9. Detached dream soul: found in “Pang E 龐阿 and His Infatuated Lover” (#3). This is the earliest depiction of a detached dream soul in Chinese literature.
THE COMPILER OF THE COLLECTION
Traditionally, Hidden and Visible Realms has been attributed to Liu Yiqing, nephew of Liu Yu 劉裕 (r. 420–422), the founder of the Song dynasty (420–479). The document that first lists Hidden and Visible Realms under Liu’s name is the bibliographical treatise History of the Sui,79 the only extant80 treatise of this kind, compiled after the History of the Han and before the bibliographical treatises the Old Tang History (Jiu Tang shu 舊唐書) and New Tang History. All three accounts consider Liu Yiqing the compiler of Hidden and Visible Realms.81
Modern scholars tend to see Liu Yiqing as an editor instead of the sole compiler. Lu Xun says in his A Brief History of Chinese Fiction: “The History of the [Liu] Song says that Yiqing had little gift in writing himself yet that he assembled men of letters from near and far. Then, it is possible that the books attributed to him were all compiled by multiple hands.”82 Lu Xun is referring not merely to Hidden and Visible Realms but to all the works attributed to Liu Yiqing, which amount to 225–276 volumes (juan),83 and it is known from his biography that he summoned many writers and scholars to his service. So it is likely that Liu compiled those books, including Hidden and Visible Realms, with the assistance of his contingent of writers and scholars. In any case, it is fair to say that Liu Yiqing played an important role in the compilation of Hidden and Visible Realms.
The History of [Liu] Song (Song shu 宋書) by Shen Yue 沈約 (441–513) presents the life of Liu Yiqing in the chapter on imperial kinsmen (chapter 51), which offers the most detailed accounts of his life and career.84
Liu Yiqing was born into a royal family at Pengcheng 彭城, the modern city of Xuzhou 徐州, Jiangsu, in the first year of Emperor An 安 of Jin 晉 (403). His father, Liu Daolian 劉道憐 (368–422), was Prince Jing 景 of Changsha 長沙;85 Liu Daolian was also the younger brother of Liu Yu, founder of the Song. Liu Daolian had six sons, and Yiqing was the second. In the eighth year of Yixi 義煕 (412), when Yiqing was ten years old,86 his uncle Liu Daogui 道規 (370–412), the youngest brother of Liu Yu, died and was posthumously enfeoffed as the Prince of Linchuan 臨川.87 Daogui had no sons, so Yiqing was made his heir.88
As recorded in his biography in History of [Liu] Song, Liu Yiqing was put in key positions when he was still young. At the age of thirteen (415), Yiqing inherited the title of Duke of the Southern Commandery 南郡公 and was appointed as Executive Assistant, but he did not take up the post, likely due to his young age. The following year, he accompanied Liu Yu in Liu’s attack on Chang’an 長安. After returning in 419 he was awarded the posts of Bulwark-General of the State and Governor of Qingzhou 青州 but again did not take up the post, and then he became Army Commander of Yuzhou 豫州 and Governor of Yuzhou. Yiqing was also made the Governor of Shouyang 壽陽 in the same year.89
In the first year of the Yongchu 永初 period (420), when Yiqing was eighteen, he inherited the title of Prince of Linchuan 臨川 and was offered the post of Palace Attendant. After this, he stayed in the capital, Jiankang, for ten years. During this period as the Palace Attendant, his first four years at the capital, his life was stable and peaceful.
After Emperor Wen 文, Liu Yilong 劉義隆 (407–453), ascended to the throne, Liu Yiqing’s life changed dramatically. In the first year of the Yuanjia 元嘉 period (424), he was transferred from one position to another. He became Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary, then Director of the Palace Library, then Minister of Revenue and Governor of Danyang 丹陽.90 After several moves, however, in the sixth year of the Yuanjia reign period (429) Yiqing took up the highest position he would hold during his life, Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, which was second in the government only to the Director of the Department of State Affairs. Surprisingly, Yiqing stayed in that position for only two years before his request of resignation was accepted.
The cause of his resignation is puzzling. According to his biography in History of [Liu] Song, Venus had impinged on the Right Upholder, a bad omen. Yiqing was afraid that there would be a calamity and thus requested a transfer to the provinces. Emperor Wen 文帝 tried to dissuade him, but Yiqing insisted.
Having left the capital, Yiqing became the Governor of Jingzhou 荊州 in 432, and he remained in this position for seven years (432–439).91
In the sixteenth year (439) of Yuanjia, Yiqing became the Governor of Jiangzhou 江州, another strategic location. The following year (440), however, he was transferred and became the Governor of Southern Yanzhou 兗州. Yiqing stayed in Yanzhou for three years before he returned to the capital in the twentieth year of Yuanjia (443) and died the next year at the age of forty-two.92
Liu Yiqing has been noted for his talent in literature. His biography in History of [Liu] Song indicates that “He was addicted to few things, [yet] he loved literary writings,” and “Although his literary works were not numerous, he was good enough to be a representative of the royal house.” The biography also notes that his talent was respected by others, including Emperor Wen: “When Taizu 太祖 (Emperor Wen) wrote to Yiqing, he often weighed his words carefully again and again.” 93
During Yiqing’s tenure as the Governor of Jingzhou, he displayed an obvious interest in literature. According to his biography in the History of [Liu] Song, during this time he wrote the Biographies of the Previous Worthies in Xuzhou 徐州 in ten volumes and the Comments on the Classics.94
Liu Yiqing was also noted for gathering notable scholars of his time. When he was governing Jiangzhou, he invited the well-known writer Yuan Shu 袁淑 (408–453) to be the Administrative Advisor of his guarding troops; and he also promoted Lu Zhan 陸展 (d. 454), He Changyu 何長瑜 (d. 446), and Bao Zhao 鮑照, who all made beautiful literary works, to titles of accessory clerks.95 Literary activity, including the patronage of talented literati, appears to have provided Liu Yiqing with some degree of solace, as well as protection against political maneuvering.
In his later years, Liu Yiqing devoted himself to Buddhism and spent a prodigious amount of money supporting Buddhist monks. A passage from his biography reads:
As he had appointments to a succession of provincial frontier positions, he did not have the faults of luxuriance and extravagance. It was only in his later years that supporting Buddhist monks caused him tremendous expenses. He was a good rider when he was young, yet when he had grown older, he did not ride a horse anymore because the road of life was so hard.96
This passage indicates that Liu Yiqing’s devotion to Buddhism was related not only to the social background in which Buddhism was flourishing but also to his personal life and experience.
As a prince and high-ranking official, Liu Yiqing was said to have been upright, honest, and attentive to the people under him, though his political career was far from dazzling. As a lover of literature, however, he was unexpectedly successful. While his talent in writing was recognized by his contemporaries and his gatherings of talented literati became anecdotes in his own time, it was his compilations, especially the New Account of Tales of the World (Shishuo xinyu 世說新語) and Hidden and Visible Realms, that earned him a place in the history of Chinese literature and culture. Tragically, Liu Yiqing’s interests in literature and Buddhism were likely due to conflict in the royal house and his own unsuccessful political career.
Concerning Liu Yiqing’s works, his biography in the History of [Liu] Song says that when he was in Jingzhou he also wrote the Comments on the Classics (Dianxu 典敘).97 Besides, his biography in Li Yanshou’s History of the Southern Empires (Nan shi 南史) adds two works: New Account of Tales of the World in eight volumes and Jilin 集林 in 200 volumes. The bibliographical treatise of History of the Sui includes Records of the Famous Men South of the Jiang (Jiang zuo mingshi lu 江左名士錄) in one volume; Records of Manifest Miracles in thirty volumes; Hidden and Visible Realms in twenty volumes;
Minor Sayings (Xiaoshuo 小說) in ten volumes; and An Anthology of Liu Yiqing, the Prince of Linchuan (Linchuan wang Yiqing wenji 臨川王義慶文集) in eight volumes.98
None of Liu Yiqing’s works was transmitted intact. Though there is a problematic version of the New Account of Tales of the World, the rest have all been lost. Two of his shorter prose pieces can be found in the History of [Liu] Song and another in the TPYL (Taiping yulan 太平御覽).99 Yan Kejun 嚴可均 (1762–1843) also collected the remnants of three of Liu’s rhapsodies from various collectanea.100 Additionally, there are two extant poems.101
As for the fictional works attributed to Liu Yiqing, none survives in the original form. Only those passages cited in other books or collectanea are available today. The Records of Manifest Miracles was lost at an early date; it exists only in thirty-five quotations, collected by Lu Xun from various collectanea.102 Hidden and Visible Realms experienced the same fate. New Account of Tales of the World is the only collection that exists as a whole book, but modern scholars believe it deviates from the original version.103
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TEXT
As stated above, Hidden and Visible Realms is not mentioned in Liu Yiqing’s biography in the History of [Liu] Song, yet it is listed in the Miscellaneous Biographies (zazhuan 雜傳) category of the bibliographical treatise of History of the Sui in twenty volumes104 and listed in the bibliographical treatise of the Old Tang History and New History of the Tang in thirty volumes.105 This collection was not included in later histories, suggesting that it was lost in the Song dynasty. Based on the fact that the TPGJ (Taiping guangji 太平廣記), which was compiled in the Northern Song 北宋, included many stories from Hidden and Visible Realms, it is probable that this book was lost in the Southern Song 南宋 period, perhaps when the royal house moved southward in 1127.
After the Song, there is no evidence that Hidden and Visible Realms was ever seen as a whole and complete book. Fortunately, a large number of tales were preserved in quotations in some lei shu or collectanea such as TPGJ and TPYL.
Selections of the Text
Many compilers of xiaoshuo selected tales from Hidden and Visible Realms. The ones still extant are as follows:106
1. Selection of tales in the Classified Tales (Lei shuo 類說).107 Compiled by Zeng Zao 曾慥 (1091–1155) of the Southern Song dynasty and includes six tales from Hidden and Visible Realms. Two of these narratives, the second tale about “Yang Hu” 羊祜 and the fourth one about “Xi Kang” 嵇康 (223–262), are not found in other sources.
2. Selection of tales in the City of Tales (Shuo fu 説郛).108 Compiled by Tao Zongyi 陶宗儀 (fl. 1360–1368) during the Yuan-Ming transition and transmitted in manuscript form until 1927, when it was printed in Shanghai by Hanfen lou 涵芬樓. It includes four tales from Hidden and Visible Realms in volume 66. The first three, including the one concerning Xi Kang, are from Classified Tales. The last one, which is a story about Yuan An 袁安 (d. 92), is from volume 137 of TPGJ.
3. Selection of tales in the Re-collated City of Tales (Chong Jiao Shuo fu 重校説郛).109 Compiled by Tao Ting 陶珽 (fl. 1610) and first printed in 1646 by Wanwei shan tang 宛委山堂. It includes eleven tales from Hidden and Visible Realms, all collected from TPGJ, but the last tale, “Yu bao” 魚報, is mistakenly attributed to Hidden and Visible Realms. According to YWLJ and TPGJ, this tale is from Records of the Three Qin (Sanqin ji 三秦記).110
4. Selection of tales in the Grand Spectacle of the Five Dynasty Stories (Wuchao xiaoshuo daguan 五朝小説大觀).111 This was first published in Shanghai by Saoye shanfang 掃葉山房 in 1926. This edition of Hidden and Visible Realms is just copied from the Re-collated City of Tales.
5. Selection of tales in Old Fiction (Jiu xiaoshuo 舊小説).112 This was compiled by Wu Zengqi 吳曾祺 (b. 1852) and first published in 1914. It includes seventeen tales.113 All the tales are from TPGJ and other collectanea, and also included in Lu Xun’s Collected Lost Old Stories.
Recompilations of the Text
Besides the above selective editions, there are a few exhaustive compilations of Hidden and Visible Realms that attempt to provide a comprehensive edition. They include:
1. Recompilation in the Series Books of Secret Room Linlang (Linlang mishi congshu 琳琅秘室叢書). Including 158 tales, this work was compiled by Hu Ting 胡珽 (1822–1861). This is the first attempt to recompile the entire Hidden and Visible Realms. Except two tales, the tale about Wang Daizhi 王逮之 and the ghost (page 6a) and the tale of “Ran shi” 燃石 (Burning stone; 53a),114 all these narratives are included in Lu Xun’s edition of Hidden and Visible Realms.
2. Recompilation in the Collected Lost Old Stories (Guxiaoshuo gouchen 古小説鈎沉).115 Lu Xun completed his recompilations of thirty-six lost works of pre-Tang literature in 1911, and already one year later his preface to Collected Lost Old Stories was published in the first (and only) issue of Yueshe congkan 越社叢刊. But it was not until after his death that the work itself was published, as part of the first edition of Complete Works of Lu Xun (Lu Xun quanji 魯迅全集) in 1938.116 It was believed that this version was compiled on the basis of the above-mentioned Series Books of Secret Room Linlang edition of Hu Ting,117 but he enlarged his edition of Hidden and Visible Realms by adding quotations from YWLJ (Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚), TPGJ, TPYL, SLFZ (Shilei fu zhu 事類賦註), and other encyclopedias, collecting all together a total of 265 tales.
Lu Xun mistakenly includes two pieces that are not from Hidden and Visible Realms. Tale 257 about mole crickets does not specify a source. But the TPYL volume 948 and TPGJ volume 473 both say it comes from Sequel to the Record of the Strange (Xu Yi ji 續異記). Tale 217, a story about how Jia Yong lost his head, is also spurious, because the same story cited in all the extant editions of the TPGJ does not give its source.
In addition, Lu Xun intentionally includes three tales (63, 64, and 258) that are attributed to New Account of Tales of the World. In a note regarding tale 63, he says, “The present edition of New Account of Tales of the World does not include this tale, and when the collectanea of the Tang and Song quote from Hidden and Visible Realms, they sometimes also say that this is from New Account of Tales of the World.” He does not explain why the New Account of Tales of the World is used as a substitute for Hidden and Visible Realms. The problem is that the tales attributed to the New Account of Tales of the World are numerous, not limited to these three. If what Lu Xun says is true, all the other tales might also be from Hidden and Visible Realms.
There are at least two excluded tales found in the Classified Tales, and one (the tale about Xi Kang) found in the City of Tales. It seems Lu Xun consulted neither Classified Tales nor City of Tales. In Chrestomathy of Illustrations and Writings, Ancient and Modern (Gujin tushu jicheng 古今圖書集成), there is another tale that he overlooked.118Maeno Naoaki has pointed out that the versions of the collectanea Lu Xun used might have been inferior ones. He also points out some problems regarding editions and punctuation.119 It seems Lu Xun did not have an opportunity to examine the Ming manuscript version of TPGJ. Besides, citation errors are many.120 However, in the most popular Collected Lost Old Stories edition in Complete Works of Lu Xun, published by Renmin wenxue chubanshe (1973), almost all of those errors have been corrected. Thus this edition is still the best so far in terms of its accuracy and reliability.
3. The edition published by Zheng Wanqing 鄭晚晴.121 This collection was compiled on the basis of the Collected Lost Old Stories edition, but it rearranged the order of the tales according to their contents. All the tales are divided into six categories, and each tale is given a title. Nine tales are added and eleven appear in the appendix. The total number is 284. The detailed annotations are generally useful as well.
Unfortunately, this collection has fatal problems. First, the standard of selection, especially for the added tales, is problematic. By following Lu Xun, Zheng adds sixteen tales attributed to New Account of Tales of the World, yet he puts five of them in the text an
d the rest in the appendix. Most importantly, the Zheng edition is generally unreliable because of its numerous errors, including missing words, wrong volume numbers (and titles) of sources, incorrect punctuation, and groundless additions and corrections.
NOTES ON THIS NEW RENDITION AND RECOMPILATION
Differing from all the prior editions of Hidden and Visible Realms, this is not only the first complete English rendition of the collection with an introduction and annotations but also a recompiled edition and the most comprehensive version of the book.
1. This recompiled version of the collection includes all 265 tales in Lu Xun’s Collected Lost Old Stories edition, though the two mistakenly included items, tales #217 and #257, and the three items attributed to New Account of Tales of the World, #63, #64, and #258, are moved into the appendix.
2. The sixteen added tales in Zheng Wanqing’s edition (five in the text and eleven in the appendix), attributed to New Account of Tales of the World, are also included in the appendix.
3. Three tales that are not included in the Collected Lost Old Stories edition but included in the Zheng Wanqing edition (two from Classified Tales, one from Chrestomathy of Illustrations and Writings, Ancient and Modern) and one that I have newly found from A Collection of Dunhuang Transformation Texts (Dunhuang bianwen ji 敦煌變文集) have been added. The total number of tales here is 285 (264 in the text and 21 in the appendix).
4. All stories are classified into eight categories, and each of them is given a title.
* * *
Below are my notes on the translation and sources used:
1. The major source used in this translation is Lu Xun’s Collected Lost Old Stories edition of Hidden and Visible Realms, in volume 8 of Complete Works of Luxun (Renmin wenxue, 1973), 353–436. In order to provide a reliable and accurate rendition, I have also consulted other major sources such as TPGJ, TPYL, YWLJ, BTSC, FYZL, and SLFZ.
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