The Three Sui Quash the Demons' Revolt : A Comic Novel Attributed to Luo Guanzhong

The twenty-chapter novel __The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt__ is traditionally attributed to Luo Guanzhong (d. after 1364?), the alleged author of two of China’s most famous and beloved works of fiction, __The Romance of the Three Kingdoms__ and __The Water Margin.__ __The Three Sui__ tells the story of the uprising of adherents of the Maitreya Buddha led by Wang Ze in 1047–1048. Wang Ze was eventually executed and all future heterodox activity outlawed. Paradoxically, __The Three Sui__ treats the rebellion as an occasion for slapstick, baggy-pants humor in which facts are distorted and wildly mixed with fiction. Wang Ze's real-life lieutenants show up as a comical peddler and a mysterious Daoist priest. A celebrated warrior takes part in the rebellion despite having died seventeen years earlier. Although the novel is divided into chapters and otherwise follows the traditional format for such extended narratives, a careful examination reveals The Three Sui is an arrangement of self-contained vernacular stories. No story bears an intrinsic relationship to any other story. And because the integrity of the various stories has been so remarkably preserved, __The Three Sui__ is a vernacular novel in which the vernacular story reigns supreme. Although the Wang Ze rebellion took place during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), ultimately __The Three Sui__ is the story of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in Song masquerade. It calls attention to the social unrest, even anarchy, caused by the rising power and influence of movements like The White Lotus Society and warns of the Ming’s downfall unless such groups are contained. In this, the novel proved to be a prescient voice: The Ming collapsed as the result of a central authority weakened by mass sectarian uprisings. __The Three Sui__ has been little known and sadly overlooked by scholars of Chinese literature and history. Now this vibrant translation and insightful interpretive essay make this early example of Chinese vernacular fiction available to a broad audience interested in comparative literature and fiction. Contents Acknowledgments Translator’s Introduction Preface to the San Sui ping yao zhuan 1. The pawnbroker Moneybags Hu gets the magic painting. His wife burns the painting and gives birth to Yong’er 2. Hu Yong’er goes to buy steamed cakes in a snowstorm. Auntie Sheng gives her the magic teachings of the Goddess of the Ninth Heaven 3. Hu Yong’er conjures up cash and rice. Moneybags Hu angrily burns the magic wishing book 4. Hu Yong’er changes straw into horses. Hu Yong’er changes beans into soldiers 5. The daughter of Moneybags Hu marries Idiot Boy. Hu Yong’er secretly flees to Zhengzhou 6. Hu Yong’er conjures up a hideous face at the inn. Bu, the peddler, pursues Yong’er, and she jumps into a well 7. Bu Ji encounters Auntie Sheng in the Octagonal well. Bu Ji is banished to Mizhou after presenting the golden caldron 8. Zhang Luan rescues Bu Ji in the woods. Zhang Luan enjoys two moons at the shrine of a mountain deity 9.Zuo, the lame priest, buys steamed cakes and hoodwinks Ren Qian. Ren, Wu, and Zhang angrily pursue Zuo, the lame priest 10. The lame priest enters the belly of the Buddha in the Burial Mound Temple. Ren, Wu, and Zhang dream they receive Yong’er’s magical art 11. The Pellet Priest bilks Grand Commandant Bighearted Wang. Du Qisheng magically beheads his son 12. His Excellency Bao orders the capture of the demon priest. Second Brother Li denounces the demon and dies in a fall 13. Yong’er sells mud candles to gain the attention of Wang Ze. Auntie Sheng counsels Wang Ze to plot rebellion 14. Zuo, the lame priest, hands out cash and rice to muster an army. Wang Ze is arrested and thrown into prison 15. The lame priest rescues Wang Ze and disables his captors. Liu Yanwei leads an army to apprehend Wang Ze 16. Wang Ze leads the people of Beizhou in rebellion. Yong’er marshals her troops and captures prefectures and cities 17. Wen Yanbo leads troops to conquer Beizhou. Assistant Commander Cao’s blood pumps destroy the demons’ magical powers 18 .The lame priest’s flying millstone strikes the Duke of Lu The Many-eyed Monster saves the Duke of Lu and offers a word of advice 19. Wen Yanbo chances to meet Zhuge Suizhi. Fishsoup Li offers a plan to capture Wang Ze 20. Beizhou City carves up the demons. Commander Wen quashes the demons and returns to the Eastern Capital A Fantastic History. San Sui ping yao zhuan Reconsidered Appendix A. Early Historical and Anecdotal Materials Pertaining to the Wang Ze Rebellion Appendix B. A Note on the Possible Identity of Wang Shenxiu Notes Bibliography About the Translator

New York City is also home to one of the largest overseas Japanese populations in the world. Among them are artists and designers who produce cutting-edge work. Part of the so-called "creative class" and a growing segment of the neoliberal economy, they are usually middle-class and college-educated. They move to New York in the hope of realizing dreams and aspirations unavailable to them in Japan. Yet the creative careers they desire are competitive, and many end up working illegally in precarious, low paying jobs. Though they often migrate without fixed plans for return, nearly all eventually do, and their migrant trajectories are punctuated by visits home.

This book offers an intimate, ethnographic portrait of these Japanese creative migrants living and working in NYC. How do adults reinvent their lives? In the absence of any material or social need, what makes it worthwhile for people to abandon middle-class comfort and home for an unfamiliar and insecure life? Olga Sooudi explores this in four different venues patronized by Japanese: a grocery store and restaurant, where hopeful migrants work part-time as they pursue their ambitions; a fashion designer's atelier and an art gallery, both sites of migrant aspirations. As Sooudi's migrant artists toil and network, biding time until they "make it" in their chosen industries, their optimism is complicated by the material and social limitations of their lives.

The story of Japanese migrants in NYC is both a story about Japan and a way of examining Japan from beyond its borders. The Japanese presence abroad, a dynamic process involving the moving, settling, and return to Japan of people and their cultural products, is still underexplored.

This novel tells the story of the uprising of adherents of the Maitreya Buddha led by Wang Ze in 1047-1048. Wang Ze was eventually executed and all future heterodox activity outlawed. Paradoxically, this book treats the rebellion as an occasion for slapstick, baggy-pants humor in which facts are distorted and mixed with fiction. Wang Ze's real-life lieutenants show up as a comical peddler and a mysterious Daoist priest. A celebrated warrior takes part in the rebellion despite having died seventeen years earlier. Although the novel follows the traditional format for an extended narrative, it is an arrangement of self-contained vernacular stories. Although the Wang Ze rebellion took place during the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), ultimately this book is the story of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) in Song masquerade. It calls attention to the social unrest, even anarchy, caused by the rising power and influence of movements like The White Lotus Society and warns of the Ming's downfall unless such groups are contained. In this, the novel proved to be a prescient voice: The Ming collapsed as the result of a central authority weakened by mass sectarian uprisings