Ming Dynasty Literature

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Ming Dynasty Literature
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Time of Change

•    The Ming period was a time of great ferment
  and change in Chinese literature. Literature and
  literary style had become fossilized by the
  insistence by the scholars on a rigid style and
  adherence to the Chinese classics.
• In classical Chinese literary forms (essays,
  philosophy, and poetry - all written in Classical
  Chinese) Chinese literature during the Ming is
  generally conservative.

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Shih-chu songs

• The vital and dynamic literary activity, however,
  occurred at the fringes of literary
  respectability, in popular literary forms such
  as
• drama
• the novel
• the short story
• a racy and popular verse form called Shih-chu
  songs.

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Rise of popular literature

• The rise of popular literature during the Ming
  period can be ascribed to several reasons
• (1)economic expansion created a middle class of
  merchants and even laborers with more money to
  spare on diversionary activities
• (2)Standards of living increased all throughout
  China, but particularly in the south
• (3)Innovations in paper manufacture made paper
  cheaper, and the Ming period is characterized by
  the phenomenal growth of printers all throughout
  the empire.

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• During the entire Ming period, the reigns of the
  Chia-ching emperor (1522-1566) and the Wan-li
  emperor (1572-1619) were the most active periods
  in literary publishing.

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The Drama

• The drama had developed in China during the Yüan
  period. Yüan drama was primarily characterized by
  simplicity, naturalness, and rigid rules for
  composition and acting.
• The Hong-wu emperor was himself very fond of
  drama several of his sons wrote dramas and
  composed music for them.
• Ming drama, unlike Yüan drama, however, soon
  became a much more flexible and elaborate medium.

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The Stage

• All drama was in verse, and the stage was bare of
  scenery. Actors, however, dressed in magnificent
  costumes and elaborate makeup.
• Chinese theater was musical the actors didn't
  recite lines, but sung them accompanied by an
  orchestra.
• By the end of the Ming, the stage had become one
  of the most popular pastimes in the country.

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The Novel

• The most important literary form invented in the
  Ming period was the vernacular novel it was
  written in vernacular rather than Classical
  Chinese.
• It grew out of storytelling and Buddhist
  preaching these were the two most popular
  literary forms during the Southern Sung.
• The first novels in the Ming were only simple
  collections of manuscript stories that
  storytellers collected for their own use.

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Confucian scholars

• These stories were collated by more educated
  literary artists and took the form of long
  novels.
• Confucian scholars were divided about the novel
• some declared that it was vulgar, while others
  advocated the development of new literary forms
  to fit the times
• many scholars felt that there was nothing more to
  accomplish in standard Chinese letters or
  philosophy. It was this group of highly literary
  and educated men who developed the long novel
  into an art form.

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The long novel

• Written in plain and common language, the long
  novel dealt with philosophical, religious and
  social issues, while remaining humorous and
  filled with adventure.

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Three famous Ming Novels

• The three most famous Ming novels are
• Journey to the West (Hsi-yu chi , also called,
  The Monkey King )
• Tale of the Water Margin (Shui-hu chuan )
• The Plum in the Golden Vase (Chin-p'ing mei ).

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Journey to the West

• Journey to the West is perhaps the most read and
  most famous classic Chinese novel
• It was originally a series of oral and written
  stories and was composed in its final format by
  the scholar-official, Wu Ch'eng-en (1500?-1582)
  and published in 1592.

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Historical basis

• It is a supernatural story about gods and demons
  fighting for supremacy.
• It is loosely based on a real historical
  character and his life, the Chinese Buddhist
  monk, Hsuan Tsang (602-664).
• He journeyed to India and brought back the Sutra,
  or Buddhist holy book, and translated it into
  Chinese on his return to China.

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Supernatural Elements

• The novel, however, introduces a wealth of
  allegorical and supernatural elements, including
• Fables
• Legends
• Popular superstitions
• Monster stories
• The novel is suffused with Confucian and Taoist
  elements as well.

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Part I

• The novel has two parts
• Part I. Narrates the early history of the Monkey
  King spirit, a rebellious spirit born out of a
  rock. He defies Yu Huang Ta Ti, "The Great
  Emperor of Jade," that rules heaven, earth, sea,
  and the underworld.
• After conquering several areas of creation and
  fighting with the Heavenly Army, the defiant
  monkey spirit grows stronger and more clever.
• Desperate, the Great Emperor of Jade asks Buddha
  for help.
• The Buddha then offers to make the Monkey Spirit
  a disciple and, with a Pig spirit, Pigsy, and a
  former sea-monster, Sandy, the Buddha begins his
  journey west to find the sutra.

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Part II

• Part II. Thus begins the second part which
  consists of eighty-one dangers encountered by
  Buddha and his three spirits these adventures
  display the powers and hidden abilities of the
  three spirit disciples.

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Tale of the Water Margin

• Tale of the Water Margin is a loosely connected
  series of tales about a group of bandits the
  stories are loosely based on actual historical
  events in the Sung dynasty.
• We have no idea who composed the stories into
  their final form, but literary scholars believe
  that the novel had been shaped and re-shaped by
  scholar-officials for over a century before it
  was published in the 1580's.
• Tale of the Water Margin was the most influential
  and popular novel of the Ming period.

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The Plum in the Golden Vase

• The Plum in the Golden Vase is a satirical novel
  set in the Sung period that really concerns Ming
  society during the Wan-li period (1572-1619).
• The novel centers around the domestic life of
  Hsi-men Ch'ing, a corrupt merchant with six wives
  and concubines who slowly destroys himself with
  conspicuous consumption, political imbroglios,
  and sexual escapades.

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• The core of the novel is a critique of the
  changes that the economic boom of the sixteenth
  century brought to Ming society in particular,
  the novel argues that the economic growth of the
  late Ming was eroding traditional values.
• The corruption and spiritual exhaustion of the
  household of Hsi-men Ch'ing reflects the larger
  corruption and materiality of late sixteenth
  century Ming culture.

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Shih-chü songs

• The rise of the vernacular Chinese novel was
  mirrored by the rise of vernacular, popular
  poetry.
• The most popular of these new genres of poetry
  were the Shih-chü songs.
• Regarded by the literary classes as vulgar, the
  Shih-chü songs were indecent, rhyming narratives.

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• Popular in both the South and the North, common
  people memorized, performed, and listened to them
  all the time
• Shih-chü songs were the most dynamic and
  universal aspects of Chinese popular culture
  during the Ming.
• In the late sixteenth century, Shih-chü songs
  were compiled and published.

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Focus onJourney to the West
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Journey to the West

• Journey to the West, the most brilliant Chinese
  mythological novel, came out in the mid Ming
  Dynasty. It was written by Wu Cheng'en (c.
  1500-c. 1582).

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The Story

• Journey to the West tells the story of how Xuan
  Zang, a Buddhist monk of the Tang Dynasty
  (618-907), endures countless difficulties imposed
  by various monsters and demons, and finally gets
  to the West assisted by his three disciples
• Sun Wukong (Monkey King)
• Pigsy
• Friar Sha

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• The Monkey King is the most brilliant figure in
  the novel.
• He loves freedom and has a fighting spirit.
• He is arrogant and unyielding in face of gods and
  Buddha, but at the same time very obedient and
  loyal to his master, Xuan Zang.

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Characters

• Xuan Zang's character embodies both the piety of
  a Buddhist monk and the stubbornness of a feudal
  scholar.
• The author criticizes Xuan Zang's timidity and
  incompetence by contrasting his character to Sun
  Wukong's bravery and resourcefulness.
• Pigsy is an important foil in the novel. He is
  rude and avaricious, and lusts after women. His
  arrogance and self-pitying behavior brings much
  comic relief to the novel.

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Mirrors real life

• Journey to the West imagines a world of rigid
  hierarchy managed by gods, which apparently
  mirrors the social reality of the actual world.
• The almighty Jade Emperor (the Supreme Deity of
  Taoism), the High Lord, the Buddhist monks and
  all kinds of cruel monsters and demons are all
  archetypes to be found in real life.

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The Supernatural

• Journey to the West has a strong romantic flavor.
  
• The author creates a supernatural world, but the
  gods and spirits, their magic weapons and even
  the environment in which they live are all based
  on reality
• While depicting various gods and demons, the
  author not only endows them with supernatural
  abilities but also with the attributive character
  of an animal.

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For example

• Sun Wukong's agility and impatience comes from a
  monkey's character, while his optimism and
  rebellious personality appear to be human.
• In different ways, rich and fantastic imagination
  and real life are well blended in Journey to the
  West.

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Structure of the story

• The structure of Journey to the West centers on
  characters, with the plot being carried out with
  their actions.
• All the 81 difficulties Xuan Zang and his
  disciples encounter are vividly told around the
  complicated relationships among Buddhist monks,
  Buddhas and demons, with each story remaining
  relatively independent.