Yuándài Gōngtíng Yànshǐ 元代宮廷豔史
Scandalous History of the Yuan Imperial Court by 許慕羲 (撰)
About the work
Yuándài Gōngtíng Yànshǐ 元代宮廷豔史 is a Republican-era historical novel by 許慕羲 (Xǔ Mùxī), companion to his KR4k0318 Sòngdài Gōngwéi Shǐ. The Kanripo text preserves Part 1 (dì yī bù 第一部), comprising approximately 80 chapters (huí 回) in 4 volumes (known also as Yuán Gōng Shísì Cháo Yǎnyì 元宮十四朝演義 in its original published title). The work was published by Shanghai Xīnhuá Bookstore 上海新華書局 in 1930. The narrative begins with the legendary origins of the Mongol royal line — a white light entering a yurt (bái guāng rù shì 白光入室), the birth of an auspicious heir, and the early romances of the Genghis Khan era. The novel covers the rise of Genghis Khan from his capture of the Tàtǎ 塔塔 tribe through the early Mongol conquests, with the characteristic gōngtíng yànshǐ focus on the romantic entanglements of Mongol princes and their women.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The Mongol Yuán dynasty provided a distinctive canvas for the gōngtíng yànshǐ genre: the contrast between Mongol steppe culture (cǎoyuán wénhuà 草原文化) and Chinese court convention, the polygynous Mongol marriage customs, and the dramatic stories of conquest and romantic captivity offered rich material for fictionalization. 許慕羲 applied his characteristic romantic-historical formula (used also in Sòngdài Gōngwéi Shǐ) to this material, opening with the legendary origin myths of the Mongol royal line and proceeding through the Genghis Khan era.
The “fourteen reigns” (shísì cháo 十四朝) of the title cover the Mongol Yuán from Genghis Khan (technically the founder of the Mongol empire, posthumously given the Yuán temple title Tài Zǔ 太祖) through the last Yuán emperor Huì Zōng 惠宗 (Toghon Temür 妥懽帖睦爾, r. 1333–1370).
Translations and research
- Rossabi, Morris. 1988. Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. University of California Press. Authoritative account of the Yuán founding period.
- Allsen, Thomas T. 1987. Mongol Imperialism: The Policies of the Grand Qan Möngke in China, Russia, and the Islamic Lands. University of California Press.