After the publication of this new edition, the editor kept revising and supplementing the book and The Supplement and Revision was added to the end of the reprinted version of this book in 1979. In all, with a complete collection and careful revision and edition, this book is a must among reference books of Song Ci research. Tang Guizhang, who accomplished the edition and completed the collection of Song Ci along, set an outstanding example in the history of Chinese modern edition and publishing history.
Collections of Yuan Qu: The Complete Collection of Yuan Sanqu and The Anthology of Yuan Qu
With unique style in thought, content and of high artistic level, Yuan Qu is an exquisite piece of Chinese literature. It is on a par with Tang Poetry and Song Ci. As the main part of literature from the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Qu, which contains Zaju and Sanqu, was not only literature for the educated and officials to express their feeling and ambitions but also a brand new artistic style popular among average people. There are numerous writers of Yuan Qu, among who are Guan Hanqing, Tang Xianzhu and Ji Junxiang. Their masterpieces are Dou E’s Grievance, West Chamber, The Little Orphan of the House of Chao as their masterpieces, which enjoy a high reputation in literary circles around the world.
The most famous selected work is The Anthology of Yuan Qu edited by Zang Maoxun (1550–1620) during the Ming Dynasty. It collects 100 different kinds of Yuan Dramas in 100 volumes. The book is also known as One Hundred Qu of Yuan People. The number of extant Yuan Drama by Yuan people includes less than 200 kinds and more than half of them are collected in The Anthology of Yuan Qu which focuses on well-known plays, such as Dou E’s Grievance by Guan Hanqing, Emperor Minghuang of Tang Dynasty and the Phoenix Tree in a Rainy Night in Autumn by Bai Pu and The Autumn in Han Palace by Ma Zhiyuan and so on by different play writers.
Therefore, with its great influence, this book plays a significant role in the spread of Yuan Drama. Sui Shusen, a contemporary scholar, collected Yuan Zaju found during the past decades and compiled “The Supplement of the Anthology of Yuan Qu,” which was published by Zhonghua Book Company in September 1959. In the above two books, The Anthology of Yuan Qu and The Supplement of The Anthology of Yuan Qu, all extant Yuan Dramas are collected.
The Anthology of Yuan Qu, edited by Sui Shushen in the contemporary era, is the most famous complete collection of Yuan Sanqu. It includes works from 213 authors, from Yuan Haowen of the Jin Dynasty to Gu Zijing at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and several anonymous works. There are over 3,800 Xiaoling, 450 Taoqu arranged in the authors’ chronological sequence. With a short biography for each author and the source of each work, it provides a whole picture of the Sanqu in the Yuan Dynasty. Among the 6 volumes of White Snow in Early Spring collected by Luo Zhenyu and found recently by the library of Liaoning Province, there are 25 unseen Tao Qu, which can be the supplement of The Anthology of Yuan Qu.
Novels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties: “Four Great Classical Novels” and “Three Collections and Short Stories”
The Ming and Qing dynasties were periods of prosperity for Chinese classical fiction. Novels from the Ming and Qing dynasties have unprecedented scope and depth. They mirror the various aspects of the social life at the time and became an important literary genre for people to understand their social environment and entertain themselves. In Chinese literary history, they are considered parallel to Tang Poetry, Song Ci and Yuan Qu. Among them, the famous “Four Great Classical Novels,” namely Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Pilgrimage to the West, Water Margin and A Dream of Red Mansions, are precious cultural heritage.
Romance of The Three Kingdoms has 120 chapters and is based on The History of The Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou combined with the folk tales. Luo Guanzhong completed it at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty (1330–1400). As the first Zhanghui-style novel in China, it has plain text, numerous impressive figures, an intricate plot and a vast narrative structure. It vividly describes the complicated military and political struggles among the Wei, Shu and Wu kingdoms during the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period.
Water Margin, by Shi Naian (1296–1371) or by Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong, based on Xuanhe Yishi (a story book), depicts a majestic story of 108 people led by Song Jiang who are driven to revolt during the North Song Dynasty. As the first demotic oral-language novel in China, the novel, with in tricate plots, vivid description and characters, has a very high artistic value and a high place in literary history. The book has spread and spawned avariety of versions, some with 100 chapters, others with 120 and others with 70.
