by C. T. Hsia
55. “Miss Ever-Ready,” Yishijing 宜時景, evidently the name of a prostitute. Rascal invokes the Huayan jing (Flower Garland Sutra) because the word “flower” in the title also refers to courtesans. He is being deliberately sacrilegious here: either he is comparing the courtesan’s songs to religious sermons, or he is referring to a song and dance about “finding the Flower Garland Sutra at the bottom of the sea.” There is a reference to the belief that this sutra was recovered from the palace of the Naga kings at the bottom of the sea in Flower Garland Sutra; see Lamotte, “Manjusri,” 71.
56. “Brick kiln” or “tile kiln” are terms used to indicate a slum area outside a city and so do not necessarily have anything to do with a kiln. In many Yuan plays impoverished characters live in a “dilapidated kiln south of the city.”
57. Xijizi: “There are several things you excel in that are hard to emulate. / Your knowledge of things past and present is truly rare.”
58. Deng Tong was a minister much favored by Emperor Wen (r. 180–157 B.C.E.) of the Han; Deng was given special dispensation by the emperor to mint money and consequently Deng was very wealthy. See Shiji 125.3192–93; Watson, Records of the Grand Historian, 1:265–66. Xu You was a recluse who was sent a gourd for dipping water, according to a story from Cai Yong’s Qin cao; see Taiping yulan 762.3513. After using it, he hung it in a tree, but when its rattling in the wind began to annoy him, he threw the gourd away.
59. Zigong was famous for his political acumen, rhetorical prowess, and astute mercantile skills. See Lunyu zhushu 11.19.
60. Xijizi: “Just think, for my numbered years I bore in vain countless pains and hardships.”
61. Xijizi: “Your words are shocking!”
62. Xijizi: “The parents wish for nothing more intently than for their children to have a brilliant future.”
63. Xijizi: “It’s just like playing with ice over fire!”
64. Lord Mengchang (d. 279 B.C.E.), the noble title of Tian Wen, was a Qi minister who lived during the Warring States period. He is famous for having kept thousands of retainers (Shiji 75). Gongsun Hong was a Han official who entertained virtuous scholars in his eastern apartments (Hanshu 58.2621).
65. Zuo Ci was a third-century ascetic and magician; his feats are described in Bowu zhi and Soushen ji; see Wang Genlin, Han Wei Liuchao biji xiaoshuo daguan, 204–5, 283. Xiang Yu, a contender for the empire at the fall of the Qin, was defeated by Liu Bang (Han Gaozu) in 202 B.C.E. (See chap. 2, this volume.) He is said to have sung a song about his strength, which could “pluck up mountains” (Shiji 7.333). Bashan juding 拔山舉鼎, “lifting mountains and hoisting tripods,” is a set phrase denoting great strength. Because of the association of sovereignty with ritual tripods, this effectively means “overturning the state.”
66. “Nothing but the name …” is a line from “Stopping at Qinhuai River at Night” (Qinhuai yepo 秦淮夜泊), a quatrain by Du Mu 杜牧 (803–852); translation from Graham, Poems of the Late T’ang, 123. “The Sea of Darkness” refers to a place of suffering mentioned in Buddhist sutras.
67. Traditional Chinese pills had a wax coating. Once it was removed, the pill could no longer stay intact and fresh and thus became worthless.
68. “Bitter Cold Pavilion” is a facetious term for a beggar’s hovel that frequently appears in traditional fiction and plays. The Yuan playwright Yang Xianzhi wrote a play with the title Inspector Zheng at the Bitter Cold Pavilion in Wind and Snow (Zheng kongmu fengxue Kuhan ting 鄭孔目風雪酷寒亭); see Zang Maoxun, YQX, 5:2542–71.
69. A reference to the Buddhist practice of releasing captured animals in order to gain religious merit. There were those, consequently, who captured animals only for the purpose of releasing them, a cruel corruption of the original meritorious act. The line also describes the villains’ treatment of Rascal.
70. Xijizi: Instead of Lu Su, Liu Yi, and Bao Shu, three other historical characters—Shao Yong, Guan Zhong, and Tian Wen—are cited as exemplars of generosity, ritual propriety and righteousness, and nobility of mind, respectively. Lu Su was a very generous minister of the state of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period; his biography is in Chen Shou, Sanguo zhi 54.1267. Liu Yi was an arrogant gambler of the Jin period; his biography is in Fang Xuanling et al., Jin shu 85.2205–10. Bao Shu (also known as Bao Shuya) abnegates himself to recommend his friend Guan Zhong to the Qi ruler; see chap. 4, this volume, n. 34.
71. Chen Deng was a famous knight-errant of the third century; his biography is in Chen Shou, Sanguo zhi 7.229–30.
72. The twelfth level of the Jade Terrace refers to precincts of immortals where no humans can venture. Here the Elder is simply using the image to convey cold and isolation.
73. The hour was struck only during the hours of darkness, ceasing with the dawn.
74. The Elder seems to be implying that he could theoretically sue Rascal for unfilial conduct (wuni 忤逆), since Zhao Guoqi had invested in him a father’s authority. He may also be implying that, as his foster father, he could legally beat Rascal to death for unfilial conduct—which could be justified in some circumstances according to the Ming penal code.
75. Literally, “ear root” (er gen 耳根), a Buddhist term referring to emotions roused by the auditory sense. Here it refers to the fact that Rascal was easily led astray by his companions’ persuasions.
76. This jingle can also be found in Li Kui fu jing 李逵負荊, a Yuan zaju play by Kang Jinzhi 康進之, translated by James I. Crump as “Li K’uei Carries Thorns” in Birch, Anthology of Chinese Literature, 1:394.
77. There may be an intentional pun in the prostitute’s name Geng Miaolian 耿妙蓮, something like “Evermore Marvelous Love.” “Double six” (shuanglu 雙陸) was a gambling game similar to backgammon. Xijizi gives considerably higher figures, for a total of “86 taels, 7 mace, 9.2 cents.” A mace is one-tenth of a tael.
78. Neglected Beauty (Piezhixiu 撇之秀) is apparently the name of a courtesan. “Aguling” 阿孤令 (or “Ahuling” 阿忽令) is a tune title.
79. Xijizi: “What does he know about Apprehension of Things and Perfection of Knowledge”?
80. Xijizi: “Does he know what are the Six Arts—ritual, music, archery, riding, writing, and mathematics?”
81. Jugglers move the balls very quickly; the line “the sun and moon are like juggled balls” (ri yue ru tiaowan 日月如跳丸) refers to the swift passage of time.
82. “Rotten timber” is an allusion to Lunyu zhushu 5.10: “The Master said, ‘A piece of rotten wood cannot be carved, nor can a wall of dried dung be trowelled” (Lau, Analects, 38–39). Mulberry and elm represent an image probably derived from the biography of Feng Yi in Fan Ye, Hou Hanshu 47, in which these two trees indicate the western quarter where the sun sets. Here, by extension, they indicate the evening of life.
83. Xijizi: “I am like that meager vessel, not worth speaking about, / Like that wall of dried dung that brings shame to my ancestors. / But the classics [literally, Analects and Mencius] are the timber to save the world.”
84. Literally, “turning around with those melons”; the Chinese, na huzi zhuan 那瓠子轉, is a pun on nei Hu Zichuan 那胡子傳, “That Hu Zichuan.”
85. “Drunkard of Gaoyang” is how Li Yiji describes himself in Shiji 97.2704. “Lucky pennies,” literally “green water beetles (qingfu 青蚨), is a term for copper coins derived from a story in Soushen ji 搜神記: coins were smeared with the blood of green water beetles in the hope that they would always return after being spent.
86. “Descent” is a polite reference to one’s own birthday.
87. Xiao yuanwai 小員外, “vice director, junior grade,” is an official-sounding title taken by the wealthy and powerful; since it carried neither official responsibilities nor privileges, we have translated it here as simply “young squire.”
88. Xijizi: “For the hunger and cold you suffered, I will prove the justification.”
89. This aria is not in Xijizi.
90. This is the first line of
the beggars’ song “Lotus Blossoms Falling.” See the prologue of The Monk with a Bag and the Word Forbearance (Budai heshang ren zi ji 布袋和尚忍字記) by Zheng Tingyu (Zang Maoxun, YQX, 5:2689).
91. The text has “intact general” (wanti jiangjun 完體將軍). In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Mi Heng mocks the Wei general Xiahou Dun, who lost one eye in battle, as the “intact general.” Despite Xiahou’s valor, the loss of his eye turns him, in some popular genres, into a butt of jokes and a clownish character totally out of keeping with his stature as a warrior. Hence it is possible for the Elder to address Liu and Hu as “mutilated generals”—replicas of Xiahou Dun as his character is popularly portrayed.
92. In Vimalakīrti Sūtra, a celestial maiden scatters flowers as the Buddha’s disciples listen to his sermons.
93. Xijizi: “He has just established himself again; / stop flattering him for his handsome appearance!”
6
THE TIGER HEAD PLAQUE
LI ZHIFU
TRANSLATED BY YORAM SZEKELY, C. T. HSIA, WAI-YEE LI, AND GEORGE KAO
INTRODUCTION
WAI-YEE LI
The Tiger Head Plaque That Authorizes Its Bearer to Act on His Own Judgment (Bianyi xingshi hutoupai 便宜行事虎頭牌), or, in short, The Tiger Head Plaque, is the only extant play by Li Zhifu 李直夫 (ca. late thirteenth to early fourteenth centuries). As with many other Yuan playwrights, next to nothing is known about Li. Sun Kaidi opines that he served as an official in Hunan.1 The Register of Ghosts lists the titles of twelve plays by Li Zhifu and notes that he was a Jurchen whose alias was Pucha Liwu 蒲查李五 and that he hailed from Dexing.2 Judging from those listed titles, his oeuvre covers historical themes as well as romantic and domestic drama.
At the beginning of The Tiger Head Plaque, the young Jurchen commander Shanshouma, played by the male lead, is a senior chiliarch (“leader of a thousand households”) charged with guarding a mountain pass against Liao raiders. News of his promotion comes during the visit of his uncle and aunt, who had raised the orphaned Shanshouma. He becomes the grand marshal of troops and cavalry and bearer of the Tiger Head Plaque, which authorizes him to act on his own judgment. His uncle, Yinzhuma, asks to be given his old post, and Shanshouma, though wary of Yinzhuma’s drinking habit, reluctantly agrees.3 Yinzhuma returns to his home in Bohai, where his brother Jinzhuma pays him a farewell visit, urging him to be vigilant and to abstain from drinking, although Jinzhuma’s most stirring arias describe his descent into poverty. Yinzhuma takes up his post at the mountain pass and resumes drinking. Infiltrating the border on a night of Yinzhuma’s revelry, Liao soldiers capture people and livestock. Shanshouma sentences his uncle to death for dereliction of duty and refusal to answer his summons. His family and subordinate officials appeal for leniency, and the sentence is commuted to flogging when it comes to light that Yinzhuma had pursued the enemy and recovered what was lost. The play concludes with the reconciliation of uncle and nephew.
Much of the critical interest in The Tiger Head Plaque focuses on its Jurchen elements.4 The Jurchens were a seminomadic people originating in the Sungari Basin (present-day Heilongjiang province). Their rise was abrupt and explosive. They rebelled against Liao rule in 1114, began the conquest of the Liao empire, and, after defeating Song armies in 1127, gained control of all Song territories in northern China. The dynasty they established, known as Jin in Chinese, was in turn overrun by the Mongols in 1234.5 He Liangjun claims that the play is based on the story of the founding Jin emperor, Wanyan Aguda (1068–1123, r. 1115–1123) and cites the farewell scene in act 2 as somehow related to the parting between Aguda and his uncle. According to The Register of Ghosts, the topic and title of the play are, respectively, “A Minister of the Music Bureau Judges a Major Case” (Hangyuan xianggong da duan’an 行院相公大斷案) and “The Tiger Head Plaque of Emperor Wuyuan” (Wuyuan huangdi hutoupai 武元皇帝虎頭牌) (Wuyuan is the posthumous honorific of Aguda).6 Our play has a different topic and title and makes no mention of Aguda at all, and while it is possible that the reference may merely indicate that the plaque authorizes its bearer as the ruler’s deputy or that the plaque was instituted by Aguda, we cannot rule out the possibility that there was another play titled Tiger Head Plaque that was more closely connected to Aguda, and that its farewell scene somehow got incorporated into our play as act 2.
Stephen West has noted that Jurchen musical tunes7 and references to Jurchen customs in act 2 evoke a Jurchen milieu, but he also convincingly demonstrates the uneasy connection between act 2 and the rest of the play, inasmuch as the deliberate melding by the playwright or later editors still betrays incongruities.8 More generally, West questions the assumption that The Tiger Head Plaque is “an authentic portrayal of Jurchen life and environment,” citing anachronistic confusion of Jin and Yuan ranks, titles, and institutions.9 The play thus tells us more about Jurchen life in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century than about the historical reality of Jurchens in the early twelfth century. The exotic costumes and hairdos of the Jurchen characters on stage must have made for interesting theatrical spectacles; their penchant for music, theater, and the pleasure quarters would have added a self-referential dimension. The handful of extant thirteenth and fourteenth century plays that contain Jurchen elements all feature such music lovers or habitués of the pleasure quarters.10 In The Tiger Head Plaque, Yinzhuma’s drinking is linked to his love for music, and Jinzhuma’s wastrel son, mentioned in passing, is also an echo of this theme.
The Tiger Head Plaque deals with one of the most fundamental questions in Chinese ethics: what happens if there is a conflict between public justice or political duty and private bond, concerning especially the filial piety that a child owes his or her parent? A parent’s sacrificing of his or her child for a “higher good” is usually portrayed as noble self-sacrifice;11 the case is very different when a son or daughter is similarly torn. In Lunyu, when Lord Ye lauds the honesty of a man who exposes his father’s theft of a sheep, Confucius replies, “In our parts, an honest man is different from that: when a father conceals the truth on behalf of his son, and when a son conceals the truth on behalf of his father, there is honesty in it” (Wudang zhi zhi zhe yi yu shi fu wei zi yin zi wei fu yin zhi zai qizhong yi 吾黨之直者異於是：父為子隱，子為父隱，直在其中矣).12 When Taoying asks Mencius what the sage-king Shun should do if his father, the benighted Blind Old Man, commits murder, Mencius says that Shun should not stop the lawful arrest of his father, yet at the same time he should give up his kingdom, carry his father on his back, and escape with him to the edge of the sea.13 Stories about a son torn between filial duty to his father and loyalty to his ruler usually end tragically with the son’s suicide.14 The Jurchen setting of the play here, portrayed as a rustic, militarized culture in which communal survival is the paramount concern, might have made it easier to imagine a theme almost unthinkable in the context of Han culture: the capital punishment of the father. Here tragedy is obviated and reconciliation achieved through the Tiger Head Plaque, which Shanshouma presents in act 4 as the agent of implacable military justice detached from himself. The irony is that the Tiger Head Plaque authorizes Shanshouma to “act on his own judgment” (bianyi xingshi 便宜行事),15 and that power includes judicious compromise and expediency (quanyi 權宜),16 which results in the commutation of Yinzhuma’s sentence. In that sense, the Tiger Head Plaque causes a conflict of loyalties but also resolves it.
This play, mentioned in both The Register of Ghosts and Correct Sounds, now exists only in Anthology.17
THE TIGER HEAD PLAQUE
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Role type
Name, social role
FEMALE LEAD
CHACHA, wife of SHANSHOUMA
OPENING MALE
OLD CHILIARCH, Yinzhuma, uncle of SHANSHOUMA
OLD FEMALE
OLD LADY, aunt of SHANSHOUMA
MALE LEAD
SHANSHOUMA, CHILIARCH, later MARSHAL
MAL
E LEAD
JINZHUMA, elder brother of OLD CHILIARCH
EXTRA
CHIEF SECRETARY
COMIC
OFFICER
EXTRA
ENVOY
COMIC
PUPPY, a steward
COMIC
BAILIFF
BOY
GUARDS
ATTENDANTS
ACT 1
(FEMALE LEAD dressed as CHACHA enters, followed by BOY.)
CHACHA (declaims, to the tune “Moon Over West River”:)
Since childhood, on horseback I am able,
Why would I abide by the dressing table?
Though to makeup unknown,
I have a natural grace all my own.
If you ask who’s my husband—
From his waist dangles the general’s plaque of gold.
Chacha, unlike other women,
Has a nonpareil charm: she is something to behold. (Speaks:)
I belong to the Wanyan clan of the Jurchens, and my name is Chacha.18 That husband of mine is Shanshouma, and at present he is senior chiliarch bearing a golden plaque. Today the chiliarch has gone hunting. Servants, arrange the tea and the food, for I expect the chiliarch to return any moment now.
(OPENING MALE dressed as OLD CHILIARCH enters with OLD LADY.)
OLD CHILIARCH: I am Yinzhuma. Since I left the Bohai camp, I have been riding for several days, and now I have come to this mountain pass. Here is the residence of Shanshouma. Attendants, take my horse. Boy, go announce us and say that Uncle and Aunt have come.
