A study on the realities of Goverment publication, private publication, and commercial publication in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K13087
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02020:Chinese literature-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: UEHARA Kyuichi 東京大学, 東洋文化研究所, 准教授 (30757802)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 中国文学 / 書誌学 / 官刻・家刻・坊刻 / 覆刻・翻刻 / 書坊 / 十八国闘宝伝 / 伍子胥

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Since the outbreak of the new coronavirus made it impossible for us to travel overseas to conduct research, we made a major revision of our plan and focused our research on the actual situation in commercial publication, where we had already collected a relatively large amount of materials.
By FY2021, I introduced the long-lost Xiong Yunbin Edition "Journey to the West" in A Ying's former collection, gained new insights into the activities of the late-Ming dynasty Hangzhou Publisher Rongyutang, and translated my past Japanese papers into Chinese to disseminate findings overseas.
In FY2022, I conducted rudimentary research on a book of popular novels from the end of the Ming dynasty titled "Xinke Huizheng Shibaguo Doubao Zhuan" featuring Wu Zixu, the existence of which was not known at all until the latter half of FY2021, when I was able to purchase it with other research funds.

Free Research Field

中国古典文学・書誌学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

明末の坊刻、即ち商業出版の世界においては、通俗小説や戯曲が売れ筋のコンテンツの一角を占めていた。本研究においては、長らく行方不明になっていた阿英旧蔵の熊雲濱覆世徳堂刊本『西遊記』や作品自体が新発見の『新刻彙正十八國闘寳傳』といった明末の坊刻で出版された小説刊本についての調査や、多くの小説・戯曲を出版していた杭州の容與堂の活動状況に関する研究を通じて、当時の商業出版界で売れ筋のコンテンツがどのように流通していたかの解明を進めることが出来た。特に、新発見の『新刻彙正十八國闘寳傳』からは今後も多くの知見が得られる見込みである。