Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor: A Seventeenth-Century Chinese Story Collection

317 Pages·2017·2.047 MB·English

by  Ainajushi, Robert E Hegel

Idle
Talk
under
the
Bean
Arbor
豆
棚
閒
話

A Seventeenth-Century
Chinese Story Collection
Compiled by Aina the Layman
With Commentary by
Ziran the Eccentric Wanderer
Edited by
Robert E. Hegel
University of
Washington Press
Seattle and London
Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor was made possible in part by grants from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation
for International Scholarly Exchange and from the James P. Geiss Foundation, a private, nonprofit operating
foundation that sponsors research on China's Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

Additional support was provided by the William H. Matheson Trust for the Liselotte Dieckmann Professorship
in Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis.
Copyright © 2017 by the University of Washington Press
Printed and bound in the United States of America
Design by Thomas Eykemans
Composed in Alegreya, typeface designed by Juan Pablo del Peral for Huerta Tipográfica
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
University of Washington Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ainajushi, author. | Hegel, Robert E., 1943– editor.
Title: Idle talk under the bean arbor : a seventeenth-century Chinese story collection /
compiled by Aina the Layman; with commentary by Ziran the Eccentric Wanderer ;
edited by Robert E. Hegel.
Other titles: Dou peng xian hua. English | Seventeenth-century Chinese story collection
Description: 1st edition. | Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2017] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2016025839 | isbn 9780295999975 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Classification: lcc pl2698.a4d68 2017 | ddc 895.13/4—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016025839
Cover and Frontispiece: The Climbing Beans, from Doupeng xianhua, Hanhailou ed., fig. 1a.
Reprinted from Zhang Mangong, Gudian wenxue banhua, 79. Inscription:
For three months no sound of the cavalry’s approach,
All I see are fattening beans across the Eastern Plain.
The paper used in this publication is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. ∞
In gratitude
For the inspiration offered by three great translators:
Patrick Hanan
David T. Roy
Burton Watson
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Contents
IX Acknowledgments
XI Introduction: Gossip and Exaggeration in Aina’s Short Stories
Robert E. Hegel
XXV Terms of Measurement and Titles
XXVII Chronology of China’s Historical Periods
(Dynasties and States)
I T B A
DLE ALK UNDER THE EAN RBOR
PREFACE Dashed off by Whistling Crane of the Empty Heavens
5 Translated by Li Qiancheng
FOREWORD Written by Aina the Layman from Shengshui
7 With Commentary by Ziran the Eccentric Wanderer from Yuanhu
Translated by Li Qiancheng
SESSION 1 Jie Zhitui Sets Fire to His Jealous Wife
9 Translated by Mei Chun and Lane J. Harris
SESSION 2 Fan Li Drowns Xishi in West Lake
23 Translated by Li Fang-yu
SESSION 3 A Court-Appointed Gentleman Squanders
37 His Wealth but Takes Power
Translated by Alexander C. Wille
SESSION 4 The Commissioner’s Son Wastes His Patrimony
57 to Revive the Family
Translated by Li Fang-yu
SESSION 5 The Little Beggar Who Was Truly Filial
72 Translated by Zhang Jing
SESSION 6 The Exalted Monks Who Faked Transcendence
86 Translated by Zhang Jing
SESSION 7 On Shouyang Mountain, Shuqi Becomes a Turncoat
101 Translated by Mei Chun and Lane J. Harris
SESSION 8 With a Transparent Stone, Master Wei Opens Blind Eyes
117 Translated by Alexander C. Wille
SESSION 9 Liu the Brave Tests a Horse on the Yuyang Road
132 Translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen
SESSION 10 Freeloader Jia Forms a League on Tiger Hill
148 Translated by Robert E. Hegel and Xu Yunjing
SESSION 11 In Death, Commander Dang Beheads His Enemy
170 Translated by Lindsey Waldrop
SESSION 12 In Detail, Rector Chen Discourses on the Cosmos
187 Translated by Robert E. Hegel
211 Afterthoughts on Stories
223 Historical and Cultural References
247 Notes
273 Glossary of Chinese Characters
281 Bibliography
287 Contributors
Acknowledgments
It was through the writings of Patrick Hanan that I became aware of the sig-
nificance of Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor, and so his name properly appears
first in our dedication. But David Roy, indefatigable translator of the Ming
novel Plum in the Golden Vase (Jin ping mei cihua) and provider of innumer-
able notes on cultural and stylistic matters, inspired our efforts to include
explanations for what would have been obvious to the original readers of
these stories. And Burton Watson, with whom I spent memorable hours
talking while a graduate student, long ago set the standard for making old
texts come alive while retaining something of their original grace in the less
flexible grammar of English. Our failures to reach that standard have been
remedied repeatedly by our copy editor Laura Iwasaki, who has our sincere
gratitude for her persistence in getting just the reading we sought. Thanks,
too, to Nancy W. Cortelyou, senior project editor for Idle Talk, and to the
anonymous reviewers for their many helpful queries and suggestions, all of
which significantly improved our renditions.
Once again I am grateful to Lorri Hagman, executive editor at the Uni-
versity of Washington Press, for her wonderful curiosity about texts and her
unwavering support for this and other projects. From its beginning, this col-
lection of translations was a joint undertaking of past and present graduate
students at Washington University in St. Louis, and one from the University
of Oregon, without whose good cheer and hard work it might have taken
many years to complete. They translated ten of the dozen stories here very
rapidly over the summer of 2015, leaving only two for me to render, with
excellent help from Xu Yunjing. Aina’s troublesome turns of phrase, his local
colloquialisms and slang, even his obscure literary references challenged
us all. Several thoughtful friends and colleagues have helped immensely
in turning these obstacles into comprehensible English. They have been
named singly in footnotes and elsewhere, but let me thank them here again:
ix