Lifestyle and Entertainment in Yangzhou

513 Pages·2009·11.19 MB·English

by  Lucie B. Olivova, Vibeke Bordahl

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Exploring the richness and complexity of one of the most important ØL
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centres of traditional culture in China DVO l i fe s t y l e a n d
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The Chinese city of Yangzhou has been of great cultural significance H
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for many centuries, despite its destruction by invaders in the 17th L &
and 19th centuries. It was a site of virtual pilgrimage for aspiring entertainment
members of the Chinese educated class during the Ming and Qing L
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periods. Moreover, because it was one of the foremost commercial F
centres during the late imperial period, it was the place where the E i n ya n g z h o u
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merchant and scholarly classes merged to set new standards of T
taste and to create a cultural milieu quite unlike that of other cities, Y
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even other major centres in the region. The luxurious elegance of
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its gardens and the eminence of its artistic traditions meant that
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Yangzhou set aesthetic standards for the entire realm for much of N
the late imperial age. Over the years, particular regional forms of art D Edited by
and entertainment arose here, too, some surviving into the present

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time. Lucie Olivová and Vibeke Børdahl
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Yangzhou’s rich cultural tradition is celebrated in this volume
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through a well-balanced spectrum of topics spanning the period E
from the late 17th century to modern times. These are grouped into R
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four thematic parts: Yangzhou’s cultural heritage during historic
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downfalls and revivals; regional literature and book production; lo- I
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cal theatre and storytelling; and various artists of the 18th-century
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Yangzhou School of Painting.
This beautifully illustrated volume is the first to bring together E
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the history, literature, and performing and visual arts of a great cul-
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tural centre that currently is being considered for listing as a Unesco

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world heritage site. Not only does it provide scholars with under- N
standing on a new level of nuanced insight. It makes the historical

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and symbolic complexity of this fascinating city comprehensible to
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non-specialists as well. N
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www.niaspress.dk
Lifestyle and Entertainment in Yangzhou

LIFESTYLE AND
ENTERTAINMENT IN
YANGZHOU
Edited by
Lucie B. Olivová and Vibeke Børdahl
Lifestyle and Entertainment in Yangzhou
Edited by Lucie Olivová and Vibeke Børdahl
NIAS Studies in Asian Topics Series, No. 44
First published in 2009 by NIAS Press
NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
Leifsgade 33, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
E-mail: [email protected]
Online: http://www.niaspress.dk
© NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 2009
While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in NIAS Press, copyright in
the individual chapters belongs to their authors. No chapter may be reproduced in
whole or part without the express permission of author, publisher and editors.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Lifestyle and entertainment in Yangzhou. - (NIAS studies in
Asian topics ; no. 44)
1. Arts - China - Yangzhou 2. Yangzhou (China) -
Civilization
I. Olivova, Lucie II. Bordahl, Vibeke
700.9'51222
ISBN 978-87-7694-035-5
The publication of this book was assisted by grants from the Chiang Ching-kuo
Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, Taibei, the Nordic Institute of
Asian Studies, Copenhagen, and the Norwegian Research Council, Oslo.
Typesetting by Donald B. Wagner
In Memory of Yi-li Kao
1974–2009

Contents
Illustrations ix
Preface xv
Contributors xix
Introduction
Lucie B. Olivová and Vibeke Børdahl xxi
Part I: City of Sights
1 Building History and the Preservation of Yangzhou
Lucie B. Olivová 3
2 Gathering in a Ruined City: Metaphor, Practice and Recovery
in Post-Taiping Yangzhou
Tobie Meyer-Fong 37
3 The Fashionable City? Glimpses of Clothing Culture
in Qing Yangzhou
Antonia Finnane 62
4 The Culture of Yangzhou Residential Gardens
Věna Hrdličková 75
5 A Traveler’s Tale of Two Cities: Yangzhou, Shanghai
Malcolm McKinnon 87
Part II: Books and Literature
6 Yangzhou Printing and Book Culture in the Qing Period
J. S. Edgren 109
7 Pleasures of a Man of Letters: Wang Shizhen in Yangzhou,
1660–1665
Li Hsiao-t’i 131
8 Early Qing Yangzhou in Shi Chengjin’s Vernacular Vignettes
Roland Altenburger 149
9 Local Fiction of the Yangzhou Region: Qingfengzha
Margaret B. Wan 177
vii
viii Contents
Part III: Performance and Entertainment
10 Yangzhou Local Theatre in the Second Half of the Qing
Colin Mackerras 207
11 Kunqu in Yangzhou Then and Now
Lindy Li Mark 225
12 Written Scripts in the Oral Tradition of Yangzhou Storytelling
Vibeke Børdahl 245
13 The Traditional Style of Storyhouses in Yangzhou
Fei Li 271
14 Life in the Green Lofts of the Lower Yangzi Region
Stefan Kuzay 286
Part IV: The Yangzhou School of Painting
15 The Study of Forgeries of Paintings by the Yangzhou Eccentrics
Zhuang Sue 317
16 Traveling to the Frontier: Hua Yan’s Camel in Snow
Ginger Cheng-chi Hsü 347
17 The Landscape Albums of Huang Shen
Yi-li Kao 376
18 Illustrious Icons and Flower Garlands: Defining Buddhist Imagery
in Eighteenth-Century Yangzhou Painting
Kristen E. Loring 402
References 441
Index 476
Illustrations
FIGURES
1.1 Southern gate, Nanmen, state before (2005) and after the restoration (2007). 4
1.2 Yuansheng temple, with built-in apartments. Yangzhou historical city, Old
Town. September 2007. 21
1.3 Tablets, old and new, fixed on protected historical monuments. 23
1.4 A stone slab on Wenhe Street, with Jiang Zemin’s inscription. 26
1.5 View of a Yangzhou lane, with the new pavement. September 2007. 27
2.1 Exterminating the Yue Bandits. Woodcut showing the Qing forces fighting
the Taipings in 1854. 39
3.1 A lady being photographed. Illustration from Xinwen huabao,
Guangxu reign. 65
4.1 The Wind Pavilion, Feng ting, in He Garden. 77
4.2 Rockery stuck onto the wall, with the Moon Pavilion, Tiebi shan yue ting,
in He Garden. 80
4.3 The Pavilion in the Heart of the Pond, Shuixin ting, in He Garden. 81
4.4 A solitaire stone in He Garden. 83
4.5 Door opening in the shape of a crescent-moon, in He Garden. 84
5.1 Front page of a report to the British Parliament of an attack on British
missionaries at Yangzhou in August 1868. 90
5.2 Metal trading area and the Grand Canal, at the eastern end of Taiping
Road, Yangzhou. October 2005. 95
5.3 Ba Guai Memorial Hall: The main exhibition hall with lifesize clay
figurines. 101
5.4 Min Zhen, Eight Children Playing. Yangzhou Museum. 103
6.1 Huaihai ji [Huaihai Collection], 1173. 110
6.2 Zhu Dongpo xiansheng shi [Mr Dongpo’s Poems with Annotation], 1213. 111
6.3 Daode jing [Classic of the Way and the Virtue] or Laozi, 1581. 114
6.4 Quan Tang shi [Complete Tang Poetry], 1707. 116
ix