Three Yuan Plays by Yang Zi: In English Translation with Full Annotations

This is an English translation of three plays by Yang Zi—a Yuan dynasty playwright, court official, and ocean-shipping tycoon—with extensive annotations of the Chinese originals. The author conveys the way a Yuan zaju play was composed, especially in the use of its extrametrical characters. To help readers understand the unique position Yang Zi was in during the Yuan dynasty under the Mongol rule, the author also includes a detailed description of Yang Zi’s life and his family as an appendix. With a general introduction about the plays and their theatrical features, together with an individual introduction to each play to provide its background, artistic features and also controversies, this anthology is not only a useful collection of Chinese dramas for Western readers interested in learning about the unique way Yuan zaju plays are presented, but also a window through which readers can perceive indirectly the complicated mental activities of a Han intellectual serving the Mongol court.

Table of Contents:
General Introduction Loyal and Righteous Yu Rang Swallows Charcoal a. Introduction b. English translation c. Chinese original with annotation The Ghost of Huo Guang Remonstrates a. Introduction b. English translation c. Chinese original with annotation Jingde Does Not Give In to Old Age a. Introduction b. English translation c. Chinese original with annotation Appendix

About the Author :
Hongchu Fu is professor of Chinese language and literature at Washington and Lee University.

Review :
Fu Honchu presents original renditions of three fascinating zaju plays, attributed to the Yuan-dynasty official Yang Zi and all focused on the theme of loyalty. The densely annotated translations are accompanied by the full Chinese text of each play, while the introductions to the individual plays stress the contested characters of their protagonists. The general introduction explains the genre conventions and pays special attention to the treatment of extra-metrical syllables in the arias. This publication is a welcome addition to the English-language scholarship on Yuan drama that will be of great use in the classroom. A very welcome and timely contribution to the multilingual classroom of Chinese language, literature, and theater instruction. Informative for novices, heritage learners, and scholars alike, the bilingual versions of three lesser known zaju plays on loyalty—supplied with modern Chinese glosses (collated Chinese text) and English annotations (English translation)-- allow for a firsthand experience of the Joycean joys of mixing high and low registers, while poignantly adding new facets to our understanding of the dilemmas of allegiance explored in the iconic drama The Orphan of Zhao. Three Yuan Plays by Yang Zi showcases Hongchu Fu’s painstaking and detailed scholarly work, considering prosody, idiomatic and borrowed words, and centuries of scholarship and commentary for these heavily annotated translations supplemented with the annotated originals and critical introductions. In doing so, it adds to the catalogue of world literature by translating to English three plays that foreground timeless confrontations between individual and society. With careful attention to the formal qualities of Yuan zaju drama, this achievement in translation and scholarship will be welcomed by the serious student as well as by the general reader.