Mèngliáng lù 夢梁錄
Records of a Millet-Dream (i.e. of an evanescent splendour, in allusion to the Huángliáng dream) by 吳自牧 (Wú Zìmù, fl. 1274) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 20-juan late-Southern-Sòng monograph on the urban culture of Línān 臨安 (Hángzhōu), modelled directly on Mèng Yuánlǎo’s Dōngjīng mènghuá lù KR2k0111 but treating the Southern-Sòng capital instead of the Northern. Composed by Wú Zìmù, a native of Qiántáng 錢塘 (Hángzhōu) otherwise undocumented, with the autograph preface dated the Mid-Autumn day of jiǎxū — i.e. Xiánchún 10 (1274), two years before the Yuán capture of Hángzhōu (Déyòu 2 = 1276). The preface alludes to the Huángliáng mèng (the Tang-period chuánqí “Dream of Yellow Millet” by Shěn Jìjì, in which a man’s whole life unfolds in the time it takes to cook a pot of millet) and to the Mènghuá model: “this is what I title Mèngliáng lù — recollections of past affairs that are now indistinguishable from a dream.” The work treats the Línān imperial sacrifices, palaces, government offices, religious institutions, festivals, markets, restaurants, theatre, food, and entertainment culture in twenty juan, providing the most detailed extant record of late-Southern-Sòng urban life. Together with KR2k0117 Dūchéng jìshèng and KR2k0119 Wǔlín jiùshì, it is one of the three principal sources for Hángzhōu under the Southern Sòng.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Mèngliáng lù in twenty juan was composed by Wú Zìmù of Sòng. Zìmù was a man of Qiántáng. This work entirely uses the form of Dōngjīng mènghuá lù to record Southern-Sòng jiāo-and-temple sacrifices, palaces, down to the affairs of the hundred crafts and miscellaneous performances. Zhōu Mì in his Wǔlín jiùshì preface says he wished to be like Mèng Yuánlǎo’s Mènghuá but more refined — that is, he held Mènghuá lù not sufficient for yǎxún; but Zìmù’s work in its vulgarity is even worse than Mènghuá lù. Yet what he says is from his own seeing-and-hearing, and is rather solid; the institutions and wénwù can be verified from this. Compared with Wǔlín jiùshì the detailed-and-abridged information mutually appears, and it can truly be used for kǎojīng gùshì.
The opening has the autograph preface saying: “Looking back to past affairs, it is almost like a dream — hence titled Mèngliáng lù”; the end is signed jiǎxū suì zhōngqiū rì shū (Mid-Autumn day of jiǎxū). Examining: jiǎxū is Xiánchún 10 of Sòng Dùzōng (1274); at that time the Sòng had not yet fallen. We suspect jiǎxū may be a transcription error.
Wáng Shìzhēn 王士禎 of Xīnchéng’s collected works has a colophon to this work saying: “Mèngliáng lù in twenty juan, the compiler’s name not recorded” — apparently Shìzhēn saw a manuscript that lacked this preface, hence did not know it was Zìmù’s. Now examining what is cited in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, it is also titled with Zìmù’s name — itself certainly without error. Only his career is no longer ascertainable. Respectfully proof-read in the fifth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778).
Director-General compilers (chén /) Jǐ Yún, (chén /) Lù Xīxióng, (chén /) Sūn Shìyì; Director-General proof-reader (chén /) Lù Fèichí.
(Catalog meta dates the author “fl. 1670” — an obvious transcription error for the Sòng Xiánchún 10 = 1274 of the autograph preface; corrected here.)
Abstract
The Mèngliáng lù is the principal late-Southern-Sòng monograph on the urban culture of Línān (Hángzhōu) and one of the most important documentary sources for Sòng-period urban life. It was composed by Wú Zìmù 吳自牧 (otherwise undocumented; native of Qiántáng) with autograph preface dated Mid-Autumn day of jiǎxū 1274 — Xiánchún 10 of Dùzōng — two years before the Yuán capture of Hángzhōu in Déyòu 2 (1276). The Sìkù tíyào speculates that the jiǎxū date might be a transcription error, but modern scholarship accepts the 1274 date — the work was completed on the very eve of the dynasty’s collapse, lending the huángliángmèng allusion of the preface its full pathos.
The work is modelled on Mèng Yuánlǎo’s Dōngjīng mènghuá lù KR2k0111 but is much fuller, treating: imperial sacrifices and the jiāo ceremonies; the palaces, gates, and government offices of Línān; the imperial school system; religious institutions (Buddhist monasteries, Daoist temples, ancestral temples); the great Hángzhōu festival cycle (Lantern Festival, Qīngmíng, Duānwǔ, Qīxī, Mid-Autumn, Jiājié New Year cycle); the markets, restaurants, tea-houses, and wineshops; the wǎshè variety theatres; the zájù drama, shuōhuà storytelling, zájì (mixed performance arts), puppet theatre, and the multiple performance sub-genres; food culture; festival foods and seasonal market goods; the pleasure-boats of West Lake; and the many Hángzhōu trades and guilds. Compared with Wǔlín jiùshì (which was composed after the fall, ca. 1280–1290) it has less retrospective polish but more on-the-ground detail; together with the two Hángzhōu monographs it forms an indispensable triad of sources.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 590.2). Wú Zìmù’s biographical details are entirely lost; he is documented only as the author of the Mèngliáng lù.
Translations and research
- Jacques Gernet, Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276 (Stanford, 1962). Uses Mèng-liáng lù as one of its principal source-texts; remains the standard Western-language synthesis.
- Stephen H. West, “Playing with Food: Performance, Food, and the Aesthetics of Artificiality in the Sung and Yuan,” HJAS 57.1 (1997): 67–106.
- Mark Edward Lewis, China between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties (Harvard, 2009), comparative.
- Robert Hartwell, “Demographic, Political, and Social Transformations of China, 750–1550,” HJAS 42.2 (1982): 365–442.
- Wilkinson §74.4 with bibliography.
- Critical Chinese editions: Hé Wǎng-chéng 何萬城 ed., Mèng-liáng lù (Beijing: Zhōnghuá, 1962); part of the Dōng-jīng mèng-huá lù wài sì-zhǒng compilation series.
Other points of interest
The Mèngliáng lù contains the most detailed extant pre-Yuán Chinese-language description of urban entertainment culture: its lists of professional storytellers (shuōhuà rén), zájù dramatists, puppet-theatre operators, and the various sub-genres (xiǎoshuō, jiǎng shǐshū, shuō jīngyuàn, gōngdiào, yǐngxì, zhǎngzhōng xì, kuǐlěi xì, etc.) are the principal documentary witness to the Sòng-period origins of later Yuán zájù drama and to the social organisation of urban performance arts.
Links
- Wikidata
- Gernet, Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion (Stanford, 1962)
- Wilkinson §74.4