All known editions of Silent Operas and Priceless Jade are extant in a single copy, and reprints of those editions that I have seen are readily available. Here I provide information about the stories in each edition along with information about their English-language translations. I also supplement the description of those editions in the appendix with a brief discussion of the illustrations in two editions, designated A and C in the appendix.
Stories included in Silent Operas (Wusheng xi 無聲戲) and Priceless Jade (Liancheng bi 連城璧)
The original Silent Operas collection comprises twelve stories. Six stories from the second Silent Operas collection have been preserved in the combined and reordered collection, Priceless Jade. The main collection of Priceless Jade includes twelve stories, plus an additional six in an “outer” collection. Both are listed below with their new titles and English-language translations. (When available, old titles for the Priceless Jade stories taken from the second Silent Operas collection, which is not extant, are provided in parentheses following the Priceless Jade version). The abbreviations in the leftmost column will facilitate navigation between the two.
Silent Operas (Wusheng xi 無聲戲)
| Order | Translated titles used in Towers in the Void | Original titles | Published English translations |
| WSX1 | A Hideous Fellow Who Is Timid with Pretty Women Ends Up with Gorgeous Wives | 醜郎君怕嬌偏得豔 | Hanan, Silent Operas, Story 1 |
| WSX2 | A Handsome Youth Tries to Avoid Suspicion But Arouses It Instead | 美男子避惑反生疑 | Hanan, Silent Operas, Story 2 |
| WSX3 | With the Change of Eight Characters, Troubles End and Good Luck Begins | 改八字苦盡甘來 | none |
| WSX4 | With the Loss Of A Thousand Taels of Silver, Good Luck Results from Calamity | 失千金福因禍至 | none |
| WSX5 | A Female Chen Ping Saves Her Life With Seven Ruses | 女陳平計生七出 | Hanan, Silent Operas, Story 3 |
| WSX6 | A Male Mencius’s Mother Raises Her Son Properly By Moving House Three Times | 男孟母教合三遷 | Hanan, Silent Operas, Story 4 |
| WSX7 | A Man Sleeps with A Prostitute, and a Poor Ghost Makes Known a John’s Complaint | 人宿妓窮鬼訴嫖冤 | none |
| WSX8 | A Ghost Loses Money, and A Living Person Repays a Gambling Debt | 鬼輸錢活人還賭債 | none |
| WSX9 | A Daughter Is Transformed Into a Son Through a Bodhisattva’s Ingenuity | 變女為兒菩薩巧 | Hanan, Silent Operas, Story 5 |
| WSX10 | Wife and Concubine are Moved About Through a Ghost’s Strange Magic | 移妻換妾鬼神奇 | none |
| WSX11 | His Son and Grandson Abandon His Corpse; His Servant Rushes to Bury His Body | 兒孫棄骸骨僮僕奔喪 | none |
| WSX12 | His Wife and Concubine Marry Again; Only His Maid Preserves Her Chastity | 妻妾抱琵琶梅香守節 | Or, Renditions, 86-114. |
- Hanan, Patrick, trans. Silent Operas. Hong Kong: Renditions, 1990.
- Or, Paul, trans. “Wife and Concubine Remarry, Maid-concubine Remains Constant.” Renditions 49 (Spring 1998): 86-114.
Priceless Jade (Liancheng bi 連城璧/Lianchengbi waibian 連城璧外編)
| Order | Translated titles used in Towers in the Void | Original titles | Published English translations |
| LCB1 | Tan Chuyu Expresses his Love in a Play, Liu Miaogu Dies to Preserve her Chastity when the Aria Ends (An Actress Scorns Wealth and Honor to Preserve her Chastity) | 譚楚玉戲裡傳情 劉藐姑曲終死節 (輕富貴女旦全貞) | Hanan, Silent Operas, Story 6; Sibau, Renditions, Hanan’s trans. with commentary |
| LCB2=WSX3 | New title: A Fortuneteller Changes Eight Characters in Jest, A Poor Yamen Runner Suddenly Strikes It Rich | 老星家戲改八字 窮皂隸陡發萬金 | see above |
| LCB3 | A Beggar Does Good Deeds and the Emperor Plays Matchmaker (A Beggar Refuses to Yield to High Officials and Displays his Righteousness) | 乞兒行好事 皇帝做媒人 (傲公卿乞兒仗義) | none |
| LCB4=WSX2 | New title: An Incorruptible Official Refutes an Accusation of Incest; A Righteous Scholar Takes Pains to Plead the Injustice of Adultery | 清官不受扒灰謗 義士難伸竊婦冤 | see above |
| LCB5=WSX1 | New title: Beautiful Women Together Meet with Injustice in Marriage; A Rustic Fellow Enjoys the Good Fortune of Their Gentle Warmth | 美女同遭花燭冤 村郎偏享溫柔福 | see above |
| LCB6=WSX4 | New title: An Encounter with Bandits In a Storm Leads to Profit; He Keeps the Capital and the Profit Too, and Ends Up a Very Rich Man | 遭風遇盜致奇贏 讓本還財成巨富 | see above |
| LCB7 | A Jealous Wife Plays The Widow With a Husband; A Cowardly Husband Who Never Died Comes Back to Life | 妒妻守有夫之寡 懦夫還不死之魂 | Wu, The Lioness Roars, pp. 11-56 |
| LCB8=WSX12 | New title: Wife and Concubine Abandon Their Principles and Virtues; The Maid Remains Chaste to the End | 妻妾敗綱常 梅香完節操 | see above |
| LCB9 | A Widow Schemes to Obtain a New Husband, A Bevy of Beauties Put Their Heads Together to Seek a Talented Scholar | 寡婦設計贅新郎 眾美齊心奪才子 | none |
| LCB10=WSX10 | New title: With a “New” Kind of Jealousy, A Wife Is Wronged; An Old Delight Renewed, The Home is At Peace Again | 吃新醋正室蒙冤 續舊歡家堂和事 | see above |
| LCB11=WSX11 | New title: A Most Good and Righteous Servant Rushes to Bury His Master; Stupid Son and Grandson’s Greed Results in Death | 重義奔喪奴僕好 貪財殞命子孫愚 | see above |
| LCB12 | A Woman Preserving Her Virtue Meets Strange Slander, A Gang of Guys Joking Around Leads To A Bizarre Injustice (An Incorruptible Official Ingeniously Adjudicates a Household Affair) | 貞女守貞來異謗 朋儕相謔致奇冤 (清官巧斷家務事) | none |
| LCBW1=WSX5 | New title: Falling into a Disastrous Trap, She Wisely Retains her Virtue; Borrowing an Enemy’s Mouth, She Cleverly Broadcasts her Good Name | 落禍坑智完節操 借仇口巧播聲名 | see above |
| LCBW2=WSX9 | New title: By Buddha’s Might, He Sought a Son but Got a Daughter, Moving Heaven’s Will, A Girl was Changed into a Boy | 仗佛力求男得女 格天心變女成男 | see above |
| LCBW3=WSX6 | New title: Suffering the Anger of the Crowd, He Risked his Life for the Love of a Man, Raising an Orphan, He Repaid his True Friend with His Entire Being | 嬰眾怒捨命殉龍陽 撫孤煢全身報知己 | see above |
| LCBW4=WSX8 | New title: Cheated by People, He Unwittingly Succumbed to a Scheme, Tricked Even by a Ghost, He had the Misfortune of Losing all his Property | 受人欺無心落局 連鬼騙有故傾家 | see above |
| LCBW5 | With Ghostly Words She Aims to Trick the Living; In A Display of Magic She Recovers Lost Property | 說鬼話計賺生人 顯神通智恢舊業 | none |
| LCBW6=WSX7 | New title: A Hairdresser Fond of Romance Saves Up Funds to Redeem a Singing Girl, A Transport Officer Upholding Justice Parts with Rice to Reclaim Stolen Goods | 待詔喜風流趲錢贖妓 運弁持公道捨米追贓 | see above |
- Hanan, Patrick, trans. Silent Operas. Hong Kong: Renditions, 1990.
- Sibau, Maria Franca, trans. “Tan Chuyu Declares his Love while Performing a Play; Liu Miaogu Dies to Preserve her Chastity at the End of the Aria.” (with commentary) Renditions 81-82 (Spring-Fall 2014): 231-78.
- Wu, Yenna, trans. The Lioness Roars: Shrew Stories from Late Imperial China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995.
Contents of extant editions of Silent Operas and Priceless Jade
| A. Wusheng xi (Sonkeikaku bunko) Half-couplet titles | B. Wusheng xi erji (not extant) Half-couplet titles? | C. Wusheng xi heji (Peking University Library) (2 of 12 stories extant; illustrations extant) Paired couplet titles | D. Wusheng xi hexuan (Kong Xianyi) (9 of 12 stories extant) Half-couplet titles | E. Liancheng bi (Saeki Municipal Library) Paired couplet titles |
| WSX1 | see column E | LCB1 (from B edition) | ? | LCB1 (from B edition) |
| WSX2 | WSX3 | ? | LCB2=WSX3 | |
| WSX3 | LCB3 (from B edition) | LCB3 (from B edition) | LCB3 (from B edition) | |
| WSX4 | WSX2 | LCB1 (from B edition) | LCB4=WSX2 | |
| WSX5 | WSX1 | WSX11 | LCB5=WSX1 | |
| WSX6 | WSX4 | WSX12 | LCB6=WSX4 | |
| WSX7 | LCB7 (from B edition) | WSX3 | LCB7 (from B edition) | |
| WSX8 | WSX12 | WSX10 | LCB8=WSX12 | |
| WSX9 | LCB9 (from B edition) | LCB12 (from B edition) | LCB9 (from B edition) | |
| WSX10 | WSX10 | ? | LCB10=WSX10 | |
| WSX11 | WSX11 | WSX7 | LCB11=WSX11 | |
| WSX12 | LCB12 (from B edition) | WSX8 | LCB12 (from B edition) | |
| Liancheng bi waibian appended | ||||
| LCBW1=WSX5 | ||||
| LCBW2=WSX9 | ||||
| LCBW3=WSX6 | ||||
| LCBW4=WSX8 | ||||
| LCBW5 (from B edition) | ||||
| LCBW6=WSX7 |
Illustrations to Silent Operas
Two extant early editions of the Silent Operas collections include illustrations. The series of illustrations and calligraphic inscriptions to the earliest known edition are in the distinctive style of Chen Hongshou (1598-1652).[1] In a striking and novel departure from woodblock illustration norms, Chen’s style renders the backgrounds blank, omitting depiction of the built environment (Figures 1 and 2). The illustration depicts the event that is emphasized in the half-couplet of each story’s title. The first two stories in this edition of Wusheng xi, “A Hideous Fellow” and “A Handsome Youth,”tell of an ugly man who acquires beautiful wives and a beautiful man who is accused of adultery, respectively. Thus, the illustration to the first (Figure 1) features a beautiful man and a beautiful woman, just as the title suggests. In the illustration to the second (Figure 2), the ugly man is situated in the same portion of the page as was the beautiful man: facing left in the front on the bottom right, and to his left, his three wives. The women are located between their nunnery, where they have walled themselves off inside the house, and the protagonist. Each illustration prioritizes depicting the characters mentioned in the title along with their love interests. This visual connection between stories is distinctive because in earlier huaben collections like Ling’s, where each title comprised a full couplet, each story would generally have two illustrations, each depicting the events of one half of the couplet. Those two events were generally not as symmetrical, because they were parts of the same story rather than alternate treatments of a theme.
For the second set of illustrations to Silent Operas, Li Yu worked with two men: Hu Nianxiang 胡念翔, a painter, and Cai Sihuang 蔡思璜, a woodblock carver. Hu Nianxiang’s illustrations are quite detailed and include ample background detail and various sorts of framing devices: people are seen through windows, walls are emphasized when an interior view is depicted, and buildings are featured much more prominently (see Figures 3 and 4). I suspect that these illustrations resulted from Hu’s collaboration with the typically hands-on Li Yu. They might accordingly be read as a reconfiguration of the way that illustrations depict stories. Buildings play a significant role in these two stories. In “A Handsome Youth,” the story unfolds because a young man’s study is adjacent to a neighboring young woman’s bedroom. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, they both shift their locations, but by doing so at the same time they end up sharing a new wall. The layout of the buildings, their shared wall, and even the space in between the walls are crucial elements in this story, but the centrality of these elements is signaled neither in the title or nor in the first set of illustrations. The updated set of illustrations, however, clearly dramatizes the centrality of the building’s design to the story, placing the building in the very center of the illustration (Figure 3). The physical proximity that causes the central narrative conflict is now the most noticeable aspect, for the illustration is bisected by the wall between their residences. Despite this updated illustration, the building is still not featured in the new title, which remains in the old style: “An Incorruptible Official Refutes an Accusation of Incest; A Righteous Scholar Finds It Difficult to Plead the Unjust Accusation of Adultery” 清官不受扒灰謗 義士難伸竊婦冤. Similarly, the updated illustration for “A Hideous Fellow” (Figure 4) also shows the building that contains the interior space, where the man’s three wives have locked themselves in an interior room to protect themselves from him. The updated illustration depicts the characters, including the bodhisattva Guanyin, in an arrangement roughly similar to that of the earlier set of illustrations. However, here, a wall has been erected between them, adding depth and framing Guanyin in a moon-window, thereby depicting more fully the separateness of the locked chapel. Each illustration in the second set is thus bound more closely to its story and more loosely to its pair story, with which it had initially shared a couplet and the contrasting figures of the contrasting pair of beautiful/ugly men.
[1] Chen was well known at the time for the illustrations he created for fine editions of Xixiang ji (1638)and Shuihu zhuan; he also illustrated playing cards. See Robert E. Hegel, Reading Illustrated Fiction in Late Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 207. Hegel considers Chen’s “series of fictional figures” like Bogu yezi (1653?) a “‘final’ stage in this development of ever more visual art for narratives” – “the elimination of text altogether.” (207) He further says that Chen Hongshou also illustrated the 1657 Zuigengtang edition Guanhuatang Diwu caizi shu pinglun chuxiang Shuihu zhuan (Jin Shengtan’s fifth work of genius, Outlaws of the Marsh). (240)