Suí Táng Yǎnyì 隋唐演義 (第一部)
Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Part One by 褚人獲 (撰)
About the work
Suí Táng Yǎnyì 隋唐演義 (Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties) is a monumental historical novel in 100 huí 回 (chapters) by 褚人獲 Chǔ Rénhuò (1635–?), a writer from Chángshu 常熟, Jiāngsū. This Kanripo text is labelled “第一部” (Part One) and contains the complete 100-chapter text — from the founding of the Suí dynasty (chapter 1: Suí Wéndì raises an army to attack the Chén kingdom) through the fall of Ān Lùshān 安祿山 and the consolidation of the Táng (chapter 100: linking the Suí and Táng narratives). The novel weaves together the political fall of the Suí, the rise of the Táng founding heroes (秦叔寶 Qín Shūbǎo, 程咬金 Chéng Yǎojīn, 單雄信 Shān Xióngxìn and others), the Xuánzōng–Yángguìfēi romance, and the Ān Lùshān rebellion.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text was not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書; no WYG edition exists and no tiyao is applicable.
Abstract
Suí Táng Yǎnyì 隋唐演義 was compiled by 褚人獲 Chǔ Rénhuò (courtesy names 學稼 Xuéjià and 石農 Shínóng, pseudonym 稻田漁叟 Dàotián Yúsǒu; b. 1635, Chángshu 常熟, Jiāngsū; death date unknown). CBDB (id 90922) gives his birth year as Chóngzhēn 8 (1635) and notes that his death year is not recorded; Wilkinson (Chinese History: A New Manual, Table 82) dates the composition to the 1670s and the first printing to 1695. Chǔ was a prolific writer of miscellaneous prose, best known for the Jiānhú Jí 堅瓠集 (a large collection of notes and anecdotes, cited by Wilkinson §32.8.2 for market-place slang). He is not known to have held office.
The novel draws on a rich accumulation of prior materials. Its most immediate source is the late Míng novel Suíyáng Dì Yànshǐ 隋煬帝豔史 (Amorous History of the Suí Emperor Yáng), to which Chǔ added the heroic-adventure narratives of the Táng founding. He also drew on the Táng chuánqí 傳奇 tale tradition, oral story-telling cycles (shuōshū 說書) about the “eighteen heroes of the Suí and Táng” (隋唐十八傑 — a phrase attested in Wilkinson §54.1), and earlier vernacular elaborations of Táng history. The result is a hybrid narrative that moves fluidly between court intrigue, battlefield heroics, and romantic episodes, with the Yángguìfēi 楊貴妃 and Xuánzōng 玄宗 story occupying much of the latter half of the novel (chapters 80–100 treat the Ān Lùshān rebellion and its aftermath).
The 100-chapter structure of this Kanripo text corresponds to the complete Suí Táng Yǎnyì Quánzhuàn 隋唐演義全傳 (full edition), which circulated from the Kāngxī reign onward and remained enormously popular through the Qīng. Wilkinson (Table 82) places it in the canonical roster of historical novels set in the Suí-Táng period, alongside the related Shuō Táng Yǎnyì Quánzhuàn 說唐演義全傳 (18th c., 1783). The KR corpus labels this text “第一部,” suggesting it was cataloged as the first installment of a multi-part publication; however, the internal text runs the full 100 chapters and is complete in itself.
Translations and research
Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. 5th ed. HUPCAS, 2018. §54.1, Table 82 (dates the novel 1670s; first print 1695).
Hsia, C. T. 2004. “The Military Romance.” In C. T. Hsia on Chinese Literature. Columbia University Press, 135–70. Surveys the genre of Suí-Táng military novels.
Hamm, John Christopher. 2019. The Unworthy Scholar from Pingjiang: Republican-era Martial Arts Fiction. Columbia University Press. Traces the legacy of the Suí-Táng heroic tradition in later fiction.
No complete English translation located.
Other points of interest
The novel’s mixed sources are evident in its chapter structure: early chapters (1–30) focus on the political collapse of Suí and the rise of regional heroes in a manner indebted to the Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn 水滸傳 model; middle chapters (31–70) adopt the episodic adventure framework of the founding heroes of the Táng; later chapters (71–100) shift to the romantic and lyrical mode of the Xuánzōng–Yángguìfēi narrative. This tonal and structural heterogeneity is a recognized feature of the novel and reflects its composite origin.
Links
- Wikipedia: Sui Tang Yanyi
- Author: 褚人獲