Sancaifu: A Re-Discovered Mid-Qing Opera in Suzhou Dialect

Abstract

Commencing with the mid-Qing period composing literary works in the author’s local dialect emerged as a growing trend in the Jiangnan region. Studies to date have noted several examples of Wu dialect fiction and tanci, while Kunqu plays are only known to continue in the classical language, apart from occasional items in Wu guanhua. The mid-Qing play Sancaifu (Universal Blessings) in the Skachkov Collection, Russian State Library, and not recorded in any other library catalogues or bibliographies, is thus a rare example of a play rendered in Wu dialect. The spoken parts of the play employ Suzhou dialect of the time, and include numerous local expressions and slang terms, which would have made little sense to audiences or readers from elsewhere. The hand-written copy probably dates from the early nineteenth century, as it was brought to Russia by Skachkov in 1859, and remained un-noticed in libraries ever since. Knowledge of it disappeared in China except for a single mention in a Manchu prince’s reading notes. Sancaifu is a two volume play consisting of 33 acts and over 46,000 Chinese characters. There are several parallel storylines, mostly concerned with marriage fates. The majority of its characters are from the families of struggling men of letters, while also including interactions with maids, nuns, clerks, midwives, bearers, servants, merchants, and go-betweens. In a similar vein, the play emphasizes the social values of urban commoners, in contrast with the conservative neo-Confucianism advocated in most plays from the same era. This paper will discuss the alignment of vernacular language and urban commoner morality with other cultural developments in Suzhou at the time and its significance for Chinese theatre history.