Illustrated Version of the West Chamber Romance. Clear and Vivid Carving of the West Chamber Romance. Ming He Bi School Edition of the West Chamber Romance (One Box, Two Volumes)

Author: (Yuan) Wang Shifu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Wang Shifu's The Story of the Western Chamber is one of the most widely circulated and influential literary masterpieces in Yuan. The Ming scholar Jia Zhongming praised it as "A New Zaju, An Old Legend, The Western Chamber Reigns Supreme in the World." During the Ming and Qing dynasties, countless commentaries and editions were produced, with notable figures including Xu Shifan, Wang Jide, Xu Wenlong, Min Qijie, Ling Mengchu, Jin Shengtan, Mao Qiling, and Li Yu. The Story of the Western Chamber no longer has extant Yuan-era editions, but over sixty Ming-era editions survive, mostly published after the Wanli era. The most popular among them are the Ling Mengchu edition and the Jin Shengtan-collated The Six Great Masters' Book. Li Yu of the Qing dynasty remarked on the Jin Shengtan edition: "Jin Shengtan's annotations treat The Western Chamber as a literary work for scholars, not as a play performed by actors." He Bo's collated and published edition of The Story of the Western Chamber also approached the work from the perspective of literary appreciation. He Bo, a native of Fuzhou, Fujian in the Ming dynasty, styled himself Yu Chang. In his youth, he lived a carefree life, indulging in drink and gambling, but later devoted himself to reading the extensive collection of Wang Ruo, a scholar of high moral standing, and became skilled in poetry and prose. He traveled to Huizhou, where the county magistrate Zhang Tao invited him as a guest, and accompanied Zhang to establish an office in Liaodong. In the 44th year of the Wanli era, He Bo collated and published The Story of the Western Chamber, believing that the popular World Chapter Press editions were mostly "performer's scripts" and "used annotations alongside criticism." He added his own annotations, removed phonetic explanations and appendices, aiming to let "those who grasp the essence have their own discernment" and to make "those who open the book feel even more clarity," while also stating that "placing it among the literary works of the Wei and Cai dynasties, it rivals the finest lyrical and romantic texts." Thus, he elevated The Story of the Western Chamber from popular literature to the realm of pure literature.