2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Study of The Bai-tu ji Chinese Classical Drama
| Project/Area Number |
15520223
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Literatures/Literary theories in other countries and areas
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| Research Institution | Osaka University |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKAHASHI Bunji Osaka University, Graduate School of Letter, Professor, 文学研究科, 教授 (00154857)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | Classical Drama of China / Nan-xi / Bai-tu ji / The edition Ji-gu-ge / The edition Fu-chun-tang / Liu Zhi-yuan / Li San-niang / Liu Zhi-yuan zhu-gong diao |
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| Research Abstract |
The story of Liu Zhi-yuan and his wife Li San-niang is a popular tale that has been handed down by many generations of Chinese. It is evident that Buddhist tales had an influence on the development of this story, and in the present study I had set out to demonstrate this primarity with reference to the Liu Zhi-yuan zhu-gong diao and Fou-shuo xiao-shun-zi xiu-xing cheng-fou jing. The Liu Zhi-yuan zhu-gong diao is the oldest text to deal with the story of Liu Zhi-yuan and his wife Li San-niang, and it probably dates from the time of the Chin dynasty, while the Fou-shuo xiao-shun-zi xiu-xing cheng-fou jing has survived amang the Dun-huang manuscripts (Peking No.8300). If we compare these two texts, paying special attention to Li San-niang and her son, they are found to have the following points in common with respect to the unfolding of the tale : (1)The story as a whole may be characterized as a tale of the separation and reunion of the prince and his mother. (2)In both cases the mother becomes a slave in a mill. (3)In both cases the prince visits his mother but departs with neither of them having revealed their identity. (4)In the concluding section, when the father proposes to take revenge on those who have persecuted the mother, it is the son who stops him from doing so.
In addition, at the end of the Liu Zhi-yuan zhu-gong diao a divine power causes Li San-niang's hair to miraculously grow, and this episode is presumably due to the influence of Buddhist tales. The Liu, Zhi-yuan zhu-gong diao also makes frequent use of Buddhist terms, which are not often used in Chinese novels and drama.
On the basis of the above observations, it is to be surmised that the Liu Zhi-yuan zhu-gong diao was composed following the gradual Sinicization and secularization of Buddhist tales that had entered China, and when compared with the Bai-tuji, it may be described as a work reflecting a transitional stage in the process of Sinicization and secularization.
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