Ming Dynasty Tales by Victor H. Mair;Zhenjun Zhang;

Author:Victor H. Mair;Zhenjun Zhang;
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK

NOTES AND READING GUIDE

Weiguo Cao

I. Historical Figures in the Story

Although the story of the lotus screen is basically a fictional account, some of the characters were based on real people in history. In the Yuan shi 元史, there is a biography of Gao Nalin (1281–1359). In the story, Gao Nalin was a retired official who helped Cui Ying revenge himself and reunite with his wife. According to the historical biography, Gao Nalin was appointed as the Grand Master of Imperial Scribes in 1347. The next year he was impeached by another official and forced into retirement in Suzhou. According to the story, Cui Ying was attacked by the ferryman in 1351, and one year later he met Gao Nalin, who was a retired Grand Master of Imperial Scribes residing in Suzhou. Thus, the date, official title, and residing place narrated in the story correspond to the historical accounts of Gao Nalin very well. But why did the author, Li Changqi, make Gao Nalin, a historical figure, one of the main characters in his story?

It is possible that the story has some historical basis. Li Changqi might have heard about Gao Nalin and created a story based on that. It is noteworthy that the Yuan shi gave a very positive account of Gao Nalin. He was an ideal, qingguan 清官 (an honest and upright official) type of official. It was recorded that, when he served as the Route Commander of Hangzhou 杭州 in 1328, he got rid of those evil forces in the region so that his subordinate officials were in awe and his people were pleased. The next year he was transferred to be the Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangxi. At that time there was a great famine in the area, but the local administration would not provide aid to the common people. Gao Nalin donated his own grain and saved a lot of people’s lives. There was a poem “Shang Gao Jiansi” 上高監司” (A poem submitted to the Surveillance Commissioner Gao) composed at that time in praise of Gao Nalin’s charity and altruistic action. The poem extoled him to such an extent that at the end of the poem it suggested that a shrine should be built so that people could worship him, and that a stele should be erected so that his virtuous deeds could be recorded. Thus, it is not hard to imagine that besides this poem, there were other poems or stories circulated at that time in praise of Gao Nalin’s virtue. Li Changqi might have created this story based on one of these stories.

It should be pointed out that this story, to a certain extent, can be viewed as a gong’an xiaoshuo 公案小說 (stories about judicial cases), which usually describes how an incorruptible official maintained the justice by punishing the evildoers and righting the wrongs. In this story, Gao Nalin played a crucial role in catching the murderers and bringing Cui Ying and his wife to reunite. Thus, at the end of the story, when Gao

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