The Columbia Anthology of Yuan Drama
Page 42
86. The phrase beicao paofen 背槽拋糞 means, literally, “turn its back on the trough and shit.” The image of an animal turning against the one who feeds it and defecating conveys the idea of betrayal. Here it means that Pan’er will be able to seduce Zhou so that he will abandon Yinzhang.
87. Anthology: “Even as I am talking, here we are already arrived at Zhengzhou.”
88. Wives of officials received official recognition (fengzeng 封贈) according to their husband’s rank.
89. Panxiong 襻胸 is an item of clothing for the front of the body; it is tied with strings around the neck and at the back. Commentators find it hard to connect this to the way a courtesan brushes her hair; but it may simply mean that while a proper lady makes her chignon demurely attractive, a courtesan undresses to display her allure. The “deep mark” may just refer to how tightly a courtesan ties her chest binder.
90. “Wuling Stream” (Wuling xi 武陵溪) is a common trope referring to “encounter with the goddess” or “amorous encounter.” According to a story in Youming lu (Liu Yiqing [403–444]), Liu Chen 劉晨 and Ruan Zhao 阮肇 encounter goddesses on Tiantai Mountain and dally there, only to return home and find that generations had elapsed (Wang Genlin, Han Wei Liuchao biji xiaoshuo daguan, 697–98).
91. Anthology: “So you are Zhao Pan’er. Good! Good!”
92. Yida 倚大 means, literally, “to use my seniority”—that is, Zhao Pan’er claims to have authority as Song Yinzhang’s older sister.
93. Literally, “Why should I fight with you over raw food [i.e., not even wait for the food to be cooked]!” Zhou is saying, “What’s the big hurry? The time will come when I can deal with you.”
94. Literally, “I will bear with the firewood sticking under my ribs,” that is, “I will silently bear the pain myself.” Anthology: “The firewood sticking under my ribs is all securely in place.” Wen 穩, the word for “secure,” suggests ren 忍, “to bear” or “to endure.”
95. Anthology: “How do we know you can really give her a round of beating?”
96. The expression for husband here is the name Shuang Tongshu, the Shuang Lang or Shuang Jian mentioned in n. 56, this chap. “Such a fine specimen” is literally “kylin,” a mythical animal. Instead of “kylin,” Anthology has “charming lady.”
97. Literally, “shut the flesh blinds,” meaning “to close one’s eyes.”
98. Anthology: “Penultimate Coda.”
99. Anthology: “I don’t mind giving up a few silver ingots.” The expectation is, of course, for the man to pay up to buy a beautiful courtesan; Zhao’s offer to pay is highly unusual.
100. Literally, “I will brave the chance that nine in ten grains of rice turn out to be husks”—the chance that Zhou will become a good husband is minimal, but Zhao claims to embrace the risk.
101. Anthology: “Coda in Huangzhong Mode.”
102. Anthology: “the one in front of your eyes.”
103. Anthology: “Think of the time you were courting me—what did you say to me then? You heartless cad, may heaven punish you! Now you want to get rid of me, but I refuse to leave. (ZHOU SHE pushes her out the door.)”
104. Anthology: “Now this good-for-nothing baggage is gone, I’ll go to the inn and take that woman as wife.”
105. Literally, “the nine thousand lines from the triumphant gourd”—“gourd” (hulu 葫蘆) is a byword for “mouth” in Yuan drama.
106. While in this version Zhao Pan’er seems to be warning Song Yinzhang not to marry again, in Anthology the target is Zhou She rather than the idea of marriage: “YINZHANG: Let me take a look at that divorce paper. (YINZHANG hands over the paper.) PAN’ER (making a switch and handing it back:) Yinzhang, the next time you marry, you must produce this paper as evidence that you are free. Keep it safe. (YINZHANG receives the paper. Enter ZHOU SHE hurrying to overtake the two women.).”
107. The emperor’s palace is said to have nine gates (tianzi zhi men jiuchong 天子之門九重).
108. Dialogues and arias are inserted at this juncture in Anthology: “(Enter AN XIUSHI.) AN: Just now Zhao Pan’er sent someone with a message saying, ‘Song Yinzhang has secured a divorce paper. Hurry over to the prefect yamen with your appeal so you may marry her yourself.’ Here I’ve arrived at the gate of the yamen. Let me cry out: I’ve been wronged! PREFECT: Who’s making all that ruckus outside? Bring him in. ZHANG QIAN (with the scholar in tow:) Here’s the plaintiff. PREFECT: Who are you accusing? AN: I am An Xiushi, and I was engaged to marry Song Yinzhang. But then this Zhou She from Zhengzhou came and forced her to be his wife. I beg Your Honor to uphold justice for me. PREFECT: Who vouched for you at your betrothal? AN: It was Zhao Pan’er. PREFECT: Zhao Pan’er, you said Song Yinzhang already had a husband. Who is this man? PAN’ER: None other than this scholar An. (Sings:) [Buy Good Wine] He studied to be a Confucian scholar since childhood, / And stashed away a bellyful of knowledge from the Nine Classics. / Further, he lived in the same village and neighborhood as us. / She has accepted his engagement rings and pins and other valuables; / Obviously she is the intended wife of a gentleman. PREFECT: Zhao Pan’er, I ask you. Were you really the party that vouched for them at the betrothal? PAN’ER: Yes, I was. (Sings:) [Victory Song] Before Your Honor is she who vouched for them at the betrothal. / We didn’t expect the rogue to barge in with his schemes. / How could it be considered a public and proper marriage? / It was an obvious blow to custom and morality. / This day we appeal to Your Venerable Honor to adjudicate the case; / For pity’s sake, let your judgment be the union of husband and wife.”
109. In most of China’s imperial history, sons of officials were spared conscript service.
110. Song Yinzhang’s mother obviously does not deserve this judgment, although the description befits bawds in many Yuan plays, such as Li Yaxian Amid Flowers and Wine at the Winding Stream by Shi Junbao or Du Ruiniang Shows Her Wit at Golden Thread Pond by Guan Hanqing. Such stock descriptions often found their way into these probably impromptu verses.
111. The topic and title in Anthology are “Topic: Along Floral Lanes, Scholar An Lights Up Floral Candles. / Title: With Seductive Wiles Sister Zhao Rescues a Seduced Courtesan.”
8
QIU HU TRIES TO SEDUCE HIS WIFE
SHI JUNBAO
TRANSLATED BY JAMES M. HARGETT, JOHN COLEMAN, KUAN-FOOK LAI, GLORIA SHEN, AND WANG MING
INTRODUCTION
WAI-YEE LI
The story of Qiu Hu and his wife first appears in the entry “Chaste Woman Qiu of Lu” (Lu Qiu Jiefu 魯秋潔婦) in chapter five (“Chastity and Duty” [Jieyi 節義]) of Accounts of Notable Women (Lienü zhuan 5.104–6) compiled by Liu Xiang (ca. 77 B.C.E.–6 B.C.E.):
The chaste woman was the wife of Qiu Hu of Lu. Five days after taking her as his wife, he left to serve as an official in Chen. Five years later, he returned. Before he got home, he saw a woman picking mulberry leaves by the wayside. Entranced by her, Qiu Hu got down from his carriage and said, “The sun is burning you as you pick mulberry leaves, and I have come a long way.1 I want to take advantage of the mulberry’s shade, eat something, put down my baggage, and get some rest.” The woman continued picking mulberry leaves. Qiu Hu said, “Toiling in a field is not as good as coming upon a year of abundant harvest; toiling among mulberry trees is not as good as meeting a minister of the state. I have gold that I wish to offer to you, My Lady.” The woman replied, “Alas! I pick mulberry leaves and work hard to spin and weave so that I can provide for our food and clothing, support my parents, and serve my husband. I do not want the gold. What I want is for you to not have base motives, and for me to banish all licentious thoughts. Put away your baggage and the gold from your cache!” Qiu Hu thus left.
When he reached home, he offered the gold to his mother and had someone send for his wife. She turned out to be the person picking mulberry leaves. Qiu Hu was ashamed. The woman said, “You tied back your hair, cultivated your person, took leave of your parents, and went off to serve in court. Returning after five
years, you should be galloping in a cloud of dust, eager to see your parents as quickly as possible. But just now you were entranced by a woman on the road, put down your baggage, and offered her gold: this is to forget your mother; forgetting your mother is unfilial. To love sensual beauty and to indulge in licentiousness are to corrupt your conduct; corrupting your conduct is undutiful. He who is unfilial in serving his parents will be disloyal in serving his ruler; he who is undutiful in managing his family will ruin government affairs as an official. Having lost both filial piety and dutifulness, you will certainly not succeed. I cannot bear to see you remarry; and I too will not marry again.” She left and went east, threw herself into the river, and died. The noble man says, “The chaste woman is finely discriminating when it comes to goodness.” There is no greater violation of filial piety than not loving one’s parents and loving someone else instead: Qiu Hu is guilty of that. The noble man says, “Seeing goodness and fearful of not reaching it; seeing the negation of goodness and being vigilant as if touching boiling water.” This refers to Qiu Hu’s wife. The Classic of Poetry says, “Because he has a perverse heart, / He is singled out for censure.”2 This is what is meant.
The story of Qiu Hu and his wife has been a popular topic in poetry since the Six Dynasties.3 Some poems reiterate the stringent moral judgment in Accounts of Notable Women. Longer narrative poems tend to explore the psychological complexity of longing, infatuation, and betrayal through shifting perspectives; a notable example is Yan Yanzhi’s 顏延之 (384–456) “Song of Qiu Hu” (Qiu Hu xing 秋胡行) (Lu Qinli, Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi, 3:1228). Poets may choose to focus on one segment of this narrative; a favorite is the seduction scene, which allows elaboration of feminine charms that implicitly invites empathy with Qiu Hu’s infatuation. Many turn attention to the wife’s sense of betrayal or disappointment with love rather than Qiu Hu’s moral blemish. Thus Yuan Hongdao 袁宏道 (1568–1610) lets her declare in his “Song of Qiu Hu,” “I die for love, / Not for chastity” (qie siqing fei sijie 妾死情,非死節).4 Some blame Qiu Hu’s wife for being too severe. Fu Xuan 傅玄 (217–278) writes, “The husband is of course not worthy, / But the wife is also too harsh” (bifu ji bushu cifu yi taigang 彼夫既不淑,此婦亦太剛) (Lu Qinli, Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi, 2:556). The scholar and historian Liu Zhiji goes even further and castigates her for being “a stubborn person fierce and dangerous, an overbearing shrew” (xiongxian zhi wanren qiangliang zhi hanfu 兇險之頑人,強梁之悍婦 [Shitong 史通, “Pinzao” 品藻]). The early-Ming playwright Zhu Youdun, a devotee of many Yuan plays, voices a similar criticism: “That wife of his is simply too vicious” (ta na laopo ye te hendu xie 他那老婆也忒狠毒些).5 While such criticism represents the minority opinion, it draws attention to the wife’s agency and self-assertion, which are turned to comic account in Shi Junbao’s play. What nettled the defenders of patriarchy in premodern times is bound to delight the modern reader. In our play, Meiying (Qiu Hu’s wife) realizes a kind of “subversion from within” by playing one set of normative virtues against another: she asserts her “wifely authority” (qigang 妻綱) by insisting on filial piety, she defies her parents in the name of chastity, she rejects her husband because he fails as a son and a minister of the state.
A narrative scroll preserved in the Dunhuang caves, The Transformation Text of Qiu Hu (Qiu Hu bianwen 秋胡變文, ca. tenth century) also elaborates this story, but its beginning and ending are missing. Of the extant writings on the story of Qiu Hu and his wife, Shi Junbao’s play is the first that turns it into comedy. The full title, The Lu Official Qiu Hu Tries to Seduce His Wife (Lu daifu Qiu Hu xiqi 魯大夫秋胡戲妻), draws attention to Qiu Hu’s high status and thus highlights the “class change” that heightens comic tension. An impoverished commoner hurling abuse on an official is likely to invite appreciation among the commoners in the audience. But comic reconciliation is finally achieved through negotiating the balance of power between husband and wife as well as the mediatory role of Qiu Hu’s mother. Reconciliation also requires Qiu Hu’s rehabilitation. His last aria, implying that the seduction was a ruse or a test, reestablishes his moral authority. This ultimately unconvincing twist may well be the work of a later editor.
About Shi Junbao we know very little. Sun Kaidi proposed that he was a Jurchen playwright.6 The evidence is not conclusive, although one of the plays attributed to him, Love in the Purple Cloud Pavilion, does feature a young Jurchen nobleman as the love interest of the main character, a determined and long-suffering courtesan. In that play, as well as in Shi’s only other extant play, Li Yaxian Amid Flowers and Wine at the Winding Stream, the female protagonist is much stronger than her male counterpart and determines the course of events. These heroines, both courtesans, share affinities with Luo Meiying.
Our play is mentioned in both The Register of Ghosts and Correct Sounds. The only preserved version is found in Anthology.7 Sometimes given the title Meeting in the Mulberry Garden (Sangyuan hui 桑園會), this story continues to be popular on stage in Beijing opera and in various regional operatic traditions. William Dolby translated this play in Eight Chinese Plays from the Thirteenth Century to the Present (1978).
QIU HU TRIES TO SEDUCE HIS WIFE
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Role type
Name, social role
OLDER FEMALE
OLD WOMAN, MOTHER QIU, QIU HU’s mother
MALE LEAD
QIU HU, MEIYING’s husband
COMIC
SQUIRE LUO, MEIYING’s father
SECOND FEMALE
SQUIRE LUO’S WIFE, MEIYING’s mother
FEMALE LEAD
LUO MEIYING, QIU HU’s wife
MATCHMAKER
EXTRA
DRAFT OFFICER
COMIC
SQUIRE LI
MUSICIANS
ATTENDANTS
ACT 1
(OLDER FEMALE dressed as MOTHER QIU enters with MALE LEAD dressed as her son, QIU HU.)
MOTHER QIU (recites:)
Flowers may come back in bloom,
But we will not our youth resume.
Speak not to me of the worth of gold—
Most precious are peace and joy, when all’s told.
I am the Woman Liu.8 My husband passed away sometime ago, and I have only this one child, called Qiu Hu. Now there is this daughter of Squire Luo,9 Meiying by name, who just married my son. Last night she crossed the threshold as a newly wedded wife. Today I have prepared some food and wine to welcome my new in-laws. Qiu Hu, go and invite your father- and mother-in-law to come and feast with us.
QIU HU: They should be here any minute.
(COMIC enters dressed as SQUIRE LUO with SECOND FEMALE dressed as his wife.)
LUO (recites:)
Others’ families are happy with seven sons,
But mine is blessed with just half a one.10
LUO’S WIFE (recites:)
Although we cannot afford any grand bridal trousseau,
Still, we are invited to the third-day feast.11
LUO: I am Squire Luo, and this is my old woman. I have a daughter, Meiying by name, who just married Qiu Hu. Yesterday she crossed the threshold, and today our in-laws have invited ?us to a feast; we certainly should go. Well, here we are at their gate. Qiu Hu, we’re here.
QIU HU: Mother, my father- and mother-in-law have arrived.
MOTHER QIU: Tell them to come in.
QIU HU: Come in, please.
(They greet one another.)
MOTHER QIU: Our kin by marriage, please sit down. The food and wine are ready. Qiu Hu, pour the wine.
(QIU HU passes the wine.)
QIU HU: Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, please drink up.
(LUO and his wife drink the wine.)
LUO AND WIFE: This is our daughter’s wedding feast; of course we should drink.
MOTHER QIU: Son, call Meiying.
(QIU HU calls MEIYING.)
(FEMALE LEAD dressed as MEIYING enters with the
MATCHMAKER.)
MEIYING: Old Lady, why is Mother calling me?12
MATCHMAKER: Young lady, she’s calling you to welcome and entertain your parents.
MEIYING: I feel so awkward; how can I go out and face them?
MATCHMAKER: From earliest times it’s been the proper ritual for men and women to get married. What is there to be shy about?
MEIYING (sings:)
[Xianlü mode: Touching Up Red Lips]
As boys and girls grow up
Their parents guide and instruct them.
When the proper time arrives,
They are married.
It is most important that they love and respect each other
And live in harmony.
MATCHMAKER: Young lady, I have heard others say that since childhood you have applied yourself to reading and writing, but I was never sure what you did. Could you tell me a little bit about it?
MEIYING (sings:)
[River Churning Dragon]
I have studied the Classic of Poetry:
Its first poem, “The Crying Osprey,” rectifies human relationships.13
Thus, young men seek out wives,
And girls are betrothed to future husbands.
Lute and zither music harmonizes in the night of painted candles;
The phoenix lovers are well matched in the vernal bridal chamber.
Because of this, I am too languid to face the crowd;
Too embarrassed to meet my parents,
I now hang my blushing face demurely
And can only smooth out my silken skirt.
And all because we womenfolk
Throughout our lives abide by the lot of the marital knot.
Even though it’s said, “To marry is the fate of all,”