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Nandan in the Ming Dynasty a Thesis Submitted to The

Nandan in the Ming Dynasty a Thesis Submitted to The

NANDAN IN THE

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS

IN

THEATRE

MAY 2012

By

Yan Ma

Thesis Committee:

Julie Iezzi, Chairperson Kirstin Pauka Giovanni Vitiello

Keywords: Nandan, , Ming Dynasy ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the chair of the committee,

Professor Julie Iezzi, for her continuous support and guidance of my research.

I am grateful to the members of my thesis committee, Professor Kirstin Pauka and

Giovanni Vitiello for their help on this thesis. Professor Giovanni Vitiello with immense knowledge in gave me a lot of inspiration and valuable suggestions. I appreciate Professor Kirstin Pauka’s patience and help especially in the writing process.

I would also like to thank Professor Elizabeth A. Wichmann-Walczak and Lurana

Donnels O’Malley for their help in the early stages of research. Dr. Jintang Luo helped me a great deal in understanding the historical records, for which I am thankful as well.

Also, many thanks to Ms. Xiaohui Bao in , who directed me to appreciate traditional Chinese theatre and encouraged me to pursue a Masters degree in the Dept. of

Theatre and Dance at UHM.

Last but not least, I dedicate this work to my parents, for supporting and encouraging me throughout my life.

i ABSTRACT

Nan means male, and dan is the generic name of female roles in xiqu (traditional

Chinese theatre). The term nandan refers to a male actor who performs female roles in xiqu. Nandan play an important role in xiqu. In the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644), nandan began to flourish with the rise of kunqu (Kun opera). The flourishing of nandan was related to the policies, philosophical context, and the literati culture of the Ming

Dynasty. On the kunqu stage, nandan successfully performed the inner spirits of the characters through internalizing their inner feelings and utilizing sharp acting skills with various performance conventions. Off the stage, the relationship between nandan and the literati was that of a master-servant. Nandan satisfied their masters’ demands in terms of performance and homosexual relations if necessary. At the heart of nandan’s performance both on and offstage was the idea of qing.

ii TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………….………i

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………....ii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………….………………………………………...1

CHAPTER 2: THE ORIGIN OF NANDAN………………………………………………5

CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL BACKGROUND IN THE EARLY MING DYNAST………...10

3.1 The Restriction on Female Prostitutes………………………………………12

3.2 The Advocacy of Neo-…………………...... 15

CHAPTER 4: NANDAN IN THE MING DYNASTY..………………………………….23

4.1 The Formation of Kunqu ……………………………...... 26

4.2 Kunqu Troupes……………………………………………………………....33

4.3 Nandan Onstage ………………………………………………………….....41

4.4 Nandan Offstage …………………………………………………………....51

4.5 Homosexuality and the Idea of Qing………………………………………..64

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………..70

APPENDIX: THE TIMELINE OF THE MING DYNASTY…………………………...72

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………………….73

iii CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The birth, flourishing, and decline of nandan have a close relationship with the development of xiqu. In this paper, I will examine the development of nandan in the

Ming Dynasty. I propose to analyze how policies, philosophy, and the literati culture affected nandan both onstage and offstage during that period.

In the English-language academic world, there are limited sources about nandan, and they focus on different aspects. In his dissertation “Theatre Performance During the

Ming Dynasty,” Grant Guangren Shen described the court theatre, private theatre, and public theatre in the Ming Dynasty, while limited information on nandan was given. Min

Tian in “Male Dan: the Paradox of Sex, Acting, and Perception of Female Impersonation in Traditional Chinese Theatre” traces the historical development of nandan: the phenomenon “probably dates back as early as the (206 B.C.-A.D. 219)”

(Tian 3); then “female impersonation once again became significant” in the Ming

Dynasty (4); after that, “female impersonation… predominated” in the (4).

In the book Cross-dressing in , Siu Leung Li focuses on the analysis of dramatic texts and the feminine qualities of performance valued in the Qing Dynasty (AD

1644-1911). There are also some valuable sources that discuss the actors in jingju

(/), a dramatic theatre in which nandan play a very critical role on the stage. In Drama Kings: Players and Publics in the Re-creation of Peking Opera,

1870-1937, Joshua Goldstein describes the formation and development of jingju in the late Qing Dynasty and the “golden era” of nandan in the Republican period, and discusses the lives of some key actors in terms of their methods for earning a living and

1 their status in an ever-changing society. Peking Opera and , by Wu Zuguang,

Huang Zuolin, and Mei Shaowu, describes the life and the artistic career of the icon Mei

Lanfang, a male jingju performer in the first half of the 20th century who specialized in the portrayal of female roles.

In my study, I will examine the art and life of nandan onstage and offstage in the

Ming Dynasty. I will first trace the origin of nandan, then look at the social background in the early Ming Dynasty (AD1368-1487). After that, I will describe nandan in the kunqu troupes. I will focus on the formation of kunqu in the mid-Ming Dynasty (AD

1488-1572), the kunqu troupes, the acting skills and performance criticism of kunqu nandan, and their relationship with the literati in the late Ming Dynasty (AD 1573-1644).

I will make good use of both historical records and writings by modern scholars in

Chinese and English. Among them, two studies are especially important. Grant Guangren

Shen’s “Theatre Performance during the Ming Dynasty” discusses the general theatre performance, performing troupes, and the stages in the Ming Dynasty. For my project, it is especially useful to find out historical writings on kunqu, actors, and their relationship with the literati in the Ming Dynasty. Among the many historical sources that I use, Pan

Zhiheng’s Study of Qu (Pan zhiheng quhua), written by the dramatist Pan Zhiheng (AD

1556-1622), is crucial especially for its discussion of the performance of nandan in the

Ming Dynasty. As a talented poet of the Ming Dynasty, Pan Zhiheng had a carefree lifestyle. He traveled and made friends with writers and artists, and wrote down his observations on theatre in the Wanli period (AD 1573-1620) when kunqu was very popular. His book is significant because this is the only book in which there are detailed descriptions of the theory of performance as well as critiques of many actors’ performing

2 skills in the Ming Dynasty. Unless otherwise specified, all translations of historical sources cited in this thesis are my own. In some cases, I could not access primary sources.

The primary sources that are quoted in the second sources are given in the footnote.

Additionally, I use a comparative methodology. In a macro perspective, the Ming

Dynasty is the first period that nandan began to flourish. Compared to the previous periods, there are more records on nandan in the late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, I will discuss reasons that provided opportunities for nandan to develop as well as the factors that affected the flourishing of nandan through different social and philosophical contexts.

On a micro level, I will compare nandan in the two types of kunqu troupes, commercial troupes and private, in terms of performing conditions as well as in terms of the nandan’s relationship with the literati. Also, I will compare critiques of the acting skills of nandan with those of their female counterparts. Through these comparisons, I will draw a weaving pattern of the network between nandan and various aspects in terms of theatre, troupes, female actors, and the literati. Therefore, investigating nandan in multi- dimensional layers is also an important methodology for this thesis.

As the first systematic and detailed English-language study of nandan in the Ming

Dynasty, this thesis is important. Its coverage of both the onstage skills and the offstage lives of the nandan, as well as its analysis of reasons for the flourishing of their art and the close relationships between nandan and the literati in terms of the social and philosophical contexts in that period further increases the value of this thesis. However, this is a preliminary study of nandan in the Ming Dynasty. In the PhD dissertation, I plan to expand the issues of nandan to the later periods from the Qing Dynasty to the modern society. Therefore, more time and efforts are needed for collecting profound and solid

3 evidence to support my new arguments. Also, a deeper understanding of both Asian and

Western theatre theories will help me provide more creative arguments.

4 CHAPTER 2

THE ORIGIN OF NANDAN

The origin of xiqu can be traced to shamanism, as well as the music and dance in the ancient period (Wang G. 6). “The anthology of poetry known as Elegies of Chu

(Chuci) shows strong connections with shamanism, especially the part referred to as

‘Nine Songs’ (‘Jiuge’)” (Mackerras 8). According to Nine Songs, which dates from between 329-265 BC, both female and male shamans wore gorgeous costumes while singing and dancing, in order to entertain and impersonate the gods (9).

Later, entertainers followed the style of shamans to entertain mortals instead of gods using singing, dancing, and witty language or satire (Feng Y. 14-15). Prior to the

Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), there are some records on male entertainers dressed as women. During the Three Kingdoms Period (AD 220-265), Emperor Cao Fang (AD c.

240-254) appreciated the performance of Liaodong Yaofu (Female Demon from

Liaodong) in which male jesters impersonated females (Chen S. 1: 129). In the northern

Zhou Dynasty (AD 557-581), Emperor Xuan Di (AD c.578-579) assembled good-looking young boys and commanded them to dress as females, and to sing and dance to entertain him in the imperial court (Wei 14: 342). In the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618), there are more records on performances that feature male cross-dressing. In the reign of Emperor Yang

Di (AD 605-618), thousands of entertainers sang and danced in the celebrations when foreign countries paid tribute, and most of them were male cross-dressers (Wei 14: 381).

In the late Sui Dynasty, there was a famous singing and dancing performance, which was then developed into a play called Stepping and Singing Woman (Tayao niang) in the . The play tells the story of an ugly husband who gets drunk and

5 beats his beautiful wife. The actor dresseed as a woman who sings as well as steps on the stage to express her grief (Cui 14). When her husband comes on the stage, he portrays beating her, which is the butt for the joke (14). “This typically slapstick show has similarities to the Tang ‘adjutant plays’ (‘canjun xi’)” (Mackerras 13). “From sparse and scattered references we know that both men and women performed in adjutant plays”

(Mackerras 13-14). According to the writing of Tang Fanshu, who lived in the Tang

Dynasty, the male actor Zhou Jinan and Jichong, as well as Jichong’s wife Liu Caichun were good at performing canjun xi (Li Xingcan 13). Since there are no female characters in canjun xi, the female actor, Liu Caichun, must have performed male roles (13). In addition to this clear example of male impersonation, female impersonation, called nong jia furen (performing the fake woman), also existed in this period. A record in the Tang

Dynasty provides several names of the male actors good at impersonating female roles

(Xie 111).

In the Song (AD 960-1279) and Yuan (AD 1271-1368) Dynasties, there was an abundant number of plays called (miscellaneous plays) and (southern plays), performed by both male and female actors. The zaju troupes were mixed troupes consisting of both male and female actors, and there were instances of male roles performed by female actors. A treasured painting in the Imperial Palace depicts two actors in a zaju play, Eye Drop Acid (Yanyao suan), wearing male dress but with a womanly face, small feet and earrings. Clearly they are female performing male roles (Li Xingcan 15). There were also examples of male actors who performed female roles. A record on zaju written by Zhou Mi in the Song Dynasty mentions “ ‘Zhuangdan’

Sun Zigui ” (Zhou Yibai 74). Sun Zigui is the name of an actor, and according to Zhou

6 Yibai, zhuangdan has the meaning of male actors impersonating women (75).

In the , zaju became very popular in cities all over the country and was favored by regular citizens and elites. Xia Bohe, a Yuan Dynasty scholar, recorded the living stories of more than one hundred female actors in his lifetime in the book, The

Brothel Collection (Qinglou ji), “the earliest specialized document concerning xiqu performers” (Sun M. 156). Many of the female actors recorded by Xia were excellent at performing female roles, and some of them were good at both male and female roles, such as Lianxiu, one of the most famous zaju actors (Cui 50). Compared to female actors, there are limited references to male actors in The Brothel Collection, however one example is Ma Er, husband of the female actor, Yan Shanxiu, who is recorded as an outstanding zaju male actor good at both female and male roles (Cui 62).

Nanxi as a form of drama also originated in the Song Dynasty and developed in the Yuan Dynasty. Unlike zaju, nanxi was mainly prevalent in the southern countryside areas, and was considered a small-scale folk theatre form. A limited number of nanxi plays exist today, and accounts of nanxi performers are also scarce. From these limited records, we can see that there were nandan. It is probable that nanxi had a performance tradition of nandan. One of the few plays we have is First Place Scholar Zhang Xie

(Zhang Xie zhuangyuan), written in the Song Dynasty. In this play, a humorous conversation between the dan (female role type) and jing (comic role type) reveals that the dan is being performed by a male:

“Mo: Lady, what’s the matter? Please speak out. Dan: May I ask where I might find the mansion house of the new first place scholar? Mo: Here is his temporary house. Ask the entrance guard for details. Dan: I extend my greetings Jing: [towards the audience] This is a fake lady.

7 … Dan: I have come to see the first place scholar. Jing: You want to see the first place scholar? If you wore an official uniform, I would report your arrival. Dan: I’m a woman. Jing: You are a woman! Why don’t you bind your feet?”1 (Sun M. 157- 158)

The in this play is the female lead, the wife of first place scholar Zhang Xie. The above episode describes how she went to the capital city to look for her husband after he won the first place scholar, and she had a humorous conversation with Zhang Xie’s steward and entrance guard outside Zhang’s house. In the Song Dynasty, was widespread, thus the unbound feet of the dan revealed his true sex. The existence of scripts with such female roles that are supposed to be performed by male actors leads one to conclude that it is probable that nanxi had the performance tradition of nandan. On the other hand, from one item found in The Brothel Collection, we also know that there were beautiful female actors performing nanxi, but there is no specific description of the roles they played (Sun M. 157-158).

In the Song and pre-Song period, there were two performance forms that influenced the formation of xiqu: performances of singing and dancing, and slapstick shows in which there was satiric dialogue. The former were mainly performed by female actors, and the latter were most likely acted by male actors (Yao, Wanqing 115). Male actors performing female roles was a way of making jokes. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, with the prevalence of zaju, the number of female actors recorded increases to

1 This translation is by modern scholar Mei Sun. According to him, the original Chinese play can be seen on page 160 in the following source: Qian, Nanyang 钱南扬. Yongle dadian xiwen sanzhong jiaozhu 永乐大典戏文三种校注 [Three Kinds of Annotations on Theatre from the Great Collection of Yongle]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979. Print.

8 the point that they seem to dominate the theatre world. While there were still excellent actors who performed male roles in zaju and nanxi, the records on nandan are limited.

We understand that in the nanxi play, First Place Scholar Zhang Xie, the female lead was performed by a male actor, and his true sex was revealed in the play as the butt to amuse the audience. As we will see, in the Ming Dynasty, zaju decreased, while nanxi continued to develop and gave rise to kunqu; and with it rose nandan.

9 CHAPTER 3

SOCIAL BACKGROUND IN THE EARLY MING DYNASTY

In the early Ming Dynasty, the economy of the society was depleted due to the battles during the transitional period between the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In order to revive the economy, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, set a series of policies to encourage production and stimulate the development of the economy (Zhou

Yude 8). Unlike in the Yuan Dynasty, when Confucian ethics were discarded by the

Mongolian rulers, in the Ming Dynasty, the Han Chinese ruler Zhu Yuanzhang took up well-established Confucian ethics, well-formed since the Song Dynasty, and put them into practice by implementing various policies.

On one hand, in order to prevent officials and commoners from indulging in entertainment and ignoring their duties (therefore damaging the welfare of the country), there were many policies that aimed at lessening the activities of xiqu. In addition to the restriction of the actors in terms of social life, there were also regulations on the audience.

For example, “the tongues of soldiers and commissioned officers in the capital city should be cut if they sing xiqu”2 (Zhou Yude 11). On the other hand, xiqu was used as a tool to transmit Confucian values and ethics; therefore, there were regulations on the content and characters of the plays. Under such circumstances, there was a stagnancy of the development of xiqu from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to the Chenghua period

(AD 1465-1487) (Zhou Yude 7).

During this period, Zaju was still the mainstream theatre, and it began to decline

2 Zhou is quoting from the original record found in vol.10 of Kezuo zhuiyu 客座赘语 [A Visitor’s Superfuous Words] by the Ming scholar, Gu Qiyuan 顾起元.

10 under these restrictions. An examination of the three features of zaju actors will reveal why. First, female actors dominated the zaju stage. There were two main groups of actors performing zaju in the Yuan Dynasty: one belonged to the imperial troupe performing for imperial families, and the other belonged to folk troupes (Sun C. 116). The latter constituted the majority of the troupes, while female actors in those folk troupes comprised the majority of actors (116, 117). The Brothel Collection is the only existing book that concentrates on xiqu actors in the Yuan Dynasty (122). In this book, one hundred and seventy female actors are recorded, most of whom were zaju actors, while only thirty-five male actors are mentioned, most of whom were female actors’ husbands

(122).

Second, in the Yuan Dynasty, the boundary between female actors and prostitutes was unclear. Female zaju actors who also worked as prostitutes were not few; there were many prostitutes who were good at performing (Sun C. 98). Many female actors recorded in The Brothel Collection were said to be famous prostitutes from different areas (99).

Third, zaju troupes were usually mixed troupes containing both male and female actors. Folk troupes were usually formed on the basis of a family (Sun C. 117). Usually, the family members, such as husband, wife, children, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law, all became actors because of poverty (117). Family members could cooperate with other relatives to form a troupe (117). Based on the records, since female actors were dominant on the zaju stage, it is probable that male members in the troupe were mainly musicians or performed minor roles.

In the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the three features of zaju still existed.

However, during the mid-Ming Dynasty, the troupes featuring dominant female actors

11 and family-based mixed troupes began to decrease. This decline was due to various causes: the diminishing of zaju, the impact of policies, the impact of Neo-Confucianism, etc. This chapter will concentrate on the restrictions on prostitution, and will examine the philosophical trend in the early Ming Dynasty to discern how these restrictions might have affected the gender of the actors and the structures of theatre troupes, which provided opportunities for nandan to flourish.

3.1 The Restriction on Female Prostitutes

The relationship between female actors and female prostitutes in the Yuan

Dynasty is difficult to pinpoint. The term jiyue, which referred to the female actors, was interchangeable with the term yueji, which referred to the female prostitutes who were also good at performance (Yao, Tongpi 47). The Brothel Collection recorded many famous female prostitutes who were good at playing various role types in zaju during the

Yuan Dynasty: Zhu Lianxiu was good at jiatou (the role type featuring the imperial family members and the high officials), huadan (the role type featuring young lovely female characters), and moni (principal male roles). Shun Shixiu was the best one who performed guiyuanju (the type of play featuring sad female characters in the boudoir waiting for their husbands who traveled far away), and jiatou (Cui 50, 51). Regardless of their status as prostitutes, it is clear that women were playing both female and male roles.

In the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, female prostitutes were still an important group performing zaju. The subsequent Ming policies attempting to control female prostitutes and the government officials’ interactions with them seemed to affect the number of female actors, however, which in turn provided opportunities for the rise and

12 prosperity of male actors in the mid- and late Ming Dynasty.

In setting policy during the Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang (also called Ming Taizu) seriously considered the experiences from previous dynasties and tried to implement what he had learned. According to The Memoir of Ming Taizu (Ming Taizu shilu), written in the Ming Dynasty, being laborious, thrifty, and modest are the main qualities and standards that Zhu Yuanzhang set for the officials to follow:

Is it possible that you can have arrogance when you are rich? Is it possible that you can have an extravagant life style when you have noble status? For people who have the heart of pride and costliness, their admirable status and wealth are hardly maintained after they get them. It is difficult to convince people’s hearts and satisfy their wishes, even though those [officials] who have high status restrain their desire. Let alone those [officials] who satisfy their personal desires by possessing the wealth of the whole world. It is natural for the downfall of such a person. This is alarming for us. We shouldn’t follow their path3 (Lü 186).

Indulging in entertainments and enjoyments was counter to Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang’s idea of controlling desire. Thus, during his reign (AD 1368-1398), sleeping with female prostitutes was outlawed for officials. In the thirtieth year of his reign, The Law of the

Ming Dynasty (Da ming lü) was established. In volume twenty-five, it was regulated that:

“The officials who sleep with female prostitutes will suffer sixty strokes, and the punishment for the matchmaker decreases by one level; if the children and grandchildren of the officials sleep with female prostitutes, they will suffer the same punishment” (Huai

200).

The ban on sleeping with female prostitutes did not mean that officials could not spend a good time with them, whether it be talking, writing poems, or appreciating their

3 Lü is quoting from the original text found in vol. 14 of Ming taizu shilu 明太祖实录 [The Memoir of Ming Taizu].

13 performances; but it did limit the kinds of activities that officials could participate in.

Under such restrictions, visiting the female prostitutes was not a proud thing for the officials, which may have decreased the opportunities for female prostitutes to entertain the officials through performance. By Zhu Yuanzhang’s command, sixteen guanji4 brothels were built for the commoners, especially the merchants and scholars (Zhou H

2:17). The reason that Zhu Yuanzhang established brothels was to stimulate the development of economy by attracting merchants to spend money in the brothels. The prostitutes in the brothels could provide performances for officials at the banquets; however, if the officials disobeyed the rule and slept with the prostitutes, their punishment would be serious, just under the level of the punishment of murder (Lin 66).

Even if they were released from jail with an official pardon, their official positions could not be recovered (66). Also, in order to prevent officials from sleeping with female prostitutes, Zhu Yuanzhang prescribed in The Law of the Ming Dynasty: “If the managers of the entertainment organizations or groups (yuegong) allow women to go to the mansions of high officials (wangfu), and the houses of generals and lower officials

(zhongwei) to sleep with them, they will be banished with the generals, lower officials and the ordinary people [who participated in the activities mentioned above]…to serve the army in the frontier” (Huai 354). So this ban seems that it would have affected a performer’s chance to gain any support or money from officials.

However, in the Xuande period (AD 1426-1435), the policies that banned

4 Guanji originally referred to female prostitutes whose duty was to serve officials by performance and sexual services, and were distinct from shiji, female prostitutes who served the commoners. However, beginning in the Yuan Dynasty, the lines between different kinds of female prostitutes began to be blurred, thus guanji also provided services for people who were not officials.

14 officials from sleeping with female prostitutes were not strictly adhered to. In order to prevent officials from wallowing in sexual dissipation with female prostitutes, the institution of guanji was banned. According to Unofficial Harvest of the Wanli Years

(Wanli yehuo bian), by Shen Defu, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, in the Xuande period, officials always indulged in the brothels and neglected their duties (Wu S. 297). Gu Zuo, the imperial inspector, advised a ban on such behavior, and proposed that officials who disobeyed the ban be dismissed (297). Following Gu Zuo’s advice, guanji were officially banned and this law was strictly enforced in the capital city Beijing (291). The ban is also mentioned in Ming scholar Zhou Hui’s book Jinling’s Trifles (Jinling suoshi): “guanji were not banned until the second year of the Xuande period after the advise of official Gu

Zuo” (Zhou H. 17).

Thus, in the early Ming Dynasty, restrictions on female prostitutes gradually became more severe: from the ban on officials’ sleeping with guanji, to the complete ban on guanji. Since at that time female prostitutes had dual identities as actors and prostitutes, the ban of guanji would have resulted in the loss of female actors in guanji, who served wine and perform in the banquets, as well as provided sexual services for the officials. This could have provided opportunities for nandan to develop in the mid- and late Ming Dynasty.

3.2 The Advocacy of Neo-Confucianism

As discussed earlier, zaju troupes were mostly mixed troupes made up of both male and female family members, and both female and male actors. From the Ming

Dynasty on, such family-based troupes also began to decline. In the early Ming Dynasty,

15 Neo-Confucianism was highly supported by the Ming governors, affecting the lives of females and possibly contributing to the decline of mixed gender troupes.

In 1368, the first year in the reign of emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor honored with the sacrifice of the cow, sheep, and pig in Guo Xue, the highest education institute and said:

The ideas of Confucius are as [great as] the dao (way) of heaven and earth. People [emperors] who own the world must honor [Confucius] devoutly in a ceremony of sacrifice. I am the lord of the whole world. I will use the way the ancient emperors ruled the country to manage the Ming empire. Now I have finished the ceremony of sacrifice. Thus, I command you [the officials] to offer sacrifices to Confucius in his hometown and to also respect him5 (Li Y. 71).

Zhu Yuanzhang taught the masses to follow Confucianism by honoring Confucius, and requested his officials do the same as an example for the masses.

In addition to showing respect to Confucius, Zhu Yuanzhang asked people to read classical books of Confucianism, as recorded in his The Sacred Edict ( ), the book documenting the sayings and lectures of the emperor:

The reason why people don’t understand dao (way) is that education is not practiced. Because The Five Classics have recorded the dao taught by the sage, they are like the peas, millet, cloth, and the silk; so every family should have them. Without peas, millet, cloth, and silk, people cannot live; without The Five Classics and The Four Books6, people cannot know

5 Li is quoting from the original text found in the following source: “Zixu 自序” [The Preface Written by Myself]. Daxue yanyi 大学衍义 [The Inference of the ]. Siku quanshu 四库全书 [the Collection of the Four Treasuries]. Taibei: shangwu yinshuguan jingyinben wenyuange, 1986. Print. 6 The classical books of Confucianism are The Four Books and The Five Classics. The Four Books are The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Confucian , and The Works of Mencius. The Five Classics refers to The Book of Songs, The , The Book of Changes, The Book of Rites, and The .

16 daoli 7(Li Y. 71).

Daoli refers to the morality of “respecting elders and people of higher status, being loyal to the emperor, getting along with your neighbors and other members in your community, teaching your descendants, doing these things according to your personal situation, and not doing illegal things”8 (Li Y. 71). Ethical behavior was explained in these classical books of Confucianism; every person was expected to learn from them and they were considered as important as necessities in daily life.

Since education was so important, Zhu Yuanzhang commanded that schools be established in prefectures and counties, and he the officials in various places to recommend people who are intelligent, righteous, good at literature and science to enrich the group of officials (Duan 8). Students in the schools learned Confucianism, and the excellent students who had a good command of Confucian morality and knowledge of

Confucian classics were qualified to be officials.

With the support of the rulers in the early Ming Dynasty, Confucian ethics were taught in schools, learnt through books, and practiced in daily life. The core idea of

Confucian ethics was sangang wuchang. Sangang refers to the regulations on the three relationships: in the relationship between people and emperor, people should obey the emperor; in the relationship between son and father, the son should obey his father; in the

7 Li is quoting from the original text, Shengxun 圣训 [The Sacred Edict] found in vol. 1 in Libu zhigao [The Records of the Ministry of the Rite] edited by the Ming scholar Ruji 俞汝楫. 8 Li is quoting from the original text found in the following source: “Jiaomin liuyu” [Six Instructions for the People]. Taizu shilu 太祖实录 [The Memoir of Taizu]. Daxue yanyi 大学衍义 [The Inference of The Great Learning]. Siku quanshu 四库全书 [the Collection of the Four Treasuries]. Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan jingyinben wenyuange, 1986. Print.

17 relationship between husband and wife, the wife should obey her husband. Wuchang refers to the qualities of ren (benevolence), yi (righteousness), li (decency), zhi

(intelligence), and xin (honesty). Under the regulation of sangang and wuchang, women should follow the Confucian ethics of principle of the three obediences and the four virtues. The three obediences of women are: the obedience to one’s father when not married, to one’s husband when married, and to one’s son after the death of her husband.

The four virtues refer to modesty, chastity, care for appearance, and industriousness.

In order to teach women to follow the Confucian ethics, in the period of Yongle

(AD 1403-1424), the empress of emperor Zhu Di wrote the book Teachings for Women

(Nei xun), where appropriate behaviors and virtuous qualities of women were discussed.

In the preface to Teachings for Women the empress says: “[Before], the empress of emperor Zhu Yuanzhang taught her daughter-in-laws to behave carefully according to morality. I followed her words and listened to her teaching every day. I respect her so much, and dare not disobey her words”9 (Duan 8). “To behave carefully according to the morality” means to behave according to the etiquette recorded in the classical books of

Confucianism. Therefore, the empress’s teachings linked women’s behavior in the Ming

Dynasty to that regulated in The Book of Rites, which was written between the Warring

States Period (475-221 BC) and the Han Dynasty.

In The Book of Rites, differences between men and women were regulated in terms of their duties and behaviors:

Men should not discuss family issues, while women should not discuss public affairs. Men and women should not pass articles to each other

9 Duan is quoting from the preface to Teachings for Women found in Siku quanshu 四库 全书 [the Collection of the Four Treasuries].

18 unless in ceremonies of invocations and funerals. If they have to pass articles in such situations, women should use baskets to accept articles. If there are no baskets, one sex should place the article on the floor, and the other sex will collect the article separately. Men and women should not share wells or bathrooms… When on the street men walk on the right side, and women walk on the left side (Yang 1:335).

Women and men mentioned here could be members of the same family, or have no relationship. Women and men had their own responsibilities, in which women were restricted in the private sphere and men took charge of the public sphere. All the regulations aimed to prevent unnecessary encounters between people of the opposite sex.

In the early Ming Dynasty, with the canonization of Neo-Confucianism, the idea of separating men and women grew stronger, which could have affected the structure of the xiqu troupe. Although there were no policies set in the Ming Dynasty on specific details such as how to walk and pass things, the notion of separating men and women likely affected people in society. One likely effect could have been the decrease of mixed gender troupes. Since there were both male and female members in a troupe, they had to practice together and perform together. There was no way for them to practice without communication, or to perform without physical and mental interaction. Although they might be relatives, they still would have been affected by the notion of separating women and men. Thus, the strong revival of Neo-Confucianism could be one reason for the decline of mixed troupes.

Of the four main schools of Neo-Confucianism, the schools by the Cheng brothers

Hao and Yi, and Zhu Xi had greater impact in the early Ming Dynasty, and their interpretations of Confucian classics were exclusively favored by the rulers.

In the Ming Dynasty, questions on the imperial examination were based on The

Four Books and The Five Classics. Since there are different notations on the classical

19 books, the versions of books featuring the notations by Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi were recommended by the emperors. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang claimed: “The [ideas] in the books of Zhu Xi should be followed. For other books, one should only read the classical books of Confucianism. For education, one should only teach the ideas of Neo-

Confucianism”10 (Duan 8).

With the support of emperors, the ideas of Neo-Confucianism led by Zhu Xi and the Cheng brothers had a huge impact on people’s behaviors in the early Ming Dynasty.

As a trend of Confucianism first developed in the Song Dynasty, the ideas of Neo-

Confucianism were also affected by Buddhism. “Buddhism preached that attachment to the illusory, phenomenal world impede enlightenment; Buddhist self-cultivation was thus a process of freeing the self from all desires and emotional attachments” (Epstein 66)

Neo-Confucianism “did not go so far as to deny the reality of the phenomenal world”, but it emphasized gaining “a clearer perception of ideal principle” (Epstein 66). Cun tianli and mie renyu were the ideals supported by the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi. Cun tianli refers to the existence of the heavenly principles of the world, especially Confucian ethics that people should follow. Mie renyu refers to the extermination of people’s desires, such as the desire of wealth, fame, and sex.

In terms of women, chastity is a very important quality according to Confucian ethics, and this was also emphasized by Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi. There is a story that a person asked whether a widow could marry another man when she was very poor and without support from anyone (Shu 48). Cheng Yi answered that such an idea came from

10 Duan is quoting from the original text found in vol. 2 in Donglin liezhuan 东林列传

[The Biographies of the Donglin Party] written by the Qing scholar Chen Ding 陈鼎.

20 worry about starvation; however the question of starvation was very trivial, while the question of loosing chastity was extremely vital (48). Zhu Xi agreed with Cheng Yi’s idea: “if you are a chaste woman when alive, it will be a very happy thing even when you die”11 (Duan 8). Furthermore, he considered that the cases of women who maintain chastity should be reported and awarded, while people who didn’t follow the etiquette should be punished (Shu 48).

However, in the Song Dynasty, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi’s idea of maintaining chastity even at the cost of losing one’s life was not applied in practice. It was normal for women to remarry in the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, as Neo-Confucianism led by them became strongly advocated by the rulers, chastity became a very critical quality for women to maintain in daily life. Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed in the edict: “if the widows in the non-governmental circles follow the regulations [of maintaining chastity] before age thirty, and can still maintain chastity after age fifty, the government will send a document to praise her, and members of her parents’ family can be exempted from doing hard labor” (Li D. 1254).

Under such encouragement from policies, the number of jiefu (women who keep chastity) and lienü (women who keep chastity at the cost of their lives) in the Ming

Dynasty surpassed the previous dynasties (Liu S. 320). There were no less than ten thousand chaste women during the Ming Dynasty within less than three hundred years, and three hundred and eight famous ones were recorded by The History of the Ming

Dynasty (Ming shi) (320). In contrast, there were only around one thousand chaste

11 Li is quoting from the original text, “Da Li Shizhong” 答李师中 [The Answer for Li

Shizhong] found in Zhu Wengong ji 朱文公集 [The Anthology of Zhu Wengong].

21 women recorded throughout around four hundred years of the Song and Yuan Dynasties

(Shu 48).

Since being loyal to one’s husband and maintaining chastity were highly praised, much was done to eliminate any risks that would destroy such virtues. Separation between men and women could help decrease the opportunities of communicating with or approaching men, and therefore reduce the risk of losing chastity. Female actors, moreover, not only communicated with different male members in her troupe, but also came face to face with various males in audiences. Thus, the profession of performance would raise questions about the possibility of the women remaining chaste. Although there was no ban on female actors, the stress of the whole environment would restrict the development of female actors and mixed troupes. Thus, the decline of mixed troupes had a close relationship with the notion of separating the activities of men and women, as well as the virtue of women’s chastity that was emphasized in Neo-Confucianism.

Thus we have two possible contributing factors to the decrease in female- dominated and mixed troupes: the restriction of female prostitutes, and the advocacy of

Neo-Confucianism. These factors collectively had helped create favorable conditions for the flourishing of the nandan. The next chapter will examine the development of nandan in kunqu in terms of their acting skills onstage and nandan’s relationship with the literati offstage.

22 CHAPTER 4

NANDAN IN THE MING DYNASTY

In order to develop economically, maintain the stability of society, and revive traditional Han and philosophy in the early Ming Dynasty, emperor Zhu

Yuanzhang set many policies that controlled entertainment and supported Neo-

Confucianism. His offspring in the early Ming Dynasty followed his example and their efforts contributed to the prosperity of “more than a hundred years when common people’s lives were happy and stable, and officials were upright and incorruptible” (Xu

31). However, Zhu Yuanzhang overemphasized the negative effects of culture and entertainment, and his strict policies aimed at preventing the corruption of entertainment led to the “one-hundred-year dreariness” of xiqu in the early Ming Dynasty (Yao, Tongpi

145).

In the early Ming Dynasty, there are not many records on nandan. One record is by the Ming scholar Du Mu, and he described the experience of nanxi nandan in the period of Tianshun ruled by Emperor Yingzong (AD1457-1464):

There were some nanxi performers who came from the Wu12 area to perform in the capital city, Beijing. The imperial bodyguard Men Da reported [to the emperor] that they were males who performed females, which had a bad effect on the social standards and customs. Emperor Yingzong questioned them quickly, and they explained completely that what they did was to urge the masses to follow the social moral standards and morality. Yingzong commanded them to be untied and asked them to perform. An actor stepped forward and said that in contemporary society, the emperor governed the country well which followed the will of the Heaven, and officials were upright and incorruptible which ensured that the masses lived happily and with stability. Emperor Yingzong was very

12 Wu refers to the area known as Suzhou. In the Ming Dynasty, Suzhou governed seven counties including , the birthplace of kunqu (Zhou Yude 18). Suzhou is in modern province in the modern society.

23 delighted and recruited these nanxi performers to [perform in] the Imperial Academy of Music (jiaofang). These nanxi performers felt shame for that. After the emperor died, they escaped back to the Wu area (Du 1: 584).

From this record, we can assume there was a nanxi troupe composed of male actors performing in the capital city Beijing. A nandan in this troupe attracted the attention of an informer who reported this case to the imperial bodyguard, Men Da, who in turn reported this case to the emperor, because he thought men performing women was abnormal. The informer might have rarely seen nandan before, and so he thought this case should be reported. The converse could also have been true: that there was not only one nandan during that period who performed in the capital city, but many, and this record is indicative of the expansion of the practice of nandan. Therefore Men Da was worried that they would have a bad effect on social customs norms. Either way, this record described these nanxi actors’ encounter in Beijing, from which we can see the spread of nanxi as well as nandan from the south to the north in the early Ming.

The emperor was apparently delighted by the adulation of that nanxi actor and appreciated this nanxi troupe’s performance, so he recruited them into the Imperial

Academy of Music. The performers in the Imperial Academy of Music were “members of so-called yuehu, or musical families,” and they “had to continue in the government- assigned professions for all their lives, and for generation after generation” under the

Ming law (Shen 45). “Guanji (literally, official prostitutes), were members of musical families of the early Ming” (Shen 46). This record raises the question as whether the nanxi actors felt shameful of being members of the Imperial Academy of Music. The reason might have been that they did not want to belong to the musical families who did not have freedom in both performance and personal lives. No one can guarantee that

24 these male actors including nandan would not have had to follow the path of guanji, who performed in banquets and provided sexual services for the officials. Recalling that

Guanji were banned in the early Ming, male actors might have become their substitutes in both performance and sexual services, which seems to be indicated in the record of mid-Ming.

In the mid-Ming Dynasty, beginning around the Hongzhi period (AD 1488-1505), the policies began to loosen. The economy became very prosperous, especially in the southern area, with Suzhou as the economic center. Different from the austere lifestyle that was advocated by Zhu Yuanzhang, the ethos of extravagance became popular in the whole society during this period. Under these circumstances, restrictions on xiqu significantly decreased, and art and culture flourished. During this period, nanxi developed into kunqu, and began to replace zaju as the predominant theatre.

The reasons contributing to the decline of zaju and the increase of nanxi were complicated. For example, the form of zaju, which featured four acts and a “wedge” (a prelude/interlude), only one principal character per act who sang, and was limited to one rhyme sound per act, all restricted its development (Wang J. 34). Nanxi on the other hand, with few restrictions in its form, was easier to be innovated and reformed to satisfy the interest of the contemporary audience (34). The change of cultural and economic center from the north to the south was another reason. Since the Ming Dynasty, the dominant status of the south in terms of economy and culture became increasingly significant. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, Suzhou was especially economically prosperous, with the silk business being it’s most prominent industry (Zhou Yude 18). The economic boom of the

Suzhou area provided the material basis for the development of nanxi and kunqu. During

25 the Ming Dynasty, most scholars were born in the southern area. According to the modern scholar Zeng Daxing, the ratio of the number of southern to northern scholars was 8.7:1.3, and the sum total all the northern scholars was less than the number of scholars who came from Suzhou ( 89). Therefore, nanxi, the southern plays, were preferred by the literati, most of whom were born in the south; it enjoyed great support and expansion, while zaju, the theatre originating in the north, declined.

Unlike zaju, there were few mixed troupes in kunqu, and the reason for that might be that they were just forming at the time when Neo-Confucianism was stressed. This provided opportunities for nandan to develop in the male troupes. By the late Ming

Dynasty, beginning in the Wanli period (AD 1573-1620), nandan became the focus of the audience and the critics.

4.1 The Formation of Kunqu

Kunqu originated from kunshanqiang, which is one of the four major styles of singing13 in nanxi in the period between the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming

Dynasty (Li 72). In the late Yuan Dynasty, nanxi became famous in the area of

Kunshan, a county belonging to Suzhou area. The way of singing in nanxi, combined with the regional singing and dialect in Kunshan, brought out a new way of singing

(qiang), which was called kunshanqiang (Li Xiao 75). In the mid-Ming Dynasty, kunshanqiang became very popular in Suzhou, an economically prosperous area, where culture flourished and talented people assembled (77-78).

13 The other three are: yiyangqiang in province, yuyaoqiang in province, and haiyanqiang in Jiangsu province.

26 In the mid-Ming Dynasty, especially in the Jiajing (AD 1522-1566) and Longqing

(AD 1567-1572) periods, kunshanqiang experienced many critical changes due to the efforts of the literati. An important one was Wei Liangfu, the famous dramatist living in the sixteenth century (Wu X. 13). Two of his important changes were in music and singing. He combined beiqu, a way of singing and music that was popular in the north and featured a resounding and vehement mood suitable especially for martial scenes, and nanqu, a way of singing and music prevailing in the south which featured a gentle and delicate mood suitable for civil scenes. Also, to the musical instruments for kunshanqiang-- di (flute), (trumpet), sheng (a reed or wind organ),

(lute), and (clapper)-- he added xiao (a kind of vertical bamboo flute),

(three-string fiddle), (fiddle), ruan (a moon guitar-like instrument), and zheng

(zither), which were integrated harmoniously (Li Xiao 83).

In the aspect of singing, he provided three basic standards: 1) ziqing, 2) qiangchun, and 3) banzheng (Li Xiao 83). Ziqing insists that words should be pronounced clearly. To be more specific, the beginning part, middle part, and the last part of the word should be sung evenly; when beginning to sing, the voice should be gentle and mellow without cacophonies, and in the end of the singing, there should be a sustained decrescendo sound (Li Xiao 83). Qiangchun means “pure singing.” In referring to a sustained sound, qiangchun means to make the sound enriched, round and flexible, while the key point for singing the short sound was to contain strength (Li Xiao 83). In the transition between words and tunes, the actors should articulate clearly to the musicians

(83). Banzheng refers to the appropriate rhythm of singing. The beat should be beaten according to the regulation, in which the ban (accented beat) and yan (unaccented beat)

27 should be clearly played (Li Xiao 83). After the improvements of Wei Liangfu, kunshanqiang became very smooth and elegant and was termed as shuimodiao (water polished tune) and kunqiang, which referred to the newly revised kunshanqiang (82-83).

Liang Chenyu (AD 1519-1591) also contributed to the development of kunqiang

(Li Xiao 84). He always assembled his friends to study Wei Liangfu’s kunqiang, and taught people to sing, which stimulated the transmission of kunqiang (84-85). One of his most important achievements was Washing Gauze (Huanshaji)14, the chuanqi15 play written by him for kunqiang, the newly revised music form. This play enabled kunqiang to be performed on the stage (85). It is difficult to say whether Washing Gauze is the first play performed on the stage with kunqiang; however, there is no doubt that this play was the most successful one during that time. In the period of Tianqi and Chongzhen

(AD 1620-1644), it was very popular to use the term kunqu to refer to kunqiang (Li Xiao

114).

The literati not only contributed to the development of the music and scripts of kunqu, but also its acting style. In the Ming Dynasty, private troupes rose in the Jiangjing and Longqing periods (Li Xiao 123). There were officials who retreated from officialdom and used their wealth to compose their own private troupes (Zhang F. 23). There were also officials who created their own troupes after they retired to enjoy their old age, as well as officials who constituted private troupes while still serving in their positions (23).

Like private troupes in the previous dynasties, in the Ming Dynasty actors in private troupes were usually young girls singing songs and performing dances. Because kunqiang

14 For more information about Washing Gauze, see Mackerras, 71. 15 The term chuanqi here refers to the genre of play written for kunqu.

28 began to be popular during this period, actors sometimes sang kunqiang, which was important for the spread of its popularity. Also, the performance of dance had a critical impact on the acting style of kunqu.

Several reasons allowed and stimulated the literati to participated in xiqu activities in the mid-Ming Dynasty. First, the policies set by Zhu Yuanzhang were increasingly loosened, and the officialdom became increasingly corrupt (Zhang F. 23). There were political struggle and cultural combat among officials with different opinions (23). Some officials who were defeated chose to quit their jobs, because they did not want to compromise their own ideals by yielding to other people’s authority (23). Also, there was a loss of justice in the system of imperial examinations, which prevented some talented and virtuous scholars from becoming officials (Zhou Yude 25). According to the Ming scholar Wang Jide, eighteen famous dramatists can be seen in the Zhengde (AD 1506-

1521) and Jiajing periods. Most of them were frustrated literati:

Some of them were successful in the imperial examinations…but in the struggle of the ruling class, they were forced to leave the officialdom. [People of this kind] such as Kang Hai, Wang Jiusi, Li Kaixian, and Yang Shen. There were people who were very talented and should have become officials; however, they had bad luck in the imperial examinations such as Tang Yin. Some of them did not have interest in the imperial examinations…such as Wang Qing and Shen Shi; some were hereditary officials, but were despised by others because they were addicted to art such as Chen Duo. They were all frustrated [scholars] in terms of [the path of] study and serving as officials. Writing and singing xiqu became the common way to find comfort in their lives (Zhou Yude 31).

As the Ming scholar Li Kaixian said, since ancient times, if ambitious scholars are not trusted by the rulers or do not have opportunities to become officials, they will be upset to the point of death unless they use entertainment to comfort their heart

(Zhou Yude 26). After Kang Hai, Wang Jiusi, and Li Kaixian left the officialdom

29 in the Jiajing period, and like many others, built up their private troupes.

Second, in the mid-Ming, the Confucian trend of xinxue (learning of mind-heart) advocated by (AD 1427-1528) was prevalent. Compared with Neo-

Confucianism, the emphasis of xinxue was “shifting from study of classics and observance of orthodox teachings to rely on the inner resources of our xin (mind-heart)”

(Mou 403). “According to Wang’s thought, the aim of life and philosophy was to bring heavenly principle and individual desire into a fundamental unity that was located in the heart/mind (xin)” (Wu C. 34). Since then, “the Confucian philosophy of self-control and the denial and suppression of desire had little place in the lively new market place of goods and ideas” (34). Wang Yangming provided that “maintaining pleasure is the true accomplishment” and he advocated the pleasure of self-satisfaction (Zhou Yude 28). In the early Ming Dynasty, the literati closely linked the meaning of their existence to the court, while under the impact of Wang Yangming, the literati in the mid-Ming began to realize that:

The criterion to evaluate the value of life is not decided by the outside world—the praise or dispraise of the court…the criterion is in your heart… As a scholar, becoming an official is not the whole world for a meaningful life, while pursuing the aesthetics of mountain and stream and gaining the pleasure of self-satisfaction are also important for a valuable life (Zhou Yude 29).

“Pursuing the aesthetics of mountain and stream” referred to retuning to a pastoral life to enjoy the aesthetics of nature instead of the ups and downs of the officialdom. Xiqu was also a good area for the literati to pursue self-satisfaction. The literati could write plays to express their political and philosophical ideas, compose private troupes to satisfy their artistic tastes, or just enjoy the performance for pleasure.

Third, during the more than one hundred years in the early Ming Dynasty, the

30 society was stable, and the economy was increasingly prosperous. Compared with the early Ming Dynasty, when the notions of simplicity and observing regulations were popular, by the mid-Ming, people began to pay more attention to personal enjoyment and advocating lavishness (Liu Z. 85). The literati began to emphasize “wearing fine clothes, living in luxurious houses, and enjoying sensual gratification and indulgence” (Liu Z. 85).

Composing private troupes was the embodiment of the notion of advocating extravagance.

The economic boom provided the material basis for the literati to build up private troupes.

Kunqu developed under these circumstances, and by the late Ming was considered to have been fully developed and had become the predominant theatre. During this time, kunqiang spread from Suzhou to various places throughout the country. It also became a fashion for officials to organize private troupes, especially in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces in the south, which were well developed economically and culturally during this period. Many people who were born in this area were given official positions. After they became wealthy, they would often go back home to build gardens and establish private troupes. This was a way to flaunt their wealth as well as to enjoy artistic pleasure.

The literati were also very fond of writing chuanqi plays, which contributed to the development of the style of performing art of kunqu (Li Xiao 90). The lyrics of the chuanqi plays followed the tradition of poetry, which were dignified and had a strong literary flavor. The ultimate aim of the script was to express qing through representing the inner emotions of characters through beautiful words (Li Xiao 13). Qing is hard to translate and it has different meanings in various contexts. According to the modern scholar Maram Epstein, qing mainly refers to four aspects, and had different meanings in various context: 1) physiologically, it refers to “the body of emotions with which the

31 individual responds to his or her environment;” 2) spiritually, it referred to “the true and real inner spirit;” 3) from a phenomenological position, it could be “the discrete and unique phenomena in contrast to the universal and unchanging Truths” such as

“condition;” 4) from an aesthetics perspective, it referred to “a true aesthetic sensibility, disposition, or intellectual interest” (Epstein 65). Plots constructed on the basis of qing

(the sincere emotions) should be marvelous so as to surprise the readers, as well as originate from real life to assure the credibility of the story (Li Xiao 7). Most chuanqi plays featured a love story between the main female and male characters, which was also suitable for the delicate and smooth music style of kunqiang.

Under the influence of the literati, the basic acting style of kunqu was also gentle and elegant. Actors represented various characters through singing, dance, and speech.

Dance and singing were also performed at the same time especially for the main roles.

The role types of kunqu also developed during this period. Wang Jide, a famous writer living in the Wanli period recorded the role types of kunqu in his book Principles of Lyric

Drama (Qu Lü) (Wang A. 224). According to him, there are zhengsheng and mo

(principle male roles), tiesheng and wai (supporting male role), zhengdan (principal female role), xiaodan and tiedan (supporting female role), laodan (old female roles), jing

(painted face role), chou (comic role), and xiaochou (child comic role) (224). Zhengsheng is often simplified as sheng, and Zhengdan as dan. Zhengdan referred to the role of female lead in a play featuring dignified and beautiful appearance as well as good acting skills (Wang A. 230). Xiaodan referred to the secondary female role, and features lovely and coquettish female characters (230). Tiedan as the secondary role includes both young and old female characters, and the former had no difference from that of xiaodan roles

32 (230). The performance conventions of different role types were not the same, and the differences also existed in various characters in the same role type. What is important here is, like the construction of the script, is that the aim of acting was also to represent qing (the inner spirit and emotions) of the characters.

Therefore, the formation and development of kunqu were closely tied to the participation of the literati. The taste of the literati contributed to the elegant and gentle style of kunqu. Kunqu, the elite art form featuring poetic lyrics, romantic subjects, and the integration of song and dance, was aiming at expressing qing. Qing could include the aesthetic interest of the literati authors, romantic emotion and the inner spirit of the characters, as well as the performing style of the actors.

4.2 Kunqu Troupes

On the kunqu stage in the late Ming Dynasty, both commercial troupes and private troupes were prosperous. Commercial troupes were the majority and were organized by private individuals to make a profit (Sun C. 172). In contrast to the private troupes, in which female troupes were the majority, the commercial troupes of kunqu were almost exclusively male troupes (Sun C. 176). Since the subjects of the scripts of kunqu are mostly romantic stories between young scholars and their lovers, female characters must have been performed by male actors in the male troupes. However, there were also some all-female troupes, where presumably the converse was true (women acting sheng roles), and mixed troupes made up of both female and male actors.

There were three main sources of actors in the commercial troupes. Some actors were recruited from poor families and trained in the commercial troupes, while some

33 commercial troupes were established by actors who came from other commercial troupes

(Wang A. 78). Still others came from private troupes (79). Actors in commercial troupes had possibilities to perform throughout their lifetimes (Shen 396). In contrast to private troupes, male and female actors in the commercial troupes were usually free men and women who had the freedom to leave or join a troupe, as well as arrange their personal lives (246).

Commercial troupes were usually itinerant, performing in different places without a permanent theatre houses (Wang A. 80). Consequently, the competition among commercial troupes was rather vehement. There were often rival shows between two commercial troupes, in which both were invited by one organizer to perform the same plays at the same time (Shen 397). Each had its own stage, but the two stages were usually very close to each other. The commercial troupe that attracted more audience or got more tips would be the winner (Shen 398-400).

The famous commercial troupes with excellent actors performed in big cities for common people, government officials, and at temple festivals and parties held by literati

(Sun C. 173-174). According to a record by the Ming scholar, Lu Wenheng, who lived in the Wanli period, famous kunqu troupes were selected to perform for the festivals entertaining the gods in Suzhou in April and May, which in turn brought rapture to the audience (Sun C. 174). From this record, it can be seen that only famous troupes would be picked for important festivals in the big city. Since the performance of the festival were usually open to all the citizens, it was easier for a troupe to spread its fame if the performance was successful.

The comparatively inferior commercial troupes performed in towns and villages,

34 and like famous troupes, they were very welcomed by the audience. It is recorded that an actor, who performed Kuai, an evil Prime Minister in the Song Dynasty, was beaten by a woodcutter in the audience who was so taken by the play that he thought the actor was really the malevolent Prime Minister (Jiao 114). The income of the actors in the famous commercial troupes was much higher than that of their counterparts in the non- famous troupes (Sun C. 175). Also, it seems that the income of the all male troupes would increase when some female actors were inserted in the male troupes:

In the Wanli period, a scene performed by actors will be paid originally only one point zero eight ounces of silver, and in the later period, it increases to three or four ounces of silver, and five or six ounces of silver. Now if a famous troupe is selected, the price is increased to twelve silver pieces. If female actors are inserted into the troupe, additional tips will be given and the travel fees will be given (Sun C. 175).

This record was also written by the Ming scholar Lu Wenheng. The price he described might be the general market price of a performance during his time. According to this record, if there were female actors in the troupe, the prices would be higher, which is probably because there were limited female actors in the commercial troupes. The term

“inserted” most likely referred to the situation when some female actors cooperated temporarily with male troupes to perform. Such female actors usually had dual identities of prostitute and actor (Li Xiao 128). It is unclear where those female actors came from: they may have come from other commercial troupes or they may have been female prostitutes who were amateur xiqu players.

In order to survive and face challenges from other troupes, improving acting skills were necessary for actors in the commercial troupes. Directions given by the literati were one valuable opportunity by which actors in a troupe could improve themselves. For example, (AD1550-1616), the famous Ming playwright, always watched

35 the performances of plays written by him, and ardently offered his suggestions for performing in order to help the actors successfully display the characters as he portrayed them (Wang A. 87).

The performing careers of actors in the commercial troupes were long. Many actors in commercial troupes could overcome the barrier of age by working persistently or trying different role types. Pan Zhiheng recorded many troupes and actors. According to his record, Wu Yixi and Ding Yantang kept their good acting skills into old age without decline (Pan 54). Fu Yu, a nandan, also possessed a long performing career, and even as an old actor had great fame. When young, his beauty was unmatched (Pan 126).

He performed dan roles before he was twenty, switched to sheng roles after he was thirty- years old, and then performed wai roles after forty (126). Fu Yu was praised by Pan even after he had became a father. “Fu Yu, the father of Mao, has an elegant appearance and a resonant voice, and such grace of performance was not lost when he got old” (Pan 51).

The reason he changed to sheng roles might have been that his voice was no longer sweet or his figure no longer slim after he was thirty, making him less appropriate for performing female roles. The reason why he changed to wai, the supporting male roles, might have been that after forty, he was less competitive in both voice and movement compared with the younger actors who took the sheng, the male lead roles, that required more singing and acting.

Thus, actors in commercial troupes were mostly males, and it was common for male actors to perform female roles when they were younger. The situation in private troupes was different however. Private troupes were owned and financially supported by the literati to satisfy their own dramatic interests. In contrast to the commercial troupes,

36 female troupes dominated the private troupes (Sun C. 181). However, there were still male troupes among and famous nandan within the private troupes. The owners of famous male troupes were such as Zou Diguang in Wuxi, Wu Yueshi in Huizhou, and

Shen Shixing16 (Yao, Wanqing 117).

Many female actors were bought by the literati when they were twelve or thirteen year old girls, and trained either by their literati masters or the xiqu teachers employed by the masters before they were permitted to perform (Sun C. 181-182). Like female actors, some male actors were also purchased and trained from a young age, while others were commercial performers before they belonged to the private troupes (186-187). The actors in private troupes did not have as much freedom as their counterparts in the commercial troupes; in fact, they were more like the private property of the owners. They had to obey the masters, and they could be given to their masters’ friends and relatives as good presents (Sun C. 182). Usually, when the male and female actors got “old”, the masters would end their bondage, thus performing careers of many actors in private troupes lasted only ten years (Shen 147).

Private troupes usually performed in the lobbies of their owners’ houses and the audience was mostly their owners’ family and invited guests. The quality of the performance in private troupes was closely dependent on their literati owners. Many scholars believe that many troupe owners did not quite understand theatre, and the reason they assembled family troupes was to fulfill their sexual desire. Thus the actors in such troupes usually had good looks, but not necessary good performing skills (Sun C. 182).

16 Shen Shixing’s private troupe was very famous in Suzhou area (Li Xiao 126). Suzhou and Wuxi are in Jiangsu province. Huizhou is in province. These two provinces and Zhengjiang province are adjacent to each other.

37 On the other hand, many troupe owners were dramatists or playwrights, with a high level of cultural and artistic accomplishments, and actors’ adorable appearance as well as excellent acting skills were critical for them. They might teach actors by themselves or employ famous xiqu masters to teach them. The endeavor of both teachers and the actors contributed to great performance, which stimulated the development of kunqu (Sun C.

182).

Pan Zhiheng described how Zou Diguang trained his all male private troupes:

Zou Diguang hired a xiqu master, and required that the actors pay closer attention to the music tempo when they sang. He made marks on the floor, and asked the actors to perform according to the symbols. He used millet to count time and to measure the rhythm of the movements. The actors performed carefully… There were two wealthy people who admired the performance of his troupe. They invited Zou Diguang and the xiqu teacher, master Wang, to instruct them. They (two wealthy people) studied very hard. Although they had loud voices, the meaning of the play was not expressed through their singing. Master Wang said: “there is no improvement of skills, because you do not understand the meaning of the song. Once you understand the meaning of the song, various skills will be developed” (Pan 23).

Zou Diguang was a scholar who received third place in the imperial examination in the

Wanli Period. He was once the vice executive of Educational Administration who managed the education affairs of , , , and provinces.

Then he quit his official position and returned to his hometown, Wuxi. He was good at literature and liked xiqu, so organized his family troupes and trained actors carefully

(Zhang F. 44). According to the record of Pan Zhiheng, Zou Diguang had strict expectations of his actors in terms of singing and dancing. He not only trained the actors himself, but also hired master Wang to teach them. Master Wang pointed out that understanding the meaning of songs was very important. Thus, under severe demands of

Zou Diguang and master Wang, actors became good performers. The quality of their

38 performance was admired by Pan Zhiheng and other audiences: “Once, Zou Diguang selected some plays and asked the actors to perform in the hall. Their sweet songs flew around the hall just like the sound of birds echoing in the valley. Their dances could compete with the elegant classical dances…the performance was so delicate and the actors performed so seriously” (Pan 23).

As mentioned above, actors in the private troupe usually had to cease their acting career in the private troupes after they lost their youthful beauty, because other younger actors chosen by the masters would take their place. The Ming scholar Zhang Dai recalled the assembling and disbanding of his family troupes: “I have lived for fifty years

[while] those little servants [actors] changed from young to old, and from old to young again [the family troupe regenerated with a new group of new child performers], and from young to old again, five times in all”17 (Shen 147). According to Zhang Dai,

“young” means ten years old, and “old” refers to performers around twenty (Shen 147). If this case is taken as the rule rather than exception, private troupe performers had a career of about ten years.

Thus, on the stage of kunqu, there were both male troupes, which constituted the majority of the commercial troupes, and female troupes, more common in the private troupes. There were famous and inferior commercial troupes facing different audiences.

The quality of the performance of actors in the private troupes was dependent on the troupe owners, the literati, some of whom had high demands on the performing skills of their actors, which helped develop some wonderful nandan among them. The nandan in

17 The translation is by Shen. For original text see Zhang Dai, 41.

39 the commercial troupes, by virtue of the competition, would have been encouraged to constantly improve their acting skills. The acting career of actors in the commercial troupes was usually longer than their counterparts in the private troupes.

Whether in private troupes or in commercial troupes, the structure of male troupes provided opportunities for nandan to develop. The reason why there were limited mixed troupes is unknown. While there were no government bans on mixed troupes during the

Ming Dynasty, the revival of Neo-Confucianism that emphasized the separation of men and women as discussed in the previous chapter might have affected the composition of nanxi troupes in the early Ming Dynasty, which further affected the formation of kunqu troupes in mid-Ming Dynasty. Also, the reason why male troupes were predominant among the commercial troupes might be that female actors in the commercial troupes challenged the notion of chastity, an important female quality according to Confucian ethics, which was emphasized by the leaders of Neo-Confucianism Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi.

Neo-Confucianism had a great impact in the early Ming Dynasty. Although its dominant status was challenged by xinxue since the mid-Ming Dynasty, the notion of chastity for women might play an important role during the whole Dynasty. Compared to the limited number of all female troupes among the commercial troupes performing in a public sphere, female troupes dominated the private troupes, performing in a private sphere. The reason might be that unlike female actors in the commercial troupes who had to face various unknown male audiences, female actors in a private troupe belonged to a literati owner, who controlled their freedom, and the audience of their performance, thereby protecting them from challenging predominant Neo-Confucian ideology.

40 4.3 Nandan Onstage

According to the extant records from the Ming, there are no specific criteria for criticizing nandan only. The literati provided both the qualities of good actors and the aspects for assessing them, and critiqued both male and female actors according to the same criteria. That said, based on the writtings of Pan Zhiheng, several nandan did stand out. They were talented in performing female roles of various types and their representation of the characters’ qing (inner spirit and emotions) could echo with the audience.

Pan Zhiheng outlined three qualities of the good actor: cai (Talent), hui

(Intelligence), and zhi (Excellence). Generally speaking, cai referred to the natural talents of an actor such as the appearance and voice. Hui referred to an actors’ intelligence, such as the ability of understanding, memory, and imagination. Zhi referred to an actor’s ability to express emotions on the stage. Pan described the female actor Xiandu, who performed dan roles and satisfied all the three standards:

The person who is good at basic acting techniques cannot likewise always command Talent, Intelligence, and Excellence. If the actor has Talent and lacks Intelligence, Talent cannot be displayed flexibly. If the performer has Intelligence and lacks Excellence, Intelligence cannot be revealed… Yang Xiandu is an actor who is superior to the others (Pan 42).

From Pan’s description, Excellence was the most difficult thing for actors to command.

Then he illustrated Talent, Intelligence, and Excellence using Xiandu as the example. The good qualities of Xiandu described by Pan Zhiheng could be considered as the standards of actors, especially for those who perform female roles:

She has a beautiful appearance and a sweet voice. The movement of feet and hands is agile. The lines and words sung are delicate and high pitched. These are exhibitions of Talent. Xiandu has all the talents of beauty. [She] can memorize things when she sees them for the first time; understand the

41 spirit of the thing as soon as she approaches it, and be able to infer other things from one fact. These are contained in Intelligence. Xiandu has all the true abilities. [She will] be happy when seeing people hunt in the field, be willing to do the same when seeing people row the boat in the lake. [She] performs relaxedly and calmly when following the rhythm, and does not know how she effortlessly does something. Such condition [shows that she] has achieved the stage of xian (immortal beings). Xiandu can achieve the highest standard effortlessly, and this is called Excellence (Pan 42).

Xian Du’s Talent could be seen in her gorgeous appearance, sweet voice, and flexible movements of feet and hands, which was the standard of the dan role actors. Xian Du’s

Intelligence was visible in her good memory, understanding, and ability of application.

This was the general standard for all the actors. In order to achieve the standard of

Excellence, one should first feel what the character feels. Then, the actor should perform the character effortlessly and naturally, but still complying with various regulations of performing, such as maintaining the appropriate rhythm. This way, the actor would achieve the highest standard of Excellence.

The three qualities of good actors are dependent on both inborn talents and effort.

Based on the record of Tang Xianzu in his essay, “Writing on the Xiqu God Qingyuanshi

Temple from the Yihuang County” (Yihuangxian xishen qingyuanshimiao ji), actors could be trained to achieve the high qualities of good actors. To possess Talent, young actors should save internal energy to maintain their outward appearances, and old actors should “eat light food to maintain their voices” (Wu S. 150). To have Intelligence, it was better to “choose good teachers and fine companions to explain the scripts profoundly” so as to allow the actors to “understand the meaning of the script completely” (150). To possess the quality of Excellence on the stage, actors must also apply their performance methodology offstage in everyday life. Actors who perform dan roles should “always think from a woman’s state of mind,” and actors who perform male roles should “always

42 act from their character’s perspective” (Wu S. 150). After internalizing the thought of the roles or the specific characters, actors should use acting skills to allow the audience to perceive their quality of Excellence. When singing, “the high-pitch voice can resonate into the sky; the low-pitch voice is like broken fiber; the voice should be as round as beads and loops, and as fluid as an unbroken clear stream” (Wu S. 150). The “broken fiber” refers to a technique when the vocal sound ceases, but the breath continues. The

“beads and loops” are used to describe the sound that is mellow and rich. The “unbroken clear stream” describes a constant flow of uninterrupted tonality, a desirable technique for vocal performance. When dancing, the actors are not performing emotions, but rather they are producing a more natural expressivity that blends their technical skills with their knowledge of their character roles (Wu S. 150). Therefore, when the actors possess the quality of Excellence, the audience can catch the subtlety of the broken sound and the continuous emotion, while also feeling the spirit of the effortless movements.

Pan criticized contemporaries of Xiandu, assessing them by the same standards:

Jiang Liu and Wang Jie were good at Talent but did not have Intelligence; Yu and Gu

Jun had Intelligence but did not have Excellence (Pan 44). Obviously, unlike Xiandu, the actors mentioned above did not possess all three qualities. Here, Wang Jie and Gu Jun are female actors. The sex of Jiang Liu and Wang Jie is unknown.

In addition to the three qualities of good actors, Pan outlined five aspects to evaluate performers: du (Degree), si (Thought), bu (Gait), hu (Exhalation), and tan (Sign)

(44). “Degree” referred to whether the actors could exert the three qualities to the upmost degree. Again it depended on both inborn talents and efforts to possess the three qualities.

“Thought” refers to whether the actors had the ability of internalizing the inner

43 heart and feelings of the character. Pan praised Xiandu for her Thought, saying her

“every word comes from Thought” (Pan 44).

“Gait” referred to whether the actors’ movements were appropriate. Pan also took

Xiandu’s movement as a model for dan roles: “moving forward is like the soaring of wild goose; swirling like a whirling swallow; positioned like a standing swan. Every movement has complied with the rules and rhythm” (Pan 44). This figuration implied the appropriate movements of dan roles: move forward smoothly, swirl deftly, and stand erect. Also, movements should follow various rules of xiqu, accord with the rhythm of the music, as well as maintain a sense of beauty.

“Exhalation” and “Sign” referred to specific ways of singing and speaking. The main goal was whether the actors could express the emotion of the characters naturally and successfully through their song and speech. Again, Pan criticized other contemporaries of Xiandu, like Xiao Guan and Xiao Pan, whose singing and speech were not as natural as Xiandu (Pan 45). Since Xiao Guan and Xiao Pan were nandan, this document is significant in that it is one of the few that critiques contemporary female dan and nandan by the same criteria. Although the singing of Xiao Pan was not praised as highly as Xiandu, Pan Zhiheng still showed his admiration for this nandan’s excellent performance.

Pan Yingran is really good at performing female characters. He is a person with intelligence. His emotion is expressed before he begins to move; the emotion displayed by him is better than that transmitted by the song. I love his performance, which is smooth, elegant and such excellence cannot be described with words; my heart is moved by his rotating sleeves and flying steps… His spirit shines like gold, and his posture and movements are as smooth as jade; such shining qualities are born talents. He stops before he wants to move, and steps backward before he wants to go forward; he adheres to the regulations when moving. The long sleeves can dance during the movements of his hands; his inner emotions are consistent with

44 his outer expressions…(Pan 231).

Xiao Pan was Pan Yingran. According to the description of Pan Zhiheng, Pan Yingran was a nandan who clearly had the qualities of Talent, Intelligence, and Excellence.

However, it might be that Pan Yingran had a better command of movement than of song and speech, as in this record, Pan Zhiheng rarely mentioned his song or speech, except to say that it was not as natural as Xiandu’s. In general, Pan Yingran achieved a high level in the aspects of Degree, Thought, and Gait, while he might not have been the top actor in the aspects of Exhalation and Sign.

In addition to the qualities for good actors, Pan Zhiheng critiqued some famous nandan from different troupes, who performed various female characters that gave him a lasting impression. He described a nandan, named Zhang San:

Zhang San, a xiaodan actor, belonged to the troupe of the Prime Minister, Shen Shixing. Zhang San likes drinking. When he is on the stage intoxicated, he is so gorgeous that such wonderful performing skills cannot be fully displayed without being drunk. Liu Tianyu from province was demoted to be an officer in Guangdong province. He appreciated Zhang San so much that he took Zhang San with him. People in the Wu area missed Zhang San. [One day], when I went to the Qichang Gate [of Wu], Liu passed the Wu [on a boat] because he had been restored to his original position. Liu stopped his boat and we had a happy meeting. Zhang San was serving him, and at that time he was a fully grown man. I wish I could have met him three years earlier [when he was young]. In the evening, we were drunk. I watched him perform Hongniang. It’s so amazing that his voice and movement made him like a girl, and I was so attracted by that. People in the Wu area requested Liu to leave Zhang San in Wu again and again, and [in the end], Liu left Zhang San there. I am able to admire theatre and especially love the play The Bright Pearls (Mingzhu ji)18, [many plots of which] were cut down by [the contemporary]

18 The Bright Pearls was written by the scholar Lu Can (AD 1494-1552) and Lu Cai (AD 1497-1537). This play tells the love story between Wang Xianke and his cousin Liu Wushuang. Wang and his mother lived in the mansion of Liu whose father is a high official in the Tang court. Wang and Liu love each other and are engaged before Wang’s mother dies. Then, Liu’s father is framed by an evil official and captured in prison.

45 troupes, thus the troupe Leader Wu Dayan made up the chuanqi play of The Bright Pearls ten days after he assembled a troupe, [where Zhang San joined in]. [Wu Dayan] asked Zhang San to perform Wu Shuang. After watching this play, I was ashamed that I couldn’t offer him a thousand pieces of gold. Zhang San was dead from an illness less than a year later, but his image is still in my mind (Pan 136).

According to the above description, Zhang San was a nandan first in the private troupe of

Shen Shixing, and later joined in a commercial troupe, in which Wu Dayan was the troupe leader. During the three years when Zhang San followed Liu Tianyu, his physical appearance might have undergone big changes－from a beautiful young boy to a strong man. However, when Zhang San performed on the stage, Pan’s description makes it clear that Zhang was capable of transforming himself, fascinating onlookers by the female characters he acted.

The first female character Zhang San performed was Hongniang, a xiaodan role in the play, The Western Chamber (Xixiang ji). Xiaodan was the supporting female role, and it usually referred to lovely young female characters of low social status.

Characteristics such as vivacity, simplicity, and wittiness are central to this character type, and actors express these through the skills of dance, speech and song. In this play, the servant girl Hongniang uses her humor, wisdom and courage to help her master, a young lady by the name of Cui Yingying, to reunite with her lover. Although Zhang San might have passed the prime of his youth by the time of this performance, he could still successfully perform the young girl’s character. Pan’s account of Zhang San’s

Because of this event, Liu becomes a maid in the imperial palace. Wang becomes an official after the imperial examinations. He asks help from a chivalrious hero who is moved by his sincere love. The chivalric hero used the spiritual wine to poison Wu, and got her body by disguising as a servant of her family. Then he used the spiritual medicine to allow her to come to life. Wu and Liu reunite in the end. For details, see Zhou Yude, 65-67.

46 performance indicates that Zhang San’s acting skills of dancing and singing of xiaodan roles were outstanding.

The second time, Zhang San performed Wu Shuang, a zhengdan role in the play

The Bright Pearls. Zhengdan were female lead roles usually including characters such as elegant young girls and married women in noble families. Compared to xiaodan, the performance style of zhengdan actors was more elegant and reserved. For instance, the gestures were more subtle and conservative, and the speech slower and more poetic. Wu

Shuang was an official’s beautiful and elegant daughter, and in the play she is reunited with her lover after many difficulties. Pan Zhiheng thought so highly of Zhang San’s interpretation of Wu Shuang, that he believed Zhang San’s performance was deserving of one thousand pieces of gold. Thus, since Pan mentioned in the beginning that Zhang San was a xiaodan actor, it can be seen that Zhang San was a nandan concentrating on xiaodan role type, but also capable of performing zhengdan roles well.

He Wenqian was another nandan who was praised for his portrayals of female roles with “masculine” qualities:

The xiaodan Wenqian is one of the famous actors in the private troupe of Zou Diguang. I gave him the name “Lingxiu”. [The female characters played by him] have a beautiful appearance, graceful movements, and the male’s qualities of heroism and boldness. When his master wanted to disband the troupe, I tried hard to persuade him not to do so and thus the troupe was maintained. My words were very furious. Whenever I think this [inappropriate speech to my friend], I will recall every beautiful detail of him… The waving of the willows under the wind is no better than the dance of the jade bird; the sycamore tree will not hurt the feather of the phoenix. Of course, he is like an amazing male bird… He applied his masculinity to the characters of female heroes (Pan 232).

He Wenqian was also a nandan concentrating on xiaodan roles. The name Lingxiu that

Pan gave He Wenqian, means “beautiful” and “make perfect,” referring to his beautiful

47 appearance and perfect performance. Although Pan Zhiheng didn’t describe He

Wenqian’s performance in detail, he made an analogy between He Wenqian’s movement and the beautiful dance of the jade bird. Also, he used the phoenix, the bird with a wonderful voice to describe how fair-sounding the singing of He Wenqian was. Thus, it can be imagined how talented he was to cause such passionate feelings toward him.

On one hand, to be a male actor performing female roles with masculine qualities might not be easy. As a male actor, he might have to first study the traditional and more common females, who were more gentle and delicate than males. Then he might have to completely become a female to consider how to represent female characters with masculine natures. At last, he should use his acting skills to display such women and persuade the audience to believe the female character performed by him and admire her.

If he did not have enough study of female characters and acting skills, he could not successfully portray the female characters with a “masculine nature”. The audience might consider the character he performed as a man who wore female dress. On the other hand, it could be an advantage as a nandan to perform female roles with masculine qualities.

Since the masculine characteristics could be the male actors’ inborn nature, it is easier for them to utilize their natural qualities in the female characters they performed in a more natural way. In this case, the aesthetics of He Wenqian’a performance is based on the visual and aural reminders of masculinity that were inborn for nandan.

Imitating the opposite sex was not the ultimate goal for nandan, just like the goal of performing in xiqu is not to represent reality, but rather the essence that is abstracted from daily life. Shen Er, a nandan “was good at lifting himself” above reliance on reality:

“He walks lightly but not frivolously. He is charming but not obsequious. While the

48 goddess of frost and snow would like him, those beautiful women would most likely envy him”19 (Shen 392).

Successfully performing a female character was not only dependent on the imitation of outer movements and manners, but understanding her qing- the inner spirit and emotion- was also very important. Expressing the inner spirit of the characters is the essence of performing characters. Pan Zhiheng expressed his admiration for another nandan, Jiang Ru, who successfully portrayed , the heroine in the famous play

The Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting), written by Tang Xianzu. In this play, the heroine falls in love with Liu Mengmei, a handsome young scholar in her dream. Then, she dies because of great lament and longing for that scholar. Her family honors her last wish to bury her under the plum blossom tree in the garden, where she had met Liu Mengmei in her dream. Also, her portrait is hidden under the Taihu Lake rocks in that garden. Her parents build a temple in that garden, and three years later, Liu Mengmei stays overnight at this temple and finds the portrait. So attracted to the lady in the picture he talks with the portrait day and night. Then, the ghost of Du Liniang meets Liu Mengmei, and tells him how to help her return to life. Liu followed Du’s words to excavate the coffin and open it. Du Liniang is reborn, and they become husband and wife.

According to Pan Zhiheng, the qing of Du Liniang is chi (obsession) and contained in her huan (illusion), while the qing of Liu Mengmei is chi (obsession) and dang (brave action). Here, Du and Liu’s qing refers to romantic love. Du took what happened in the dream as reality, and Liu believed that the dead could come back to life.

Their true love and their faith make possible what is normally impossible in the world

19 The text quoted is translated by Shen. For original text see Pan Zhiheng, 49.

49 (Pan 73). Jiang Ru, the nandan who performed Du Liniang, and Chang Ru, the male actor who performed Liu Mengmei, could express their inner feelings:

Jiang Ru and Chang Ru were from the Wu area. Each has a different type of qingchi (crazed love): one features huan and the other features dang. They really became the characters they performed. Their master is Yueshi, who has profound knowledge. First, Yueshi requested the famous scholar to teach them the meaning [of the play]; then he asked them to sing famous arias; and then requested the teacher to teach them movements. Their voices are round and smooth, and every movement is very elegant and beautiful. Jiang Ru’s qing was expressed in huan, and his every word was seeking huan all the time since his entrance, and in the end, he left huan. Chang Ru’s qing was displayed in expressing dang… When Du Liniang was sad, she dreamed of her lover. The exhibition of zhiqing (the profound love) in the world was not same as that. When Liu Mengmei was in adversity, he had a dream of love. The prosperity of the whole waking life was no better than this. Although the lover cannot be found by seeking the dream, the lover can be found in the lower world. Although the meeting in the dream was not true, it was clearly expressed by the movements [of the actors]. Although [Du Liniang’s] parents didn’t believe, and on one in the whole world would believe, the two lovers believe… I was sick for a whole winter. I have seen five times, and I felt better… Thus, I sent Jiang Ru and Chang Ru my writing to encourage them to improve their acting skills, and speak for people who are crazed for love…(Pan 73).

The nandan Jiang Ru successfully performed Du Liniang, because he grasped the qing, the emotional state, of the character: the crazed love based on the belief of the dream. The reason why he could get the spirit of the character, Du Liniang, was that his master

Yueshi, the knowledgeable scholar, explained the meaning of the story to him. This is the process of internalizing the spirit and emotions of the characters, thus Jiang Ru was a good actor in terms of Thought. After this process, the actor should externalize the spirit of the characters through acting skills, so as to arouse the echo of the audience. Jiang Ru could express his inner feeling through his words and movement from his entrance to leaving. Although what happened in the dream of Du Liniang was not true, the performance of Jiang Ru made the audience think it was true. Such excellent performance

50 allowed Pan Zhiheng to taste the utmost love between Du Liniang and her lover. Such wonderful performance could even help lighten the illness of the patient. The success of

Jiang Ru’s performance was based on his observation of the character’s qing, or inner spirit and emotion, and the actor’s high performance skills.

As these Ming Dynasty critiques illustrated, nandan and female actors were critiqued according to the same criteria, which indicate that the art of nandan was held to the same standard as that of the female performers. It is also clear that nandan performed various female character types with different social characteristics and performance conventions, and successfully represented the spirit of women through internalizing the characters’ qing, and externalizing such inner spirit and emotions through the wonderful acting skills of dancing, singing and speech.

4.4 Nandan Offstage

During the Ming Dynasty, the literati not only stimulated the development of kunqu, but also helped improve the performing skills of nandan on the stage. As for nandan’s life offstage, the literati also played an important role.

There are limited records on the relationship between nandan and the literati from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, but towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, these intimate relations are evident in many historical records. The earliest record of their close relations can be found in the notes by Ming scholar Chen Hongmo (AD 1474-1555):

During that period20, the court policies were relaxed. The court officials always visited various places and held banquets. Wealthy officials in the

20 According to the modern scholar, Cheng Yu’ang, this period refers to the Hongzhi period (Cheng 52).

51 capital city, Beijing, assembled actors who concentrated on various role types to prepare for the performance on holidays and celebrations. They rehearsed in various places, such as Chaotian Palace and Longfu Temple, where they held the royal feasts... During the banquet, actors from the Imperial Academy of Music would sing. Some officials in the banquet didn’t behave appropriately. Privately, they usually played around with the young boys. Therefore, they consorted with the young actors, and offered them official positions. Chen Wenming was the same age as the wealthy officials mentioned above, and he didn’t want to go to the banquets. His peers laughed at his hackneyed behavior and didn’t invite him again. Finally, the things such as the event of officer Huang Xiao happened. [One day,] when Huang Xiao, Gu Mi and their other peers drank wine in Zhang Tong’s house located in the west corner of the city, and had sexual encounters with the young male actors, they were arrested. The officials living in the west were shamed for that…(Chen 53-54).

Another record by the Ming scholar Yu Jideng (AD 1544-1600), who passed the highest level of imperial examinations in 1577, also tells of this event:

In the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the law was very strict. For example, during the period of Hongzhi, when the officer Gu Mi drank wine in the house of officer Zhang Tong, the male actor was requested to wear female dresses to entertain the officers. When the event was discovered, the officer was dismissed (Yu 269).

As these two records clearly indicate, in the period of Hongzhi, there were male actors dressing as females and entertaining with wine at banquets, and homosexual relationships existed between male actors and the literati. However, judging by the punishments given, such behavior among male actors and the literati was not encouraged. However, as discussed in chapter three, in the early Ming Dynasty, there were several restrictions on female prostitutes, whose duties included entertaining officials in banquets through performance, offering wine, and providing sexual services. It might be that because of the absence of these female entertainers, male entertainers had to take over their duties. The

Hongzhi period falls during the transition between early and mid-Ming, when the political policies began to loosen. Under these circumstances, officials had more

52 opportunities to participate in entertainment, while perhaps still not being able to have access to female prostitutes. Young male actors might have been a convenient substitute to satisfy their sensual and sexual desires. Although the policies were relatively relaxed compared to the early Ming period, there were still some restrictions. For instance, the officer Gu Mi who had sex with the actor in the house of his friend was punished by the government. In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, there was no ban on sleeping with male actors, whereas sleeping with a female prostitute was forbidden. Therefore, the reason why the officer got punished might be that the ruler was concerned that having sex with young male actors would distract the official’s attention from his own duties. From these existing records, it is unclear whether the young male actors were nandan. One could speculate that nandan, who were considered to have a beautiful appearance and more feminine qualities than other actors, were the actors most likely to be asked to dress in female attire and be desired by the officials. Therefore, in the transition between early and mid-Ming, it is not unreasonable to think that nandan became the substitute of female prostitutes in the relationships with the officials. Furthermore, such relationships might result in the nandan being offered good position as low-level officials, and then not having to make a living by entertaining others. Nevertheless, sexual behavior between male actors and officials was not encouraged.

In the Jiajing and Longqing periods, a scholar by the name of Wang Shucheng recorded his experience with a nandan in his writing “A postscript of the poem of Ni

Ge’er” (Ba Ni Ge’er ge), which was then collected by Dong Sizhang, another scholar of the late Ming Dynasty:

There is a male actor, Ni Ge’er in the area of Wuxing. When he is on the stage, he displays various gestures and expressions of female characters.

53 He does not only impersonate female characters but also performs them very excellently. [One time], Ge’er offered me a cup of wine and requested a poem. At that moment I recalled Li Liangyu, the man who lived as a woman. Then, I made a line of poem: “I smile and request the east wind to blow you and change you [from a boy to a girl].” However, Ni Ge’er looked unhappy…21 (Cheng 52).

It is clear that Ni Ge’er was a nandan whose performing skills were praised by the scholar, but did not appreciate Wang’s desire for him to be a girl offstage. In the end, in order to lift his spirit, the writer Wang Shucheng enumerated some excellent male actors in history to divert Ni Ge’er’s attention from the poem to the glorification of his peers, which helped relax the tension between them.

Ni Ge’er might have felt Wang Shucheng’s appreciation of his performance, and therefore requested a poem when he had the opportunity of offering wine to him, in what would seem a normal offstage occurrence during the mid-Ming Dynasty. Wang’s poem actually expressed his compliment of Ni’s performance, as Ni performed woman roles so well that Wang seemed to think Ni should become a real woman. Recalling Li Liangyu, a male servant who played a woman’s role in daily life and lived with another man in the

Longqing period, Wang composed a line of a poem indicating his desire. However Ni was not happy with the poem, possibly because he did not want others to mix him, a gendered male offstage who performed female roles onstage, with the role of a woman offstage. It is not known whether Ni Ge’er’s attitude is representative among nandan in his period; however, based on this record, it would seem that being considered as a girl offstage was not a proud thing for this nandan.

It is probable that Ni Ge’er was a kunqiang (kunqu) nandan, because during this

21 Cheng is quoting the original text seen in vol. 38 of Wuxing yiwen bu 吴兴艺文补 [The Supplement of Arts and Literatures] by the Ming scholar, Dong Sizhang 董斯张.

54 period, kunqiang was undergoing several important changes led by the literati, and increasing in popularity. The literati had not only participated in the improvement of kunqiang music and scripts, but also began to form their own troupes. By late Ming

Dynasty, kunqu became the predominant theatre, and private troupes and commercial troupes performing kunqu were prosperous. Many records of the time represent the close relationship between nandan in these troupes and the literati.

In the private troupes, the relationship between nandan and the literati was based on a master-servant relationship, which could be further divided into various subcategories. The literati were usually the xiqu instructors training nandan, the students, in private troupes. For example, the male troupe of Hou Xun and Hou Chaozong was a very famous private troupe featuring a high quality of performance. Hou Xun was Hou

Chaozong’s father. They lived in the Wanli and Chongzhen (AD 1628-1644) period (Li

X. 127). The training of Hou’s male troupe was recorded by Hu Jiezhi, a scholar who lived around the early Qing Dynasty:

Hou Chaozong has taste in music and singing. He buys boys from Suzhou and employs famous teachers to teach them. He will look at the music scores [while they are studying singing], and doesn’t allow a single error…when there is something wrong with the music, he will be the first one to figure it out just by listening. Even the old xiqu actors admire his talent. At first, [his father Hou Xun] also had interest in this. Hou Xun commanded the private troupe to perform absolutely according to the regulations [of the performing art]. He took his young boy actors to the court, and asked them to observe the loyalty and evilness of various officials of high political status. Then, the actors imitated [what they saw] and performed on the stage. Their imitation displayed the spirit [of the officials], which made the officials laugh. When [Hou Xun] retired and went back home, the boy actors were well trained by Hou Chaozong to entertain his father. Hou Xun was very happy. Among the troupes of Hou’s hometown [in Henan province], the private troupe of Hou is the best (Sun C. 186).

55

Hou Chaozong (AD 1618-1654) was the one of The Four Gentlemen22 of the late Ming

Dynasty. His grandfather and father were dismissed from office because they were opposed to eunuch dictators. Hou Chaozong was famous for his literary achievements.

The male troupe of the Hou family was very famous from the Wanli period to the

Chongzhen period under the lead of Hou Xun and his son Hou Chaozong after (Li Xiao

127). Since Hou Chaozong only lived ten years into the Qing Dynasty, one can assume that the training tradition of Hou’s male troupe that is described was the practice of the late Ming Dynasty. Hou Xun trained his actors seriously in acting skills, even providing opportunities for them to directly observe the type of characters that they would perform, so that his actors could represent the spirit of the characters. Hou Chaozong and the xiqu masters were both teachers in the troupe. The xiqu masters were likely in charge of teaching specific acting skills, with Hou Chaozong taking responsibility of checking the overall quality of the performance. The excellent performance of his male troupe not only brought pleasure of his father, but also won great fame in his hometown.

The hosts of private troupes were usually wealthy literati, because building up private troupes required money to support the livelihood of actors, musicians, and xiqu masters when demanded, as well as the expenses of performance such as costumes. Like

Hou Chaozong, many hosts of famous private troupes usually had taste in music, literature, and performance. If they had high demands of performance, their servant actors had to live up to that. Under their direction, the acting skills of actors, including

22 In the late Ming Dynasty, The Four Gentlemen were Chen Zhenhui, Hou Chaozong, Fang Yizhi, and Mao Pijiang. They were either famous for their talents in literature and philosophy, or for the righteous qualities and patriotism.

56 nandan, were very accomplished. In this way, the literati hosts not only satisfied their own artistic enjoyment, but also harvested admiration and praise from their peers.

In the records of Zhang Dai, we can see that he also developed friendly relations with some of his female and male actors. Zhang Dai recorded this event when he brought five of his actors to admire the snow:

“The snow fell some three feet four inches in the twelfth lunar month of the sixth year of Tianqi [1626]. The weather cleared up in the evening. I climbed up Dragon Mountain, sitting at the gate of the town god’s temple. Li Jiesheng, Gao Meisheng, Wang Wansheng, Ma Xiaoqing, and Pan Xiaofei waited upon me. The snow covered the entire range of mountains. The bright moon shone on the snow but failed to illuminate it brightly. The snow was dull white…. Ma Xiaoqing sang, and Li Jiesheng accompanied him on Xiao [a vertical bamboo flute]. The power of the cold awed the sound and choked it. [We] did not go back to sleep until midnight. Ma Xiaoqing and Pan Xiaofei hugged together and rolled down the hundred-Steps Avenue, until they reached the foot of the mountain. They stood there covered with snow, as though they had just taken a snow bath…” 23 (Shen 139-140)

Zhang Dai (AD 1597-1684 or 1689) was a famous scholar and poet living in Zhejiang province (Wu S. 310). His family loved kunqu, and the tradition of assembling private troupes began with his grandfather, when he abdicated his political position in 1606 (Li

Xiao 126). There were both male and female troupes in Zhang Dai’s private troupes.

According to Zhang Dai, his private troupes originated from the Wanli period, when his grandfather and some other literati began to have interest in assembling private troupes

(Zhang D. 41). As the host got a deeper understanding of theatre and performing art, the acting skills of his performers became increasingly better (41). He observed the changes of his family troupes from the time he was a young boy until his old age, so had a strong basis upon which to judge what was good and what was bad in terms of performing arts

23 The translation is by Shen. For original text see Zhang Dai, 72.

57 (41).

Therefore, Zhang Dai not only understood the performing art well, but had high demands of the acting skills of his actors. From the above record, it seems likely that the actors with better acting skills might get more opportunities to travel around with their master. Actors in a private troupe usually performed for their master or his friends when invited to his house, so opportunities to go outside the house were valued.

It is also possible that a nandan would be among those close to the master, as they also served as the sexual partners of the literati in the private troupes. Zhang Dai recorded the relationship between his friend Qi Zhixiang and a nandan, A Bao, in the essay “The

Partiality of Qi Zhixiang” (Qi Zhixiang pi), which was collected in his book, Dream

Reminiscences of Tao’an (Tao’an mengyi):

A Bao is as coquettish as a gentle girl. He acts as a spoiled girl. He refuses to touch any other man [except for his master Qi Zhixiang] and pretends to be shy. To be with him is like eating an olive: the sweetness will come after the bitterness in the beginning… At first you may dislike him, but after meeting [him], you will miss him. Qi Zhixiang is good at music and he teaches his family troupe by himself. He teaches them the script of the play word by word, and demands that [the delivery of] one word should be polished a hundred times. A Bao and his peers in ths troupe can understand the music and their master’s meaning well. During the fall of (in 1645), Qi Zhixiang escaped back to his hometown. On his way, he met bandits and almost lost his life. A Bao accompanied him throughout all the dangers. During the rebellion of Taizhou (in 1646), the money and luggage of Qi Zhixiang were all robbed. A Bao economically supported his master Qi Zhixiang by singing along the road… Qi Zhixiang left his wife just like taking off his shoes; however, his boy-lover was as important as his own life (Zhang D. 42).

According to the above record, the relationship between the nandan A Bao, and his master was so deep that it even withstood the test of life and death, and surpassed the relationship between Qi Zhixiang and his wife. Qi Zhixiang had a good taste in music, and taught his actors seriously. A Bao had good studying skills in performance, and his

58 good performance skills onstage, and attractive attributes offstage, such as gentle temperament and chastity, captivated the literati.

Not every nandan was like A Bao in showing such great loyalty and love to his master. Nandan in the commercial troupes were more independent than their counterparts in the private troupes. However, because the social status of the literati was higher than the actors, master-servant relationship was still the basic pattern of the relationship.

A good illustration is this example from “Passing the Sword Gate” (Guo jianmen) in Dream Reminiscences of Tao’an, where Zhang Dai described his experience seeing a performance by a commercial troupe:

…in the afternoon, the actors performed the play, The Western Chamber (Xi )… The actors were from Xinghua troupe, and my former actors Ma Xiaoqing and Lu Ziyun were in that troupe now… Yang Yuan asked Ma Xiaoqing: “Today’s performance is very different, why?” Ma Xiaoqing responded: “because my master is in the audience. My master has a strong appreciation for [xiqu]. He hired teachers to teach xiqu [in his private troupes]. When actors come to his house [to perform], it is like ‘passing the Sword Gate’. How dare we perform carelessly?’…” (Zhang D. 76-77).

Ma Xiaoqing had formerly belonged to Zhang Dai’s private troupe, and at the time when

Zhang Dai wrote this essay, Ma had joined the commercial troupe called Xinghua.

“Sword Gate” is the name of the rugged pass in the north frontier of Sichuan province.

During that period, it was the most important pass to enter Sichuan, which is a basin. Ma

Xiaoqing used “Sword Gate” to describe how hard it was to perform for his former master. Furthermore, Ma Xiaoqing was implying that once the actor met Zhang Dai’s performance expectations, he or she would have a successful performance path in the future, just like the person who successfully traveled the pass to enter into Sichuan basin.

Because Zhang Dai came to see the performance, the actors acted especially carefully,

59 which made the show different from before.

Usually there were two situations in the commercial troupes under which actors came to the house of the literati. First, the literati invited an entire commercial troupe to perform for him. In this case, the actors had to entertain their literati audience, and in turn they could get a rich reward as well as some solid criticism based on their performance.

In this case, the relationship between actors (including nandan) and the literati could be entertainers and customers. Second, actors could request to visit the literati in person, and they might be granted permission. The likely reason why they hoped to visit the literati might be to get valuable suggestions to improve their acting skills. Thus, nandan could build up a temporary student-teacher relationship with the literati. It might also be that actors hoped to get more attention from the literati through the private visit, which might result in a personal patronage.

As demonstrated by Zhang Dai, it was common for the literati to go out to see a performance by the commercial troupes in a public theatre or in another literati’s house.

Once the literati with discerning taste in performance sat in the audience, the actors might try harder to perform. If they satisfied that person’s artistic demand, they might gain reward, as well as a good reputation. The literati may compose poems or write essays for them, such as Pan Zhisheng did, which would be effective advertising propaganda. Also, it is possible that the literati who possessed the rich and powerful personal relations in the political world might help actors receive low-level positions, as was alluded to in the quote by Chen Hongmo from mid-Ming. In contrast, if the actors did not perform well, they might get a bad reputation, which would lead to the loss of their future audience.

Therefore, the literati could play an important role in deciding an actor’s future.

60 This literati/actor relationship was particularly important for the nandan, known also for their homosexual relationship with the literati as demonstrated in novels and the literati’s other writings. In the novel The Gossip of Taowu (Taowu Xianping), the Ming scholar Bu Ti Zhuan Ren describes a beautiful nandan, Wei Yunqing, in a commercial kunqu troupe. At one point in the novel, “scholar Wang invites Wei Yunqing’s troupe to perform in his house. After the performance, Wei left Wang stayed in Wang’s home at

Wang’s request. Wang asks Wei to pour him wine, and then requires Wei to sleep with him. Wei follows Wang without any indication of rejection or shame” (Zhang Z. 522).

This novel also demonstrates that scholars could invite a commercial troupe to perform in his private location, and, like female prostitutes, nandan from those troupes could entertain the scholars not only through performance, but by offering wine and providing sexual services.

Pan Zhiheng refers to a nandan in the commercial troupe of Hao Kecheng: “the father of Xu Pian, a female actor, is famous for the principal dan roles. He is very coquettish and the price for him to provide sexual services is far more expensive than the famous female prostitute Jiang” (Pan 51). This record shows that a nandan could make a lot of money by providing sexual services. The fame of performance and physical beauty might help him make more money in the act of selling his body. Also, in the late Ming, nandan were clearly not substitutes, but in competition with female prostitutes in the sexual market, as will be discussed further in section 4.5.

There were also nandan in the commercial troupes, however, who were not

61 willing to provide sexual services. In the novel Love and Sacrifice (Qing lie ji)24, collected in the book Cap and Harpins (Bian er chai), Wen Sheng, a prospective nandan, was considering whether he should join a kunqu troupe:

Inn owner: I have just assembled a new kunqiang troupe, and I need a zhengdan actor, if you are willing to join us, you will get ten ounces of silver as a bonus for participating in the troupe. You will also have income every day after that. Nandan: I am afraid that if I join the troupe, I will suffer qingbo from them [the actors in the troupe]. Inn owner: No, you are wrong. In the troupe of yiyangqiang, it is more likely to endure qingbo, but in a kunqu troupe, one should abstain from [qingbo] before being accepted by the troupe. You only need to go to the troupe when there is a performance and live in my inn when you are off- stage (Zuixihu 203).

The term “qingbo” means giddy and frivolous as an adjective, and refers to “dally with” as a verb. Qingbo mentioned by Wen Sheng refers to forced sexual encounters and intercourse with the troupe members. The inn owner was also the troupe leader of a commercial troupe performing kunqu. According to him, there might be a rule for a prospective actor in a kunqu troupe to avoid dallying with other actors. Also, the Inn owner assured Wen Sheng that he could arrange his life freely when he was not performing. Judging from this excerpt, there might have been nandan who were harassed by their peers in a troupe. Even though nandan in a kunqu troupe could be protected from harassment by his peers, the rule did not guarantee the actor’s protection from harassment outside of the troupe, especially by officials with high social status. Their rejection usually resulted in the tragic ending of one’s life.

Wen Sheng joined the troupe, and became a wonderful nandan. In the end, he

24 Love and Sacrifice is one of the four stories in the book Cap and Hairpins written by the late Ming Dynasty scholar Zuixihu Xinyuezhuren. This novel was probably published in the Chongzhen period.

62 sacrificed his own life to preserve his chastity. In this novel, Wen Sheng had inherent talent and outstanding appearance, and he was good at singing and acting. Thus, he attracted a customer in province. This customer was a relative of a high official.

He liked making friends with officials and having sex with young boys. He invited Wen

Sheng’s troupe to perform in his house and wanted Wen to stay after the performance. At first, Wen rejected his request. Then, threatened, Wen offered wine to him. Wen was so shamed, while this customer was very happy. Then the customer tried to flirt with Wen, and Wen rejected him again. Wen requested to be allowed to go home and promised to come back the next day. The customer was so angry that he said: “I can let people live or die. People who follow me will become wealthy easily, while if they disobey, their feet and hands will be cut off. If you like, follow my requirement. If you do not, I will ask people to tie you and force you to have sex with me…” (Zuixihu 223). Under such powerful pressure, Wen killed himself in the end. In Wen Sheng, we see the exact opposite of Wei Yunqing－a nandan in a commercial troupe who rejected the customer’s request and goes so far as to kill himself rather than give in. Therefore, in homosexual relationships with nandan, the literati were in an advantaged status. Nandan in the commercial troupes still had to act subserviently, and had no rights to reject the literati’s sexual advances. The difference is that the hierarchy of their masters in the commercial troupe sphere was not as definite compared with that of the nandan masters in a private troupe.

In general, in the late Ming Dynasty, the relationship between nandan and the literati was on a servant-master basis. The servants had to obey the masters’ demand in terms of sex and performance. If they satisfied the demands of the masters, they would

63 get profits, opportunities to travel, money, and even a good future, such as the chance of being low-status officials. The ways to entertain their masters were through performance, attractive physical beauty, offering wine, and providing sexual services. In reality, such ways were no different than those of female prostitutes trying to entertain their literati customers.

4.5 Homosexuality and the Idea of Qing

In the late Ming Dynasty, there were female actors in private troupes and female prostitutes who also performed kunqu as amateurs. Nandan who acted the role of women may also provide sexual services to the literati. The literati enjoyed such homosexual relationships, and the sincere love between men was appreciated by the literati.

Homosexuality has existed since ancient times. In pre-Han and Han Dynasty, male same-sex relations happened mainly between kings or emperors and their male favorites, according to the philosophical writings and historical records (Zhang Z. 4).

From the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, the records on male homosexuality are limited (5-6). From the Ming and Qing dynasties there are a great number of minute records on the phenomenon of homosexuality (6).

The Ming scholar Shen Defu mentions that his period, Wanli period, is like

Taikang period, during which homosexuality was flourishing. During this time, homosexual relations usually “involved one of the partners being a teenager, as young as twelve and as old as twenty”, and the boy “typically belonging to the class of ‘vile people’—like servants, actors, or prostitutes” (Vitiello 15). “Age and class have, in turn, an effect on gender, with the boy being as a result feminized to some degree, and carry an

64 attendant distribution of sexual roles according to which the boy is meant to strictly play the sexually receptive role in anal intercourse” (15).

Nandan satisfied the above demands. Nandan and other actors in the private troupes were usually beautiful young boys or girls from around twelve years old to around twenty-two years old. At this young age, the beautiful young boys usually had similar qualities of good-looking girls, and nandan who were trained to perform female roles would have been even more “feminized. Furthermore, on the basis of master- servant relationship, facing the literati whose social status was higher, nandan in both private and commercial troupes had no choice but to satisfy the literati’s desire through serving as sexual partners.

The literati enjoyed and flaunted their homosexual relationship with nandan, as well as appreciated their peers who had the same sex interests. Many literati expressed that they had the affairs of male love with actors. In addition to Zhang Dai’s friend, Qi

Zhixiang, who had an actor lover named A Bao discussed earlier, Zhang Dai himself stated that he loved beautiful girls and young boys in his writing, “The Epitaph Written by Myself” (Ziwei muzhiming). Also, Pan Zhiheng reveals that his poem, “Music of

Guangling” (Guangling san), is to recall the homosexual relationship with several nandan

(Pan 211). The literati not only don’t conceal their love of male actors, but also praise their fellows who have the same sexual interest in male love. According to Zhang Dai, his friend, Qi Zhixiang’s idiosyncrasy of loving A Bao is very valuable, which proves

Qi’s profound qing (romantic love and emotion), and people without idiocyncrasies did not deserve to be friends (Zhang D. 42).

The fashion of homosexuality in the late Ming Dynasty was related with the idea

65 of qing, which not only affected the relationship between nandan and the literati but as we have seen, also affected the standards that the literati used to evaluate their performance.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the idea of qing advocated by the playwright Tang

Xianzu had profound impact in the circles of literature and theatre (Zhou Yude 126).

Tang Xianzu “was a disciple of the Taizhou thinker Luo Rufang” (Vitiello 62). The

Taizhou school was founded by Wang Gen (AD 1483-1541), the follower of Wang

Yangming’s xinxue (learning of mind-heart). Luo Rufang (AD 1515-1588), an important philosopher in the Taizhou school, provided the notion of chizi zhixin (the mind of the infant) (Mou 422). Affected by Luo Rufang’s idea, Li Zhi (AD1527-1602) offered the concept of tongxin shuo (the idea of childlike mind), which stressed the spontaneity of the mind-heart “showed as expressing true sentiment naturally” (Mou 444). Li Zhi’s tongxin shuo stimulated wide interest among the literati.

Both Luo Rufang and Li Zhi had deep impact in Tang Xianzu (Zhou Yude 124,

126). Tang Xianzu provided the idea of zhiqing (profound qing). Here, qing refers to love.

In his dedication for the play, The Peony Pavilion, he said: “the reason why qing (love) is engendered is unknown. The extremely profound qing can make the living die and the dead spring back to life. If the living cannot die or the dead cannot come to life, the qing

[of them] is not deep enough” (Wu S. 152). The qing Tang Xianzu mentioned here referred to the romantic love between male and female. The play’s theme is in opposition to Confucian morality, and shows the oppressed natural passion and desire of human beings.

Tang Xianzu’s idea of zhiqing was also used in describing the love between males.

66 As mentioned in this period, there were many novels and collections with the theme of male homosexuality. In chapter three of the novel, Chaste Love (Qing zhen Ji), collected in the book Cap and Hairpins, Tu Biji, a talented and romantic scholar said that “qing can make a male to be a female or change a female to a male; qing can make the living die or the dead return to life. The qing that cannot surpass the restriction between men and women, as well as between living and dying, is not profound qing” (Zuixihu 98).

Tang Xianzu was not the only scholar who advocated the idea of qing. Feng

Menglong (AD1574-1646), the famous scholar and dramatist, created qingjiao (the doctrine of qing). “Feng Menglong clearly underscores the transcendental nature of love and the notion that human love is but one expression of cosmic love (Vitiello 56).

Although “Feng regards the union of man and woman as the ultimate pattern of love,” nowhere in The Anthology of Feng Menglong (Feng Menglong quanji), by Feng

Menglong, “is it hinted that love between men might be ontologically different from love between men and women. Nor is it suggested that these two forms of love substantially differ from the love between two buds on the same branch of a tree, some cases of which are indeed recorded” (Vitiello 56). In his book, Feng Menglong quoted the scholar Yu

Dafu’s opinion: “the female is used to give birth to children, and male is used to play with; men are more beautiful than women, which is just like male animals who are always prettier than their female counterparts; thus, if men could bear children, there is no need for women to exist” (Feng M. 7: 910). According to Yu, male love had more advantages compared with heterosexuality. In the late Ming Dynasty, “the notion of

‘love’ is predicated upon the erasure of all boundaries — even the boundary between the life and death…let alone the more mundane boundaries of class and gender” (Vitiello 64-

67 65).

The idea of qing not only affected the homosexual relationship between the literati and nandan but also affected the aesthetic value in kunqu. According to Tang

Xianzu, the world is composed of qing, poetry and theatre come from qing, and people have qing from birth (Zhou Yude 127). He also claims that when people’s qing is profound, poetry comes out because speech is not enough to express qing, dance is created when reciting poetry is not enough; and xiqu, that combines both singing and dancing, is created when poetry and dance are not enough to express qing (127). Here, qing is not restricted tos romantic love. Philosophically, Tang Xianzu’s qing is a ceaseless comic spirit that can “give birth to heaven and earth, as well as demon and god”

(Zhou Yude 128). In terms of human nature, qing contains all the spontaneous emotions and desires which includes love (128). In terms of art and literature, qing is the motive power of the creation of the art, and the power that can move people’s heart (128).

As mentioned before, the aim of a play was to write qing, the ultimate goal of performance was to represent qing. Therefore, qing became an important criterion to evaluate the acting of nandan. As reference by Pan Zhiheng, the nandan Jiang Ru could represent the qing of Du Liniang in the performance of The Peony Pavilion. In addition to his excellent acting skills, and his understanding of the script under the help of his master,

Jiang Ru was a person who was able to be possessed by qing, which helped him successfully express the qing of the character:

The most valued thing is that the actor could understand the qing of Du Liniang. Speaking of qing, [we] do not know [when] it begins, and [when] it ends; [we] do not know [where] it goes, and from [where] it comes. Within the extent and vanished, the far and the close, as well as life and death, must come qing, and [we] do not know why it is like that. [We] do not know the reason, therefore it is impossible to exhaust qing. Therefore

68 [the condition] of the dead springing to life and the living dying [because of qing] is nothing out of the ordinary. Therefore, people who can be possessed will have qing, and people who have qing can then represent qing (Pan 73).

The condition that Du Liniang died for love, and coming to life for love was abnormal in the mundane world. However, Du Liniang’s true love made her story like a true story.

Pan Zhiheng knew that he watched a performance that was not what happened in the reality. However, it was nandan Jiang Ru’s sincere emotion and true love that made his performance like what happened in the reality, and therefore moved Pan Zhiheng.

Because nandan Jiang Ru possessed sincere emotion, he could understand the true love of Du Liniang. Because he was moved by Du Liniang’s love and possessed the same love, he could represent her love. Therefore, zhiqing here refers to Du liniang’s being possessed by love, and Jiang Ru’s sincere emotion in performing Du Liniang.

In the late Ming Dynasty, Li Zhi stressed the spontaneity of the mind-heart, which encouraged people to freely show their sentiments naturally. Tang Xianzu’s idea of zhiqing was applied to heterosexuality and homosexuality. In the fashion of homosexuality, nandan was an important group to provide sexual services for the literati.

They could do that out of their own passion for the literati. Also, they could be forced to provide sexual services, because of their inferior social status. For the literati, having homosexual relationship with nandan could be the manifestation of their sincere heart and emotion. For nandan, the idea of qing also affected their performance. There was no way for them to represent qing (inner spirit and emotion) of the characters unless they were persons who could be possessed by the same qing and perform with those sincere emotions.

69 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

The development of nandan in the Ming Dynasty can be divided into three stages or periods: the preparation in the early Ming Dynasty, the formation in the mid-Ming

Dynasty, and the flourishing in the late Ming Dynasty. Policies, philosophy, and the literati played different roles in the development of nandan throughout these the three periods.

In the early Ming dynasty, though there are few records of nandan, the policies of restricting female prostitutes and the revival of Neo-Confucianism provided opportunities for nandan to develop. In order to prevent officials indulging in entertainments and enjoyments, there were several restrictions of guanji in the early Ming Dynasty. These restrictions could have provided favorable conditions for male actors, including nandan to take over guanji’s responsibilities of performing and providing sexual services to the officials in the transitional period between early and mid-Ming. With the revival of Neo-

Confucianism in the early Ming Dynasty, the idea of separating women and men as well as keeping chastity for women grew stronger. Xiqu troupes may have needed to follow this philosophical ethos in order to survive and develop. One can speculate that it was in the early Ming Dynasty that the structure of male troupe began to spread.

From the mid-Ming, the literati played an important role in the prosperity of kunqu and the development of nandan. The political, economic, and philosophical circumstances provided opportunities for the literati to participate in the xiqu activities in the mid-Ming. The participation of the literati contributed to the successful transformation from nanxi to kunqu, and the formation of artistic features of kunqu,

70 which affected the acting skills of nandan. The literati were not merely the consumers of theatre, but the promoters and creators of theatrical activities and creativity. The development and flourishing of nandan was closely linked with the prosperity of kunqu.

In the Late Ming, kunqu was flourishing and there are many records of nandan in terms of their onstage acting skills and their relationships with the literati offstage. If nandan was the substitute of female actors in the transitional period of early and mid-

Ming Dynasty, during this period, the existence of many female actors in the private troupes might testify that nandan began to have equal appeal with their female counterparts in both performing onstage and sexual attraction offstage.

Through the help of the literati, the art of nandan achieved a high level in the late

Ming. The literati set the standards of performing, critiqued nandan’s acting skills according to the standards, and taught nandan the way to achieve the standards. The relationship between nandan and the literati was on a master-servant basis. On one hand, it stimulated nandan to improve their acting skills, while on the other, it determined the nandan to be part of homosexual relationship. The idea of qing not only encouraged the literati to appreciate the homosexual relationship with nandan, but also affected the nandan’s acting aesthetics of representing qing.

This thesis outlines the development of nandan and the possible reasons that contributed to the flourishing of nandan in the Ming Dynasty. On the basis of this research, further study can be done. For example, one can compare the art of nandan in the Ming with that in the Qing and later periods, when jingju nandan became popular.

Such a comparison will further elucidate how social background and audience affected the development of nandan.

71 APPENDIX

THE TIMELINE OF THE MING DYNASTY

Time Name of the Period Name of the Emperor AD 1368-1398 Hongwu Zhu Yuanzhang AD 1399-1402 Jianwen Zhu Yunwen AD 1403-1424 Yongle Zhu Di AD 1425 Hongxi Zhu Gaozhi AD 1426-1435 Xuande Zhu Zhanji AD 1436-1499 Zhengtong Zhu Qizhen AD 1450-1457 Jingtai Zhu Qiyu AD 1457-1464 Tianshun Zhu Qizhen AD 1465-1487 Chenghua Zhu Jianshen AD 1488-1505 Hongzhi Zhu Youtang AD 1506-1521 Zhengde Zhu Houzhao AD 1522-1566 Jiajing Zhu Houcong AD 1567-1572 Longqing Zhu Zaihou AD 1573-1620 Wanli Zhu Yijun AD 1620 Taichang Zhu Changluo AD 1621-1627 Tianqi Zhu Youxiao AD 1628-1644 Chongzhen Zhu Youjian

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