The development of a commoner sub-genre in early seventeenth-century Chinese Pornographic Fiction

Abstract

The early seventeenth century (1600-1650) witnessed the production of a number of pornographic short-story collections describing the lives of urban commoners and appear to have had considerable impact on contemporary society and literature. Representative of this new trend are the stories collected in The Forgotten Tales of Longyang (Longyang yishi), Enemies Enamored (Huanxi yuanjia), and Expanse of Passion (Yipian qing), alongside which we also find the similarly themed plays of Short Plays of the Wayside Flower Studio (Mohuaxuan zaju), the folksong collection Mountain Songs (Shan’ge), and even casual reading material resembling magazines. While thematically more or less a continuation of Feng Menglong’s Sanyan or Ling Mengchu’s Erpai, this sub-genre tends overall to break free of story-lines from history and refocus on the everyday lives and passions of contemporary urban commoners. In contrast with longer and more fashionable works of pornographic fiction such as Ruyijunzhuan, Jinpingmei, Langshi, or Rouputuan, where the protagonists are all distinguished by their social or economic power, this plebeian sub-genre portrays a very different imaginaire at home in busy urban streets and public spaces, where the struggle to maintain a livelihood is the setting for longed for love and relationships. Weighing up questions of love, morality and money these mass-consumption stories represent a different kind of challenge from the heroic orthodoxy found in elite-centered works, providing a view of nascent modernization from below.