Period Ming Dynasty Died 1620 Role Playwright | Name Zang Maoxun Magnum opus Fubaotang Ji (负苞堂集) | |
Zang Maoxun (Chinese: 臧懋循; pinyin: Zāng Màoxún; 1550–1620) was a Ming dynasty Chinese playwright and drama theorist from Changxing, Zhejiang province. His courtesy name was Jinshu (晋叔) and he may also be known by the pseudonym (hao), Guzhu (顾渚). He successfully achieved the rank of Jinshi (presented scholar) in 1580 (the 8th year of Ming Wanli). He was matriculated as a local governmental official in Jingzhou, and was later promoted as an officer in Guozijian (国子监) of Nanjing. He knew the Confucian Five Classics well and was a person uninhibited in speech and behavior. Zang disdained the feudal ethical code and was dissatisfied with affairs of the state. As often pointed out the political problems in the society in the way of poetry at the moment, he was impeached by the imperial court and dismissed from office in 1585 (the 13th year of Wanli). After returning to his hometown, Zang entertained himself with poetry and remained an intimate association with many men of letters. He collected the missing yuanqu and poems. He also published a lot of books, including Selections of Yuanqu, Selections of poems which granted him lasting fame for posterity.
Contents
Personal life
Zang Maoxun was an intelligent child since very young. He could make couplets. with the adults when he was five years old. A precocious child, he was once taken by his father to visit a friend called Xian Jingzhao, Xian wanted to test the child’s talent, so he suddenly said a first line of a couplet, “There are five fingers in a hand.” Zang Maoxun thought for a second, then quickly answered :“There are seven orifices in a heart.” Xian Jingzhao was so amazed and impressed by his remarkable talent and said, this child was destined to impress the world with his literary works. When Zang was 19 years old, his father, a two-term magistrate, died. After he had buried his father, he studied hard for the examination.
In 1580, Wanli 8 (万历八年), Zang Maoxun attended the Imperial examination, and was qualified and ranked as Jinshi. He held a government position in Jingzhou in the following year. In 1582 Wanli 10 (万历十年), Zang served as a magistrate in Yiling, which is located in modern day Yichang County of Hubei province. Later, when he was an officer in Guozijian (国子监) of Nanjing, he maintained a friendly relationship with Tang Xianzu (汤显祖) and Wang Shizhen (王世贞). During this period, Zang always went to suburbs for amusement with his concubines and children, with which many officers of the imperial court were discontented. In 1585 Wanli 13 (万历十三年), at the age of 36, Zang Maoxun decided to dismiss from office and return to his hometown Changxing.
Living in his hometown, Zang Maoxun entertained himself with poetry and kept a close relationship with many men of letters of that time like Mei Dingzuo (梅鼎祚) and Yuan Zhongdao (袁中道). Famed for his quick wits and elaborate literary style, Zang Maoxun was ranked with Wu Jiadeng (吴家登), Wu Mengyang (吴梦旸) and Mao Wei (茅维) among the Four Scholars of Wuxing, a group of representative literati of Wuxing.
After 50 years old, Zang presented an active state in the field of publishing. He published a great number of literature books, including Selected Plays from the Yuan Dynasty (元曲选), Selections of poems Four dreams of Yumingtang (玉茗堂四梦), Liubosuijin (六博碎金) and so on.
When Zang was 57 years old, he organized a poetry group of Jinling 金陵社集 with over 10 friends. For this reason, he obtained a little fame in the field of poetry of that time.
Own works
Fubaotang Ji (负苞堂集) is the masterpiece of Zang Maoxun. It is recorded and published by his son Zang Erbing (臧尔炳). According to the postscript of the book, some articles of the initial Fubaotang Ji were lost, so he edited and published the existing ones. In the twenty-fifth chapter of the book of <Qianqingtang Bibliography> (千顷堂书目) written by Huang Yuji (黄虞稷), it is recorded that : the Fubaotang Ji of Zang Maoxun consisted of ten chapters, five of which are selections of his poetry, and four chapters are selections of his articles.
The Fubaotang Ji we see today contains nine chapters. The first four chapters are collections of his articles, and the rest are collections of poetry.The first and second chapters of Fubaotang Ji contain seven memorials to the throne and twenty letters, all written in the style of Pianwen (Chinese: 骈文; pinyin: Piánwén). The proses of Zang Maoxun are included in the third and fourth chapters. His famous proses like <the letter in reply to Yao Shudu> and <the letter to Ou Zhenbo> are in the fourth chapter.
Zang has a great achievement in the poetry. Publisher Zang Maoxun (出版家臧懋循) recorded:" Zang's poetry, faces the reality, which has a fresh style." He had a great reputation in the literary field of Ming Dynasty. Zang Maoxun, Wu Jiadeng, Wu Mengyang, Mao Wei had the title of "Four Scholars of Wuxing" (吴兴四子) at that time.
Works edited
Zang Maoxun is one of the most famous Yuan dramatist-poets. In ancient Chinese society, the opera was regarded as an unrefined performance for a long time, so he felt his own mission was to select and publish Yuanqu. The Selected Plays from the Yuan Dynasty (元曲选) he had selected and engraved occupies an important position in the history of Chinese literature and opera. He had also published Yumingtangsimeng (玉茗堂四梦), Jiaozhenggubenjingchaiji (校正古本荆钗记), Gaidingtanhuaji (改定昙花记)and so on. The works totaled more than 3 million words.
Selected plays from the Yuan Dynasty
The main contribution of Zang Maoxun is the Selected plays from the Yuan Dynasty. He devoted all his efforts for this book. In addition to the rich possession of books in his family, he also collected the rare books from many others bibliophiles. He borrowed three hundred kinds of dramas of the Yuan Dynasty from Liu Chengxi of Macheng, gathered other collections of Drama script from some others collectors.
Zang Maoxun devoted all of his money and vigour into this enterprise. He went north to the central plains and south to the Hu and Guang provinces (湖广行省) when he was over sixty years old. He collected all kinds of the Yuanqu that lost around the country with careful finishing, collating and accompanied with phonetic. Finally, Zang Maoxun engraved the Selected plays from the Yuan Dynasty of more than 100 volumes in Wanli43 and 44.
This feat saved for our posterity one hundred of famous operas of Yuan Dynasty, including" Snow in Midsummer " (窦娥冤), "Autumn in the Han Palace" (汉宫秋) and so on. Zang Maoxun made outstanding contributions to the protection and inheritance of Chinese culture.