Mistress and Maid (Jiohong ji) by Meng Chengshun.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• TeilnehmendeR: Birch, Cyril.
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2001]; ©2001
• Year of Publication: 2001
• Language: English
• Series: Translations from the Asian Classics
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

Mistress & Maid, one of the greatest tragedies of Chinese drama, is here available for the first time in English. Acclaimed translator Cyril Birch presents the bittersweet tale of Bella, daughter of the Wang family, her maid Petal, and the young scholar Shen Chun. After her father reneges on her marital pact, Bella refuses to renounce her love for Shen, with whom she has vowed to share "in life one room, in death one tomb." The subversion of both conventional morality and the arranged marriage through vivid drama and witty comic scenes makes this seventeenth-century play particularly innovative. Chinese critics have hailed it as essentially revolutionary for its depiction of youthful resistance to latter-day Confucian values, but as Birch notes in the introduction, "the glory of Mistress & Maid is the tender delicacy of the lovers' interactions." This depth of feeling also distinguishes the play from others of the "talent-meets-beauty" genre so prevalent during the late-imperial age.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Signposts of Romance -- Cast of Characters -- Scene 1. Legend -- Scene 2. Leaving Home -- Scene 3. Meeting with Bella -- Scene 4. Evening Embroidery -- Scene 5. In Search of a Beauty -- Scene 6. Flower Poems -- Scene 7. Response in Rhyme -- Scene 8. Trouble from Tibet -- Scene 9. Sharing the Lampblack -- Scene 10. Hugging the Stove -- Scene 11. Frontier Defense -- Scene 12. Thwarted Rendezvous -- Scene 13. Dispatching the Summons -- Scene 14. Quiet Despair -- Scene 15. Parting Vows -- Scene 16. Defense of the City -- Scene 17. Seeking a Cure -- Scene 18. Secret Pact -- Scene 19. The Portraits Delivered -- Scene 20. Cutting the Sleeve -- Scene 21. Sending the Matchmaker -- Scene 22. The Match Opposed -- Scene 23. A Drink with Courtesans -- Scene 24. The Matchmaker Reports -- Scene 25. Exorcism -- Scene 26. Third Visit -- Scene 27. The Slippers -- Scene 28. Petal Scolded -- Scene 29. Interrogation -- Scene 30. Viewing the Portraits -- Scene 31. Solemn Pact -- Scene 32. Petal Tells -- Scene 33. Reluctant Parting -- Scene 34. Envoys Appointed -- Scene 35. The Keepsake -- Scene 36. The Road to the Examinations -- Scene 37. Celebration -- Scene 38. Return in Triumph -- Scene 39. Bewitched -- Scene 40. A Haunting Suspected -- Scene 41. The Ghost Exposed -- Scene 42. Master Shuai Proposes -- Scene 43. Parting in Life -- Scene 44. Wedding Rehearsal -- Scene 45. Weeping on the Boat -- Scene 46. Petal Questioned -- Scene 47. Maiden’s Passing -- Scene 48. Joined in Death -- Scene 49. United in the Tomb -- Scene 50. Reunion with Immortals -- Backmatter