Nanci xulu 南詞敘錄

Nanci xulu 南詞敘錄 is a book on Southern theatre (nanxi 南戲) written during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Xu Wei 徐渭 (1521-1593), courtesy name Wenqing 文清, later Wenchang 文長, style Tianchi 天池, Qingteng 青籐 (also written 清籐) or Tianshuiyue 田水月, from Shanxin 山陰 (today part of Shaoxing 紹興, Zhejiang).

Xu failed the imperial examinations repeatedly. He associated with famous scholars of the region such as Xiao Mian 蕭勉 and Chen He 陳鶴, forming a literary society known as the "Ten Talents of Yue" (Yuezhong shi zi 越中十子). In 1553, Wokou pirates 倭寇 invaded eastern Zhejiang, threatening Shaoxing. He took part in the resistance and later entered the staff headquarters of Hu Zongxian 胡宗憲 (1512-1565), Governor-General of Zhejiang and Fujian, serving as a strategist. Apart from this book on the opera, he wrote the play Sishengyuan 四聲猿 and perhaps also Gedaixiao 歌代嘯. Xu Wei was the author of the history book Lushi 路史, a book titled Jiushi 酒史, and two books on tea, Chajing 茶經, and Jiancha qilei 煎茶七類. His collected prose writings are also known with the title Qingteng Shuwu wenji 青藤書屋文集, and his poems are titled Xu Wenchang ji 徐文長集.

The Nanci xulu, with a length of one fascicle, was finished in 1559. In the book's preface, Xu says that the book Luguibu 錄鬼簿 was dedicated to the Northern opera (bei zaju 北雜劇), the Yuefu zalu 樂府雜錄 to the court plays (yuanben 院本), and the book Taiping yuefu 太平樂府 to the genre of arias (quxuan 曲選). The Nanci xulu is the earliest general treatise on the Southern drama and the only work devoted exclusively to nanxi through the Song 宋 (960-1279), Yuan 元 (1279-1368) and Ming periods. Its contents cover the origins and historical development of nanxi, its stylistic characteristics, prosody and musical rules, as well as critical discussions of playwrights and their works. It also includes explanations of commonly used technical terms and dialect expressions, and is supplemented with a catalogue of play scripts.

Xu suggests that Southern drama had two sources: Song-period lyric-metre poetry (ci 詞) and street songs and village ballads (lixiang geyao 里巷歌謠). He provides an outline of the development of Southern drama. Later scholars studying the history of Southern drama have all taken the arguments of this work as a fundamental point of reference. Xu even dates the origin of Southern drama precisely to the reign of Emperor Guangzong 宋光宗 (r. 1189-1194) of the Southern Song dynasty 南宋 (1127-1279).

The Southern drama did not conform to the standard court modes (gongdiao 宮調), and thus seldom attracted the attention of scholar-officials. In the early Yuan period, Northern zaju circulated widely in the southern regions, and the ci tradition of the Song era waned, and the old Southern drama experienced a corresponding decline. During the reign of Emperor Shundi 元順帝 (r. 1333-1370) of the late Yuan, imperial patronage shifted southward, producing a proliferation of playwrights. Yet their language was often coarse, in contrast to Northern drama, which enjoyed the endorsement of renowned literati through inscriptions and encomia. In this context, Gao Ming (高明, 1305–1359) sought refuge in Siming (四明, present-day Ningbo, Zhejiang), where he composed "The Lute" (Pipaji 琵琶記). This piece was very popular, and as a consequence, the modest, rural performance practices were elevated to a level comparable with classical, codified traditions, attaining an excellence that remained unparalleled.

Xu Wei investigated the origins and the circulation of the four major vocal styles of Southern drama (sida shengqiong 四大聲腔), the tunes (qiong 腔) of Yiyang 弋陽, Yuyao 餘姚, Haiyan 海鹽, and Kunshan 崑山. Among these, the Kunshan tune was outstanding. Xu Wei admits that Kunshan performances of Southern tunes, sung to the beat of flute, pipes, mouth organ, and lute, may not always match the words perfectly, yet they harmonise quite well and are exceptionally pleasing to hear. This, too, is a manifestation of the quickness and refinement of the people of the Kunshan region (southern Jiangsu). While rejecting rigid, orthodox standards imposed by elite theory, Xu affirmed the aesthetic vitality and historical legitimacy of locally evolved performance traditions, especially the Kunshan tune.

The Nanxi xulu concludes with a list of 113 titles of Southern drama plays. At a time when many of these scripts have already been lost and no longer survive, this catalogue preserves invaluable material for the study of Southern drama. Among them, the entry Zhao Zhennü Cai Erlang 趙貞女蔡二郎 is particularly significant, as Xu's notes on it provide rare and important clues concerning the origins and development of the plot of the famous play Pipaji.

The most important editions are the Huyingju black-grid manuscript 壺隱居黑格鈔本, with commentary and supplements by He Zhuo 何焯 (1661-1722); its reproduction in the series Duqu congke 讀曲叢刊 (1917), which in turn was reproduced in the series Quyuan 曲苑. The latter was re-edited as Chongding quyuan 重訂曲苑 and Zengbu quyuan 增補曲苑 (1921-1925). The text is also part of the series Zhongguo gudian xiqu lunzhu jicheng 中國古典戲曲論著集成.