Glossary 1

Question 0

Classical or literary Chinese

Answer 0

Traditional style of writing modeled on classical language

Question 1

Yuan Dynasty

Answer 1

1271-1368

Mongols

Question 2

Vernacular Chinese

Answer 2

Language of the lower orders

Question 3

Shijing

Answer 3

Classic of Poetry

Oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry, compilation attributed to Confucius

Question 4

Five Confucian Classics

Answer 4

Poetry, Documents, Ritual, Change, Spring and Autumn Annals

Question 5

Dadu

Answer 5

Modern Beijing, Yuan Dynasty capital.
A hub for Yuan vernacular songs.
Counterculture, a conscious reaction: variety plays, independent songs or sanqu, melodies

Question 6

Genghis Khan

Answer 6

Mongols conquer North Song in 1234

Question 7

Kublai khan

Answer 7

Ghenghis Khans successor

Question 8

Marco Polo

Answer 8

Worked in Yuan government

Question 9

Xanadu

Answer 9

Shangdu

Question 10

Pleasure quarters

Answer 10

Started as brothels but developed into urban culture

Question 11

Regulated verse

Answer 11

Tang Dynasty.

5-7 characters, 4 lines

Question 12

Variety plays

Answer 12

Za-Ju

Part of the vernacular counterculture

Question 13

Independent songs

Answer 13

San-qu

Yuan popular songs in the vernacular counterculture

Question 14

Melodies

Answer 14

Song titles.
Variations on a melody
Ex. “To a ‘Spray of Flowers’” or “To ‘A Half’”

Question 15

The Story of the Western Wing

Answer 15

By Wang Shifu
Love comedy and masterpiece of the sanqu.
Between 1600-1900, over 100 different editions of play.

Question 16

“Ying-Ying’s Story”

Answer 16

By Yuan Zhen.
Chuanqi
Framework for a poem
Myth of talented scholar and beautiful maiden.
Encodes social institutions: arranged marriages, civil service exams, female immobility, patriarchy.
Conflicts: separation of genders, war, arranged marriage, how do you deal with transgression?
Two endings: 1. He leaves her. 2. He marries her.

Question 17

Yuan Zhen

Answer 17

Author of Ying-Ying’s Story

Question 18

Chuan-Qi

Answer 18

“Accounts of the strange”

Tang Dynasty

Question 19

Ying-Ying

Answer 19

Aka Oriole.

The maiden

Question 20

Student Zhang

Answer 20

The talented scholar

Question 21

Crimson

Answer 21

The medium, mediator, or messenger.

Audience intermediary

Question 22

Allusion

Answer 22

An incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication

Question 23

Double entendre

Answer 23

A figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways

Question 24

Linguistic register

Answer 24

Levels of literature or speech depending on the context.

Literate vs illiterate people