Guìfēi Yànshǐ Yǎnyì 貴妃豔史演義
A Romanticized History of the Imperial Consort Anonymous
About the work
Guìfēi Yànshǐ Yǎnyì 貴妃豔史演義 is a 20-chapter (zhāng 章) popular historical romance of the Republican era (民國), anonymous in authorship. The work fictionalizes the life of Yáng Yùhuán 楊玉環 (719–756 CE), the celebrated consort of Táng Emperor Xuānzōng 唐玄宗, known posthumously as Yáng Guìfēi 楊貴妃 (Noble Consort Yang) and counted among China’s Four Great Beauties (四大美女). The narrative proceeds from her birth and childhood in Sichuan, through her selection as a consort for the Shòu Wáng 壽王, her transfer to Emperor Xuānzōng’s harem, her celebrated romance, her infamous liaison with Ān Lùshān 安祿山, and concludes with the Ān-Shǐ Rebellion and her death at the Mǎwéi postal station (Mǎwéi yì 馬嵬驛, chapter 20: 馬嵬賜繯, “Strangulation Decreed at Mǎwéi”). The title belongs to the yànshǐ yǎnyì 豔史演義 genre of popular historical-romance fiction that flourished in the early Republican period.
About the work
The 20 chapters follow the major episodes of the Yáng Guìfēi legend as known from official histories (Jiùtáng Shū 舊唐書, Xīntáng Shū 新唐書), from Bái Jūyì’s 白居易 famous poem Cháng Hèn Gē 長恨歌 (Song of Everlasting Sorrow), and from the popular biographical romance tradition. Chapter titles include: “Receiving the Imperial Summons” (奉詔朝天), “Bestowed Favor in the Phoenix Tower” (鳳闕承恩), “Private Liaison with Lùshān” (私通祿山), “Celebrating the Bath with Cash Gifts” (洗兒賜錢), “Farewell to Chang’an in Panic” (倉皇出奔), and “Strangulation Decreed at Mǎwéi” (馬嵬賜繯). The narrative adopts a sympathetic stance toward Yáng Guìfēi while acknowledging the political consequences of the imperial romance.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
Guìfēi Yànshǐ Yǎnyì belongs to the Republican-era sub-genre of yànshǐ xiǎoshuō 豔史小說 (“amorous history fiction”), in which the biographies of famous historical beauties were fictionalized for a mass reading public. The same impulse produced companion works in the Kanripo corpus: KR4k0298 Xī Shī Yànshǐ Yǎnyì 西施豔史演義 on Xī Shī 西施, and KR4k0299 Zhāojūn Yànshǐ Yǎnyì 昭君豔史演義 on Wáng Zhāojūn 王昭君 — together with the present text, they constitute three of the Four Great Beauties treated in this yànshǐ format (the fourth, Diāo Chán 貂蟬, appears in Sānguó Yǎnyì-derived fiction).
The Yáng Guìfēi story had a long literary tradition prior to this anonymous yànshǐ treatment. Major antecedents include the Tàizhēn Wàizhuàn 太真外傳 by Yuè Shǐ 樂史 (Sòng dynasty), Bái Jūyì’s Cháng Hèn Gē, Chén Hóng’s 陳鴻 accompanying Cháng Hèn Gē Zhuàn 長恨歌傳, and several Qīng-dynasty stage adaptations. The anonymous Republican-era author drew eclectically on this tradition without achieving the literary sophistication of the earlier canonical versions.
The text is undated; based on genre, format, and the “dynasty: D” (uncertain dynasty) catalog notation, a Republican-era (1912–1935) date of composition is assigned here. No author has been identified.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
Yáng Guìfēi 楊貴妃 is one of the most celebrated women in Chinese literary history. The legend has attracted an enormous secondary literature: see in particular Howard Levy, Harem Favorites of an Illustrious Celestial (1958), and the scholarly tradition surrounding Bái Jūyì’s Cháng Hèn Gē. The present yànshǐ adaptation is a popular-fiction derivative of limited independent literary or historical value.