Recorded 17 May 2010

Translated and annotated by Kim Hunter Gordon

Lecturer

Fan Jixin 范繼信 (1939–2016), like Zhang Jiqing 張繼青 [Appendix H], was a member of the “ji” generation ( ji zi bei 继字辈) [both Appendix H] of the Jiangsu Company, specializing in both fu 付 or 副 and chou 丑. As with most chou scenes, he performs this scene in the Suzhou dialect. In later years he also became known as a prize-winning director for large productions in various xiqu genres.

Synopsis

Tale of the Mermaid Silk Handkerchief (Jiaoxiao ji 鮫綃記) is a Ming dynasty chuanqi 傳奇 play, probably by the sixteenth-century author Shen Jing (II) 沈鯨 [Appendix G] and set in the Southern Song dynasty. The plot has origins in Song historical texts in Ming fiction. The “mermaid silk” of the title is a light but dense material.

Wei Congdao 魏從道 and Shen Bigui 沈必貴 both pass the highest level of the imperial examinations. Having formed a deep friendship, they promise their infant children in marriage to one another. Wei becomes prefect of Lin’an (present-day Hangzhou) but is removed from his post through the machinations of the villainous Qin Hui 秦檜 (a historical figure, a Southern Song minister said to have been a spy for the Jurchen Jin). Shen leaves officialdom and returns to his ancestral home. Ten years later, their children, Wei Bijian 魏必簡 and Shen Qiongying 沈瓊英, have grown up but the families are separated. Wei Congdao sends his son Bijian to Lin’an with a betrothal gift of a handkerchief made of mermaid silk.

Meanwhile, a nouveau riche neighbor, Liu Junyu 劉君玉, proposes a marriage between his son and Shen Qiongying, and is flatly rejected. Humiliated, Liu seeks the services of an unscrupulous lawyer, Jia Zhuwen 賈主文, to exact revenge. In “Writing the Accusation” (“Xie zhuang” 寫狀) Jia persuades Liu that the most effective measure would be to trump up conspiracy charges accusing Wei Congdao of plotting to murder Qin Hui as a retribution for his lost position.