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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
As the legend goes, the reign of Sui Yang-ti was a great heroic age. The heroes were destined to fight either on the side of or against the great emperor to come, T'ang T'ai-tsung. Before the fall of Sui, however, Sui Yang-ti summoned all the rebels to Yangchow for a tournament. The champion was to win'the title of the Supreme Rebel, to whom would be accorded the honors due a king. The plot was to let the rebels kill each other with their own hands, and the survivors would then be killed by mines set off soon after the contest was over. If there were still some survivors left, a gate which weighed one thousand chin would be lowered into the city wall to block their retreat so that a massacre might be carried out by the Imperial troops. But since Sui Yang-ti was to lose the mandate of heaven, his plot did not work. An insufficient number of rebels were killed in the arena, and the mines did not explode as planned, thanks to the happy intervention of an ancient fox who had to save the life of the true dragon, T'ang T'ai-tsung, among all the rebels. When the gate was lowered, it was caught by a giant-like bandit who supported it long enough to let the eighteen princes and the lesser rebels from all over China escape to safety. But the gate proved too much of a burden even for such a hero, and he was crushed to death.
1 Shuo-t'ang (The T'ang Saga), Chapter 41.
2 What is Required of Us as fathers Today. Lu Hsün, Complete Works (Peking: 1957), Vol. I, 1. 246Google Scholar. The Complete Works is hereinafter referred to as LH.
3 Postscript to the Grave. LH, Vol. I, 363.Google Scholar
4 A Reading List for the Youth. LH, Vol. III, 9.Google Scholar
5 Death. LH, Vol. VI, 496.
6 Dead Fire. LH, Vol. II, 116.Google Scholar
7 LH, vol. II, 164.
8 LH, Vol. II, 160.
9 The Inscription on the Tombstone. LH, Vol. II, 191.Google Scholar
10 Random Thoughts (57). LH, Vol. I, 420.Google Scholar
11 Death. LH, Vol. VI, 494.Google Scholar
12 Chou Tso-jen said that he did not believe in the immortality of the soul. See his "On Gossiping About the Ghosts," collected in the volume of essays, Kua-tou-chi (Melons and Beans) (Shanghai: 1937), p. 31.Google Scholar
13 Wu-ch'ang. LH, Vol. II, 248.Google Scholar
14 Nü-tiao. LH. Vol. VI, 498.Google Scholar
15 The scripts of the episodes Wu-ch'ang and Nü-tiao from the Mu-lien-hsi are printed in Chü-pen (Plays, A Monthly). (Peking: 12 1961), pp. 80–84Google Scholar. One is never sure what liberty the performers in Communist China have taken with the original play. The latest version of the Ghost of the Hanged Woman does put her revenge into effect but according to a comment by Tai Pu-fan, “in the original version, her act is to seek a substitute.” (Ibid, p. 89).
16 LH, Vol. VI, 501–502.
17 On the Miracle Play of Mu-lien. Chou Tso-jen, T'an-lung-chi (The Dragon Essays), (Shanghai: 1927), p. 140.Google Scholar
18 In Chung-min, Wang et al. , ed. Tun-huang fien-wen chi (A Collection of Popularised Literature from the Tun-huang Caves) (Peking: 1957)Google Scholar, there are two other texts on the same subject: Mu-lien yüan-ch'i (The Original Story of Mu-lien), pp. 701–713Google Scholar, and Mu-lien pien-wen (The Popularized Story of the Mu-Lien), pp. 756–760Google Scholar. But Ta-mu-chien-lien ming-chien chiu-mu pien-wen, pp. 714–755Google Scholar, contains the richest material.
19 Meng Yüan-lao, Tung-ching meng-hua-lu (1147), reprinted in one volume with four other books on the capitals of the Sung: Kaifeng and Hangchow. (Shanghai: 1956), p. 49. More information about the Mu-lien-hsi can be found in Chao Ching-shen, The Development of the Legend of Mu-lien, collected in a volume of his studies of Chinese vernacular literature, Yin-tzu-chi (Silver Characters) (musical instrument). (Shanghai: 1946), pp. 149–177.Google Scholar
20 During the “hundred flowers” movement in October 1956, and on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Lu Hsün's death, an amateur theatrical troupe of 42 actors from Hsin-ch'ang, composed of farmers, masons, tailors, workers in bamboo, etc., put on a performance of the Mu-lien-hsi in Shanghai. According to a report, “for 13 years no such performance has been given in the countryside of Hsin-ch'ang.” More information about the Mu-lien-hsi and the performance can be obtained in the report. People's Daily (Peking: 11 22–23, 1956), p. 8.Google Scholar
21 Chou Tso-jen mentioned the amateur actors in his essay, “On the Miracle Play of Mu-lien,” (see Note 17). How a child recognized the characters is described in another essay, “The Theatrical Troupe in the Village,” Chou, K'an-yün-chi (Looking at the Clouds). (Shanghai: 1932), pp. 260–262.Google Scholar
22 People's Daily (11 22, 1956), p. 8Google Scholar. Lu Hsün also mentioned the “examination hall ghosts” in Wu-ch'ang (LH, Vol. II, 245) and Nü-tiao (LH, Vol. VI, 500).
23 This and other episodes are described in Chou Tso-jen, “On the Miracle Play of Mu-lien,” (see Note 17).
24 Hu Shih, Sinological Research and Subduing the Ghosts. Collected Papers, Third Scries. (Shanghai: 1930), Vol. II, 211.Google Scholar
25 Cf. Hu Shih's book in English, The Chinese Renaissance. (Chicago: 1934).Google Scholar
26 Chou, A Letter, collected in T'an-hu-chi (The Tiger Essays). (Shanghai: 1929), pp. 172–173.Google Scholar
27 A Random Thought. Ibid, p. 277.