Introduction to Ming Dynasty Vernacular Fiction – Viewing Guide

Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode]

Why did the “masterworks of Chinese fiction” emerge in print in the Ming dynasty (1366–1644) and not before

• Up until the early 1900s, most people wrote in a language we call “classical” Chinese [0:21]
  • It was the language of the government
  • Scholars studying to become officials were tested on it
  • People wrote letters and poetry in it
  • Its literature contains allusions and references to Chinese history
  • Chinese was used throughout East Asia (in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam) into the 20th century
• Vernacular Chinese is spoken Chinese, that is [1:17]
  • The language people in China usually use to speak to each other and to communicate (“vernacular” in all languages means the language spoken by ordinary people)
  • It is different from classical Chinese, which is a formal and written form of communication
  • Stories written in the vernacular existed at least by the 900s, but it was not until the end of the 1500s, during the Ming dynasty, that the writing of vernacular Chinese became widespread
  • Prior to this time, stories told in spoken language were primarily oral, told by storytellers or performed in plays

Context in which the writing of the vernacular language took place

I. Economic and social context [2:03]

• Jiangnan is a region of China along the Yangtze River delta where Shanghai and Suzhou are located, and this became a very wealthy region
  • This area provided the environment for vernacular literature to become popular
  • Shanghai was just a small fishing village in this time period, but other cities near it, like Hangzhou and Suzhou, were bustling commercial centers
  • Suzhou in particular was a rich, powerful city because it was a commercial and cultural city rather than a government city [2:49]
    • The population had a taste for the performing arts and plays
    • They built the beautiful private gardens that remain famous today
    • Public storytellers who told stories for money to audiences in marketplaces were very popular [4:05]
    • Books proliferated among those who were literate
• Editor’s Note: Students may recall the rise of commerce in the Song dynasty, which preceded the Ming (and the Mongol interlude), and will learn how the emperors of the Qing dynasty, following the Ming, always visited the silk commissioner’s house on their expeditions to Suzhou.

II. Technological context that made the circulation of vernacular literature possible

• Woodblock printing emerged as an early form of printing [5:43]
  • Blocks of wood were made from jujube wood, a heavy, hard wood
  • Stories were carved into the block and then inked over to print copies of books and stories
  • This was low-tech and inexpensive
  • These stories could then be printed on paper cheaply and easily, and small presses could be involved
  • These dramas and stories became widely available, based on the spoken performances people loved
• A combination of wealthy cities, people craving entertainment, and a new profitable business in printing gave rise to the writing of stories and novels written for print [6:15]
• This also explains the fact that chapters and stories often begin with a formulaic introduction asking the reader to “listen,” although this does not mean that the stories were scripts to be performed; they were written to be read

III. Intellectual context that supported vernacular writing: Neo-Confucian thought

• The 1500s were a period when a reworking of the Confucian tradition was taking place [7:23]
• Led by a thinker named Wang Shouren (1492–1529), also known as Wang Yangming
  • Editor’s Note: Wang was part of a Neo-Confucian intellectual movement during the Ming that emphasized personal, moral transformation. It was called the School of the Heart and Mind, as opposed to the School of Reason, which stressed learning moral principles through investigating moral principles demonstrating themselves in action. Fiction could show this personal, internal thinking. Wang emphasized intuitive, internal moral understanding of right and wrong, echoing the thought of the early Confucian scholar Mencius.
• This movement inspired many writers of the time who emphasized not the traditional study of the Confucian classics, but a version of Neo-Confucianism that stressed personal moral transformation of the individual.
  • Example of virtue of filial piety, a fundamental Confucian value implying respect, obedience, and care for parents and elders
  • Someone could study the classics and write an excellent essay on filial piety, but if the person did not practice it, the learning was meaningless
  • Wang Shouren argued that book learning was not real learning if the person could not put it into practice
  • It was important to understand what a person was thinking when they acted and whether the person was sincere
• Fiction could describe how people were thinking and their moral ideas and ways of behaving [08:54]
  • Fiction therefore became a way to demonstrate moral transformation
  • This contrasted with the study of Confucian classics, which did not show internal thinking
• All types of people could be moved by good behavior, including women and poor people, not just the elite; all types of people could be portrayed in fiction [09:15]
• Written for everyone, not just uneducated people but for everyone
• Fiction, or vernacular stories, could show that people intuitively knew the difference between right and wrong, something classical Chinese writing could not do
  • Classical writing was based on true events and histories
  • Fiction could show internal thinking and changes in behavior
• This fiction was not just for poor people; all classes of people were reading it, including the elite

Conclusion

Fiction written in the vernacular language that people spoke allowed the exploration of psychology and social dynamics in ways that no other form of Chinese writing could or did