Dictionary of Appreciating Ming and Qing Legends · Volume 1 and 2

Author: Jiang Xingyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: This book collects 168 legendary plays totaling 281 works, considering historical inheritance, it also includes a few surviving Southern dramas from before the Ming Dynasty. The order of the playwrights and titles in the main text is largely based on Zhuang Yifu's A Comprehensive Examination of Classical Drama Titles, with minor adjustments based on the latest research findings. The legendary plays included in this book are primarily sourced from series such as Sixty Classical Dramas, Warm Red Room Collected Dramas, Shemo Room Drama Collection, Classical Drama Series (Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 5), Ancient Drama Series, Ming and Qing Dynasty Legendary Drama Selections, as well as drama selections like Zhubaiqiu, and relevant single-issue publications and annotated editions. In principle, each play (or act) is accompanied by an appreciation article. For easier explanation, sometimes two plays (or acts) are combined into one appreciation. The book uses simplified Chinese characters, with traditional characters or variant characters used when simplified characters may cause ambiguity. Annotations are provided for obscure terms and historical references in each play (or act), placed below the original text for readers' reference. The appendix includes: brief biographies of playwrights, basic knowledge of reading dramas (Southern Drama and Legendary Drama sections), chronological table of Ming and Qing Dynasty legendary dramas, bibliography of Ming and Qing Dynasty legendary dramas, a concise compilation of Ming and Qing Dynasty Southern drama tunes, a table of nine selected excerpts from late Ming Dynasty bookshop drama collections, and a table of five selected excerpts from drama collections since the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.