Shadows in a Chinese Landscape: Chi Yun's Notes from a Hut for Examining the Subtle: Chi Yun's Notes from a Hut for Examining the Subtle

by Yun,Chi

• ISBN13: 9780765601735
• ISBN10: 0765601737
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-11-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In this major undertaking David Keenan translates and contextualizes over 100 tales from the Notes from the Hut for Examining the Subtle, a collection of 1,200 tales and observations by Chi Yun (1724-1805). Chi, one of eighteenth century China's leading intellectuals, is most renowned for compiling the monumental Ssu-k'u ch'uan-shu. The translations comprise tales and anecdotes about members of Chi Yun's household, his colleagues, and his various neighbors. During the Ch'ing period, the collection was quite widely read because of its famous author as well as for its contents, and it is now recognized as a masterpiece of the period. In addition to his careful translations of the stories, Mr. Keenan describes connections between Ch'i Yun's Notes, other collections of classical-language popular fiction in eighteenth century China, and vernacular fiction such as The Scholars and the Dream of the Red Chamber, with which Notes has been favorably compared. By illuminating neglected aspects of the interaction between popular and elite culture in late imperial China, this study helps us to see the rich connections between life and letters on the eve of the Western impact.

Author Biography

David L. Keenan is director of the East Asian Summer Language Institute and associate professor of East Asian languages and literatures at Indiana University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Foreword	xi
I. Tales about Chi Yun's Household
Lord Ai-t' ang's Hobby	3	(1)
Lions	4	(2)
Grandmother Ch'en	6	(1)
Taking Care of Servants	6	(2)
Anomalies	8	(1)
The Wetnurse's Tale	9	(2)
My Aunt	11	(1)
Home for the Examinations	11	(1)
Sister Hui	12	(1)
My Dog, Quattro	13	(2)
Miss Kuo	15	(1)
Miss Shen	16	(2)
Her Ominous Poem	18	(1)
Wen-luan	18	(1)
My Nephew's Widow	19	(1)
My Daughter-in-Law	20	(1)
My Daughter	21	(1)
My Nephew	21	(1)
My Son's Last Words	22	(1)
Corrections	23	(6)
II. Tales from Members of Chi Yun's Household
Scholarly Auras	29	(1)
By the Book	30	(1)
Latter Day Disciples	31	(2)
Metamorphosis?	33	(1)
Ghost Hunter	33	(1)
Tiger Hunters	34	(1)
The Machine Gun	35	(1)
Eating Cats	36	(1)
The Cook	37	(1)
The Gig	37	(1)
Value Judgments (I)	38	(2)
Value Judgments (II)	40	(1)
A Shansi Merchant	41	(2)
The Heart	43	(1)
Famine	44	(3)
III. Tales about Chi Yun's Colleagues
Getting Directions	47	(1)
A Ghost on the Book of Changes	47	(2)
A Fox on Sagehood	49	(2)
Stupid Magpies	51	(1)
Location	52	(1)
The Crossbow	53	(1)
Taboos	54	(1)
Mixed Success	55	(1)
The Foxes' Gift	56	(1)
Position	57	(2)
Forebodings	59	(4)
IV. Tales from Chi Yun's Colleagues
Life as a Pig	63	(1)
The Hermit Ghost	64	(2)
Infernal Discourse	66	(1)
Fearless of Ghosts	66	(1)
Fox Tenants	67	(1)
Fox Teacher	68	(2)
Ghostly Review	70	(1)
A Ghost on Goodness	71	(2)
Handicapping	73	(2)
Quadra-savers	75	(2)
Unbeliever Mocked	77	(1)
Ingrates in Hell	77	(1)
Judicial Delays	78	(1)
Master Han	79	(1)
Saved by the Mirror	79	(2)
The Naked Ghost	81	(1)
The Cold Ghost	82	(2)
Temptation	84	(1)
The Faithful Ghost	85	(1)
Soul Switching	86	(1)
Black Magic	86	(2)
An Evening of Fox Tales	88	(3)
Two Near Suicides	91	(1)
Fox Cure	92	(2)
What Foxes Want (I)	94	(1)
What Foxes Want (II)	95	(1)
The Fickle Singer	96	(1)
Another Fickle ``Fox''	97	(1)
Delusions	98	(1)
Appearances	99	(1)
The Imposter	100	(1)
The Wrong Subpoena	101	(1)
The Mirror of Deeds	102	(2)
Infernal Harrassment	104	(2)
Mother-in-Law Problems	106	(2)
Abortion	108	(3)
V. Tales from and about Chi Yun's Neighbors
Irking the Saints	111	(1)
The Sunken Lions	112	(1)
Suicide Prevention	113	(1)
Eating Clerks	114	(2)
Altruism Rewarded	116	(1)
The Farm Wife and the Official	117	(1)
A Lonely Ghost	118	(1)
Haunted Cedars	119	(1)
Mercenary Teachers	120	(1)
A Ghost on the Three Teachings	121	(1)
The Neo-Confucian Conscience	122	(1)
Filial Transformation	123	(1)
Yeti	124	(1)
Punished by the Temple God	125	(1)
Saved by the Temple God	125	(1)
Defeating Rebels	126	(2)
Roots of Rebellion	128	(2)
Revenge	130	(1)
The Rebels' Ghosts	130	(1)
Unfilial Animals	131	(2)
A Failed Suicide	133	(1)
Kuo Liu	134	(2)
Balancing Good and Evil	136	(1)
Lu the Fourth	137	(1)
Man Ao's Daughter	138	(1)
Another Woman from Ho-chien	139	(1)
San-pao and Ssu-pao	140	(2)
Breaking off an Engagement	142	(1)
The Mysterious Kidnapping	143	(1)
Dream Wife	144	(19)
Appendices
Chi Yun's Prefaces	149	(4)
Two Accounts in the Ch'iu-p'ing hsin-yu	153	(4)
Finding Lists	157	(6)
Bibliography	163