Reading for the Moral SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture ————— Roger T. Ames, editor Reading for the Moral Exemplarity and the Confucian Moral Imagination in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Short Fiction Maria Franca Sibau Cover art: Illustration of the fourth story in Exemplary Words. Bieben Erke Pai’an jingqi edition preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Reproduction courtesy of the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2018 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Sibau, Maria Franca, author. Title: Reading for the moral : exemplarity and the Confucian moral imagination in seventeenth-century Chinese short fiction / Maria Franca Sibau. Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2018. | Series: SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017031612| ISBN 9781438469898 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438469911 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Chinese fiction—Ming dynasty, 1368–1644—History and criticism. | Chinese fiction—Qing dynasty, 1644–1912—History and criticism. | Literature and morals—China—History—17th century. | Short stories, Chinese—History and criticism. | Ethics in literature. Classification: LCC PL2436 .S55 2018 | DDC 895.13/4609—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017031612 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Figures vii List of Abbreviations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Reading for the Moral 1 Chapter 1 Filial Quests 27 Chapter 2 Filial Dilemmas 49 Chapter 3 The Spectrum of Loyalty 83 Chapter 4 Female Exemplarity and the Violence of Virtue 105 Chapter 5 Interchangeable Brothers 127 Chapter 6 Friends in Need and Friends in Deed 139 Concluding Note 159 Appendix 165 Notes 169 Bibliography 207 Index 223 Figures I.1.1 Page 1 (recto) from Lu Yunlong’s preface to the first story in Exemplary Words, printed in calligraphic script. Kyujanggak edition. 8 I.1.2 Page 1 (verso) from Lu Yunlong’s preface to the first story in Exemplary Words, printed in calligraphic script. Kyujanggak edition. 9 I.2.1 Page 2 (recto) from Lu Yunlong’s preface to the first story in Exemplary Words, printed in calligraphic script. Kyujanggak edition. 10 I.2.2 Page 2 (verso) from Lu Yunlong’s preface to the first story in Exemplary Words, printed in calligraphic script. Kyujanggak edition. 11 I.3.1 First page of the first story in Exemplary Words. Kyujanggak edition. 12 2.1 Illustration of the fourth story in Exemplary Words (recto). Bieben Erke Pai’an jingqi edition preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. 79 vii Abbreviations CHC Mote, Frederick W., and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vols. 7 and 8: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644. Part 1 and 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988–1998. CK Ling Mengchu 凌濛初. Pai’an jingqi 拍案驚奇, edited by Chen Erdong 陳邇冬 and Guo Junjie 郭雋傑. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1991. DMB Goodrich, L. Carrington, and Chao-ying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976. ECCP Hummel, Arthur W., ed. Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (1644–1912). 2 vols. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1943. EK Ling Mengchu 凌濛初. Erke pai’an jingqi 二刻拍案驚奇, edited by Chen Erdong 陳邇冬 and Guo Junjie 郭雋傑. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1996. JSTY Feng Menglong 馮夢龍. Jingshi tongyan xinzhu quanben 警世通言 新注全本, edited by Wu Shuyin 吳書蔭. Beijing: Beijing shiyue wenyi chubanshe, 1994. QYZ Weiyuan zhuren 薇園主人. Qingye zhong 清夜鐘. In Guben xiaoshuo jicheng 古本小說集成. Ser. 4. Vol. 13. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990. SDT Tianran chisou 天然癡叟. Shi diantou 石點頭, edited by Li Zhong- ming 李忠明 and Wang Guanshi 王關仕. Taipei: Sanmin shuju, 1998. ix