The Eternal Present of the Past HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd i 3/20/2007 2:10:25 PM China Studies Published for the Institute for Chinese Studies University of Oxford Editors Glen Dudbridge Frank Pieke VOLUME 12 HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd ii 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM The Eternal Present of the Past Illustration, Theater, and Reading in the Wanli Period, 1573–1619 By Li-ling Hsiao LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd iii 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM Cover Illustration: Min Qiji. The nineteenth illustration of Xixiang ji. Color print. Wuxing: Min Qiji, 1640. Museum für Ostasiatische, Köln. Inv.-No. R61,2 [no. 19]. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln, Germany. This book is printed on acid-free paper. ISSN 1570-1344 ISBN 978 90 04 15643 2 © Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd iv 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM To my Parents, Who Continue the Tradition of Chinese Art and Literature as Puppeteers HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd v 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd vi 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM CONTENTS Acknowledgments ....................................................................... ix List of Illustrations ...................................................................... xi Introduction: Theater, Illustration, and Time ........................... 1 Chapter One: Toward the Contextualization of Woodblock Illustration: A Critique of Art Historical Method ................. 5 Chapter Two: The Stage or the Page: Competing Conceptions of the Play in the Wanli Period ........................ 38 Chapter Three: Performance Illustration .................................. 87 Chapter Four: Performance as an Interaction with the Past .... 175 Chapter Five: Image as an Interaction with the Past ............... 202 Chapter Six: Reading as an Interaction with the Past .............. 251 Conclusion: The Role of the Publisher ..................................... 293 Appendix ..................................................................................... 299 Glossary ....................................................................................... 305 Bibliography ................................................................................ 313 Index ........................................................................................... 335 HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd vii 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd viii 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book evolved over a period of sixteen years. It began to take shape in 1990, when I was a master’s degree student in Chinese art at Chi- nese Culture University in Taipei. I continued to test and develop my ideas while a doctoral student in Chinese art and literature at Oxford University and a faculty member at the Universities of Minnesota and North Carolina. During these years, I was extremely fortunate in my teachers, colleagues, and friends, and I bene ted enormously from the experience and the insight of others. Professor Shi Shouqian, later the director of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, encouraged me to take up the study of Chinese book illustration while I was his student at Chinese Culture University. Under his guidance, I acquired basic skills of visual analysis that have served me well ever since. The late Edward Chien, professor of history at Taiwan University, further encouraged me, and set me an example of scholarly rigor and commitment that I have tried—not with complete success—to live up to. His death from cancer in 1996 was a terrible loss to the profession of Chinese studies, as all his students felt at the time and continue deeply to feel. My fellow graduate student Yuecen Zhong cared for Professor Chien during his nal illness. Her sel essness during those painful months remains an inspiring memory. Xu Hong, then the chair of the history department at Taiwan University, and his wife, Wang Zhizhi, professor of history at Fujen University, were extremely supportive of my work and extended to me their warm and unwavering friendship. I value their friendship to this day. My years as a doctoral student at Oxford University were the most enriching of my life. I owe this experience to the teachers, the staff, and the students of the Institute for Chinese Studies. I would par- ticularly like to thank Dr. Jessica Rawson, warden of Merton College, who co-supervised my work in its early stages; Dr. Alison Hardie and Dr. Henrietta Harrison, then my fellow graduate students, with whom I shared many pleasant hours of study and conversation; Dr. Robert Chard, an important mentor in the classroom; and Dr. Taotao Liu, Dr. Shelagh Vainker, Dr. Andrew Lo, and Professor Craig Clunas, who read my doctoral dissertation and provided helpful guidance and criticism. I would particularly like to thank Professor Glen Dudbridge, HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd ix 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM x acknowledgments who supervised the research of my dissertation. I have tried to follow the example of his commitment to scholarly excellence, but it has been no easy task. This book represents my effort. Its weaknesses are my own, its strengths are largely his. My debt to Professor Dudbridge is incalculable. I had the further good fortune while at Oxford to serve as personal assistant to Professor Michael Sullivan. Over a period of years, I helped Michael catalog his extraordinary collection of contemporary Chinese paintings. Michael’s love of Chinese art—guileless, tireless, sel ess—a lifelong act of service—is something I will not forget. Michael and his lovely wife Khoan took me in and made me feel a member of their fam- ily. Whatever I learned about Chinese painting, Michael and Khoan’s devotion to each other was the great lesson of the innumerable hours I spent in their home. I arrived at the University of North Carolina in 2002. From the very \ rst, I felt that I had found my home as a teacher and scholar. I thank my departmental colleagues Sahar Amer, Jan Bardsley, Inger Brodey, Mark Driscoll, Miles Fletcher, Eric Henry, Wendan Li, Robin Visser, and Nadia Yaqub, for their encouragement, assistance, and friendship. Gang Yue, chairman of the Department of Asian Studies, has been a staunch supporter of my research method and direction, and an invalu- able source of sound advice. I am lucky to have his assistance and the bene t of his conversation. Hsi-chu Bolick, East Asian bibliographer at Davis Library, has been a help in too many ways to count; she is the ace up my sleeve. I completed this work with the help of fellowships and grants pro- vided by the Institute of Arts and Humanities and the University of North Carolina. I am indebted to both institutions. My husband Dr. David Ross—himself part of the bounty of Oxford—advised me on matters of style throughout. I have him to thank wherever the language of this book contributes to the success of its argument. We hope that this book will one day inspire our daughter, Hsiao-fei, to embark on her own study of Chinese art and literature. HSIAO_f1_i-xix.indd x 3/20/2007 2:10:26 PM LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1–1. “The Banquet.” In Yipengxue, by Li Yu. N.p.: unknown publisher, 1628–1644. Reproduced from GBXQCK, 3rd series, box 4, vol. 6. Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1955–1957 .................................................... 36 3–1. Liang Chenyu. Yujue ji. Jinling: Fuchun Tang, 1581. Reproduced from GBXQCK, 1st series, box 6, 5:2.1a. Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1954 ............................. 91 3–2. Shi Hui. Baiyueting ji. Jinling: Shide Tang, 1589. Reproduced from GBXQCK, 1st series, box 1, 10:2.40b ... 91 3–3. Frontispiece of Diamond Sutra, from Dunhuang, 868. British Museum. Reproduced from Zhongguo meishu quanji: huihua bian, 20:2. Taipei: Jinxiu chubanshe, 1989 ... 94 3–4. Panel of a painted wooden screen, from the tomb of Sima Jinlong at Datong, Shanxi Province, 484. Height 81.5 cm. Datong City Museum, Shanxi, China. Reproduced from The Three Perfections, by Michael Sullivan, 21. New York: George Braziller, 1999, c. 1974 ............................................................................... 94 3–5. Quanxiang Sanguo zhi pinghua. Jian’an: the Yu family, 1321–23. Naikaku Bunko, Japan. Reproduced from Zhongguo gudian wenxue banhua xuanji, edited by Fu Xihua, 1:18–19. Shanghai: Renmin chubanshe, 1981 ................. 96 3–6. Wang Shifu. Xixiang ji. Beijing: The Yue family, 1498. Reproduced from Zhongguo gudian wenxue banhua xuanji, edited by Fu Xihua, 1:48 .................................................. 96 3–7. Picture of Four Beauties. Pingyang: The Ji family, 1115–1232. Reproduced from Chgoku kodai hanga ten, edited by Takimoto Kiroyuki, 89. Tokyo: Machida shilitsu kokusai hanga bijutsukan, 1988 ............................ 98 3–8. Mural painting in the Hall of King Mingying in the Temple of Guangsheng in Hongdong County in Shanxi Province, 1324. Reproduced from Zhongguo meishu quanji: huihua bian, 13:91. Taipei: Jinxiu chubanshe, 1989 .................................................................................