Carnival in China : : a reading of the Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan / / Daria Berg.

• VerfasserIn: Berg, Daria, 1964-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2002]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2002
• Language: English
• Series: China Studies ; 1.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

As if under the satirical magnifying glass, the Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan , an anonymous traditional Chinese novel, portrays local society and provincial life in seventeenth-century China in comic and grotesque close-up. A dystopian satire, the novel provides fascinating insights into the popular culture and wild imagination of men and women in late imperial China. Using an array of sources-fiction, poetry, texts on medical ethics, religious thought, political and philosophical treatises, morality books and local gazetteers- Carnival in China develops a style of reading that explores how seventeenth-century Chinese citizens perceived their world. Through their eyes, we gain access to their desires, dreams, fears and nightmares.

Table of Contents

Machine generated contents note: CHAPTER ONE: The Xingshi yinyuan zhuan -- CHAPTER TWO: Perceptions of Late Ming Decadence -- CHAPTER THREE: Mapping the Landscape of Utopia, -- Setting the Stage for Dystopia -- PART ONE -- CURING THE WORLD: IMAGES OF THE HEALER -- CHAPTER FOUR: Physicians -- The Lecherous Grand Physician -- The Drunken Obstetrician -- The Killer Doctor -- The Enlightened Physician -- CHAPTER FIVE: Bell Doctors -- The Expert in Gynaecology -- The Syphilis Specialist -- CHAPTER SIX: The Clergy -- The Spirit-Immortal -- The Immortal Daoist -- The Fallen Bodhisattva -- The Dissolute Scholar-Monk -- Two Sinful Abbots -- The Demon Daoist -- CHAPTER SEVEN: Lay Healers -- The Maid and Her Book of Exorcism -- The Lady's Demonic Healing -- Medical Cannibalism and the Magistrate's Son -- The Martyrdom of the Filial Scholar -- One Family's Filial Piety -- PART TWO -- GOVERNING THE WORLD: REPRESENTATIONS OF THE ELITE -- CHAPTER EIGHT: Students -- The Profligate Philistine -- The Mischievous Cheat -- The Virtuous Student's Easy Success -- The Plight of the Poor but Bright Students -- The Reluctant Imperial Academician -- The Model Student's Retributive Rage -- CHAPTER NINE: Teachers -- The Modest Scholar -- The Sadist -- The Cannibal Schoolmaster -- CHAPTER TEN: Scholar-cum-merchants -- The Money-Broker -- The Professor in Business -- CHAPTER ELEVEN: Patrons of Scholarship -- The Illiterate Innkeeper -- The Wealthy Commoner -- CHAPTER TWELVE: Scholar-officials -- The Chancellor's Paradise Inn -- The Philanthropic Officials -- The Rapacious Magistrate -- The Reformed Official -- PART THREE -- SAVING THE WORLD: VISIONS OF THE GREAT MOTHER -- CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Reformer, Saint and Saviour -- CONCLUDING REMARKS: The Voices of Carnival -- List of Works Cited -- Abbreviations -- Primary Sources -- Secondary Sources.