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The Chinese Historical Novel: An Outline of Themes and Contexts*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Y. W. Ma
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In China, as in the West, fiction is a late development in the literary scene and serious fiction criticism is correspondingly a recent endeavor. The similarity goes further in the case of the historical novel, which critics of Chinese and Western fiction alike have either consciously avoided or customarily regarded with critical disfavor. In the Chinese case, the San-Kuo chih yen-i (The Three Kingdoms) is the only historical novel which has received constant serious attention, but many of its features are exceptions rather than rules.2 One will look in vain for anything as essential as a general survey of elements basic to works of this genre.3 For a genre so numerically significant, the unavoidable sketchiness of such a preliminary outline as the present one may be compensated for by a selective coverage. Here the main concerns are the most important themes and certain related contextual characteristics.

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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , February 1975 , pp. 277 - 294
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Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1975

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References

1 In the case of China, the late arrival of fiction (particularly full-length novels) can be explained from both cultural and generic points of view. Way back, Confucius (552 B.C.–479 B.C.) stated that he had little taste for hearsay and for “feats of curiosity, strength, disorders, and the supernatural” (see Analects 7 and 17). These remarks were taken seriously by later Confucians on a more or less literal basis. With the pervasive, sometimes even unchallenged, influence of Confucianism on Chinese culture and society, the negative effects of this attitude of the intelligentsia on the development of fiction writing in China were understandably complex and serious. When full-length novels (most of the earliest ones are historical novels) eventually appeared in the early sixteenth century, China had already seen the golden ages of nearly all other major literary genres. There is no overall study on this intellectual censorship against fiction (versus the censorship imposed by Ming and Ch'ing governments against certain novels and plays), general background information is available in Ma, Y. W, “Confucius as a Literary Critic: A Comparison with the Early Greeks,” in Essays in Chinese Studies Dedicated to Professor Jao Tsung-i (Hong Kong, 1970) PP. 29–31,Google Scholar and the other references given in Note 56 of that article. In terms of generic development, the form of the full-fledged novel and the techniques for writing one were simply not avail available in China until the sixteenth century, a slow development certainly delayed for the reason given above.

2 The profuse literature on the San-kuo chih yen-i is attested to by the enormous entries in the bibliography appended to Riftin, B. L., Historical Romance and Folklore Tradition in China: Oral and Literary Versions of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Moscow, 1970)Google Scholar [in Russian], and in the section on this novel in Tien-yi, Li, Chinese Fiction: A Bibliography of Books and Articles in Chinese and English (New Haven, 1968), pp. 133–138.Google Scholar Riftin's list is so far the most extensive.

3 Professor, C. T. Hsia discusses with admirable penetration in his “The Military Romance: A Genre of Chinese Fiction,” to appear in Studies in Chinese Literary Genres, ed. Cyril, Birch (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1974),Google Scholar a number of these neglected works, emphasizing those on the T'ang and Sung periods and the military activities described therein. Of the few other articles available (mostly done in an unprofessional manner), the two short pieces by Feng Ming-chih, “Li-shih hsiao-shuo te feng-wei” (The Flavor of Historical Fiction) and “Li-shih hsiao-shuo te ch'uang-tso fang-fa” (Techniques in Writing Historical Fiction), in his Wen-i tsou-pi (Notes on Literature) (Hong Kong, 1961), pp. 74–76 and pp. 77–84 respectively, deserve special attention. Though short and written in a casual style, they are fairly enlightening. I urge readers to read them because many of Feng's concerns, such as the possible approaches to writing historical fiction, are outside the scope of the present paper and thus have not been taken up here.

4 One may find the term “yen-i” a convenient guide for identification because many historical novels carry this tab as part of the title. This term means “elaboration,” but is not invariably confined to historical fiction. There are novels carrying this tab which do not have a historical character. Conversely, many historical novels do not include this unit in their titles. Non-fictional works, too, may include it as a component in their titles, for instances Shih yen-i b by Liang Yinc (1303–1389), Su-shih yen-i d by Su E• (fl. 887), and Hsiu-chen yen-i f attributed to a certain Teng Hsi-hsieng; the first is an elaboration of Chu Hsi'sh (1130–1200) commentary on the Shih-ching (Book of Songs), the second a philological miscellany, the third a Ming sexual manual. It is therefore ambiguous to refer to Chinese historical novels as written in the yen-i style. By the same token, to render “yen-i” as “romance,” common as the practice is, is misleading and inappropriate, creating unnecessary associations with the medieval European genre known by the same term.

5 Back in the twenties, Chou Shu-jen considered both Shui-hu and Ping-yao chuan as historical fiction; see Chung-kuo hsiao-shuo shih lüeh (A Brief History of Chinese Fiction) in Lu Hsün ch'üan-chi (Complete Works of Lu Hsün) (Peking, 1957) VIII, 108–120. Regrettably, this uncritical viewpoint has not been challenged since then. Just as nobody would without hesitation label, say, a novel on Robin Hood and his cohorts as historical fiction, to regard Shui-hu as a historical novel (or for that matter a historical romance) is also grossly unfitting. The p'ing-yao is perhaps even less appropriate for this classification than Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The apt remark of Brander Mathews has been on record for the better part of the century: “A tale of the past is not necessarily a true historical novel: it is a true historical novel only when the historical events are woven into the texture of the story.” See his Historical Novel and Other Essays (New York, 1901), p. 21.Google Scholar As to the perfect historical novel (which may never exist), Alfred, T. Sheppard, The Art and Practice of Historical Fiction (London, 1930), p.Google Scholar 82, has this to say: “It must preserve dignity and avoid grandiloquence, preserve atmosphere and avoid the archaic carried to extremes, preserve accuracy of background and avoid the crowding out of the human interest, preserve strength and avoid the needlessly coarse and ruthless and morbid, preserve the dramatic without being melodramatic, preserve proportion without sacrificing detail.”

6 Short stories are not included in this section. Although this bibliography, only slightly revised on the basis of the 1932 edition, needs to be updated, it is still the most comprehensive guide in the field. The entire work lists over 800 titles, many of which are short stories or collections of short stories; this gives the novels listed in the “historical narratives” section a fairly high percentage. If we add to this group other works with a historical character listed in other sections, the figure would be even more impressive.

7 Titles are given in this survey purely as illustrations with no intention of being exhaustive. Many works involve complicated textual problems or long evolutionary cycles; in such cases, generally the later titles are given because of better availability and because they possibly represent more advanced stages. Wherever possible, established short titles are given in preference to the full long titles, which are usually very clumsy and may be different from one edition to another.

8 For obvious rifts in goals of analysis and historico-philosophical standpoints, and because of the very nature of the Chinese historical novel, the strong objection aired by Georg Lukács to the biographical form of the historical novel need not bother us here; see Luka'cs, , The Historical Novel, tr. Hannah and Stanley Mitchell (London, 1962), pp. 300–322.Google ScholarJohn, Tebbel has an almost exactly opposite opinion; see his Fact and Fiction: Problems of the Historical Novelist (Lansing, Michigan, 1962), pp. 4–6.Google Scholar

9 Despite its popularity, very little scholarly attention has been given to this novel. One cornmendable study is Chan Hok-lam, “Liu Chi (1311–75) in the Ying-lieh chuan: The Fictionalization ofa Scholar-Hero,” Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 5:1.2 (Dec. 1967), 25–42.Google Scholar

10 One helpful reference is Idema, W. L., “Novels about the Founding of the Sung Dynasty,” Sung Studies Newsletter, 9 (June 1974), 2–9.Google Scholar

11 The numerous works in this series pose a very complicated problem indeed. They have been treated in Cheng Chen-to, “Chung-kuo hsiao-shuo t'i-yao” (Critical Notes on Chinese Fiction), in his Chung-kuo wen-hsüeh yen-chiu (Studies in Chinese Literature) (Peking, 1957), I, 351–359Google Scholar and in C. T. Hsia's paper referred to in Note 3. A dissertation recently completed by Robert E. Hegel (Columbia University) also deals with this series.

12 Cheng Ho has been a very popular research topic. A great variety of reasons have been suggested for these trips; some are mere far-fetched guesswork. For activities of this magnitude, a combination of reasons, changing over the thirty odd years concerned, make better sense. Propaganda for the glorification of the Chinese empire was unquestionably always one of the basic motives. Joseph Needham offers a comment of fine insight that Chinese expeditions like these “set up no factories, demanded no forts, made no slave-raids, accomplished no conquests” in his Science and Civilisation of China, Vol. IV, Part 3: Civil Engineering and Nautics (Cambridge, 1971), p. 533.Google Scholar The basic ideologies behind activities of this kind, which have much to do with the storyteller's treatment of foreign areas, have been studied in Vadime Elisseeff, “The Middle Empire, A Distant Empire, An Empire without Neighbors,” Diogenes, 42 (Summer 1963), 60–64,Google Scholar and in the articles in John, King Fairbank, ed., The Chinese World Order: Traditional China's Foreign Relations (Cambridge, Mass., 1968).Google Scholar

13 Its wholesale transcription of passages from historical documents, some even of a first-hand nature, has been observed by Chao Ching-shen in “San-pao t'ai-chien hsi-yang chi,” Ch'ing-nien chieh, 9:1 (Jan. 1936), later reprinted in his Hsiao-shuo hsien-hua (Remarks on Fiction) (Shanghai, 1937), pp. 153–207. Chao's discussion also appears verbatim in Kuo Chen-i, Chung-kuo hsiao-shuo shih (A His-tory of Chinese Fiction) (Shanghai, 1939), pp. 385–426. For the inventive fancy in this novel, see Duyvendak, J. J. L., “A Chinese ‘Divine Commedia,’” T'oung Pao, 41 (1952), 255–316,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and “Desultory Notes on the Hsi-yang chi,” T'oung Pao, 42 (1953). 1–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Tne coup itseif is tne subject ot anotner dynasty-building novel, Hsü Ying-lieh chuttti w (More Heroes of the Early Ming) (Also known as Yung-lo ting-ting ch'üan-chih x [The Ascension of the Yung-lo Emperor]). The alternative title is actually suggestive of its dynasty-building theme.

15 Although Yüeh Fei has always been a highly popular topic, there seems to be a keen revival of interest in this heroic figure in the recent years, as evidenced by the production of quite a few pieces of carefully done research work, such as Li An, Yüeh Fei shih-chi kao (The Historical Facts of Yüeh Fei) (Taipei, 1970); Edward, H. Kaplan, “Yueh Fei and the Founding of the Southern Sung” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1970);Google ScholarJames, T. C. Liu, “Yüch Fei (1103–41) and China's Heritage of Loyalty,” Journal of Asian Studies, 31:2 (Feb. 1972), 291–297.Google Scholar An overall study of the fortunes of the Yueh Fei figure in popular literature is still wanting.

16 Yang-chta chiang ac (Generals of the Yang Family) is the key novel in this series. Some of the works in this series, such as p'ing Min shih-pa tung ad (The Pacification of Fukicn), also involve he tradition of Ti Ch'ingao (1009–1057), another legendary Northern Sung general.

17 His career has been described by Sawada, Mizuho in “Taikan Ryu Kin” (The Eunuch Liu Chin), Tenri daigaku gakuhō, 54 (March 1967), 1–31.Google Scholar

18 Summaries of these activities are available in Meng Sen, Ming-tat shih (A History of the Ming Dynasty) (Taipei, 1957). PP- 194–218, Tseng Chi-hung, “Ming-Shih Yang-ming p'ing Ning-fan k'ao” (The Anti-Ning Campaign led by Wang Yang-ming as Recorded in the Ming-shih), Kuo-li Chttng-yang t'u-shu-kuan kuan-k'an, NS 4:4 (Dec. 1971), 1–21.

19 This eunuch is the subject of Ulrich Hans-Richard Mammitzsch, “Wei Chung-hsien (1568–1628): A Reappraisal of the Eunuch and the Factional Strife at the Late Ming Court” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawaii, 1968).Google Scholar

20 Not to mention the intentional interpretations those who are concerned with giving Li Tzu-ch'eng a fresh, clean new look primarily for present-day political reasons, the theory advanced by the moderately-minded historian Li Wen-chih deserves our serious attention indeed. He argues, on the basis of a detailed and objective analysis, that Li Tzu-ch'eng, far from being the reckless blood-thirsty raider he has customarily been considered ;o be, was in many ways a remarkable revolutionist *ho might well have changed the entire course of China's history from that point onward. Sec his Wan-Ming mim-pien (Peasant Revolts of the Late Vling) (Shanghai, 1948), pp. 97–159.

21 Curiously enough, this minor novel has attracted much serious attention, see Ch'i Ju-shan, “Pai-she chai so-ts'ang t'ung-su hsiao-shuo shu-lu” (Popular Fiction in the Pai-she chai Collection), T'u-shu chi-k'an, NS 8:3.4 (Dec. 1947), 16, reprinted in Ch'i Ju-shan ch'üan-chi (Taipei, 1964), IV, 34–36; Chou Yüeh-jan, Shu shu shu (On Books) (Shanghai, 1944), pp. 98–102; T'an Cheng-pi, Jih-pen so-ts'ang Chung-kuo i-pen hsiao-shuo shu-k'ao (Lost Works of Chinese Fiction Preserved in Japan) (Shanghai, 1945), pp. 122–123; Jao Tsung-i, Hsiang-kang ta-hsüeh Feng P'ing-shan tu-shu-kuan shan-pen shu-lu (An Annotated Bibliography of the Rare Books in the Fung Ping-shan Library of the University of Hong Kong) (Hong Kong, 1970), p. 171; and the colophon written by Kuo Mo-jo in Wei, Chü-hsien, ed., Hsiao-shuo k'ao-cheng chi (Studies in Fiction) (Chungking, 1944), pp. 211–212.Google Scholar

22 A comprehensive historical account of the Han founder's wilful elimination of his generals in 196–195 B.C. is conveniently available in Yüan Shuay (1131–1205), T'ung-chien chi-shih pen-mo az (The Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government Topically Arranged) (Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an ed.) 2.340–473. A similar didactic treatment of the far-reaching effects of this historical event also gives us the hua-pen story “Nao yin-ssu Ssu-ma Mao tuan-yü” (Ssu-ma Mao Sits in Judgment and Rouses Hell) (Ku-chin hsiao-shuo ba [Stories Old and New] 31).

23 Wei Chung-hsien and his mistress in their former lives are two snakes in the river Huai. Instead of rewarding them for their help in flood control, the authorities set their holes on fire. These two snakes and their followers are reborn in human forms as Wei, his mistress, and their associates to make chaos in the country. See particularly Chapters I and 50.

24 Those who are interested in the strenuous efforts taken in the first half of 1959 to re-examine the role and image of the historical Ts'ao Ts'ao may find the articles collected in the Ts'ao Ts'ao lun-chi (Studies in Ts'ao Ts'ao) (Peking, 1960) helpful and interesting.

25 This novel with forty-four chapters is much thinner than might be expected. But there is a mammoth work by Ts'ai Tung-fanbo (preface dated 1925), running all the way with ample details from the end of the Warring States period down to the 1920's. In a 1956 Hong Kong reprint, done in small-type modern printing, it takes up forty-four fairly thick volumes.

26 Had there been more novels on me last desperate moments when native Chinese dynasties were taken over by outside rulers, such as the Mongols and the Manchus, it would be justified to identify a group of novels as of the “national survival theme.” In a novel such as the T'ung-shih bf (A History of Bitterness) (unfinished) by Wu Yu-yaobg (1867–1910) on the final days of the Southern Sung, nationalism and patriotism run high, but the air of hopelessness unmistakably hangs there, as does the sense of running on borrowed time and attempting a totally impossible reversal of the clear course of events. The delineation of the outsiders as outright invaders, bent on upsetting traditional Chinese culture, and of the Chinese as defenders, fighting for the ever-retreating court centered around the few last princes further pictures the struggle as one for mere survival without a larger goal. Ming novelists, for reasons as yet unknown, were not interested in working on the very, end of the Southern Sung. For their Ch'ing colleagues, the late Ming (including the very last days) was naturally a taboo, unless they took an obvious stand with the Manchu newcomers. Had the enforcement of censorship not been relaxed toward the end of the Ch'ing rule, it would have been all but impossible for the production of the highly suggestive T'ung-shih and the few other similar novels on the end of the Sung period. Even so, the circulation of these novels was almost totally negligible, as seen in their extremely rare availability. Unobtainable even to Sun K'ai-ti when he worked on the two versions of his bibliography, T'ung-shih is now available in a 1959 reprint.

27 For storytelling conventions and their effects on Chinese fiction, see John, L. Bishop, “Some limitations of Chinese Fiction,” Far Eastern Quarterly, 15:2 (Feb. 1956), 239–247,Google Scholar reprinted in Studies in Chinese Literature, ed. by Bishop (Cambridge, Mass., 1965), pp. 237–245.Google Scholar

28 The various fictional qualities of Chinese historiography have been the subject of a number of studies, including James, Crump, Jr. “The Chan-kuo Ts'e and Its Fiction,” T'oung Pao, 48 (1960), 305–375;Google ScholarIdem, Intrigues: Studies of the Chan-kuo Ts'e (Ann Arbor, 1964), pp. 58–75; Wu Han, “Li-shih chung te hsiao-shuo” (Fiction in history) History), Wen-hsüeh, 2:6 (June 1934), 1201–1217; Maeno, Naoaki, “Shiki no shōsetsu teki na sokumcn ni tsuite” (Fictional Elements in the Shih-chi), Kambun gakkai kaihō, 17 (June 1957), 17–22;Google ScholarHenri, Maspero, “Le roman historique dans la literature chinoise de l'antiquité,” in Mélanges posthtimes sur les religions el l'histoire de la Chine, Vol. Ill: Études historiques (Paris, 1950), pp. 55–62;Google ScholarHok-lam, Chan, “The Rise of Ming T'ai-tsu (1328–68): F)acts and Fiction in Early Ming Official Historiography,” to appear in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 94:4 (1974).Google Scholar

29 Both in fact and in fiction, the basic motives of Chu-ko Liang in joining the Liu Pei camp and his lifelong devotion to its cause may be explained from these two aspects. When Liu Pei “discovered” him, Chu-ko was but a young fellow, in his late twenties, with as yet no marked achievement. Chu-ko was overwhelmingly impressed by the sincerity and respect Liu Pei, twenty years his senior, humbly demonstrated in his repeated visitations. Once he had chosen his affiliation, Chu-ko immediately presented to Liu what was to be the major policy of the Kingdom of Shu for the rest of Chu-ko's lifetime—the famous Lung-chung Proposal. For most Chinese intellectuals, one of the most unbearable tortures in life is not to be recognized (huai-ts'ai ptt-yü bl) and they are happy to avoid it. Chu-ko Liang was no exception. For a fictional account of these episodes, see Chapters 37 and 38 of the San-kuo chih yen-i. In his celebrated “Ch'u-shih piaobj,” (First Memorial on the Occasion of Starting a Campaign), written four years after Liu's death, Chu-ko Liang still gratefully recalled this first encounter with Liu (San-kuo chih 35 [Peking, 1959], HI, 920; also copied into Chapter 91 of the San-kuo chih yen-i). Among the profuse literature on Chu-ko Liang, Chu Hsiu-hsia, “Chu-ko K'ung-ming hsin-lun” (A New Study of Chu-ko Liang), in his San-kuo jen-wu hsin-lun (New Studies in the Characters of the Three Kingdoms Period) (Hong Kong, 1952), pp. 1–13, is fairly stimulating in discussing him as an individual. See also Li Hsi-fan, “I-ko shen-k'o te chih-hui te tien-hsing: San-kuo yen-i li te Chu-ko Liang” (A Model of Superb Intelligence: Chu-ko Liang in the San-kuo yen-i), in his Lun Chung-kuo ku-tien hsiao-shuo te i-shu hsing-hsiang (Artistic Aspects of Classic Chinese Novels) (Shanghai, 1961), pp. III–II3; Miyakawa, Hisayuki, “Kōmei no shutsuro ni tsuite no isetsu” (A Reappraisal of the Emergence of Chu-ko Liang from his Hermitage), Gakugei, 35 (Jan. 1948), 38–42,Google Scholar reprinted in his Rikuchō shi kenkyü: Seiji shaKai hen (Studies in the Six Dynasties: Political and Social History) (Tokyo, 1956), pp. 226–233.Google Scholar

30 See the paper by Cheng Chen-to referred to in Note n (pp. 347–350).

31 For example, Feuchtwanger, Lion, The House of Desdemona: The Laurels and Limitations of Historical Fictiont, tr. Basilius, Harold A. (Detroit, 1963, p. 142;Google ScholarGreen, Peter, “Aspects of the Historical Novel,” Essays by Diverse Hands, 31 (1962), 37–38;Google ScholarFaries, Randolph 2d, Ancient Rome in the English Hovel: A Study in English Historical Fiction (Philadelphia, 1923), p. 13.Google Scholar

32 For the traditional hostility between orthodox historians and historical novelists, see Tebbel, John, Fact and Fiction, pp. 9–11;Google ScholarSheppard, Alfred T., The Art and Practice of Historical Fiction, p. 152.Google Scholar For a compromising viewpoint, see Kennedy, James G., “More General than Fiction: The Uses of History in the Criticism of Modern Novels,” College English, 28:2 (Nov. 1966), 150–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

33 This utilitarian function of the historical novel is emphasized in Cam, Helen, Historical Novels (London, 1961), pp.Google Scholar 5, 7, 19; Taylor, Alastair M., “The Historical Novel as a Source in History,” Sewanee Review, 46 (Oct. 1938), 475;Google ScholarBelloc, Hillaire, “The Character of an Historical Novelist,” London Mercury, 9 (Nov. 1924), 37–38.Google Scholar

34 In Popular Fiction before Richardson: Narrative Patterns, 1700–1739 (Oxford, 1969), pp. 11–12,Google Scholar John J. Richetti argues convincingly that fiction, in general, depends upon a body of gen-crally accepted popular assumptions and which commands immediate, emotional, articulate assent among the audience.

35 See che two articles by Chan Hok-Iam referred to in Notes 9 and 28, and the article by Wu Han mentioned in Note 28.

36 For example, the early political and military activities of Chu Yüan-changbs (1328–1398), the Ming founder, had a very close relationship with Buddho-Manichacism; see Han, Wu, “Yüan ti-kuo chih peng-k'uei yü Ming chih chien-kuo” (The Collapse of the Yüan Empire and the Founding of the Ming), Ch'sng-hua hsüeh-pao, 11:2 (April 1936). 359–423;Google ScholarIdem, “Ming-chiao yü Ta-Ming ti-kuo” (Manichaeism and the Ming Empire), Ch'ing-hua hsüeh-pao, 13:1 (Jan. 1941), 49–85,Google Scholar reprinted in his Tu-shih cha-chi (Observations in the Study of History) (Peking, 1956), pp. 235–270;Google ScholarDardess, John W., “The Transformations of Messianic Revolt and the Founding of the Ming Dynasty,” Journal of Asian Studies, 29:3 (May 1070) 539–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The association between the T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuobt movement (1850–1864) and Christian doctrines is another example. One convenient background reference for this phenomenon is Harrison, James P., The Communists and Chinese Peasant Rebellions: A Study in the Rewriting of Chinese History (New York, 1969), particularly Chapters 6 and 7.Google Scholar

37 See Lukács, , The Historical Novel, pp. 39, 46–47, 103–105, 117–119. 123. 125–128, 150–151, 159. 310–313.Google Scholar

38 One may similarly question the Western historical novel on the basis that it does not match the Chinese “standard” of having historical figures as protagonists.

39 This has been aptly observed by Hsia, C. T. in “Comparative Approaches to Water Margin,” Yearbook of Comparative and General Literature, 11: Supplement (1962), 122–124;Google Scholarthis portion had been omitted in the revised and enlarged version of this paper in his The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction (New York, 1968), Chapter 3.Google Scholar