Luguibu 錄鬼簿

Luguibu 錄鬼簿 "Notes on [playwrights'] ghosts" is a history of early Chinese theatre (zaju 雜劇) and playwrights compiled during the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368) by Zhong Sicheng 鐘嗣成 (c. 1279-c. 1360), style Chouzhai 醜齋. He held an office in Hangzhou 杭州, the former Song 宋 (960-1279) capital, and was a disciple of the musicians Deng Wenyuan 鄧文原 (1258-1328), Cao Jian 曹鑑 (1271-1335), and Liu Hu 劉濩. Zhong was befriended by theatre experts Zhao Liangbi 趙良弼 (1216-1286), Qu Gongzhi 屈恭之, Liu Xuanzi 劉宣子, and Li Qixian 李齊賢. After failing the mingjing examination, he made his living as a clerk (yuanshi 掾史) in various places in Jiang-Zhe 江浙 province. Besides the biographical book Luguibu, he also wrote seven theatre plays, which are unfortunately lost.

The Luguibu not only has documentary value but also reflects Zhong Sicheng's relatively progressive literary views. First, like most playwrights, he held a modest official position, and his work in drama was often looked down upon. As a result, he harboured a sense of proud desolation and constant frustration. His aim in compiling this book was to write biographies of those playwrights with exceptional talent and broad learning—figures overlooked by traditional histories. Moreover, he hoped that beginners in the art would dedicate themselves earnestly to writing, thereby inspiring future generations and supporting the ongoing development of zaju drama.

Second, he satirised people of noble lineage and shallow types who only half-understood Confucian doctrine, calling them "ghosts not yet dead" (wei si zhi gui 未死之鬼), while he praised the talented dramatists as "undying ghosts" (bu si zhi gui 不死之鬼) and "those who, though dead, are not ghosts" (sui si er bu gui zhe 雖死而不鬼者). This is how the books's title came into being.

Third, Zhong Sicheng believed that the creation of zaju dramas should inspire emotion, that the plots should be captivating, and that one should "seek out the strange and search through the ancient", "turn over the past and present", thus promoting a spirit of innovation. He also broadly pointed out that, compared with traditional literary forms, drama possessed its own distinctive formal characteristics. These were all commendable literary views. In summary, the Luguibu was a product of the vigorous growth of Yuan-period zaju drama. It met the demands of the evolving Chinese theatrical tradition.

The book is divided into two juan. The first fascicle is organised into three categories: firstly, prominent masters of previous generations who have already passed away and whose songs in the "Music-Bureau style" (yuefu 樂府) were still circulated; secondly, prominent masters of the present; and thirdly, prominent masters and talented writers of former generations who are deceased, and whose works of marvelous stories (chuanqi 傳奇) were still circulated. The information on these three categories was obtained by his friend Lu Zhongliang 陸仲良 from Master Wu of the Kezhai Studio 克齋吳公, and therefore was not based on Zhong's own firsthand materials; as a result, the accounts are not entirely detailed.

The second fascicle is divided into four categories, outlining the lives and achievements of notable masters and talented writers of the present who have already died, for whom Zhong composed biographies and mourns with the air Lingbo qu 凌波曲; talented writers who have died but whom Zhong did not personally know; talented writers of the present with whom Zhong was acquainted; and talented writers of the present whose names Zhong had heard but whom he did not personally know.

The two juan document a total of 152 theatre writers, arranged roughly in chronological order, and list more than 400 dramatic works. Our knowledge of Yuan-period dramatists as a whole relies on this text for transmission. At the same time, scattered notes in the book reveal details about the activities and organisational practices of zaju playwrights, and shed light on various aspects of the development of Yuan drama, for example, the creation of yuanben 院本 plays, the southward migration of zaju writers, playwrights composing "southern plays" (nanxi 南戲, and the later practice of combining northern and southern musical suites (taoqu 套曲) in zaju. All of these provide valuable material for the study of Yuan drama.

The Luguibu was completed in 1330. Not long afterwards, the author made at least two rounds of revisions and additions. The original manuscript has since been lost.

The major extant editions include: the Shuoji 說集 edition, the edition printed by Meng Chengshun 孟稱舜 (1599-1684), the Cao Lianting 曹楝亭 (i.e., Cao Yin 曹寅, 1658-1712) edition, the Nuanhongshi huike chuanqi 暖紅室彙刻傳奇 edition, and the Tianyige 天一閣 blue-grid manuscript (lange chaoben 藍格鈔本) that had been supplemented by the Ming dramatist Jia Zhongming. Annotated editions include Wang Guowei's 王國維 (1877-1927) collated and annotated Luguibu jiaozhu 錄鬼簿校注, Ma Lian's 馬廉 (1893-1935) Luguibu xinzhu 錄鬼簿新校注, the edition of the Shanghai Guji Chubanshe 上海古籍出版社, and the version included in the series Zhongguo gudian xiqu lunzhu jicheng 中國古典戲曲論著集成 (1959).

In the early Ming period 明 (1368-1644), the dramatist Jia Zhongming 賈仲明 (1343-1430) added further elegiac verses to honour living and deceased masters. His book, Xu luguibu 續錄鬼簿, is two juan long and divided into three categories.

Luguibu xubian 錄鬼簿續編

Additionally, there is a single-fascicle Luguibu xubian 錄鬼簿續編, likely compiled during the Hongxi 洪熙 (1425) and Xuande reign-periods 宣德 (1426-1435). The original text does not name the compiler, but because it was attached to the version of Luguibu supplemented by Jia Zhongming, some have deduced that Jia Zhongming was its author. Its structure resembles that of Luguibu, and it includes brief accounts of dramatists and sanqu 散曲 writers active between the Yuan and Ming periods, making it an important resource for studying the development of zaju at the end of the Yuan and the early Ming. However, this work appears only as an appendix to the Tianyige blue-grid manuscript of the Luguibu, and no other versions have been transmitted.

It follows the format of the Luguibu, recording the lives of playwrights, sanqu poets, and yuefu composers active between the Yuan and Ming periods, and including catalogues or brief summaries of their works. It comprises seventy-eight zaju plays by seventy-one individuals, as well as seventy-eight anonymous chuanqi plays. Many valuable materials for the history of Chinese drama are preserved here. In 1957, the Wenxue Guji Kanxing She 文學古籍刊行社 published a modern edition of the Luguibu xubian.

Luguibu jiaozhu 錄鬼簿校注

Wang Guowei's Luguibu jiaozhu compares the Luguibu with writings on the history and repertoire of Song–Yuan drama. Later, Wang excerpted passages from works that could support this book, such as Zhu Quan's 朱權 Taihe zhengyin pu 太和正音譜 (1378-1448) and Qian Zeng's 錢曾 (1629-1701) Yeshiyuan cangshu mu 也是園藏書目, collated those passages with materials from extant Yuan dramatic and sanqu editions, and added annotations. In doing so, Wang Guowei discovered that Zhong's original text differed notably from the collated edition edited by Cao Yin. For instance, the Cao edition entirely omits the corrected names of the original item headings, the short xiaoling 小令 (used as judgmental notes) appearing after authors' biographies, and Jia Zhongming's prefatory piece. Unfortunately, Wang did not have access to Meng Chengshun's collated edition or the Tianyige manuscript, so many of his collational notes contain errors.