∫ SPIRIT AND SELF IN MEDIEVAL CHINA Published with the support of the School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies, University of Hawai‘i ∫ SPIRIT AND SELF IN MEDIEVAL CHINA The Shih-shuo hsin-yü and Its Legacy Nanxiu Qian university of hawai‘i press honolulu © 2001 University of Hawai‘i Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 060504030201 654321 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Qian, Nanxiu. Spirit and self in medieval China: the Shih-shuo hsin-yü and its legacy / Nanxiu Qian. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8248-2309-5 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-8248-2397-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Liu, I-ch’ing, 403-444. Shih shuo hsin yè. I. Title: Shih-shuo hsin-yü and its legacy. II. Title. DS736.L5363 Q25 2001 895.1'8240208—dc21 00-062949 Chapter 8 first appeared in Nan Nuu: Men, Women, and Gender in Early and Imperial China, Kononklijke Brill N.V., Leiden, The Netherlands (1999). Chapter 9 first appeared in Early Medieval China 4 (1998): 49–82. Both appear here in revised form with the permission of the publishers. University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Designed by Deborah Hodgdon Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group To Richard B. Mather ∫ Contents List of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi Chinese Dynasties xiii Japanese Periods Involved in the Japanese Shih-shuo Imitations xv Introduction 1 Part 1 From Character Appraisal to Character Writing: The Formation of the Shih-shuo Genre Chapter 1. Character Appraisal: The Foundation of the Shih-shuo t’i 17 Chapter 2. Character Appraisal and the Formation of Wei-Chin Spirit 43 Chapter 3. Shih-shuo t’i: A Sui Generis Genre 84 Part 2 The Narrative Art of the Shih-shuo hsin-yü Chapter 4. Between Order and Disorder: The Shih-shuo Taxonomy of Human Nature 101 Chapter 5. Using Body to Depict Spirit: The Shih-shuo Characterization of “Persons” 151 Part 3 Discontinuity along the Line of Continuity: Imitations of the Shih-shuo hsin-yü Chapter 6. Body and Heart: T’ang and Sung Imitations 193 Chapter 7. Things and Intent: Ming and Ch’ing Imitations 247 viii Contents Chapter 8. Milk and Scent: Women Shih-shuo 283 Chapter 9. An Alien Analogue: The Japanese Imitation Daito seigo 319 Chapter 10. New and Old: The Last Wave of Shih-shuo Imitations 339 Conclusion: The Self and the Mirror 368 Notes 381 Glossary 459 Selected Bibliography 473 Index 503 ∫ Figures Figure 2.1. Lan-t’ing hsü (Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering). Attributed to Wang Hsi-chih. Feng Ch’eng-su’s copy. 49 Figure 2.2. Wei-mo pien (Story of Vimalakirti) (detail). Tun-huang cave No. 103. East wall. 50 Figure 2.3. Kao-i t’u (Portraits of eminent recluses) (detail). Attributed to Sun Wei. 51 Figure 2.4. The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove and Jung Ch’i-ch’i. South wall, tomb at Hsi-shan ch’iao. 60 Figure 2.5. The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove and Jung Ch’i-ch’i. North wall, tomb at Hsi-shan ch’iao. 61 Figure 3.1. T’ang hsieh-pen Shih-shuo hsin-shu ts’an-chüan (Fragment of the T’ang hand copy of the Shih-shuo hsin-shu). 86 Figure 3.2. Sung edition of the Shih-shuo hsin-yü (1a). 87 Figure 4.1. Feng-tui t’ieh (Letter to Ch’ih Tao-mao). Attributed to Wang Hsien-chih. 106 Figure 5.1. Lo-shen t’u (Nymph of the Lo River). Attributed to Ku K’ai- chih. Detail from a Sung copy. 160 Figure 8.1. Li Ch’ing’s preface to his Nü Shih-shuo (1a). 284 Figure 8.2. Yen Heng’s Nü Shih-shuo (1a). 285 Figure 9.1. Hattori Nankaku’s Daito seigo (chüan 1, 10b–11a). 336 ∫ Acknowledgments Growing up in Nanking gave me a false sense of security. I always believed that the characters in the Shih-shuo hsin-yü not only inhabited the same physical space I did but that they also partook of the same local “spirit.” We understood each other. I felt that I could rub shoulders with the “or- chids and jade trees” of the Wang and Hsieh clans along the Black-clothes Alley, and listen to the pure-talk debates of monks and gentlemen at the site of the Tile-coffin Monastery. So when the late Professor Kuan Hsi- ung, one of my mentors at Nanking University, suggested that I explore a topic related to the Shih-shuo hsin-yü for my M.A. thesis, I agreed with- out hesitation. I thought it would be an exciting and easy job, something that could be done with great joy but without much effort. I was half right. Little did I know that the study of the Shih-shuo hsin-yü would prove to be an intellectual abyss. My M.A. thesis in Chinese on the aesthetics of the Shih-shuo hsin-yü grew into a Yale Ph.D. dissertation (“Being One’s Self: Narrative Art and Taxonomy of Human Nature in the Shih-shuo hsin- yü”), which became, in turn, an examination of the entire Shih-shuo tradition—from the genesis of the work in the Wei-Chin period to the lit- erally dozens of Shih-shuo imitations produced in China and Japan over the next 1,500 years. Were it not for a timely call to “cease and desist” from my many supportive friends and colleagues, I would still be working on this book. I am most grateful to Professor Richard B. Mather, who, as my spiri- tual father, has been the best possible example of both scholarship and humanity. This book is a small token of my vast esteem for him. I am also xii Acknowledgments indebted to Professor Richard J. Smith for urging me to expand the scope of my study and for offering valuable advice, incisive criticism, and soul- touching inspiration over a long span of time. Thanks also to Professors Kang-I Sun Chang, Richard John Lynn, Ch’eng Ch’ien-fan, Chou Hsün-ch’u, and Haun Saussy for their insight- ful comments and unfailing support; to Drs. Mervin and Elaine Needell for their editorial assistance and warm friendship; to my Rice colleagues and students for their constant help and encouragement; to Rice Univer- sity for much-needed released time and research funds; to the Library of Congress, the Peking Library, the Peking University Library, the Nanking Library, the Nanking University Library, the Taiwan Central Library, the Library of Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, Japan’s National Diet Library, and the Waseda University Library, for their kind assistance; to my editors, Sharon Yamamoto, Masako Ikeda, and Lee S. Motteler, who made the pub- lication of this book possible; and last but not least, to my family, who walked me through all the adversities in my life. Finally, a word to Professor Marston Anderson: When we first sat down together to structure what would become my dissertation, you advised me to think of it as a book for a broad audience. Your idea was that the Shih- shuo hsin-yü deserved wider exposure in the Western world, and that per- haps I could complement in some way Richard Mather’s masterful schol- arly translation of the work. A genius who could have added more weight to this book died far too young. Now, at least, I can lay this book in front of your tomb. ∫ Chinese Dynasties Shang ca. 16th cent.–ca. 11th cent. b.c. Western Chou ca. 11th cent.–771 b.c. Ch’un-ch’iu 770–476 b.c. Chan-kuo 475–221 b.c. Ch’in 221–206 b.c. Former Han 206 b.c.– a.d. 24 Later Han 25–220 Three Kingdoms Wei 220–265 Shu 221–263 Wu 222–280 Western Chin 265–316 Eastern Chin 317–420 Hou Chao 328–352 Ch’ien Liang 313–376 Ch’ien Ch’in 351–394 Hou Ch’in 384–417 Pei Liang 397–439 Southern and Liu Sung 420–479 Northern Wei 386–534 Northern Ch’i 479–502 Dynasties Liang 502–557 Northern Ch’i 550–557 Ch’en 557–589 Northern Chou 557–581 Sui 581–618 T’ang 618–907 Five Dynasties 907–960 xiv Chinese Dynasties Northern Sung 960–1127 Liao 916–1125 Southern Sung 1127–1279 Chin 1115–1234 Yüan 1271–1368 Ming 1368–1644 Ch’ing 1644–1911 Modern 1911 to date ∫ Japanese Periods Involved in the Japanese Shih-shuo Imitations Heian 794–1185 Kamakura 1185–1333 Nambokucho 1336–1392 Muromachi 1333–1573 Sengoku 1482–1558 Momoyama 1573–1603 Tokugawa 1603–1868 Meiji 1868–1912 Source: Suwa Tokutaro, Nihonshi no Yoryo (Outline of Japanese history). Tokyo: Obunsha, 1957. ∫ Introduction This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the Shih-shuo hsin-yü (con- ventionally translated as “A New Account of Tales of the World”) and its literary legacy—a legacy that lasted for well over 1,600 years in China and that also extended to other parts of East Asia during this period. Compiled by the Liu-Sung (420–479) Prince of Liu I-ch’ing (403–444) and his staff around a.d. 430,1 the Shih-shuo hsin-yü consists of more than 1,130 his- torical anecdotes about elite life in the late Han (ca. 150–220) and Wei- Chin (220–420) periods—what is generally regarded as China’s early me- dieval period.