Session: Session 3, 3:30 – 5:00 pm, Friday 9/29

Category: Organized Panel

Location: Honors

Chair: William Nienhauser (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Paper Presenters: William Nienhauser (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Yixuan Cai (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Xinyi Fu (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Asian Lang and Lit), Zheyu Su (Princeton University)

Discussant: Joseph Dennis (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Abstract: Two of the papers in the proposed panel treat early Chinese texts: Zheyu Su presents “A Traveling Advisor or A Minister: The Fictionalized Zigong (子贡) in Han Dynasty Discourses,” examining Han era adaptation of the anecdotes surrounding the famous accounts of how Zigong persuaded the rulers of five states to save Lu; he concludes that the plot is a fictionalized version based on some pre-Qin historical records and Masters literature into which each Han-dynasty author planted his own purposes in the adoption of this plot. William Nienhauser focuses on the relationship between the constructed dialogues of the Wei section of the Zhanguoce, compiled in the late Western Han by Liu Xiang (77-6 BCE) from earlier texts, and Sima Qian’s adaptation and shaping of some of these fabricated passages in his “Hereditary House of Wei” (魏世家), chapter 44 of the Shiji (Grand Scribe’s Records). The second pair of papers focus on Ming-dynasty works. Yixuan Cai will speak on “Early Chinese Barbarians with Mongolian Names: Reimagining Early China in Feng Menglong’s Dongzhou lieguo zhi,” examining how the Quanrong (犬戎) people, a non-Sinitic tribe during the Zhou dynasty, were portrayed in Feng Menglong’s (馮夢龍) (1574–1640) historical novel of early China, the Dongzhou lieguo zhi (東周列國志) [Records of the States during the Eastern Zhou], arguing that Feng Menglong, with almost no material on the Quanrong, shaped his accounts in the conventional Ming image of the Mongols. Xinyi Fu in her “Coding Love: Letter, Information and Fiction in Late Ming China” studies correspondence, information and emotional transmission in the fiction of the Ming dynasty, noting that the increased speed of official postal service and private letter delivery allowed letters to become an important recurring theme in the novels; she analyzes in particular a story from the renowned story collection Erke pai‘an jingqi (二刻拍案惊奇) and its non-conformist correspondence between lovers.

Sima Qian’s Sfumato: Zhanguoce Accounts and Their Parallels in the “Hereditary House of Wei”

Speaker: William Nienhauser
Role: Chair, Paper Presenter
Institution/Affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract: While paradoxically Sima Qian (145-ca. 86 BCE) had more varied sources for the Chunqiu-Era sections of his hereditary houses (shijia) in the Shiji (Grand Scribe’s Records), he was dependent in large part for the accounts of the Warring States history on the Zhanguoce, a text compiled by Liu Xiang (77-6 BCE) based on materials he collected, a text which has been called “a collection of stories about the politico-military skullduggery of the Warring States.” Or so conventional western scholarship has assumed. Recently Chinese scholars have questioned whether the reverse may have been possible: that some Shiji accounts may have allowed Liu Xiang to supplement the Zhanguoce “stories”. The proposed paper, with this possibility in mind, will examine passages shared by the “Wei shijia” and the Wei section of the Zhanguoce and attempt to determine how Sima Qian shaped them into his larger historical account of Wei, while also considering the other Wei accounts in the Zhanguoce which Sima Qian did not adopt.

Early Chinese Barbarians with Mongolian Names: Reimagining Early China in Feng Menglong’s Dongzhou lieguo zhi

Speaker: Yixuan Cai
Role: Paper Presenter
Institution/Affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract: This paper examines the Quanrong (犬戎) people, a non-Sinitic tribe during the Zhou dynasty, as portrayed in Feng Menglong’s (馮夢龍) (1574–1640) historical novel of early China, the Dongzhou lieguo zhi (東周列國志) [Records of the States during the Eastern Zhou]. Accounts of the interaction between the Zhou federacy and the “barbarian” Quanrong people are vague and understated in early historical writings, such as the Shiji (史記) [Grand Scribe’s Records] and Guoyu (國語) [Discourses of the States]. However, it is generally believed that the invasion of the Quanrong caused the fall of the Western Zhou, one of the most significant moments in early China. Without much historical record about the Quanrong to rely on, Feng Menglong reimagined this significant interaction with the Quanrong in this historical novel, and portrayed them in a conventional image of the Mongols: also relying on the records of the Mongol Empire, he gave the Quanrong with Mongolian names and lifestyles. This paper explores how this late imperial fictional text dealt with the early history in the reality of the new confrontation with ethnic others during the Ming dynasty.

Coding Love: Letter, Information and Fiction in Late Ming China

Speaker: Xinyi Fu
Role: Paper Presenter
Institution/Affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract: This paper will focus on correspondence, information and emotional transmission in the fictions of the Ming dynasty. Since the scale and speed of both the official postal service and private letter delivery had increased during this time period, letters became an important recurring theme in the novels. The paper aims not only to describe the upgrading of the postal system and the new changes in letter writing represented in the novels, but also to capture how this communication method participated in shaping the novel genre of this period, and how it reconstructed the emotional space through the production of communicative subjects. This paper will analyze the story Mang er lang jing san xin ying yan from the renowned story collection Er ke pai ‘an jing qi, particularly its non-conformist imitation of the correspondence between lovers in The West Chamber, and examine how the growing significance of messenger characters and letter delivery in fiction changed the subject of emotions into that of information, redefining the nature of emotions and the processes by which they are generated and perceived. In addition, the drama Qing you ji will be examined, with particular attention paid to how the post station, which served as an extension of the home, promoted new romantic relationships and how the post station officials’ identities affected the narrator’s self-imagination.

A Traveling Advisor or A Minister: The Fictionalized Zigong(子貢) in Han Dynasty Discourses

Speaker: Zheyu Su
Role: Paper Presenter
Institution/Affiliation: Princeton University
Abstract: Zigong(子貢) (b. 520 BC), as one of the most frequently referenced disciples of Confucius in the Confucian corpus, played important roles in numerous Confucian-related anecdotes. Among which there is one well-known plot narrating Zigong as an envoy who persuaded the ruler of Lu(魯), Qi(齊), Wu(吳), Yue(越) and Jin(晉), and how “in ten years, each of the five states had transformation.” Through reading of the earlier material, it is most likely that this plot is a fictionalized version based on some pre-Qin historical records and Masters literature. However, a further evaluation is still required to determine why certain Han Dynasty scholars accepted this fictionalized Zigong. In this paper, three Han Dynasty discourses that contain this plot will be evaluated: the Western Han Dynasty Shiji(史記), the Eastern Han Dynasty Yuejue Shu(越絕書) and Kongzi Jiayu(孔子家語). Through the evaluation, it can be concluded that each author planted their own purposes in the adoption of this plot, which is consistent with how Han Dynasty scholars purposefully edited and used early materials, whether they were historical records or fictionalized pieces.