Cixue 詞謔

Cixue 詞謔 "Playful words" is a theory of airs (qu 曲) or dramatic songs written during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Li Kaixian 李開先 (1501-1568), courtesy name Bohua 伯華, style Zhonglu 中麓 or Zhonglu Fangke 中麓放客, from Zhangqiu 章丘, Shandong. He was counted among the "Eight Talents of the Jiajing Reign-Period" (Jiajing ba caizi 嘉靖八才子). His most famous writings are the opera Baojianji 寶劍記 and the collection Xianju ji 閑居集.

The Cixue, finished after 1556, is divided into four parts: "Witty pieces" (Cixue 詞謔), a selection of humorous and satirical song texts and stories; "Song suites" (Citao 詞套), a critical selection of several dozen sanqu 散曲 and zaju 雜劇 song suites by earlier writers; "Music to songs" (Ciyue 詞樂), records anecdotes about several famous performers of the time and lists well-known string instrumentalists and singers active then; and "Song endings" (Ciwei 詞尾), which explains, with examples, techniques for composing codas.

The viewpoints expressed in the book are not particularly outstanding, but many of the song texts it records are excellent works, some of which are not found elsewhere, making the book an important body of research material. The theatrical anecdotes it preserves can provide artistic inspiration and are also valuable references for the study of performance arts.

This book overlaps extensively with Li Kaixian's Yixiao san 一笑散 "A scatter of laughter", and it is likely that the two are different versions derived from the same original work. Surviving editions include a printed edition from the Jiajing reign-period 嘉靖 (1522-1566) of the Ming dynasty, a manuscript copy transmitted from the Yeshi Garden 也是園 collection during the Kangxi reign-period 康熙 (1662-1722) of the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911), and a typeset edition published by Zhonghua Book Company 中華書局 in 1936. None of these editions contains a preface, nor do they name an author. A critical edition from 1959 (Zhongguo Xiju Chubanshe 國戲劇出版社) is included in the series Zhongguo gudian xiqu lunzhu jicheng 中國古典戲曲論著集成.