{"id":6292,"date":"2014-11-23T20:39:57","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T20:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.froginawell.net\/frog\/?p=6292"},"modified":"2014-11-23T20:55:26","modified_gmt":"2014-11-23T20:55:26","slug":"shen-fu-vs-zhang-daye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/2014\/11\/shen-fu-vs-zhang-daye\/","title":{"rendered":"Shen Fu vs. Zhang Daye"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing I always have to do as a teacher is figure out what books to assign. Since I always find this hard to do, I thought I would think it out in terms of MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch. So, for this episode we have.<\/p>\n

Shen Fu Six Records of a Floating Life<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ShenFu\"<\/a><\/p>\n

vs<\/p>\n

Zhang Daye’s World of a Tiny Insect<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Zhang\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Which is the best book to assign?<\/p>\n

Where they fit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both of these are books for HIST 206 History of East Asia. I suppose they could go in something like a Late Imperial China class, but since so many of my students are replicants I try not to re-use books in different classes. For this type of class I want something short and in paperback that is readable yet deals with some important issues. There are usually lots of memoirs and such in the modern period, but in terms of spacing things out it is nice to have something early modern.<\/p>\n

Other things that have more or less gone in this slot over the years are<\/p>\n

-Keene trans. Chushingura<\/p>\n

Katsu Kokichi Musui\u2019s Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai<\/p>\n

Spence, Death of Woman Wang<\/p>\n

Schneewind Tale of Two Melons: Emperor and Subject in Ming China (well, I liked it)<\/p>\n

Recently Shen Fu has had a long run and I have been pretty happy with it. This Fall, however I shifted to Zhang Daye, and I am not yet sure if I should stick with it.<\/p>\n

Both of them are written by low-ranking members of the literate elite. Both of them are \u201chard to follow\u201d because they \u201cjump around.\u201d Both of them, especially Zhang, require you to read a fair number of footnotes to get all the allusions and references in them.<\/p>\n

In Shen Fu we get lots of stuff about his relationship with his family (mostly his father) and his not-very successful career as a government clerk and literatus His main advantage is probably that he is married, and his relationship with his wife is a major part of the book. (It is actually a pretty well-known book in China for that reason.) She, for instance, is not very happy with her restrictions as a woman, and a one point he helps her dress up as a man so she can see the sights<\/p>\n

One year <\/span>some friends of mine invited me <\/span>to <\/span>go and help to arrange their flowers, <\/span>so <\/i><\/span>I had a chance to <\/span>s<\/span>ee the festival myself. I went home and told Y<\/span>u<\/span>n <\/span>(his wife) <\/span>how beautiful it wa<\/span>s<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘What a shame that I cannot go just because I am not a man,’ said Y<\/span>u<\/span>n.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘<\/span>If you wore one of my hats and <\/span>s<\/span>ome of my clothes<\/span>, <\/span>you could look like a man.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Y<\/span>u<\/span>n thereupon braided her hair into a plait and made up her eyebrows<\/span>. <\/span>She put on my hat, and though her hair showed a little around her ears it was easy to conceal. When she put on my robe we found it was an inch and a half too long, but she took it up around the waist and put on a riding jacket over it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘What about my feet?’ Yun asked.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘In the street they sell “butterfly shoes”,’ I said, ‘in all sizes. They’re easy to buy, and afterwards you can wear them around the house. Wouldn’t they do?’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yun was delighted, and when she had put on my clothes after dinner she practised for a long time, putting her hands into her sleeves and taking large steps like a man.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But suddenly she changed her mind. ‘I am not going! <\/span>It <\/span>would be awful if someone found out. <\/span>If <\/span>your parents knew, they would never allow us to go<\/span>.<\/span>‘<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I still encouraged her to go, however. ‘Everyone at the temple knows me<\/span>. <\/span>Even if they find out, they will only take it as a joke. Mother is at ninth sister’s house, so if we come and go secretly no one will ever know.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yun looked at herself in the mirror and laughed endlessly. I pulled her along, and we left quietly. We walked all around inside the temple, with no one realizing she was a woman. <\/span>If <\/span>someone asked who she was, I would tell them she was my cousin. They <\/span>w<\/span>ould only fold their hands and bow to her.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the last place we came to, young women and girls were sitting behind the throne that had been erected there. They were the family of a Mr Yang, one of the organizers of the festival. Without thinking, Yun walked over and began to chat with them as a woman quite naturally might, and as she bent over to do so she inadvertently laid her hand on the shoulder of one of the young ladies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the maids angrily jumped up and shouted, ‘What kind of a rogue are you, to behave like that!’ I went over to try to explain, but Yun, seeing how embarrassing the situation could become, quickly took off her hat and kicked up her foot,<\/span> saying, ‘See, I am a woman too!’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At first they all stared at Yun in surprise, but then their anger turned to laughter. We stayed <\/span>to <\/span>have some tea and refreshments with them, and then called sedan chairs and went home.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A big part Shen Fu (like Zhang) is taken up with travel, and while I can’t do much in a class like this with how they fit into Chinese travel writing, he does sometimes take his wife with him.<\/p>\n

\n

When Chien Shih-chu of Wuchiang County fell ill and died, my father wrote and ordered me to represent him at the funeral. Hearing this, Yun took me aside. <\/span><\/span><\/span>‘If <\/span><\/span><\/span>you are going to Wuchiang, you have <\/span><\/span><\/span>to <\/span><\/span><\/span>cross Lake Tai. I would love to go with you and see something more of the world.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘<\/span><\/span><\/span>I had just been thinking how lonely it would be going by myself,’ I said, ‘and that if you could come with me it would be lovely. But there is no excuse for you <\/span><\/span><\/span>to <\/span><\/span><\/span>go.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘I could say I wanted to go home for a visit. You could go to the boat first, and I would meet you there<\/span><\/span><\/span>.’ <\/span><\/span><\/span>‘Then on the way back we could stop the boat under Ten Thousand-Years Bridge,’ I said<\/span><\/span><\/span>. ‘<\/span><\/span><\/span>We could relax in the moonlight, the way we used to at the Pavilion of the Waves.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was then the 18th day of the sixth month. In the cool of the morning I took a servant and went ahead to the Hsu River Dock, where we boarded a boat and waited. Yun arrived in a sedan chair shortly afterwards<\/span><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span>The boat cast off and left the Tiger’s Roar Bridge, and after a while we began to see other sails in the wind, and birds on the sandy shore<\/span><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span>The sky and the water became the same colour.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘Is this the Lake Tai that everyone speaks of?’ asked Yun. ‘Now that I see how grand the world is, I have not lived in vain! There are women who have lived their entire lives without seeing a vista<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/i>like this.’ <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It seemed we had only chatted for a little while before we arrived at Wuchiang, where the wind was rustling the willows along the bank. I went ashore, only to return after the funeral to find the boat empty. I anxiously questioned the boatman, who pointed along the bank and said, ‘Don’t you see them in the shadow of the willows by the bridge watching the cormorants catch fish?’ To my surprise, Yiin had gone ashore with the boatman’s daughter. When I came up behind her she was still covered with perspiration, leaning against the other girl and lost in watching the birds. I patted her shoulder and said, ‘Your clothes are soaked through!’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yiin turned her head to look at me. ‘I was afraid someone from the Chien family would come to the boat with you,’ she said, ‘so I came here for a while to keep them from seeing me if they did. Why did you come back so quickly?\u201d I laughed. ‘So I could recapture you.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We walked to the boat hand in hand, and sailed back to TenThousand-Years Bridge<\/span><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span>The sun had not yet set by the time we reached the bridge, so we let down the windows of the boat to admit a breeze, then changed into silk clothes and, fanning ourselves, ate some<\/span><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/span>melon to cool off. Before long the setting sun turned the bridge red, and the twilight mist enveloped the willows in darkness. The silver moon was just rising and the river quickly filled up with the lights of night fishermen. We sent our servant to the stern to drink with the boatman.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The boatman’s daughter was named Su-yiin, and she had had several cups of wine with me once before. She was quite nice, so I called her over and asked her to sit with Yiin. There was no light in the bow of the boat, so we were able to enjoy the moon and drink happily. We began to play a literary drinking game, at which Suyiin could only blink her eyes<\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span> She listened to us for quite a while, then said, ‘I know a lot about drinking games, but I have never heard of this one. Will you teach it to me?’ Yiin thought up several examples to try to explain it to her, but after some time the boat girl still did not understand. I laughed and said, ‘Stop it, lady teacher. I have a comparison that will explain the problem.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘What kind of an example are you going to give?’ Yiin asked. <\/span><\/span><\/span>‘<\/span><\/span><\/span>A crane can dance but cannot plough, while an ox can plough but cannot dance. That is just the nature of things. Wouldn’t it be a waste of time if you tried to teach each of them to play the other’s game?’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Su-y<\/span><\/span><\/span>i<\/span><\/span><\/span>n laughed playfully, hit me on the shoulder, and said<\/span><\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span><\/span>‘Are you making fun of me?’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At this Y<\/span><\/span><\/span>u<\/span><\/span><\/span>n ordered us to stop. ‘From now on we allow only talking. No more hitting! Whoever breaks the rule has to drink a big cup of wine.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Su-y<\/span><\/span><\/span>u<\/span><\/span><\/span>n had quite a capacity for wine, so she poured a big cup and downed it at one gulp.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘No hitting,’ I then said, ‘but surely it’s all right if we caress one another.’<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0 If you want to understand literati society, the relationships between men and women and something about Chinese elite ideas about family, Shen Fu is your man.<\/p>\n

Zhang gives us much less of this social history stuff. We don\u2019t find out much about his family there is nothing about his career and for much of the story he is a small child, who is pretty unclear on what is going on.<\/p>\n

I think the big advantage of Zhang is that he is living through the aftermath of the Taiping rebellion. He may be a member of the elite, but this is about as close as you are going to get to a text that gives you a feel for the miseries suffered by the common people in the chaos of the 19th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n

Shortly afterward, we again ran out of provisions. It so happened that we received an invitation from Diankou, so we went to Diankou.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Diankou <\/span>belonged <\/span>to the county of Zhuji, where my <\/span>legal <\/span>mother had come from. With mountains in the back and a river in the front, it was but a <\/span>hundred <\/span>leagues from Hangzhou<\/span>. <\/span>Yiqiao and Linpu <\/span>were <\/span>located upstream, and Fuchun was next to it. My maternal uncle and cousin had both passed away at a young age; my cousin’s widowed <\/span>wife <\/span>nee Feng lived alone with her ten-year-old son, Youqiao. When she learned of our whereabouts, she invited us <\/span>to <\/span>join her. We were both sad and happy <\/span>upon <\/span>seeing each other. She <\/span>had <\/span>a place in a remote, isolated mountain village called Pig’s Jaw, where she <\/span>had <\/span>stored <\/span>up <\/span>all her valuables. We all moved there.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

By <\/span>that time<\/span>, <\/span>Bao Village’s resistance force <\/span>had been <\/span>formed, and <\/span>the <\/span>bandits who went <\/span>to <\/span>attack them at different <\/span>times <\/span>numbered tens of <\/span>thousands <\/span>altogether.<\/span> 1<\/a><\/sup> <\/span>After each <\/span>lost battle the bandits <\/span>would vent <\/span>their <\/span>anger and frustration on the neighboring villages, burning and pillaging <\/span>to <\/span>their <\/span>heart’s <\/span>content. Feng said, “We cannot afford <\/span>to be <\/span>careless about <\/span>this<\/span>.” <\/span>So she <\/span>hired <\/span>a dozen strong clansmen who earned their living by physical labor. One of the clansmen was named Wenjing; another was named Xiaofu. She placed me in their care.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

We sought refuge at Ding’s Port. But Ding’s Port <\/span>had <\/span>too many petty thieves, so we came back to Diankou. Then I fell sick. I had come <\/span>down <\/span>with malaria at Ding’s Port, which now turned <\/span>into <\/span>dysentery. Soon my head and face were swelling up, and my ten fingers were as thick as hammers. The elders were all shocked upon seeing me like this; they thought I had white jaundice, and nine out of ten with white jaundice would die.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The <\/span>bandit <\/span>alarm <\/span>was <\/span>raised from time <\/span>to time, and <\/span>the <\/span>cost of <\/span>rice <\/span>shot <\/span>up. <\/span>My <\/span>cousin’s <\/span>wife was <\/span>becoming destitute<\/span>, <\/span>for <\/span>we <\/span>had <\/span>gone <\/span>into the mountains to hide from <\/span>the <\/span>bandits and, upon <\/span>coming home, discovered <\/span>that <\/span>the <\/span>house had been robbed clean<\/span>. <\/span>We <\/span>had bran <\/span>and <\/span>wild <\/span>greens <\/span>for <\/span>food. <\/span>My mother <\/span>wept all <\/span>day; even I myself thought I <\/span>was d<\/span>yi<\/span>ng. <\/span>Fortunately, <\/span>Xiaofu <\/span>found <\/span>a <\/span>rare remedy <\/span>and cured <\/span>me. I was, however, exceedingly weak and fragile, <\/span>and was often <\/span>half <\/span>starving. <\/span>In the hills there was a <\/span>spring <\/span>as clear as a mirror<\/span>. <\/span>I <\/span>would <\/span>follow my mother to pick <\/span>w<\/span>ild <\/span>greens there. <\/span>When <\/span>we rested <\/span>by the <\/span>spring, I <\/span>saw <\/span>my reflection <\/span>in it: <\/span>I was emaciated <\/span>and <\/span>haggard like <\/span>a ghost. <\/span>When a chilly wind shook the trees, the <\/span>cold would <\/span>penetrate <\/span>our very <\/span>flesh and bones. At sunset, <\/span>we wou<\/span>ld <\/span>hold on to each other and <\/span>walk home, <\/span>and never failed to burst <\/span>into <\/span>tears.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

As Bao Village’s militia was growing <\/span>increasingly <\/span>powerful, many members of the Chen clan went to <\/span>join them. <\/span>My <\/span>cousin’s wife <\/span>also <\/span>wanted <\/span>to go, but <\/span>Wenjing <\/span>convinced her not to. Soon after<\/span>w<\/span>ard, Bao <\/span>Village <\/span>indeed fell. There was rumor that <\/span>the <\/span>bandits <\/span>would kill <\/span>everyone in Zhuji to vent their anger, so <\/span>we <\/span>again fled to Ding<\/span>‘s <\/span>Port, and <\/span>Wenjing took me to Houbao. Wenjing was a relative of my maternal <\/span>grandfather’s generation. My <\/span>illness was most grave during the high <\/span>summer, <\/span>and every <\/span>day <\/span>Wenjing <\/span>would <\/span>carry me on his back, traveling back and forth in <\/span>the mountains<\/span>. <\/span>As I <\/span>was <\/span>suffering from dysentery, stools mixed <\/span>with <\/span>blood <\/span>w<\/span>ould soil his back, which became festered. One <\/span>of <\/span>his associates <\/span>regarded <\/span>me <\/span>as <\/span>a burden, and urged him to dispose of me. Wenjing <\/span>wou<\/span>ld <\/span>not listen. <\/span>He left after he took me to Houbao, and <\/span>soon afterward <\/span>died <\/span>of illness. <\/span>How painful! <\/span>Though <\/span>he <\/span>was <\/span>an elder, Wenjing <\/span>had <\/span>become a hired hand <\/span>out of <\/span>poverty, and had never assumed the authoritative attitude <\/span>o<\/span>f a senior toward me. Instead, he <\/span>loved <\/span>me dearl<\/span>y <\/span>and sincerely. My cousin’s wife and <\/span>her son thought that even they <\/span>could <\/span>not <\/span>care <\/span>about <\/span>me more <\/span>than he did. He died without a <\/span>son, <\/span>and, in the midst <\/span>of <\/span>the <\/span>chaos, <\/span>no <\/span>one <\/span>knew where he <\/span>was <\/span>buried, so I cannot <\/span>even offer <\/span>a cup <\/span>of <\/span>wine <\/span>as a <\/span>sacrifice <\/span>to <\/span>his <\/span>spirit<\/span>. <\/span>As <\/span>for <\/span>me, I have been do<\/span>wn-<\/span>and-out all <\/span>my <\/span>us<\/span>eless life, and <\/span>would <\/span>probably have been better <\/span>off d<\/span>y<\/span>ing early in <\/span>childhood-but then, <\/span>how <\/span>could Wenjing <\/span>have foreseen <\/span>this? <\/span>We parted <\/span>hastily <\/span>in <\/span>war and <\/span>turmoil, little <\/span>knowing <\/span>that the <\/span>farewell would be our last. <\/span>It <\/span>is so very sad!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This is a somewhat grimmer book. If you want to understand smoke, Zhang Daye is your man<\/p>\n

\n

There were five sorts of “flames of war.” The sort that had a sharp tip and flared up straight was a beacon fire. The sort that had a diffused purplish light was the fire that burned possessions. The sort that was black in its upper part and red at the base was the fire that burned houses. The sort that gave off a white smoke like clouds and drifted about was the fire that burned grain. As for the sort with a congealed smoke and of a light green hue, that was the fire that burned corpses. I had tested this theory from the pinnacle of Snow Shadow Peak, and had never erred.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

One thing that students always want is a book they can relate to. Neither of these works very well for that. You never really get a feel for what Zhang Daye is like as a person. While there is always at least one person in the classroom who can identify with Shen Fu\u2019s problems as a middle-aged guy watching his life slip away, most students can’t. The love story with his wife also tends to leave them cold even if they realize it is there. To the extent they get a voice they don’t like either one. They usually have a mini-writing assignment on each book before the discussion, and then have to choose to write a longer paper on either this one or the next book. These ones always do poorly. This semester Zhang Daye lost to A Man with No Talents: Memoirs of a Tokyo Day Labore<\/a>r <\/em>29-1. This may be due to a preference for Japan over China, for modern over pre-modern history2<\/a><\/sup> or more likely, for a deep intellectual preference for procrastination.\u00a0 So I am guessing the choice can’t be driven by student interest.<\/p>\n

I think next time I may go back to Shen Fu, if only because he gives me so many chances to talk about things like family and the nature of the shi <\/em>elite that I would like to talk about and that are specifically Chinese. How much war are disorder suck are pretty universal. With Zhang I had a bit less luck then I sometimes do in getting people to say anything about the book. Shen Fu at least has drinking games. What do you think?<\/p>\n

  1. T<\/span>he re<\/span>s<\/span>istance <\/span>force at Bao <\/span>Village <\/span>was led by a <\/span>man named <\/span>Bao Lishen (1838- <\/span>1862). <\/span>As <\/span>the force <\/span>repeatedly <\/span>fended off the advances of <\/span>the <\/span>Taiping army, <\/span>numer<\/span>ous wealthy families from various <\/span>pla<\/span>ces <\/span>in <\/span>Zhejiang <\/span>soug<\/span>ht <\/span>refuge <\/span>in <\/span>the village<\/span>. <\/span>After <\/span>more than <\/span>eight <\/span>month<\/span>s <\/span>of <\/span>fighting, the <\/span>village was eventually captured, and <\/span>butchered, <\/span>on <\/span>July <\/span>27, <\/span>1862.<\/span> ↩<\/a><\/p><\/li>

  2. modern is easier to identify with ↩<\/a><\/p><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One thing I always have to do as a teacher is figure out what books to assign. Since I always find this hard to do, I thought I would think it out in terms of MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch. So, for this episode we have. Shen Fu Six Records of a Floating Life vs Zhang Daye’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[139,153,163,237,164],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literature","category-qing","category-teaching","category-textbooks","category-translation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9yoH3-1Du","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6292"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6305,"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292\/revisions\/6305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}