Winners and Losers in a World of Wind and Dust

Students and Courtesans in Chinese Vernacular Literature of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

Love affairs of the young men from eminent families and the courtesans who were trained to entertain (and to fleece) them were a popular theme in the Chinese vernacular literature of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The stories of these happy and disastrous affairs were popular with all genres of performative literature. This volume offers a representative selection of texts on the grandeur et misère of the working girls and their Chinese and Jurchen patrons. Alongside popular works by famous playwrights such as Guan Hanqing and Shi Junbao, This volume also offers a wide range of scintillating texts by lesser known and anonymous authors.
Copyright Year:
2025
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73635-1
Publication:
09 Sep 2025
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73557-6
Publication:
18 Sep 2025
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Stephen H. West, Ph.D. 1977, University of Michigan, is Louis Agassiz Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley and Foundation Professor of Chinese Emeritus at Arizona State University. He has published monographs, many articles in English and Chinese on Chinese literature of the period 1100-1450.
Wilt L. Idema, Ph.D. 1974, taught Chinese literature at Leiden University (1970-1999) and Harvard University (2000-2013). He has published widely on the vernacular literary traditions of late imperial China. Together with Stephen H. West he has published several volumes of translations from early Chinese drama.
Acknowledgments
Table of Chinese Dynasties

Introduction: Singsong Girls in Sanqu Songs

1 Lost in Performance
Shuang Jian, Su Xiaoqing, and the Triangle of Desire

2 Jurchen Playboys and Courtesan Entertainers
Anonymous, A Playboy from a Noble House Opts for the Wrong Career
 1 A Playboy from a Noble House
 2 The Story
 3 Date, Genre, and Formal Features
 4 The Value of Opts for the Wrong Career to the History of Chinese Theater
 5 Dramatis Personæ in Order of Appearance
 6 The Play

3 Plays by Shi Junbao, One
All-Keys-and-Modes: Wind and Moon in the Courtyard of Purple Clouds
 1 The Author
 2 Authorship
 3 Story and Plot
 4 Editions
 5 Dramatis Personae, in order of appearance

4 Plays by Shi Junbao, Two
Li Yaxian: Flowers and Wine at Serpentine Pond
 1 Editions
 2 Dramatis Personæ in order of appearance.
 3 The Play

5 Plays by Guan Hanqing, One
Grand Prefect Qian in his Wisdom Dotes on Xie Tianxiang
 1 The Author
 2 The Background to the Play
 3 The Play
 4 The Edition
 5 Dramatis Personæ in order of appearance.

6 Plays by Guan Hanqing, Two
In Breeze and Moonlight Zhao Pan’er Saves Sister Song from the Wind and Dust
 1 The Story
 2 The Edition
 3 Dramatis Personæ by order of Appearance

7 A Record of Liu Qiqing
Pleasures of Wine and Poetry in the Tower of Enjoying the River

Epilogue

Appendix 1: Plays listed in Opts for the Wrong Career
Appendix 2: Ending of Act 4 of Serpentine Pond by Zang Maoxun
Bibliography
Index
Students and scholars of Chinese literature and of gender studies.
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