The Story of Ying ying (Chinese) by Yuan Chen

Student X

Professor X

World Lit

18 June 2006

The Story of Ying-ying : An Example a Chinese Literary Masterpiece

This complex narrative about love , its dangers and intoxicating power requires a background study . The serious student inquiring about the masterpiece needed to know the background not for the sake of being technical or conscientious but for the simple reason that by doing so one is assured that it is the proper way of enjoying this work of art - fully savoring its intended effect

But even before going into

the details of providing a historical background that includes the life story of the author , a minor problem about translation issues has to be addressed first . Being of an ancient origin and being a foreign literary work from the ancient Middle Kingdom in a time and place where almost nothing can be compared to , the student looking into the story will encounter different translations of the title , author 's name and those of the characters in the story

The Story of Ying-ying is also known as the Encounter with a Fairy which is also sometimes translated as An Encounter with an Immortal . The author popularly known as Yuan Chen whose name can be also rendered as Yuan Zhen . And for the protagonists in the story the male lover 's name is Chang which is also rendered as Zhang while the lady lover is Ying-ying who also is known as the young Ms . Ts 'ui or Cui

A Historical Approach

For being a work written a long time ago it is to its advantage that the story be first introduced as a product of a the Tang Dynasty written between 803-806 C .E . According to Lu Hsun in his book A Brief History of Chinese Fiction , the author 's name was Yuan Chen (779-831 ) of Honei in Honan Prefecture , wrote very little compared to other great poets of that time , yet he was extremely well known and influential . Lu Hsun also adds that Yuan Chen was a government scholar and appointed as an imperial compiler and then he gave a summary of Chen 's life

Early in the ninth century he came first in the government essay test and was made an adviser , later a censor subsequently he was demoted and sent to Chiangling , became secretary of Kuochow , was recalled to court as secretary to the privy councilor , later made senior academician , then was appointed vice-minister of works and deputy prime minister , then sent to be prefect of Tungchow and Yuchchow and intendat of Chetung in the beginning of the Tai Ho period (827-835 ) he became prime minister and military governor of Wuchang , as well as prefect of Ngochow (p .194

There can be many things that one can glean from this body of information . First of all , the author was no ordinary artist wandering around the countryside looking for inspiration for his great masterpiece but instead one finds a man in high positions in government . If it is difficult to succeed in...