Western Chamber Research Articles

Review on Yang, Geonsik and Xixiangji

Review on Yang, Geonsik and Xixiangji

A Lexical Analysis of Xixiang ji in Catholic University of Daegu

A Lexical Analysis of Xixiang ji in Catholic University of Daegu

Commentary, Illustration, and Cross-Generic Writing in Paired Editions of Xixiang ji and Pipa ji

Commentary, Illustration, and Cross-Generic Writing in Paired Editions of Xixiang ji and Pipa ji

Research history review of acceptance situation on Chinese classical opera by educational circles of South Korea - Centered on The Romance of West Chamber, The Story of Wulunquan and The Romance of a Hairpin

Research history review of acceptance situation on Chinese classical opera by educational circles of South Korea - Centered on The Romance of West Chamber, The Story of Wulunquan and The Romance of a Hairpin

Review of Pascale Fournier, Muslim Marriage in Western Courts: Lost in Transplantation

Legal scholar Pascale Fournier’s Muslim Marriage in Western Courts: Lost in Transplantation skillfully outlines the complex and contradictory ways in which mahr, typically understood as a gift to the bride stipulated in the nikah (Islamic matrimonial contract), has been translated in contemporary Canadian, American, German and French courts in post-migration divorce rulings between 1879–2005 (with most cases from the 1970s-1990s). Fournier offers a close reading and analysis of an impressive number of divorce cases related to mahr, demonstrating that Western courts have ruled unpredictably both nationally and internationally, ranging from a penalty imposed on Muslim husbands (where, for instance, they would be responsible for the division of family assets, spousal support and mahr) to a punishment for Muslim wives (where mahr replaces alimony and the equitable division of property). Fournier argues that ‘once mahr is uprooted from Islamic family law and transplanted into a Western chamber of law, it can never go back home again’ (p. 2). These cases also underscore how the interpretation of law has regulatory power over individuals not only in the politics of divorce but also in conceptions of marriage and in broader lived gender relations. The book begins with a comprehensive background of how mahr has been differently conceptualized with attention to its dynamic and changing interpretations in schools of Islamic law. Scholars of law and feminism are also diverse in how they define it, ranging from a feminist entitlement to a patriarchal disempowerment. Fournier charts how mahr is discussed in the Qur’an and other pertinent Islamic legal sources (cited at length in two appendices). The ability to initiate divorce (for Muslim women) and the relative costs of mahr in divorce depend on whether the Cont Islam (2013) 7:255–257 DOI 10.1007/s11562-011-0175-6

The Role of the Chou ("Clown") in Traditional Chinese Drama: Comedy, Criticism, and Cosmology on the Chinese Stage (review)

Reviewed by: The Role of the Chou ("Clown") in Traditional Chinese Drama: Comedy, Criticism, and Cosmology on the Chinese Stage Megan Evans The Role of the Chou ("Clown") in Traditional Chinese Drama: Comedy, Criticism, and Cosmology on the Chinese Stage. By Ashley Thorpe. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007. 396 pp. Cloth $119.95. Perhaps riding the wave of China-related books timed to exploit interest generated by the Beijing Olympics, good books about Chinese theatre in English are on the rise, yet many gaping holes about even fundamental performance elements remain. Ashley Thorpe's survey of the chou role (, "clown") in xiqu (, "Chinese opera") makes an important contribution, offering the first English-language analysis of one of the four main xiqu role-type categories. In this expansive work, Thorpe provides effective analysis of chou and chou-related characters in leading plays, translations of seminal theoretical writings, and wide-ranging contextual discussion helping the reader to understand why the chou, though usually listed last of the four main jingju (, "Beijing opera") role types, is also the subject of the adage that opens and closes the study: "Without the chou, there would not be drama" (p. 284). The book offers an introduction to the chou for Western readers and opens with a helpful foreword by John McCormick that aligns the chou with the familiar Western traditions of the court jester and the Shakespearean clown. In the introduction, Thorpe presents the structural anthropology-based model he engages throughout the study: that the chou transgresses culturally accepted moral codes as a means of publicly defining them in the minds of the audience" (p. 3). In the course of explaining his decision to use the Chinese term chou, rather than the misleading translation "clown," Thorpe provides an enticing overview of the chou's "complex mixture of fool, villain, trickster and hero." He also outlines his interdisciplinary thrust, which augments historical and literary analysis with attention to the chou in performance, particularly as a significant intersection between ritual and secular performance. In chapter 1, Thorpe reviews historical influences from outside the direct chou lineage, covering early imperial jesters, adjutant plays, and the jing () role from the Song dynasty zaju (). Numerous examples, with extended analysis of Yuan and Ming dynasty versions of Romance of the Western Chamber ( , Xixiangji), amply support Thorpe's conclusion that the zaju jing role, which was an antecedent of the chou, was exceedingly complex, moral or immoral, comic or serious, depending on demands of the plot, and these attributes were carried forward to the contemporary chou role. Thorpe turns to the chou's direct lineage in chapter 2, offering a sprawling historical survey of likely influences on the role's development. He works persuasively through layers of conflicting evidence to conclude that the first clear evidence of a chou role is found in Song dynasty nanxi (, "Southern Drama"). He offers extended discussions of chou and chou-related roles in important plays, including his own engaging translations of many passages (pp. 77–84). This chapter also contains the first English translations of leading Ming scholar and playwright Li Yu on the function and proper execution of comedy. While the quotes are valuable in their own right, I wished for more [End Page 368] analytical integration of them with Thorpe's line of argument. Thorpe credits the rise of zhezixi (, "excerpted scenes") performances as fostering the rise of star chou performers. Chou roles typically had been supporting rather than leading characters in full-length plays. The zhezixi practice allowed performance of chou focal scenes to be performed alone. The chapter carries forward chronologically to one of the most interesting passages in the book: Thorpe's account of Communist anti-chou pressures rising from the perception that ineffectual or laughable chou characters of low social status were disrespectful of the working class. In his discussion of historical interdependence of chou and jing dramaturgical functions, Thorpe at times assumes rather than clearly articulates what he understands to be the influence of non-chou roles and techniques on chou development. Because few historical records of chou performance techniques are extant, chapter 3's description is gleaned from the work of contemporary chou actors. Movement, voice, makeup, and...

LINKING POETRY, PAINTING, AND PRINTS: THE MODE OF POETIC PICTURES IN LATE MING ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE STORY OF THE WESTERN WING

AbstractThis paper explores a specific mode of illustrations to accompany the most popular dramatic publication in late Ming, The Story of the Western Wing. The visual interpretations of the play will be discussed side by side with the commentaries attributed to contemporary eminent literary figures, in order to examine the common change in reading mentality. Analysis of the image–text relationship for each of the pictures in those editions under discussion reveals that they all relate to the script with the caption taken from the text. Unlike the previous illustrated editions in a narrative mode, the pictures represent the fragmented poetic sentences instead of the narrative text of the play. The caption, a fragmented segment of the text, therefore becomes the key element that relates the image to the text. For the illustrator, it was probably more important to find a key line and a matching scene from the visual repertoire than it was to expound the essence of the script. The emerging mode of “poetic pictures” not only emphasized the poetic quality of the text, but also incorporated visual elements learned from traditional brush painting. The sophisticated integration of poetry and painting into the comparatively popular form of prints attested to the publishers' pursuit of artistic prestige, and the shift in illustrations for narratives during this period.

Robusticity and osteoarthritis at the trapeziometacarpal joint in a Bronze Age population from Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive disease of the joints and can cause pain, reduced range of motion and strength, and ultimately loss of function at affected joints. Osteoarthritis often occurs at sites where biomechanical stress is acutely severe or moderate but habitual over the course of a lifetime. Skeletal remains from an Umm an-Nar tomb at Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates (ca. 2300 BC), were recovered and represented over 300 individuals of all ages. The remains were disarticulated, commingled, and mostly fragmented. An analysis of 650 well-preserved adult metacarpal and carpal bones, from the tomb's western chamber, revealed that over 53% of the trapeziometacarpal joint facets showed signs of OA varying from mild to severe. The first and second metacarpals and trapezium bones were sided and evaluated for OA at the trapeziometacarpal joint articulations. Osteoarthritis was detected on 53% of the first metacarpals, 40% of the second metacarpals, and 57% of the trapezium bones. All specimens appeared enlarged, and the first metacarpals were assessed for sexual identification and robusticity. Eighty-five percent of the bones were probable males, and more than 80% of them had a robusticity index of 60 or higher. A strong correlation was found between OA, sex, and robusticity. High levels of OA and robusticity at the thumb suggest that the people of Tell Abraq were habitually involved in biomechanically challenging work with their hands.

Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943 (review)

Reviewed by: Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943 Paul Clark (bio) Yingjin Zhang, editor. Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999. xvi, 369 pp. Hardcover $55.00, ISBN 0-8047-3188-8. Paperback $19.95, ISBN 0-8047-3572-7. The remarkable precision of the dates in the title of this book belies the breadth of its contribution both to Chinese film studies and to broader understandings of twentieth-century Chinese urban culture. The ten chapters range well outside 1922 and 1943 and beyond films. This is a welcome addition to a growing body of literature that is taking us beyond sweeping assumptions about Shanghai and Chinese popular culture in its pre-1949 guise. Yingjin Zhang has assembled a strong group of researchers and has managed to instill shared themes in the chapters. His introduction, "Cinema and Urban Culture in Republican Shanghai," nicely sets the scene, placing the book in the context of the historiography of Chinese cinema as practiced by scholars on the mainland, on Taiwan, and in Hong Kong. Like several of the contributors, he properly questions the utility of that hoary term "leftist cinema" and essays the issue of the relation between film and print cultures in Shanghai in these years. Ironically, given the precision of the book's title dates, he misdates the Cultural Revolution to the period 1967-1977 (p. 8). The next three parts, each with three chapters, cover "institutions and innovations (Part One), representations and practices (Part Two), and construction and contestation (Part Three)" (p. 4). Part 1 is perhaps the most impressive section in the book. Titled "Screening Romance: Teahouse, Cinema, Spectator," it has chapters by Zhen Zhang, Kristine Harris, and Leo Ou-fan Lee. Zhen Zhang's study of the teahouse origins of early Chinese cinema perhaps heaps too much on the fragile remnants of the 1922 film Laborer's Love. But like the other two chapters in this part, she addresses issues of audience and reception, ending with some intriguing observations on the 1980s and 1990s, well beyond the 1943 of the title. Kristine Harris examines the classical-subject film in the 1920s, focusing on The Romance of the Western Chamber. This chapter is one of the best in the volume, offering insight into the position of classical popular culture in urban Republican China and how film had a special role in investing the traditions with modern notions of equality and populism. Leo Lee rounds out the section with a masterly discussion on the "urban milieu of Shanghai cinema" in the 1930s. He ranges widely and to good effect over relations between print culture and film. His suggestion that female Chinese film stars were not as sexualized as their Hollywood counterparts (p. 82) deserves further exploration by scholars. Part 2 continues this theme, being subtitled "Imagining Sexuality: Cabaret Girl, Movie Star, Prostitute." Andrew D. Field examines dance hostesses in print, [End Page 608] film, and politics between 1920 and 1949 (there go those dates in the title again). Five of his twenty-eight pages are on film portrayals. His chapter offers a fascinating look at how conventions of courtship and concubinage were transformed in a modern urban setting. (I doubt that the Xin xianlin was the "New Zealand" dance hall [p. 126].) Michael G. Chang starts his chapter with a quote from Walter Benjamin, which offers little but alludes to his emphasis on the print media's portrayal and reproduction of images of film actresses. This offers a new understanding of these women, including their versatility: Wang Hanlun spent eight months in 1926 touring Southeast Asia giving live kunqu performances in cinemas where her film was playing (p. 135). The exceptional youth of many of these actresses goes unremarked. Prostitution and the negotiation of public and private space is the subject of Zhang Yingjin's chapter. The analysis of Ruan Lingyu's Goddess draws on William Rothman's 1993 study. Zhang as editor extends his considerations to Edward Yang's urban films of the 1980s. Part 3 is the most mixed section of the book. Zhiwei Xiao treads his familiar path through issues of censorship in the Nanjing...

Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943

List of illustrations Acknowledgments Note on romanization List of contributors 1. Introduction: cinema and urban culture in republican Shanghai Yingjin Zhang Part I. Screening Romance: Teahouse, Cinema, Spectator: 2. Teahouse, shadowplay, bricolage: laborer's love and the question of early Chinese cinema Zhen Zhang 3. The Romance of the Western Chamber and the classical subject film in 1920s Shanghai Kristine Harris 4. The urban Milieu of Shanghai cinema, 1930-40: some explorations of film audience, film culture, and narrative conventions Leo Ou-fan Lee Part II. Imaging Sexuality: Cabaret Girl, Movie Star, Prostitute: 5. Selling souls in sin city: Shanghai singing and dancing hostesses in print, film, and politics, 1920-49 Andrew D. Field 6. The good, the bad and the beautiful: movie actress and public discourse in Shanghai, 1920s-1930s Michael G. Chang 7. Prostitution and urban imagination: negotiating the public and the private in Chinese films of the 1930s Yingjin Zhang Part III. Constructing identity: Nationalism, Metropolitanism: 8. Constructing a new national culture: film censorship and the issues of Cantonese dialect, superstition, and sex in the Nanjing decade Zhiwei Xiao 9. Metropolitan sounds: music in Chinese films of the 1930s Sue Tuohy 10. 'Her traces are found everywhere': Shanghai, Li Xianglan, and the 'Greater East Asia film sphere' Shelley Stephenson Filmography Notes Selected bibliography Character list Index.

Religion and Canon Formation: Buddhism, Vernacular Literature, and the Case of Jin Shengtan (1608-1661)

of power, privilege, and wealth. Such had clearly been the case with the examination curriculum during late imperial times in China. Although the core texts of the curricular canon did not change during this time, a significant number of literati, including the key figure of the current essay, Jin Shengtan ~ ~ ~, entertained doubts as to whether the officially sanctioned genres and styles were the sole or most appropriate for the selection of worthy candidates. The collapse of the established political order in 1911 took such questioning to new levels. Intellectuals and scholars debated over whether textual labor mattered, and if so, which texts furthered political stability or reform. In the wake of Liang Qichao's ~~m claim that fiction could empower the masses, reform-minded critics favored broad-based linguistic and symbolic access. As a result, after having previously been consigned to the margins of literary respectability, traditional vernacular forms such as fiction [xiaoshuo /J\~] and short and long operatic drama [zaju ~ iJU; chuanqi l' ~] were suddenly catapulted into prominence. The precise mechanics and effects of canonization, however, even as they pertain to well-known works such as the novel Shuihu zhuan 7J,im:1$ [Water Margin] or the romantic comedy Xixiang ji gs a§ ~c. [The Story of the Western Wing], remain to be investigated. The ubiquity of religious elements in vernacular materials put reformers in a quandary. They were aware that vernacular novels and dramas were widely read among non-elite

Beyond the Words: Jin Shengtan's Perception of Hidden Meanings in Xixiang ji

Dans cet article l'A propose une analyse critique des commentaires de Jin Shengtan a propos de l'ouvrage chinois intitule Xixiang ji. Jin Shengtan pretend que ce livre contient des sens dissimules au-dela des mots du texte. Selon son point de vue, l'intention de l'auteur est le critere le plus important pour la comprehension du texte et definit son propre commentaire comme l'interpretation definitive de Xixiang ji.

The Story of the Western Wing. By Wang Shifu, edited and translated with an introduction by Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema. [Berkeley: University of California Press,1995. xvi + 328 pp. £11.95, $15.00. ISBN 0–520–20184–1.

The Story of the Western Wing. By Wang Shifu, edited and translated with an introduction by Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema. [Berkeley: University of California Press,1995. xvi + 328 pp. £11.95, $15.00. ISBN 0–520–20184–1.

The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing

The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing

Microsoft Musical Instruments

The opening title screen of this interactive journey into the world of musical is followed by a Contents window that groups information in four partitions: 1. of Instruments, 2. Musical Ensembles, 3. Instruments of the World, consisting of maps showing simplistically where various instruments can be found, and 4. A-Z of Instruments, which provides for either straight alphabetical or random access traversal of the individual instruments on the CD. The of Instruments section is oddly divided into Brass, Strings, Woodwinds, Keyboards, and Percussion, and the concept of instrument families is expanded here to refer to any cluster or grouping of instruments that has a similar appearance or similar mechanical or acoustical design. This is an unusual premise for musicians, but it could be potentially useful to the casual observer. A tighter linkage between this concept and the more traditional Sachs/Hornbostel classification system would improve the package. The Musical Ensembles section is divided into Orchestras, Wind Bands, Jazz Bands, Steel Bands, Gamelans, Groups, and Rock Bands. Some of the information in the Orchestras subsection is problematic. The diagram for the baroque orchestra matches few contemporaneous seating diagrams found in the treatises and didactic manuals, and no mention is made of the great diversity of seating configurations utilized during the period. The Chamber Groups include: 1) Baroque trio sonata, 2) Piano trio, 3) Wind octet, and 4) String quartet, and the editors should probably have surveyed more carefully the available literature before considering the wind octet to be such a significant Western chamber ensemble. The A-Z of Musical Instruments section utilizes most of the space on the disk. In this section, each instrument is pictured in large format in a window that has short descriptions with line pointers to some of the more important parts of the instrument. At the bottom of the window is a brief description of the instrument, the basic material(s) from which it is constructed, and its most common performance contexts. The user has the option of clicking on a speaker icon in this window to hear a more extensive sound file than is available from the Families windows, where it was apparently decided that quick comparisons between instrument sounds within a family would probably be the user's first priority. In addition to the speaker icon, there is sometimes a Views miniwindow on screen that will reveal added angles from which the instrument's picture has been taken, together with additional information about the instrument's construction. At the bottom of the instrument window are Types and icons. The Types icon takes the user to a window of related instruments (some more clearly related than others), and the icon produces a Facts Box that contains the Name, Family, Pitch Material, Size (in inches and millimeters), Origins (there is no instrument etymology here), Classification (a meek attempt at Sachs/Hornbostel), and finally a Did You Know? section that provides an additional curiosity or two about the instrument or its players. Above the instrument at the top of the window is another speaker icon, and a click on it produces a non-idiomatic pronunciation of the name of the instrument. Some of the musical instruments in this product receive considerably more coverage than others, and one wishes for greater internal consistency in this area. The cello, for example, is covered extensively, even including a Sound Box icon. Clicking on this brings up a complex window containing a staff from c' to g with the letter-names of the notes in separate small shadow-squares under the notes on the staff. These pitches may be played in any order by the user. To the right of the staff is a treble clef icon labeled Play Complete Range, which it automatically does when called, although in some cases the complete range is not really complete. …

The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing by Wang Shifu

The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing by Wang Shifu

Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema (ed. and tr.): Wang Shifu: The moon and the zither: the story of the Western Wing. With a study of its woodblock illustrations by Yao Dajuin. xiii, 503 pp. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1991. $34.95.

Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema (ed. and tr.): Wang Shifu: The moon and the zither: the story of the Western Wing. With a study of its woodblock illustrations by Yao Dajuin. xiii, 503 pp. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1991. $34.95.

The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing. By Wang Shifu, translated by Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema. [Berkeley, Los Angeles & Oxford: University of California Press, 1991. 503 pp. $34.95.

The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing. By Wang Shifu, translated by Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema. [Berkeley, Los Angeles & Oxford: University of California Press, 1991. 503 pp. $34.95.

The moon and the zither: the story of the western wing

The moon and the zither: the story of the western wing

The Anglo-Saxon Rood and other Features in the South Porch of St. Mary's Church, Breamore, Hampshire

SummaryConservation in 1980 of the wall-paintings in the upper chamber of the south porch at Breamore church, where the notable Anglo-Saxon stone rood is sited, led to an archaeological study of the associated parts of the building. It was established that the rood is not in its primary location over the south door, but was only erected there in the fifteenth century. It is argued that the rood originally occupied a position over the western arch into the nave of the Saxon church, being enclosed within a chamber, now demolished. The Norman south doorway and added porch appear to be a refurbishment of an original entrance to the nave, although probably not the principal one, which, it is argued, lay at the west end. In the fifteenth century the church was repaired piecemeal, and this involved the demolition of the Saxon north porticus and western chamber, the partial reconstruction of the south porch and a lowering of its roof pitch, and the resiting of the displaced rood sculptures in the south wall of the nave above the porch. In the early sixteenth century the walls of the porch were raised, creating an upper storey which functioned as a chapel, probably dedicated in honour of St. Mary the Virgin. The rood then became a devotional object within the porch chapel, and an elaborate scheme of landscape painting was applied as a background, and was continued on the west wall of the chapel. The remaining areas of wall plaster in the chapel were painted with guttée-de-sang and sacred monograms. Later in the sixteenth century the Anglo-Saxon sculptures were deliberately defaced and their remains hidden by a layer of plaster. The re-exposure of the rood and paintings took place at an unrecorded date in the nineteenth century; the upper floor of the porch was removed in 1897, revealing the chapel to view from below.