Pu Songling: The Union of Beast and Beauty

Abstract

Pu Songling:The Union of Beast and Beauty Wilt L. Idema (bio) Introduction As a rule, the authors of late-imperial vernacular literature tried to avoid anachronisms in assembling the casts of their tales, but in the middle of the seventeenth century, we encounter several writers who deliberately bring together characters from diverse dynasties. The best-known examples of such works are the sixteen-chapter novel Xiyoubu 西遊補 (Addendum to Journey to the West) by Dong Yue 董說 (1620–1689)1 and the ten-act play Huarenyou 化人游 (Transformative ramblings) by Ding Yaokang 丁耀亢 (1599–1669).2 At a slightly later date Pu Songling 蒲松齡 (1640–1715) followed their example in his Choujunba 醜俊巴 (The union of beast and beauty3) in which the deified Pigsy (Eight Precepts Zhu/Zhu Bajie 朱八戒) falls in love with the ghost of the murdered Golden Lotus Pan (Pan Jinlian 潘金蓮). Zhu Bajie is the personification of greed and lust in the tale of the pilgrimage to the West, a story that in all its many versions is set in the Tang Dynasty (617–906), while Pan Jinlian seduces the rich merchant Ximen Qing 西門慶, in both the Shuihuzhuan 水滸傳 (Water margin) and the Jinpingmei 金瓶梅 (The plum in the golden vase), in the early years of the twelfth century, so during the Song Dynasty (960–1278). Pu Songling is very much aware of the anachronism as he draws attention to it in the opening lyric of Choujunba.4 Choujunba is one of Pu Songling's "rustic songs" (liqu 俚曲). These rustic songs are performance texts that for their versified sections make use of a number of song tunes that were popular in central Shandong during Pu's lifetime. A list of rustic [End Page 182] songs composed by Pu is engraved on the back side of the stele at his grave.5 This list includes Choujunba, so its authenticity is not doubted. The text as we have it is incomplete. That may be because part of the text was lost in transmission, but it also has been suggested that Pu Songling may never have finished the text for whatever reason—perhaps he felt he had exhausted the possibilities of the theme by the time he set out on the second chapter. The text of the first chapter opens with a lyric to the tune of Xijiangyue 西江月 (West river moon) which serves as a preface. The text then continues with a song to the tune of Shanpoyang 山坡羊 (Lamb on a mountain slope).6 The main body of the chapter is basically written in seven-syllable lines. All that remains of the second chapter is a song to the tune of Shanpoyang and three lines of seven-syllable verse. There is no indication how many chapters the work originally contained (or was intended to contain). Chinese critics who have commented on Choujunba often consider it a work of Pu's younger years; as an erotic spielerei, they consider it a work of poor taste. The extended description of a man in the thrall of passion is, however, not without some comic merit and shows Pu Songling from an unexpected side. Choujunba was first printed in Lu Dahuang 路大荒, ed., Pu Songling ji 蒲松齡集 (Complete works of Pu Songling; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), vol. 2, pp. 1142–44.7 This translation is based on the annotated edition of Choujunba in Pu Songling, Liaozhai liqu ji 聊齋俚曲集 (Liaozhai's collected rustic songs), ed. Pu Xianming 蒲先名, annot. Zou Zongliang 鄒宗良 (Beijing: Guoji wenhua chubanshe, 1999), pp. 422–27. The text has also been reprinted in more recent editions of Pu Songling's rustic songs, such as Pu Songling 蒲松龄, Liaozhai liqu ji 聊斋俚曲集 (Jinan: Qi Lu shushe, 2018), pp. 302–05, and Zhang Tai 张泰, annot., Liaozhai liqu ji jiaozhu 聊斋俚曲集校注 (Liaozhai's collected rustic songs, collated and annotated; Beijing: Jiuzhou chubanshe, 2020), vol. 2, pp. 295–98. Pu Songling The Union of Beast and Beauty "Lamb on the Mountain Slope" sections At the Pure Altar Mansion Eight Precepts Suffers from Love-Longing [End Page 183] (To the tune of "West River Moon")One will say that Golden Lotus is most charming,Another will say that Eight Precepts is most creepy,So I will therefore bring about a union on their behalf—Who cares he...