Tales retold: Narrative variation in a Tang story

Article Abstract:

Four ninth-century versions of a Tang-dynasty story about a woman who takes revenge for her father's death are compared and the distinct choices of detail, wording and interpretation made by each writer in narrating the story are analyzed. The divergence and overlap among the narratives indicate that the written texts were derived from the casual oral storytelling popular during the time, when a story was expected to be changed during retelling.

Criticism and interpretation, Works, Chinese fiction, Authors, Chinese, Chinese writers, Critical essay, Guoshi Bu (Short fiction collection), Li Zhao

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The Maitreya connection in the Tang development of Dizang worship

Article Abstract:

Popular narratives as well as visual and epigraphic sources are used to reconstruct the neglected connection between Dizang and Maitreya in Tang China. This relationship illuminates the strategies that the Chinese Buddhists distributed in making the Dizang Bodhisattva into an important object of Buddhist piety in East Asia.

Science & research, Research, Asian studies, Bodhisattvas, Buddhist scholarship

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The manuscript legacy of the Tang: the case of literature

Article Abstract:

The state of manuscripts of the Song from the Late Tang and Five Dynasties as preserved in the Song imperial library in the 980s is examined. An argument is presented that the Tang literary texts were chance survivals and the texts available at present are mostly composites of partial collections of an author's works.

History, Protection and preservation, Chinese history, T'ang dynasty, 618-907, Manuscripts, Chinese literature, Poetry, Ancient, Ancient poetry

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