Abstract:

Textual analysis shows that “Huling Shengsou”, which literally means “witty speech”, was consistent with “Zaju” (poetic drama) in the early Song Dynasty focusing on comic dialogues. As a product of the southward spread of “Zaju”, “Huling Shengsou” emerged in the Xuanhe era. After the royal court’s relocation in the south, it was called “Yongjia Zaju” or “Wenzhou Zaju”. Both “Xiwen” and “Yongjia Xiqu” were alternative names for “Nanxi”. The former, meaning “performing narrative texts”, reveals the influence of vernacular fictions, while the latter reflects a close relationship between “Nanxi” and the storytelling and singing arts in the Song Dynasty. The alternative designations of “Nanxi”, namely, “Huling Shengsou”, “Yongjia Zaju”, “Xiwen”, and “Yongjia Xiqu”, thus indicate the four stages in the formation of “Nanxi”. Given limited sources, its trajectory should be sketched in broad terms. Future research should also move beyond the north–south dichotomy and re-examine the formation, interaction, and transmission of northern and southern dramas from a synthetic historical perspective of “grand Zaju”.

Key words: Nanxi, Huling Shengsou, Yongjia Zaju, Xiwen, Yongjia Xiqu