Sānsuì Píngyāo Zhuàn 三遂平妖傳
Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt by 羅貫中 (撰)
About the work
The Sānsuì Píngyāo Zhuàn 三遂平妖傳 (“Three Sui [Officials/Years] Quash the Demons’ Revolt”) is a vernacular historical-supernatural novel set during the Sòng dynasty. It recounts the suppression of a popular religious revolt — loosely based on the historical Wáng Zé 王則 rebellion of 1047–1048 CE in Bèizhōu 貝州 — by three Sòng officials (the “three Suì” of the title). The narrative blends realistic historical detail with extensive supernatural intervention (demonic arts, magical combat), making it an early example of the shéngguài 神怪 (“spirit-and-wonder”) sub-genre of Chinese vernacular fiction. The Kanripo text represents the traditional attribution to Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中. The catalog notes a relationship (refs: KR: KR4k0009), but this appears to reflect an editorial cross-reference in the source database rather than a textual connection to that entry (KR4k0009 is the Táng tale Huò Xiǎoyù Zhuàn); a closely related and expanded 40-chapter version attributed to Féng Mènglóng 馮夢龍 is in the Kanripo corpus as KR4k0331.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The novel draws on historical events surrounding the Wáng Zé 王則 rebellion of 1047–1048 CE, in which a millenarian religious movement briefly seized Bèizhōu (modern Hébéi). The suppression of the revolt was attributed in part to a Sòng official named Wén Yàn 文彥 (and associates), whose title-names or personal designations could be read as forming the “Three Suì.” The narrative tradition surrounding this rebellion had long oral and literary antecedents before a short recension was attributed to Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 羅貫中 (born ca. 1315), probably in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. The dating of 1370–1420 represents the likely composition window for the earliest attributed recension; the relationship between the Luó recension and the later Féng Mènglóng expansion remains a scholarly question.
The surviving text in this Kanripo entry (KR4k0061) appears to be a continuous narrative of approximately 358 lines in the digital file. An expanded 40-chapter version by Féng Mènglóng 馮夢龍 (KR4k0331) greatly elaborated the tale and is the form in which it is best known today. The Kanripo catalog explicitly notes the relationship (refs: KR: KR4k0009 — note that this appears to be a catalog system cross-reference identifier, not a textual link to the Huò Xiǎoyù Zhuàn).
Translations and research
- Hanan, Patrick. The Chinese Vernacular Story. Harvard University Press, 1981. Background on the píngyāo sub-genre.
- Lévy, André, tr. La révolte des esprits: Roman de la répression de la révolte des esprits de Wang Zhe (French translation of the Féng Mènglóng 40-chapter version). Paris: Gallimard, 1976.