I thought it was a vanity table but feliciter says it's a pile

[flemmings]

Or, a possible reason why Xi Shi is about to off herself at the end of Woxin Changdan. It's because she's referencing 1950's Taiwanese popular literature. And she doesn't do it in the end because she's referencing some earlier, or possibly later, tradition; and Woxin is having its cake and eating it too.

Chapter 3, all about Chiang Kai-shek's Hawt Manly Lurv For Gou Jian, or 'overidentification gone rampant.' With a look at various Taiwanese presentations of the story, and their emphasis on those Confucian values which the Godless Communists sorry-pardon-wrong-rhetoric the 'traitors to our glorious past' Communists were stamping out on the mainland and the 'heirs to the true tradition of China' Nationalists were then inculcating among the collaborationist Taiwanese.

So we are considering a play written in 1958 by Chen Wenquan, called Gou Jian and Xi Shi. This is the play in which Gou Jian tells the defeated Fu Chai, suing for peace, that Fu Chai killed his loyal minister and failed to avenge the death of his father. 'Given these breaches of the cardinal rules of loyalty and filial piety, the message concluded, Yue had no choice but to destroy Wu.' Uhh. OK. 'I am absolutely required to enact Heaven's vengeance on you for not killing me.' As realpolitik this makes sense, as a moral attitude it turns my stomach: possibly because from a westerner it would be rankest hypocrisy. That it makes sense in Confucianist thinking says something about that particular system.

You may then figure what happens with the Xi Shi story.

Chen proceeded to list a number of ways in which he had modified the story as customarily recounted. It was most unlikely for example that the love between Fan Li and Xi Shi would ever reach the stage of their having "improper" (aimei) relations. And certainly Xi Shi would not (as tradition sometimes suggested) have had a baby whom, on the journey to Wu, she abandoned in a river. Fan Li and Xi Shi lived in a time when Confucius was much in vogue. Since Xi Shi was well raised and Fan Li was an important state official, their behaviour could not possibly have been so reprehensible. Moreover the tradition that after Yue's conquest of Wu, Fan Li changed his name and, taking Xi Shi with him, floated off among "the three rivers and five lakes" was not to be credited. Given a woman of Xi Shi's high moral character (J note: what do you call the fallacy of assuming the truth of what you're supposed to be trying to prove?), it was most unlikely that she would have agreed to remarry. The fact is, for one in her position, the only recourse was to commit suicide.

Cohen comments wryly on Chen's "exaggerated portrayal of fifth-century B.C.E. China as a world profoundly shaped by Confucian values (hardly an apt characterization of the conduct of the contending states of the day)".

And I say, go the traitors to our glorious past Communists.

It's not always that bad in the Taiwanese works of the period, but I think Xi Shi having been Fu Chai's mistress and then going off with Fan Li can pose problems, moral or psychological, in some people's minds-- problems which are best solved by having her ready to off herself when once she's said farewell to Fan Li. And I suspect that we're also supposed to think Fu Chai was so kewl that no woman could go from his arms to another man's-- even her official fiance's-- without regret and heart-scald. Hrmph.

Comments

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Does it also have echos of that famous story out of the 3 kingdoms about ... um ... Dianchan or whatever her name was? I'll look up the story later, and dig out Woxin to finish it, too.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

My knowledge of Three Kingdoms is confined to Peach Garden oaths and burning Cao Cao's boats and Zhuge Liang's fan. No females were used in the creation of this epic AFAIK. Data, Watson, I must have data. I cannot make bricks without straw!

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Ah. Diaochan. From vague memories of watching some 1970's Taiwan movie about this bit of 3K: Dangled in front of a general and then married off to his lord, causing the lord to abuse the general and the general to betray and kill the lord to get the girl. Upon which the girl proceeds to commit suicide having fulfilled her role in the book. Chapter 8 of book 1 is where this little tidbit starts, if you feel like looking it up.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Ah, imperfect recall. I thought the movie I was had her off herself, it's still possible given I've no idea what movie it was, but the book doesn't.

Here's a quick summary of chapters 8 and 9, stolen from librarything (you should read the real summary, very funny and with lots of references to other literary traditions that do right over my head):

Chapter 8

The chapter starts in painting Dong Zhuo as a vile, voluptuous and cruel character. Wang Yun targets Dong Zhuo's heart with a woman.

Finally a female character! And what a character: Diaochan is one of Four Beauties of China. cited in Wikipedia: "Xi Shi said to be so entrancingly beautiful that fish would forget to swim and sink away from the surface when she walks by." "Wang Zhaojun said to be so beautiful that her appearance would entice birds in flight to fall from the sky." "Diaochan said to be so luminously lovely that the moon itself would shy away in embarrassment when compared to her face."

Wang Yun exposes Diaochan's charms to Lü Bu who falls madly in love, before presenting her as a gift to Dong Zhuo,

Lü Bu arranges a sneaky meeting "in the back garden by the Phoenix Pavilion" with his damsel where she attempts to plunge herself into the pool to recover her blemished honour only to fall into Lü Bu's strong arms.

Chapter 9:

Wang Yun incites lovesick Lü Bu to murder Dong Zhuo, using the proven method of calling the prospective victim to court.

Dong Zhuo's death eliminates the last of the first round of leaders in this bloody novel.

Lü Bu rescues Diaochan in Dong Zhuo's palace.

The fate of Diaochan remains unclear. In episode 7 of the TV series she drives off into the sunset in a music video tribute. Wikipedia says she and Lü Bu will meet again, an internet source claims that Dong Zhuo's followers killed her.

[feliciter.livejournal.com]

There's that other Taiwanese drama-esque apocryphal reason why she had to off herself, which would have made no sense in the Woxin we know and love - the Queen of Yue (no name given) feared that Xi Shi would turn her charms onto Gou Jian, and there is no record of whether he denied this or even knew about it.

Chiang Kai-shek's Hawt Manly Lurv For Gou Jian, or 'overidentification gone rampant'

I find that observation more amusing than I should, given that Hu Jun was very popular for his portrayal of Zhang Xueliang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Xueliang) (in a highly-rated serial after Woxin), who took Generalissimo Chiang prisoner briefly (and got the tables turned). No women involved though, AFAIK.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Later interpolation, later interpolation. Can't trust these damned historians an inch.

Oh, isn't that interesting about Zhang. Such a nice parallel. I just don't see Chaing's long-standing beef about the kidnapping-- sitting enemies down to make them agree to something is common sense. OTOH, maybe he had reason for caution-- In order to rid his command of Japanese influence he had two prominent pro-Tokyo officials executed in front of the assembled guests at a dinner party in January 1929. Chilling, even if reminiscent of Bo Pi's fate. And '29 is a bit premature for any selling out of country; I hope they'd committed other misdemeanours besides just supporting Japan.