩眼睛光活如琉璃 165 Ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine

Fathoms deep, they finally

Caught the duo, bright eyes like glaze, crystalline. 養在銀鐡柵内 They were kept within grilles of iron, 270 衣以文采食以麋 cords of silver;

Clothed with patterned raiment,

Fed with deer; Never of their cages and meshes 莫教突出籠絡外 Allowed to break out, lest they 275 踏折地軸傾天維 Trampled and broke Earth’s axis, Or tilted Heaven’s mainstay.890

889 Yaksas (yecha 夜叉 or yaocha 藥叉 in Chinese) are a class of non-human magical entities introduced into Chinese culture from India via Buddhism. They are commonly understood by the popular Chinese imagination to be violent, fearsome-looking monsters. Xuan Ying’s 玄應 (fl. 645) gloss for fasc. 5 of the Pañcavimśati-sahasrikā-prajñāpāramitā Sutra [Fangguang boruo jing 放光般若經] states that the word yaksa, “when translated into our language, means ‘the demons that can devour people’, or ‘injurers’, indicating that these creatures can harm people.” 此譯云能噉人鬼又云傷者謂能傷害人也 (Xuan Ying, Yiqiejing yinyi 一切經音義 [The Pronunciations and Meanings in the Tripiṭaka], fasc. 9, in TSD, no. 2128, 54:357a) 890 “Heaven’s mainstay” (tianwen 天維) and “Earth’s axis” (dizhou 地軸) are more than cosmological fixtures. They can be symbols of political order, as seen, e.g., in the musical lyrics composed by Wei Zheng 魏徵 (580-643), Zhu Liang 褚亮 (560 - 647) and others during the Tang

Appendix II 218

Nevertheless the Two Demons only 兩亦自相顧咲 170 Looked at each other, smiling. 但得不寒不餒長樂無憂悲 Glad they weren’t left cold or hungry, 280 They stayed merry, not pining. They could always wait for their freedom, 自可等待天帝息怒解猜惑 For the Heavenly Thearch to cool down, 依舊天上作伴同遊戲 For the resolution of his suspicion, bewitchment.

Then shall the two be as they were, 285

Together again in the heavenly sphere, Frolicking, gambolling, for sure!

dynasty’s Zhenguan 貞觀 period (627 - 649) for sacrifices performed at the imperial ancestral temple. In the piece entitled “Daming” 大明 [Great brilliance], the great sage-kings of antiquity - associated therein with Emperor Gaozu of Tang (Li Yuan 李淵; 566 – 635, r. 618 - 626) - had “bound Heaven’s mainstay above, secured Earth’s axis below … [such that] the myriad nations submitted themselves” 上紐天維，下安地軸。 …… 萬國咸服 (“Yinyue zhi” 音樂志 [Treatise on Music], in Liu Xu 劉昫 (888 - 947) et al., Jiu Tangshu 舊唐書 [The Old Book of the Tang](Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), fasc. 31, 4:1130).

219

A GLOSSARY OF RECURRENT WORKS, DESIGNATIONS, NAMES AND OTHER TERMS

Baoding 保定 Gaochi 高熾 Bao Gu (= Baomu) 鮑姑（= 鮑母） Gao Xianning 高咸寧 Bei 孛 Gaoxu 高煦 Beiping 北平 Gongsun Daniang 公孫大娘 Bin Hong 賓鴻 Guanhuatang 貫華堂 Cao Xueqin 曹雪芹 Guanyin 觀音 Chamo Gongzhu (= Princess Chamo) guizheng (= return to correctness) 刹魔公主歸正 Chang’e 嫦娥 Gui(zi)mu Tianzun (= The Demon(- Chao Gai 晁蓋 children) Matron Heavenly Venerable) Chen Yixi 陳奕禧鬼（子）母天尊 Cheng Ji 程濟 Hanhuang 寒簧 Chu Youji 楚由基 Hanxu 涵虛 Chuo Yan’er 綽燕兒 Hejian 河間 daoxue 道學 Hongloumeng (= Dream of the Red Daoyan 道衍 Mansion) 《紅樓夢》洪武 Dezhou 德州 Hongwu 洪熙 Dengzhou 登州 Hongxi Dishi (= The Emperor’s Mentor) Hou shuihuzhuan (= The Latter Water 帝師 Margin) 《後水滸傳》 Diaohuangxuan 釣璜軒 Hu Fu 胡復胡靖 Du Liniang 杜麗娘 Hu Jing Fan Feiniang 范飛娘 Hu Taiyu 胡胎玉 Fang La 方臘 Huaixi 淮西 Fang Xiaoru 方孝孺 (Huoshou) Piyena (= (Fire-head) Piyena) （火首）毘耶那 Fengshen yanyi (= Investiture of the Gods / Canonization of the Gods) Jinan 濟南《封神演義》 Jining 濟寧 Jianwen 建文 Glossary 220

Jinbo Zhang (= Gold-foil Zhang) Lu Xun 鲁迅金箔張 Lu Zhishen 魯智深 Jinling 金陵 Luzhou 廬州 Jin Shengtan 金聖嘆 Lü Lü 呂律 Jing Qing 景清 Lü Xiong 吕熊 Jing Xing 景星 Ma Ling 馬靈 Jingzhou 荊州 Manshinu 滿釋奴 Jingzhou 景州 Mantuoni (= Manni / Manshi) Jiupantu (= Kumbhānda) 曼陀尼（= 曼尼 / 曼師）鳩盤荼 Miaogu 妙姑 Jiutian Xuannü (= The Mysterious Maiden mo 魔 of the Nine Heavens) 九天玄女 mojiao (= The Demonic Tradition) Kaifeng 開封魔敎 Kui Zhenren (= Kui the Perfected One) Mudanting (= The Peony Pavilion) 奎眞人《牡丹亭》 Laizhou 萊州 Nanyang 南陽 Laomei 老梅 Nie Yinniang 聶隱娘 Laozi 老子 Nüjingang 女金剛 Lei Yizhen 雷一震 Nüxiucai (= The Female Licentiate) Li Guo 李果女秀才 Li Kui 李逵 Nüxian waishi (=The Unofficial History of Li Zhi 李贄 the Female Transcendent) 《女仙外史》 Lian Dai 連黛 Penglai Ge (= Penglai Pavilion) Lian Hua 連華蓬萊閣 Lian Zhu 連珠 Ping An 平安 Liu Chao 劉超 Putai 蒲臺 Liu Ji 劉基 Qian Qin 錢芹 Liu Jing 劉璟 Qiao Lai 喬萊 Liu Tingji 劉廷璣 qing (= emotions / sentiments / love / Liu Tong 劉通 passions) 情青州 Liu Yan 柳烟 Qingzhou Lugouqiao 蘆溝橋 sanjiao (= The Three Traditions) 三敎 Lu Junyi 盧俊義

Glossary 221

Shangdi (= Supreme Thearch) Yu Chenglong 于成龍上帝 Yulizi (= Master Yuli) 郁離子 Shilong 石龍 Yumu’er 榆木兒 shu (= The “Numbers”) 數 Yuefang (= Music Office) Shuihuzhuan (= Water Margin) 樂坊《水滸傳》 Yuejun 月君 Si Tao 司韜 Yunyang 鄖陽 Song Jiang 宋江 Zaiyuan zazhi 《在園雜志》 Songshan 嵩山 Zhang Zaoqi (= Zhang the Black Flag) Suying 素英張皂旗 Sun Wukong 孫悟空 Zhending 眞定 Taibei Furen (= Lady Taibei) Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮太孛夫人 Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋 Tang Sai’er 唐賽兒 Tie Xuan 鐡鉉 Wang Shizhen 王士禛 Wang Yangming 王陽明 Wei Zheng 魏徵

Wenkui 文煃

Wujie 無戒

Wu Song 武松 wuxia 武俠

Wu Xuecheng 吳學誠

Wu Zetian 武則天

Xiyouji (= Journey to the West)

《西遊記》 xinxue 心學

楊顒 Yang Yong Yangzhou 揚州 Ye Fu 葉旉 yimin 遺民 Yin Tianfeng 尹天峰 Yongle 永樂

222

Bibliography

Abbreviations

In citing works in the notes, short titles have generally been used. Specific editions of works frequently cited have been identified by the following abbreviations:

BJXSDG Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小説大觀 [A panoramic collection of “brush-notes” and “petty talk”]. Reprint, Yangzhou shi: Jiangsu guangling guji keyin she, 1983. CYB Liu Ji 劉基 (1311 - 1375). Chengyibo wenji 誠意伯文集 [The collected writings of the Earl of Chengyi]. In SKQS, vol. 1225. LXQJ Lu Xun quanji 魯迅全集 [The complete works of Lu Xun]. Edited by Lu Xun Xiansheng Jinian Weiyuanhui 魯迅先生紀念委員會. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1973. LZZY(G) Pu Songling 蒲松齡 (1640 - 1715). Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋志異 [Strange tales from the Chitchat Studio]. 1751. Reprint in facsimile, Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小説集成. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990. NXWS(G) Lü Xiong 吕熊 (ca. 1641 – ca. 1722). Nüxian waishi 女仙外史 [The unofficial history of the female transcendent]. 1711. Reprint in facsimile, Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小説集成. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990. QDSWJ Qingdai shiwen ji huibian 清代詩文集彙編 [A compilation of Qing collections of poetry and prose]. Edited by Qingdai Shiwen Ji Huibian Bianzuan Weiyuanhui 《清代詩文集彙編》編纂委員會. Shanghai: Shanghai shiji chuban gufen youxiangongsi / Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2010. SHWK Shanghai tushuguan weikan guji gaoben 上海圖書館未刊古籍稿本 [The Shanghai Library’s unpublished manuscripts of ancient books]. Edited by Shanghai Tushuguan Weikan Guji Gaoben Bianji Weiyuanhui 《上海圖書館未刊古籍稿本》編輯委員會. Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe, 2008. SKQS Yinying Wenyuange Siku quanshu 景印文淵閣四庫全書 [Photolithographic Reprint of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, Wenyuan Pavilion Edition]. Taipei City: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1983-1986. Bibliography 223

TSD Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經 [Taishō Revised Tripiṭaka]. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡边海旭. Tokyo: Taishō Issaikyō Kankōkai, 1922-1934. XXSKQS Xuxiu Siku quanshu 續修四庫全書 [Continuation of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995-2002. ZTDZ Zhengtong daozang 正統道藏 [The Zhengtong Daoist Canon]. Reprint, Taipei City: Xin wenfeng chuban gongsi, 1985. Each work from which are listed with a corresponding TY number, which is the number assigned in Ren Jiyu 任繼愈 and Zhong Zhaopeng 鍾肇鵬, eds., Daozang tiyao 道藏提要 [Descriptive notes on the Daoist Canon], 2nd rev. ed. (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1991).

In the notes and elsewhere in this dissertation, the following abbreviations are used when referring to titles without specifying a particular edition or recension:

HLM Hongloumeng 紅樓夢 [Dream of the Red Mansion] by Cao Xueqin 曹雪芹 (ca. 1717 - 1763). NXWS Nüxian waishi 女仙外史 [The unofficial history of the female transcendent] by Lü Xiong 吕熊 (ca. 1641 – ca. 1722). SSJXZ Shushan jianxia zhuan 蜀山劍俠傳 [The story of the sword-transcendents of the mountains of Shu] by Huanzhu Louzhu 還珠樓主 [Li Shoumin 李壽民](1902 - 1961).

Chinese Primary Sources

Ban Gu 班固 (32 - 92). Hanshu 漢書 [Book of the Han]. Annotated by Yan Shigu 顔師古 (581 - 645). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962. Bolamidi 般剌蜜帝 [Pramiti](fl. 705), trans. Dafodingrulai miyin xiuzheng liaoyi zhupusa wanxingshou lengyan jing 大佛頂如來密因修證了義諸菩薩萬行首楞嚴經 [Mahābuddhoṣṇīṣa-tathāgata-guhyahetu-sākṣatkṛita-prasannārtha-sarva- bodhisattvacaryā-śūrāṅgama-sūtra]. TSD, no. 945, vol. 19.

Bibliography 224

Boruoliuzhi 般若流支 [Prajñaruci](fl. 516 - 543), trans. Zhengfa nianchu jing 正法念處經 [Saddharma-smṛityupasthāna-sūtra]. TSD, no. 721, vol. 17. Chen Zi 陳鼒 (fl. 1869 - 1872), Huang Fenglou 黃鳳樓 (fl. 1832) et al., comps. Dehua xian zhi 德化縣志 [Gazetteer of Dehua County]. 1872. Reprint, Taipei City: Chengwen chubanshe, 1970. Chuci zhangju 楚辭章句 [Chapters and verses of the Songs of Chu]. Commentary by Wang Yi 王逸 (fl. 114 - 120). In SKQS, vol. 1062. Da Chunbu 達春布 (fl. 19th century), Huang Fenglou 黃鳳樓 (fl. 1832) et al., comps. Jiujiang fu zhi 九江府志 [Gazetteer of Jiujiang Prefecture]. 1874. Reprint, Taipei City: Chengwen chubanshe, 1975. Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (fl. 2nd century BC). Chunqiu fanlu 春秋繁露 [Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals]. In SKQS, vol. 181. Du Fu 杜甫 (712 - 770). “Guan Gongsun Daniang dizi wu jianqi xing bing xu” 觀公孫大娘弟子舞劍器行並序 [Ode about watching a sword-implement dance performed by Dame Gongsun’s disciple, with an introduction]. In Quan tangshi 全唐詩 [The complete Tang poems], [edited by Peng Dingqiu 彭定求 (1645 - 1719) et al.], fasc. 222, 4:2356-2357. Bejing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960. Du Guangting 杜光庭 (850 - 933), comp. Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji 洞天福地嶽瀆名山記 [Records of the Cavern-Heavens, Auspicuous Sites, Holy Mountains, and Marshes, as well as of the Famous Mountains]. TY594. In ZTDZ, vol. 18. Duan Chengshi 段成式 (d. 863). Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎 [Miscellaneous Offerings from Youyang]. In SKQS, vol. 1047. Erya zhushu 爾雅註疏 [Approaching the Correct, with commentary and subcommentary]. Commentary by Guo Pu 郭璞 (276 - 324). Subcommentary by Xing Bing 邢昺 (932 - 1010). From the Jiguge 汲古閣 edition of Shisanjing zhushu 十三經註疏 [The Thirteen Confucian Classics, with commentaries and subcommentaries]. Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (A497200), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. Fan Ye 范曄 (398 - 445). Hou Han shu 後漢書 [Book of the Later Han]. Supplementary treatises by Sima Biao 司馬彪 (d. ca. 306). Annotated by Li Xian 李賢 (651 - 684) and Liu Zhao 劉昭 (fl. 502 - 519). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965. Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 (579 - 648) et al. Jinshu 晉書 [Book of the Jin]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974.

Bibliography 225

Fotuoyeshe 佛陀耶舍 [Buddhayaśas](fl. 413), and Zhu Fonian 竺佛念 (fl. 413), trans. Chang ahan jing 長阿含經 [Dīrghāgama-sūtra]. TSD, no. 1, vol. 1. Gan Bao 干寳 (fl. 317 - 322). Soushenji 搜神記 [Records of An Inquest into the Spirit-Realm]. Annotated by Wang Shaoying 汪紹楹. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979. Ge Hong 葛洪 (284 - 364). Baopuzi neipian 抱朴子内篇 [Inner Chapters of the Master who Embraces Simplicity]. TY1175. In ZTDZ, vol. 47. ______. Shenxian zhuan 神仙傳 [Biographies of Divine Transcendents]. In SKQS, vol. 1059. Gu Long 古龍 [Xiong Yaohua 熊耀華](1938 - 1985). Chu Liuxiang chuanqi 楚留香傳奇 [The legend of Chu Liuxiang]. 4 vols. Reprint, Beijing: Zhongguo dianying chubanshe, 2005. Gu Yingtai 谷應泰 (1620 - 1690). Mingshi jishi benmo 明史紀事本末 [A topical history of the Ming]. Reprint. In Congshu jicheng xinbian 叢書集成新編 [A new collection of the collected books], vol. 118. Taipei City: Xinwenfeng, 1984. Guoyu 國語 [Discourses of the States]. Commentary by Wei Zhao 韋昭 (204 - 273). In SKQS, vol. 406. He Zhiji 何治基 [He Shaoji 何紹基](1799 - 1873) et al., comps. Anhui tongzhi 安徽通志 [Comprehensive gazetteer of Anhui]. 1877. Reprint, Taipei: Huawen shuju, 1967. Hou xiyouji 後西遊記 [Latter Journey to the West]. Commentary by Tianhua Caizi 天花才子 [pseud.](fl. mid-17th century). 1793. Reprint in facsimile, Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小説集成. 2 vols. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1994. Hu Zongxian 胡宗憲 (1512 - 1565), Xue Yingqi 薛應旂 (1500 - 1575) et al., comps. Jiajing Zhejiang tongzhi 嘉靖浙江通志 [Comprehensive gazetteer of Zhejiang of the Jiajing period]. 1561. Reprint, Tianyi Ge Mingdai difangzhi xuankan xubian 天一閣藏明代地方志選刊續編 [A further selection of Ming gazetteers from the Tianyi Pavilion’s collection], vols. 24-26. Shanghai: Shanghai shuju, 1990. Huainan honglie jie 淮南鴻烈解 [The Vast and Luminous [Book] of Huainan, with Classical Explanations]. Annotations attributed to Xu Shen 許慎 (d. 120?). Ming-dynasty Wang Yuanbin 王元賓 printed edition. Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (3023400), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. Huanzhu Louzhu 還珠樓主 [Li Shoumin 李壽民](1902 - 1961). Shushan jianxia zhuan 蜀山劍俠傳 [The story of the sword-transcendents of the mountains of Shu]. Collated and commented by Ye Hongsheng 葉洪生 (1948 - ). 26 vols. Taipei City: Lianjing, 1984.

Bibliography 226

Huangting neijing jing 黃庭内景玉經註 [Commentary on the Precious Book of the Inner Landscape of the Yellow Court]. Commentary by Liangqiuzi 梁丘子 [Bai Lüzhong 白履忠](fl. 722 - 729). TY401. In ZTDZ, vol. 11. Ji Yun 紀昀 (1724 - 1805). Yuewei caotang biji 閱微草堂筆記 [Brush Notes from the Cottage for Inspecting Subtleties]. In BJXSDG, vol. 10. Jin Wulan 金吳瀾 (fl. 1880), Li Fuyi 李福沂 (fl. 1880) et al., comps. Guangxu Kun Xin liang xian xuxiu hezhi 光緒崑新兩縣續修合志 [Continued combined gazetteer of the Guangxu period of the two counties Kunshan and Xinyang]. 1881. Reprint, Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe, 2008. Jin Yong 金庸 [Louis Cha Leung-yung 查良鏞](1924 - ). Shediao yingxiong zhuan 射雕英雄傳 [The Eagle-shooting Heroes]. Revised 23rd ed. 4 vols. Hong Kong: Minghe she, 1999. ______. Xiao’ao jianghu 笑傲江湖 [The Smiling, Proud Wanderer]. Revised 20th ed. 4 vols. Hong Kong: Minghe she, 2000. Li Fang 李昉 (925 - 996) et al., eds. Taiping guangji 太平廣記 [Extensive records of the Taiping era]. In BJXSDG, vol. 2. ______, comps. Taiping yulan 太平衘覽 [Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era]. In SKQS, vols. 893-901. Li Guo 李果 (1679 - 1751). Yongguiting shichao 詠歸亭詩鈔 [Selected poems of the Pavilion of Recitals about Returning]. In QDSWJ, vol. 244. Liji zhushu 禮記註疏 [The Book of Rites, with commentary and subcommentary]. Commentary by Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127 - 200). Subcommentary by Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574 - 648). Glosses by Lu Deming 陸德明 (556 - 627). From the Jiguge 汲古閣 edition of Shisanjing zhushu 十三經註疏 [The Thirteen Confucian Classics, with commentaries and subcommentaries]. Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (A232600), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873 - 1929). Yinbingshi shihua 飲冰室詩話 [Poetry-talk of the Room for Ice-drinking]. Reprint, Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1959. Liang Yusheng 梁羽生 [Chen Wentong 陳文統](1924 - 2009). Baifa monü zhuan 白髮魔女傳 [The story of the white-haired demoness]. 2 vols. Reprint, Hong Kong: Tiandi tushu, 1999. Lie Yukou 列禦寇 (fl. ca. 4th century BC). Liezi 列子. Annotated by Lu Chongyuan 盧重元 (fl. ca. 8th century AD). In XXSKQS, vol. 958.

Bibliography 227

Lingbao wuliang duren shangpin miaojing 靈寶無量度人上品妙經 [The Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters of the Numinous Treasure on Limitless Salvation]. TY1. In ZTDZ, vol. 1. Liu Ji 劉基 (1311 - 1375). “Chou gui yan” 愁鬼言 [The words of the melancholia-demon]. In CYB, 8.20a-22b. ______. “Er gui” 二鬼 [The two demons]. In CYB, 10.8b-12a. ______. “Xuehe pian zeng Zhan Tongwen” 雪鶴篇贈詹同文 [The snow crane, for Zhan Tongwen]. In CYB, 16.7a-8a. ______. Yulizi 郁離子 [Master Yuli]. In CYB, fasc. 17-19. Liu Mu 劉牧 (1011 - 1064). Yishu gouyin tu 易數鈎隱圖 [Charts for Probing the Hidden Meaning of the Figures of the Book of Changes]. TY159. In ZTDZ, vol. 4. Liu Tingji 劉廷璣 (ca. 1653 - ?). “Jiangxi lianshi Liu Tingji Zaiyuan pinti ershi ze” 江西廉使劉廷璣在園品題二十則 [Twenty savouring comments by Liu Tingji (Zaiyuan) the Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangxi]. In NXWS(G), 1:21-27, 1a-4a. ______. Zaiyuan zazhi 在園雜志 [Zaiyuan’s miscellaneous records]. In XXSKQS, vol. 1137. Liu Xiang 劉向 (77 BC – 6 BC)(attrib.). Liexian zhuan 列仙傳 [Biographies of transcendents]. TY293. In ZTDZ, vol. 8. Liu Xu 劉昫 (888 - 947) et al. Jiu Tangshu 舊唐書 [The Old Book of the Tang]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975. Lu Xun 魯迅 (1881 - 1936). “Moluo shili shuo” 摩羅詩力説 [Discourse on Māraic poetic- power]. In LXQJ, 1:55-102. ______. Xiaoshuo jiuwen chao 小説舊聞鈔 [Transcribed old hearsay about fiction]. In LXQJ, 10:11-186. Lü Buwei 呂不韋 (d. 235). Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋 [Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals]. Commentary by Gao You 高誘 (fl. 205 - 212). In SKQS, vol. 848. Lü Xiong 吕熊 (ca. 1641 – ca. 1722). “Guxi Yitiansou Lü Xiong Wenzhao zixu” 古稀逸田叟呂熊文兆自敍 [A preface by the septuagenarian old man Yitian, Lü Xiong (Wenzhao) himself]. In NXWS(G), 1:5-8, 1a-2b. ______. Nüxian waishi 女仙外史 [The unofficial history of the female transcendent]. 1711. Reprint in facsimile, Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小説集成. 5 vols. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990. ______. Untitled postface to NXWS(G). In NXWS(G), 1:13-14, 1a-b.

Bibliography 228

Ming Taizong shilu 明太宗實錄 [Veritable Records of Ming Taizong]. Vol. 9-14 of Ming shilu fu jiaokan ji 明實錄附校勘記 [Venerable Records of the Ming Dynasty, with notes on collation]. Nangang: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, [1962-1968]. Ouyang Xun 歐陽詢 (557 - 641). Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚 [A categorized collection of literary texts]. Hu Zuanzong 胡纘宗 (of Tianshui 天水) printed edition of the Jiajing 嘉靖 period (1522 - 1566). Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (C5912500), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. Pan Daogen 潘道根 (1788 - 1858), and Peng Zhi 彭治 (fl. ca. 1912). Kunshan mingjia shiren xiaozhuan 崑山名家詩人小傳 [Short biographies of Kunshan’s famous poets]. In SHWK, vol. 17. Ping Buqing 平步青 (1832 - 1896). Xiawai junxie 霞外攟屑 [Collected bits from outside the rosy clouds]. In XXSKQS, vol. 1163. Pu Songling 蒲松齡 (1640 - 1715). Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋志異 [Strange tales from the Chitchat Studio]. 1751. Reprint in facsimile, Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小説集成. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990. Qin Lanzheng 秦蘭徵 (fl. mid-17th century). Tianqi gongci 天啓宮詞 [Palatial verses from the Tianqi period]. In Congshu jicheng xubian 叢書集成續編 [A collection of the collected books, 2nd series], vol. 279. Taipei City: Xinwenfeng, 1989. Qinglianshi zhuren 青蓮室主人 (fl. mid-17th century). Hou shuihuzhuan 後水滸傳 [The Latter Water Margin]. 17th century. Reprint, Dalian: Dalian chubanshe, 2000. Ricang Songben Zhuangzi yinyi 日藏宋本莊子音義 [Glosses on the pronunciations and meanings of Zhuangzi (Song edition from a Japanese collection)]. Glosses by Lu Deming 陸德明 (556 - 627). Collated by Huang Huazhen 黃華珍. 1227. Reprint, Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1996. Shangqing taishang dijun jiuzhen zhongjing 上清太上帝君九真中經 [The Shangqing Central Scripture of the Nine True Ones]. TY1364. In ZTDZ, vol. 57. Shen Jiji 沈既濟 (fl. 781). “Renshi” 任氏 [Miss Ren]. In Taiping guangji 太平廣記 [Extensive records of the Taiping era], edited by Li Fang 李昉 (925 - 996) et al., 452.49b-52b, in BJXSDG, vol. 2. Shen Songquan 沈松泉 (1904 - 1990). “Nüxian waishi xu” 女仙外史序 [Preface to The Unofficial History of the Transcendent] for Nüxian waishi 女仙外史 [Unofficial

Bibliography 229

history of the female transcendent], punctuated by Bao Gengsheng 鮑賡生, 1-2. 3rd ed. Shanghai: Liangxi tushuguan, 1930. Shi Nai’an 施耐庵 (ca. 1290 – ca. 1365), and Luo Guanzhong 羅貫中 (ca. 1330 – ca. 1400)(attrib.). Li Zhuowu xiansheng piping Zhongyi Shuihuzhuan 李卓吾先生批評忠義水滸傳 [The Story of the Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness, with comments by Li Zhuowu (Li Zhi)]. Commentary by Li Zhi 李贄 (1527 - 1602). In XXSKQS, vols. 1791-92. Sima Qian 司馬遷 (ca. 145 BC – ca. 87 BC). Shiji 史記 [Records of the Grand Historian]. Annotated by Pei Yin 裴駰 (fl. 438). Commentary by Sima Zhen 司馬貞 (ca. 656 - 720) and Zhang Shoujie 張守節 (fl. 8th century). In XXSKQS, vols. 261-62. Sima Zhen 司馬貞 (ca. 656 - 720). Bu Sanhuang benji 補三皇本紀 [The supplemented basic annals of the Three August Ones (for Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian)]. In SKQS, vol. 244. Soushenji 搜神記 [Records of An Inquest into the Spirit-Realm]. TY 1463. In ZTDZ, vol. 60. Tuotuo 脫脫 (1313 - 1355) et al. Songshi 宋史 [History of the Song]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977. Wang Chong 王充 (27 – ca. 97). Lunheng 論衡 [Discourses Weighed in the Balance]. In SKQS, vol. 862. Wang Jia 王嘉 (fl. 4th century AD). Shiyi ji 拾遺記 [Uncollected Records]. Edited by Xiao Qi 蕭綺 (fl. ca. 6th century AD). In SKQS, vol. 1042. Wang Tao 王韜 (1828 - 1890). Songyin manlu 淞隱漫錄 [Casual records of the Song-river Recluse]. Collated and punctuated by Wang Siyu 王思宇. 2nd ed. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2006. Wang Xianqian 王先謙 (1842 - 1918). Zhuangzi jijie 莊子集解 [Collected Explanations of Zhuangzi]. In Zhonghua xu daozang chuji 中華續道藏初輯 [Supplements to the Chinese Daoist Canon, 1st series], edited by Gong Pengcheng 龔鵬程 and Chen Liao’an 陳廖安, vol. 17. Taipei City: Xinwenfeng, 1999. Wei Zheng 魏徵 (580 - 643) et al. Suishu 隋書 [Book of the Sui]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1973. Wu Cheng’en 吳承恩 (ca. 1500 – ca. 1582)(attrib.). Xiyouji 西遊記 [Journey to the West]. Annotated by Fang Yuan 方原 et al. Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 1994. Xiao Tong 蕭統 (501 - 531), comp. Wen Xuan 文選 [Selections of Refined Literature]. Annotated by Li Shan 李善 (? - 689), Lü Yanji 呂延濟(fl. 718) et al. Movable type-

Bibliography 230

printed edition from the 2nd year of Kan’ei 寬永 (i.e., 1625). Full-text Database of Chinese Rare Books (D7811300), Research & Information Center for Asian Studies (RICAS), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. “Xinchu huitu Nüxian waishi” 新出繪圖女仙外史 [Newly issued illustrated NXWS]. Shen bao 申報 [Shanghai News], November 25, 1895, 7. Reprint in facsimile. Shen bao, vol. 51, 566. Shanghai: Shanghai shuju, 1985. Xu Feng’en 許奉恩 (b. ca. 1814). Li sheng 里乘 [Commune histories]. In XXSKQS, vol. 1270. Xu Wei 徐渭 (1521 - 1593). Xu Wenzhang wenji 徐文長文集 [The collected writings of Xu Wenzhang [i.e., Xu Wei]]. Commentary by Yuan Hongdao 袁宏道 (1568 - 1610). In XXSKQS, vols. 1354-55. Xuan Ying 玄應 (fl. 645). Yiqiejing yinyi 一切經音義 [The Pronunciations and Meanings in the Tripiṭaka]. TSD, no. 2128, vol. 54. Yang Yong 楊顒 (fl. 1694 - 1707). “Jiangxi xueshi Yang Yong Nianting pinglun qi ze” 江西學使楊顒念亭評論七則 [Seven pieces of commentary by Yang Yong (Nianting) the Provincial Education Commissioner of Jiangxi]. In NXWS(G), 1:15-20, 1a-3b. Yang Zhiyuan 楊智遠 (fl. 1270), comp. Meixian guan ji 梅仙觀記 [Records of the Monastery of the Transcendent Mei [Fu]]. TY 595. In ZTDZ, vol. 18. Ye Fu 葉旉 (fl. 1689 - 1711). “Guangzhou fu taishou Ye Fu Nantian bayu” 廣州府太守葉旉南田跋語 [Postface by Ye Fu (Nantian), Prefect of Guangzhou]. In NXWS(G), 1:9-12, 1a-2b. Yu Yue 俞樾 (1821 - 1906). Chaxiangshi congchao 茶香室叢鈔 [Clustered writings from the Tea-aroma Chamber]. In XXSKQS, vol. 1198. Yuan Dong 袁棟 (1697 - 1761). Shuyin congshuo 書隱叢説 [Clustered discourses of the Book Recluse]. In XXSKQS, vol. 1137. Yuan Mei 袁枚 (1716 - 1798). Zibuyu 子不語 [That Which the Master Did Not Speak Of]. In BJXSDG, vol. 10. Zeng Zao 曾慥 (1091 - 1155). Dao shu 道樞 [Pivot of the Dao]. TY1008. In ZTDZ, vol. 35. Zhai Hao 翟灝 (1736 - 1788). Tongsu bian 通俗編 [A compilation of popular references]. In XXSKQS, vol. 194. Zhang Tingyu 張廷玉 (1672 - 1755) et al. Ming shi 明史 [History of the Ming]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974. Zhiyanzhai jiaxu chaoyue zaiping Shitouji 脂硯齋甲戌抄閲再評石頭記 [The Story of the Stone, copied, perused and re-commented by Rouge Inkstone in the year jiaxu].

Bibliography 231

Novel text by Cao Xueqin 曹雪芹 (ca. 1717 - 1763). Commentary by Zhiyanzhai 脂硯齋[pseud.](fl. 18th century). Reprint, Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985. Zhizhe 智者 [Zhiyi 智顗](538 - 597). Guanyin yishu 觀音義疏 [A Commentary on the Avalokiteśvara-sūtra]. Recorded by Guanding 灌頂 (561 - 632). TSD, no. 1728, vol. 34. Zhouyi zhushu 周易注疏 [The Zhou Book of Changes, with commentary and subcommentary]. Commentary by Wang Bi 王弼 (226 - 249) and Han Kangbo 韓康伯 (332 - 380). Subcommentary by Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574 - 648). In XXSKQS, vol. 1.

Early Western Sources (Up to the Early 20th Century, Including Modern Editions and Translations)

Aquinas, Thomas (1225? - 1274). On Evil. Translated by John A. Oesterle and Jean T. Oesterle. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995. Baudelaire, Charles (1821 - 1867). The Flowers of Evil. Translated by James McGowan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Burke, Edmund (1729 - 1797). A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. Edited by J. T. Boulton. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958. Erdman, David V., ed. The Poetry and Prose of William Blake. Poetry and prose by William Blake (1757 - 1827). Commentary by Harold Bloom. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1965. Lawrence, D. H. (1885 - 1930) D. H. Lawrence to Katherine Mansfield, 9 February 1919. In The Selected Letters of D. H. Lawrence, edited by James T. Boulton, 166-67. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Otto, Rudolf (1869 - 1937). The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational. Translated by John W. Harvey. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1950. Reissued as an Oxford University Press paperback. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958. Page references are to the 1958 paperback.

Bibliography 232

Other Literature

Altenburger, Roland. “Inversion of the Gender Hierarchy in Nüxian waishi.” In The Sword or the Needle: The Female Knight-errant (xia) in Traditional Chinese Narrative, 197-211. Bern: Peter Lang, 2009. Altizer, Thomas J. J. “The Otherness of God as an Image of Satan.” In The Otherness of God, edited by Orrin F. Summerell, 206-15. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1998. Anonymous. “Nüxian waishi” 女仙外史 [NXWS]. In Zhongguo lidai jinhui xiaoshuo mantan 中國歷代禁毁小説漫談 [Casual discussions of works of fiction banned in the history of China], edited by Wang Congren 王從仁 and Huang Ziheng 黄自恆, 2:233-40. Chungho City, Taipei: Shuangdi, 1996. ______. Untitled biography of Li Guo 李果. In QDSWJ, 244:n.p. Baudrillard, Jean. “Irreconcilability.” In The Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena, translated by James Benedict, 158-65. London: Verso, 1993. Becker, Ernest. The Structure of Evil: An Essay on the Unification of the Science of Man. New York: Free Press, 1976. Belanger, Michelle. The Dictionary of Demons: Names of the Damned. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2010. Benjamin, Walter. The Arcades Project. Translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999. Buckley, Michael J. “Modernity and the Satanic Face of God.” In Christian Spirituality and the Culture of Modernity: The Thought of Louis Dupré, edited by Peter J. Casarella and George P. Schner, 100-22. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998. Campany, Rob. “Cosmogony and Self-cultivation: The Demonic and the Ethical in Two Chinese Novels.” Journal of Religious Ethics 14, no. 1 (1986): 81-112. ______. “Demons, Gods, and Pilgrims: The Demonology of the Hsi-yu Chi.” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 7, no. 1 and 2 (1985): 95-115. Campbell, Joseph. The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990. ______. The Mythic Image. With the assistance of by M. J. Abadie. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974. Cedzich, Ursula-Angelika. “The Cult of the Wu-t’ung / Wu-hsien in History and Fiction: The Religious Roots of the Journey to the South.” In Ritual and Scripture in Chinese

Bibliography 233

Popular Religion: Five Studies, edited by David Johnson, 137-218. Berkeley, CA: Chinese Popular Culture Project, 1995. Chan, Hok-lam. “Legitimating Usurpation: Historical Revisions under the Ming Yongle Emperor (r. 1402-1424).” In The Legitimation of New Orders: Case Studies in World History, edited by Philip Yuen-sang Leung, 94-158. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2007. Chasseguet-Smirgel, Janine. “Devil’s Religions: Some Reflections on the Historical and Social Meanings of the Perversions.” In Psychoanalysis and Culture at the Millennium, edited by Nancy Ginsburg and Roy Ginsburg, 313-36. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. Chen, Fan Peng. “Ideology and Female Rule in the Topsy-Turvy World of Nüxian Waishi.” Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 32, no. 2 (1997): 15-28. Chen Qingxiang 陳清香. Luohan tuxiang yanjiu 羅漢圖像研究 [Studies on images of arhats]. Taipei City: Wenjin chubanshe, 1995. Chen Sihe 陳思和. “Daixu: Shilun Wuming shu” 代序：試論《無名書》 [In lieu of a preface: An attempt to discuss The Nameless Book]. In Wumingshu jingcui 《無名書》精粹 [The essence of The Nameless Book], by Wumingshi 無名氏, 1-30. Wuhan: Wuhan chubanshe, 2006. Chen Songbai 陳松柏. Shuihuzhuan yuanliu kaolun 水滸傳源流考論 [An investigation and discussion of the origin and development of Water Margin]. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2006. Chen Zungui 陳遵嬀. Zhongguo tianwenxue shi 中國天文學史 [The history of Chinese astronomy]. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1982. Cheng Yalin 程亞林. “’Pinghe zhi po, rendao zheng ye’ – Lu Xun de ‘Moluo shili shuo’” 「平

和之破，人道蒸也」——魯迅的「摩羅詩力說」 [‘With the breaking of peace, the Way of Man billows’ - Lu Xun’s “Discourse on Māraic Poetic-power”]. Chap. 8 in Jindai shixue 近代詩學 [Early modern poetics]. Changsha: Hunan renmin chubanshe, 2000. Chiang, Sing-chen Lydia. Collecting the Self: Body and Identity in Strange Tale Collections of Late Imperial China. Leiden: Brill, 2005. Clark, Stuart. Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Connor, Steven. “Towards a New Demonology.” In Becoming Human: New Perspectives on the Inhuman Condition, edited by Paul Sheehan, 103-11. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003.

Bibliography 234

Cozad, Laurie. “Reeling in the Demon: An Exploration into the Category of the Demonized Other as Portrayed in The Journey to the West.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 66, no. 1 (1998): 117-45. Davies, Edward L. Society and the Supernatural in Song China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001. Diamond, Stephen A. Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996. Ditmanson, Peter. “Venerating the Martyrs of the 1402 Usurpation: History and Memory in the Mid and Late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).” T’oung Pao 93 (2007): 110-158. Dong Guochao 董國超. “Qianyan” 前言 [Foreword] to Li sheng 里乘 [Commune histories], by Xu Feng’en 許奉恩, collated by Dong Guochao 董國超, 1-7. Chongqing: Chongqing chubanshe, 2000. Duanmu Hongliang 端木蕻良. “Hongloumeng yu Nüxian waishi” 《紅樓夢》與《女仙外史》 [HLM and NXWS]. Xibei daxue xuebao 西北大學學報 2 (1980): 60-62. Eliade, Mircea. The Two and the One. Translated by J. M. Cohen. London: Harvill Press, 1965. Epstein, Maram. Competing Discourses: Orthodoxy, Authenticity and Engendered Meanings in Late Imperial Chinese Fiction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2001. Feng Xianliang 馮賢亮. “Jieti” 解題 [Explanatory notes]. In SHWK, 17:3-10. Fitzgerald, John. “Continuity within Discontinuity: The Case of Water Margin Mythology.” Modern China 12, no. 3 (Jul. 1986): 361-400. Fromm, Erich. “Let Man Prevail.” In On Disobedience: Why Freedom Means Saying “NO” to Power, 41-66. 1960. Reprint, New York: Harper Perennial, 2010. ______. “Prophets and Priests.” in On Disobedience: Why Freedom Means Saying “NO” to Power, 13-39. 1967. Reprint, New York: Harper Perennial, 2010. Gao Guihui 高桂惠. “Leixing cuowu / linian xianxing? – You Ming mo Xiyouji san ben xushu de ‘shenmo’ tan qi” 類型錯誤 / 理念先行？：由明末《西遊記》三本續書的「神魔」談起 [Typological error / precession of concept? Beginning with the “gods and demons” in three late Ming sequels to Journey to the West]. In Gui mei shen mo – Zhongguo tongsu wenhua cexie 鬼魅神魔 —— 中國通俗文化側寫 [Ghosts, enchanting spirits, deities and archdemons – A profile of Chinese plebeian culture], edited by Poo Mu-chou 蒲慕州, 279-95. Taipei City: Maitian, 2005. Ge, Liangyan. “Authoring ‘Authorial Intention:’ Jin Shengtan as Creative Critic.” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 25 (Dec. 2003): 1-24.

Bibliography 235

Gier, Nicholas F. Spiritual Titanism: Indian, Chinese, and Western Perspectives. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000. Greider, William. “‘These Dark Satanic Mills’.” In Marx and Modernity: Key Readings and Commentary, edited by Robert J. Antonio, 326-35. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2003. Gu Ruixue 顧瑞雪. “Guanyu Liu Ji yanjiu de liang ze kaobian” 關於劉基研究的兩則考辨 [Two short studies pertaining to Liu Ji]. Xiandai yuwen (wenxue yanjiu) 現代語文（文學研究） 4 (2008): 35-36. Hanan, Patrick. The Chinese Vernacular Story. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981. Hansen, Valerie. Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1276. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. Hao Zhaoju 郝兆矩. Liu Bowen pingzhuan 劉伯溫評傳 [A critical biography of Liu Bowen]. 2nd ed. Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 2002. He Landan 賀嵐澹. “Qianyan” 前言 [Foreword] to Lantiaoguan waishi 蘭苕館外史 [The Orchid House’s unofficial histories], by Xu Feng’en 許奉恩, collated by He Landan 賀嵐澹, 1-11. Hefei: Huangshan shushe, 1996. Hegel, Robert E. “Conclusions: Judgments on the Ends of Times.” In Dynastic Crisis and Cultural Innovation from the Late Ming to the Late Qing and Beyond, edited by David Der-wei Wang and Shang Wei, 523-48. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2005. ______. The Novel in Seventeenth-century China. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981. ______. “Unpredictability and Meaning in Ming-Qing Literati Novels.” In Paradoxes of Traditional Chinese Literature, edited by Eva Hung, 147-66. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994. Hu Shiping 胡世平, ed. Hanyingla dongzhiwu mingcheng (niao, shou, yu; shu, hua, cai, guo) 漢英拉動植物名稱（鳥、獸、魚；樹、花、菜、果）[Chinese-English-Latin Names of Fauna and Flora (Birds, Mammals, Fishes; Trees, Flowers & Foliages, Vegetables, Fruits & Nuts)]. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2003. Huang, Martin Weizong. “Dehistoricization and Intertextualization: The Anxiety of Precedents in the Evolution of the Traditional Chinese Novel.” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 12 (Dec. 1990): 45-68.

Bibliography 236

Kamitsuka Yoshiko 神塚淑子. “The Concept of Māra and the Idea of Expelling Demons.” Translated by Amy Lynn Miller and Thomas H. Peterson. Taoist Resources 6, no. 2 (1996): 30-50. Kang, Xiaofei. The Cult of the Fox: Power, Gender, and Popular Religion in Late Imperial and Modern China. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. Katz, Paul. “Demons or Deities? – The Wangye of Taiwan.” Asian Folklore Studies 46 (1987): 197-215. Kawabata, Maiko. “Virtuosity, the Violin, the Devil …What Really Made Paganini 'Demonic’?” Current Musicology 83 (2007): 85-108. Kim, W. Chan, and Renée Mauborgne. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2005. Kominami Ichirō 小南一郎. Zhongguo de shenhua chuanshuo yu gu xiaoshuo 中國的神話傳説與古小說 [China’s mythology, legends and ancient fiction]. Translated by Sun Changwu 孫昌武. 2nd ed. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006. Lagerwey, John. “Evil and Its Treatment in Early Taoism.” In Probing the Depths of Evil and Good: Multireligious Views and Case Studies, edited by Jerald D. Gort, Henry Jansen and Hendrik M. Vroom, 73-86. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007. ______. Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987. Li Fengmao 李豐懋, “Dongyuan shenzhou jing de shenmo guan ji qi kezhi shuo” 《洞淵神咒經》的神魔觀及其剋治說 [The view of gods and archdemons in The Scripture of the Divine Incantations from the Cavernous Abyss, and its discourse on counteraction]. Dongfang zongjiao yanjiu 東方宗教研究 (xin) 2 (Oct. 1991): 131-54. Li Huiwu 李悔吾. Zhongguo xiaoshuo shi mangao 中國小説史漫稿 [Casual writings for a history of Chinese fiction]. Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 1992. Li Jianguo 李劍國, and Chen Hong 陳洪, eds. Zhongguo xiaoshuo tongshi . Qingdai juan 中國小説通史 . 清代卷 [A comprehensive history of Chinese fiction (The Qing dynasty fascicle)]. Beijing: Gaodeng jiaoyu chubanshe, 2007. Li Mengsheng 李夢生. Zhongguo jinhui xiaoshuo baihua 中國禁毀小説百話 [A hundred discussions on China’s banned works of fiction]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1994.

Bibliography 237

Li Shiren 李時人 et al. Zhongguo gudai jinhui xiaoshuo manhua 中國古代禁毁小説漫話 [Casual discussions of works of fiction banned in ancient China]. Shanghai: Hanyu da cidian chubanshe, 1999. Li Weijia 李偉嘉. “Nüxian waishi zhuzhi yishi ji qi biaoxian zhi yanjiu” 《女仙外史》主旨意識及其表現之研究 [A study of the main thematic consciousness of NXWS and the expression thereof]. MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi/ccd=DWOvf6/record?r1=1&h1=0. Ling, T. O. Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil: A Study in Theravāda Buddhism. 1962. Reprint, Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1997. Lingis, Alphonso. “The God of Evil.” In Evil Spirits: Nihilism and the Fate of Modernity, edited by Gary Banham and Charlie Blake, 40-51. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. Liu Chiung-yun 劉瓊云. “Ren, tian, mo - Nüxian waishi zhong de lishi quehan yu ‘ta’ jie xiangxiang” 人、天、魔—— 《女仙外史》中的歷史缺憾與「她」界想像 [Humans, Heaven, archdemons – the regrets of history and the imaginations of the feminine realm in NXWS]. Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiu jikan 中國文哲研究集刊 38 (Mar. 2011): 43-94. Liu Pengfei 劉鵬飛. “Nüxian waishi de tianming guan ji qi chengyin” 《女仙外史》的「天命」觀及其成因 [The view of NXWS on Fate, and the causes of its development]. Hezhou xueyuan xuebao 賀州學院學報 25, no. 3 (2009): 43-46. Liu Qian 劉倩. “‘Jingnan’ ji qi wenxue chongxie” 「靖難」及其文學重寫 [“Jingnan” and the rewriting thereof in literature]. PhD thesis, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2003. Liu Shuli 劉淑麗. Mudanting jieshou shi yanjiu 《牡丹亭》接受史研究 [History of the reception of Peony Pavilion]. Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2013. Liu Zequn 劉澤群. “Er gui shi xiezuo niandai” 《二鬼》詩寫作年代 [The time of the composition of the poem “The Two Demons”]. In Liu Bowen quanshu 劉伯溫全書 [A comprehensive Liu Bowen omnibus], edited by Fang Lizhong 房立中, 797-800. Beijing: Xueyuan chubanshe, 1996. Löwenthal, Leo. “The Demonic: Project for a Negative Philosophy of Religion.” Translated by Mathias Fritsch. In The Frankfurt School on Religion: Key Writings by the Major Thinkers, edited by Eduardo Mendieta, 101-12. New York: Routledge, 2005. Luo Liqun 羅立群. Zhongguo jianxia xiaoshuo shi lun 中國劍俠小説史論 [A treatise on the history of Chinese sword knight-errantry fiction]. Guangzhou: Jinan daxue chubanshe, 2012.

Bibliography 238

Luo Yuming 駱玉明. “Ming zhongye Jiangnan caishi (zonglun)” 明中葉江南才士（總論） [Jiangnan’s talented gentry in mid Ming (A general discussion)]. In Zongfang beige – Ming Jiangnan caishi shi 縱放悲歌 —— 明江南才士詩 [Unrestrained and elegizing – the poetry of Jiangnan’s talented gentry in the Ming], 1-5. Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju (Xianggang), 1990. Lussier, Mark. “Blake and Science Studies.” In Palgrave Advances in William Blake Studies, edited by Nicholas M. Williams, 186-213. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Lü Simian 呂思勉. “Pangu kao” 盤古考 [A textual study of Pangu]. In Zhongguo shenhuaxue wenlun xuancui 中國神話學文論選萃 [Selected essays in the study of Chinese mythology], edited by Ma Changyi 馬昌儀, 1:479-85. Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi chubanshe, 1994. Mair, Victor H., trans. Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998. Malik, Charles. “The Spiritual Significance of the United Nations.” In Religion and Culture: Essays in Honor of Paul Tillich, edited by Walter Leibrecht, 341-53. 1959. Reprint, New York: Books for Libraries, 1972. McGinley, Kevin. “The Hermeneutic Tension and the Emergence of Moral Agents.” In Literature as Philosophy / Philosophy as Literature, edited by Donald G. Marshall, 14- 23. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1987. Meulenbeld, Mark R. E. “Civilized Demons: Ming Thunder Gods from Ritual to Literature.” PhD thesis, Princeton University, 2007. ______. Demonic Warfare: Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2015. Mollier, Christine. “Visions of Evil: Demonology and Orthodoxy in Early Daoism.” Translated by Stephanie Anderson. In Daoism in History: Essays in Honour of Liu Ts’un-yan, edited by Benjamin Penny, 74-100. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2006. Moore, Thomas. Care of the Soul: How to Add Depth and Meaning to Your Everyday Life. London: Piatkus, 2012. Nishimura, Masato. “The Composition and Ideology of Nüxian Waishi.” PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1993. http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/cgi-bin2/Libo.cgi?. Oppenheimer, Paul. Evil and the Demonic: A New Theory of Monstrous Behavior. New York: New York University Press, 1996. Pan Jiangdong 潘江東. “Baishe gushi yanjiu” 白蛇故事研究 [A study on the stories of the White Snake]. In Baishe gushi yanjiu fu ziliao huibian 白蛇故事研究附資料彙編 [A

Bibliography 239

study on the stories of the White Snake, appended with collected materials], vol. 1, 1-271. Taipei City: Taiwan xuesheng shuju, 1981. Pirazzoli-T’Serstevens, Michèle. “Death and the Dead: Practices and Images in the Qin and Han.” In Early Chinese Religion. Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC – 220 AD), edited by John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski, 2:949-1026. Leiden: Brill, 2009. Plaks, Andrew H. “After the Fall: Hsing-shih yin-yüan chuan and the Seventeenth-Century Chinese Novel.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 45, no. 2 (Dec. 1985): 543-80. ______. The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. Poo, Mu-chou. “Images and Ritual Treatment of Dangerous Spirits.” In Early Chinese Religion. Part 2, The Period of Division (220-589 AD), edited by John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi, 2:1075-94. Leiden: Brill, 2010. ______蒲慕州. “Zhongguo gudai gui lunshu de xingcheng (Xian Qin zhi Han dai)” 中國古代鬼論述的形成（先秦至漢代） [The formation of ancient Chinese discourses on ghosts (From the Pre-Qin period to the Han dynasty)]. In Gui mei shen mo – Zhongguo tongsu wenhua cexie 鬼魅神魔 —— 中國通俗文化側寫 [Ghosts, enchanting spirits, deities and archdemons – A profile of Chinese plebeian culture], edited by Poo Mu- chou 蒲慕州, 19-40. Taipei City: Maitian, 2005. Qi Yukun 齊裕焜, Feng Ruchang 馮汝常 et al., eds. Shuihu xue shi 水滸學史 [A history of the study of Water Margin]. Shanghai: Shanghai sanlian shudian, 2015. Qi Zhixiang 祁志祥. Zhongguo renxue shi 中國人學史 [History of the Chinese study of the human being]. Shanghai: Shanghai daxue chubanshe, 2002. Raz, Gil. “Daoist Sacred Geography.” In Early Chinese Religion. Part Two: The Period of Division (220 – 589 AD), edited by John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi, 2:1399-1442. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Ren Jiyu 任繼愈, and Zhong Zhaopeng 鍾肇鵬, eds. Daozang tiyao 道藏提要 [Descriptive notes on the Daoist Canon]. 2nd rev. ed. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1991. Robson, James. “Buddhist Sacred Geography.” In Early Chinese Religion. Part Two: The Period of Division (220 – 589 AD), edited by John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi, 2:1353-97. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Rolston, David L. Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary: Reading and Writing Between the Lines. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997. Schacht, Richard. Nietzsche. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983.

Bibliography 240

Scott, Derek B. “Diabolus in Musica: Liszt and the Demonic.” In From the Erotic to the Demonic: On Critical Musicology, 128-51. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Shahar, Meir. “Vernacular Fiction and the Transmission of Gods’ Cults in Late Imperial China.” In Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China, edited by Meir Shahar and Robert P. Weller, 184-211. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996. Song Huayan 宋華燕. “Jinnian Nüxian waishi yanjiu shuping” 近年《女仙外史》研究述評 [An account and comments on studies of NXWS in recent years]. Guangbo dianshi daxue xuebao (zhexue shehui kexue ban) 廣播電視大學學報（哲學社會科學版） 2 (2013): 34-37. Szonyi, Michael. “The Illusion of Standardizing the Gods: The Cult of the Five Emperors in Late Imperial China.” Journal of Asian Studies 56, no. 1 (Feb. 1997): 113-35. Tan Zhengbi 譚正璧. Zhongguo xiaoshuo fada shi 中國小説發達史 [The history of the development of Chinese fiction]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2012. Ter Haar, Barend J. “China's Inner Demons: The Political Impact of the Demonological Paradigm.” In China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: Master Narratives and Post-Mao Counternarratives, edited by Woei Lien Chong, 27-68. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002. Thacker, Eugene. After Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. ______. “After Life: Swarms, Demons and the Antinomies of Immanence.” In Theory After Theory, edited by Jane Elliott and Derek Attridge, 181-93. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2011. ______. “Dark Media.” In Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation, by Alexander R. Galloway, Eugene Thacker and McKenzie Wark, 77-149. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014. ______. In the Dust of This Planet. Winchester: Zero Books, 2011. ______. “Occultural Studies 3.0: Devil’s Switchboard.” 26 May, 2011. In “Occultural Studies Column,” Mute magazine website. Accessed March 29, 2014. http://www.metamute.org/editorial/occultural-studies-column/occultural-studies- 3.0-devils-switchboard . ______. “The Shadows of Atheology: Epidemics, Power and Life After Foucault.” Theory, Culture & Society 26, no. 6 (2009): 134-152. ______. “Swarming: Number versus Animal?” In Deleuze and New Technology, edited by Mark Poster and David Savat, 161-84. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.

Bibliography 241

Thompson, Jack George. The Psychobiology of Emotions. New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 1988. Tillich, Paul. “The Demonic: A Contribution to the Interpretation of History.” In The Interpretation of History, translated by N. A. Rasetzki and Elsa L. Talmey, 77-122. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1936. ______. “The Nature of Religious Language.” In Theology of Culture, edited by Robert C. Kimball, 53-67. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964. ______. “Religious Socialism.” Translated by William B. Green, Victor Nuovo and James L. Adams. In Political Expectation, 40-57. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. ______. Systematic Theology. Vol. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951. Von Glahn, Richard. The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. Wang Jianchuan 王見川, and Gao Wansang 高萬桑, eds. Jindai Zhang Tianshi shiliao huibian 近代張天師史料彙編 [A sourcebook of early modern materials on the Celestial Masters Zhang]. Taipei City: Boyang wenhua, 2012. Wang Xiaochuan 王曉傳, comp. Yuan Ming Qing sandai jinhui xiaoshuo xiqu shiliao 元明清三代禁毀小説戲曲史料 [Historical materials concerning the proscription of works of fiction and drama in the dynasties Yuan, Ming and Qing]. Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 1958. Wei Qing 魏青. Yuan mo Ming chu Zhedong san zuojia yanjiu 元末明初浙東三作家研究 [A study on three eastern Zhejiang writers from the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming]. Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2010. Williams, Daniel Day. The Demonic and the Divine. Edited by Stacy A. Evans. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990. Wong Hoi Sing 黄海星. Gudian xiaoshuo xushu yanjiu – yi Shuihu xushu wei zhongxin 古典小説續書研究——以《水滸》續書為中心 [A study of sequels to classical fiction, centred around the sequels to Water Margin]. Hong Kong: Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, University of Hong Kong, 2013. Wu Jiucheng 吳九成. Liaozhai meixue 聊齋美學 [The aesthetics of the Chitchat Studio]. Guangzhou: Guangdong gaodeng jiaoyu chubanshe, 1998. Wu Minyi 吳旻怡. “Nüyingxiong de lücheng: Nüxian waishi, Guilianmeng zhujue xingxiang yanjiu” 女英雄的旅程：《女仙外史》、《歸蓮夢》主角形象研究 [The journey of the heroine: A study of the protagonist’s image in NXWS and the Dream of the Lotus’ Return]. MA thesis, National Tsing Hua University, 2011.

Bibliography 242

Xiao Xiangkai 蕭相愷. Zhenben jinhui xiaoshuo daguan – Baihai fangshu lu 珍本禁毀小説大觀——稗海訪書錄 [A grand view of rare copies of prohibited works of fiction – A record of the quest for books of fiction]. Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji chubanshe, 1992. Xu Fuming 徐扶明, ed. Mudanting yanjiu ziliao kaoshi 牡丹亭研究資料考釋 [A philological study and explication of research materials for Peony Pavilion]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987. Yan Baoshan 嚴寶善, comp. Fanshu jingyan lu 販書經眼錄 [A record of items seen in the course of selling books]. Hangzhou: Zhejiang guji chubanshe, 1994. Yan Mai-juan 顏美娟. “Nüxian waishi de mojiao guan” 《女仙外史》的魔教觀 [The view of the Demonic Tradition in NXWS]. In Xiaoshuo xiqu yanjiu 小説戲曲研究, vol. 2, edited by Guoli Qinghua Daxue Zhongguo Yuwen Xuexi 國立清華大學中國語文學系, 159-72. Taipei City: Lianjing, 1989. ______. “Nüxian waishi yanjiu” 《女仙外史》研究 [A study of NXWS]. MA thesis, Tunghai University, 1986. Yang Mei 楊梅. “Lü Xiong yu Nüxian waishi yanjiu” 呂熊與《女仙外史》研究 [A study of Lü Xiong and NXWS]. MA thesis, Nanjing Normal University, 2006. Yang Zhongxian 楊鍾賢. “Jiaodian shuoming” 校點说明 [Note on the collated and punctuated work] for Nüxian waishi 女仙外史 [Unofficial history of the female transcendent] by Lü Xiong 呂熊, collated by Yang Zhongxian 楊鍾賢, 2-14. Tianjin: Baihua wenyi chubanshe, 1985. ______. “Nüxian waishi zuozhe de mingzi ji qita – Yu Hu Xiaowei tongzhi shangque jian da Zhou Shangyi tongzhi” 《女仙外史》作者的名字及其他 – 與胡小偉同志商榷兼答周尚意同志 [The name of NXWS’s author and other matters – A deliberation with Comrade Hu Xiaowei and a reply to Comrade Zhou Shangyi]. Tianjin shida xuebao 天津師大學報 5 (1988): 80-81. Ye Hongsheng 葉洪生. Tianxia diyi qishu – Shushan jianxia zhuan tanmi 天下第一奇書 - 《蜀山劍俠傳》探秘 [The world’s numero uno amazing book – Exploring the secrets of The Story of the Sword-transcendents of the Mountains of Shu]. Shanghai: Xuelin chubanshe, 2002. You Guo’en 遊國恩 et al., eds. Zhongguo wenxue shi 中國文學史 [History of Chinese literature]. Revised ed. 4 vols. Beijing: Renmen wenxue chubanshe, 2004.

Bibliography 243

Yuan Ke 袁珂, col. & annot. Shanhaijing jiaozhu 山海經校註 [The Classic of Mountains and Seas, collated and annotated]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1991. ______. Zhongguo shenhua tonglun 中國神話通論 [General discourses on Chinese mythology]. Chengdu: Bashu shushe, 1993. Yue Hengjun 樂蘅軍. Yizhi yu mingyun – Zhongguo gudian xiaoshuo shijieguan zonglun 意志與命運——中國古典小説世界觀綜論 [Will and Fate – A general survey of the worldviews of Chinese classical fiction]. Taipei City: Da’an chubanshe, 2003. Zeitlin, Judith T. The Phantom Heroine: Ghosts and Gender in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Literature. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2007. Zhang Huijian 張慧劍, comp. Mingqing Jiangsu wenren nianbiao 明清江蘇文人年表 [A chronology of Jiangsu literati of the Ming and Qing dynasty]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1986. Zhang Jintao 張金濤, ed. Zhongguo Longhu shan Tianshi dao 中國龍虎山天師道 [The Way of the Celestial Masters of China’s Mount Longhu]. 2nd ed. Nanchang: Jiangxi renmin chubanshe, 2000. Zhang Peiheng 章培恆. “Nüxian waishi qianyan” 《女仙外史》前言 [Foreword to NXWS]. In Zaizao ji 災枣集 [A collection of disasters for jujube [trees]], 158-65. Jinan: Shandong youyi chubanshe, 1998. Zhao Shiyu 趙世瑜. “Nüxian waishi chutan” 《女仙外史》初探 [A preliminary probing into NXWS]. Shanxi ligong xueyuan xuebao 陝西理工學院學報 2 (1983): 102-116. Zheng Xing 鄭幸. Yuan Mei nianpu xinbian 袁枚年譜新編 [A newly compiled biographical chronology of Yuan Mei]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2011. Zhonghua Shuju Shanghai Bianjisuo 中華書局上海編輯所. “Chuban shuoming” 出版説明 [Note on publication] for Xiawai junxie 霞外攟屑 [Collected bits from outside the rosy clouds] by Ping Buqing 平步青, edited by Zhonghua Shuju Shanghai Bianjisuo, 1-3. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959. Zhou Jiming 周積明. Ji Yun pingzhuan 紀昀評傳 [A critical biography of Ji Yun]. Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 1994. Zhou Qun 周群. Liu Ji pingzhuan 劉基評傳 [A critical biography of Liu Ji]. Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 1995. Zhou Songfang 周松芳. Zifu yidai wenzong – Liu Ji yanjiu 自負一代文宗 – 劉基研究 [Considering himself a paragon of literary achievements for a whole generation - A study on Liu Ji]. Guangzhou: Guangdong renmin zhubanshe, 2006.

Bibliography 244

Zucker, Wolfgang M. “The Demonic: From Aeschylus to Tillich.” Theology Today 26, no. 1 (1969): 34-50. Zuesse, Evan M. “On the Nature of the Demonic: African Witchery.” Numen 18 (1971): 210- 39.