QU HAI ZONG MU TI YAO 曲海總目提要 [Bibliographical Précis from the Sea of Arias].
46 juan in 12 vols. Small 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, orig. stitching. [Shanghai]: Da dong shu ju 大東書局, 1928.
First printed edition of this Qing-period work with information on variety plays, or zaju 雜劇. Zaju have antecedents going back as far as the medieval period, but over time, the term “came to mean [a] four-act music drama” (The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Vol. 1, 775-76). In the early 20th century, there was renewed interest in the genre along with the will to forge a new canon of vernacular literature. Our book summarizes the plots of plays... More