Capturing the Shadows of Lovely Ladies: Empresses and Imperial Consorts in History and Fiction

Abstract

<p>This paper examines two Ming dynasty pseudohistorical texts, Fenjiao lu 焚椒錄 (An Account of Burned Pepper) and Yuanshi yeting ji 元氏掖庭記 (Mr. Yuan’s Tales of the Lateral Courts), and how they relate to the relevant dynastic histories, Liaoshi 遼史 (History of the Liao Dynasty) and Yuanshi 元史(History of the Yuan Dynasty) respectively. The Fenjiao lu, which was written long after the dynastic history, can clearly be demonstrated to be a fictional text inspired by the account given in the Liaoshi of the life anddeath of Empress Xiao Guanyin 蕭觀音 (1040-1075). The Yuanshi yeting ji, meanwhile, is thought to have been written before the Yuanshi, and therefore gives a completely different account of important consorts and<br>concubines in the Mongol-era Rear Palace. It is the contention of this paper that the verisimilitude of the Fenjiao lu is spurious—this fictional text seriously distorts Liao history, though it has frequently been taken as an eyewitness account. The Yuanshi yeting ji, though more obviously wrong, may still contain genuine information about the Mongol court. The work of disentangling historical and pseudohistorical accounts of the imperial court has only just begun.<br></p>

本文考察了兩部明代野史《焚椒錄》和《元氏掖庭記》，分析其與《遼史》和《元史》兩部國史相關的内容。《焚椒錄》成書于晚明，其靈感來源顯然出自《遼史》中蕭觀音(1040-1075) 一生的經歷。相對而言，一般認為《元氏掖庭記》完成于《元史》之前，因此對蒙元時期后宮重要妃嬪的描寫與《元史》内容截然不同。儘管論者多認為《焚椒錄》是目擊 者的敘述，但本文對《焚椒錄》的真實性提出質疑。至於《元氏掖庭記》，雖然其記述顯然有錯誤的地方，但卻可能記載了與蒙古文化相關的真實信息。