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Ma Xianglan and her literati partner Wang Zhideng are remembered as one of the late Ming romantic pairs between a faithful courtesan and her talented scholar. Many Ming-Qing writers wrote about the Ma-Wang romance, and yet Ma Xianglan's voice is missing from her stories. This essay reconsiders the romance by investigating the relationships between literary and theatrical representations and their social contexts. It focuses on Ma Xianglan 's performance tour to Suzhou in 1604. Most historical sources treat this tour as Ma's celebration of Wang's seventieth birthday and thus evidence of Ma's faithful love for Wang. This essay excavates less-circulated sources and examines the competing narratives of multiple literati writers and of Ma Xianglan herself. By revealing the contradictions in the narratives of the Ma-Wang romance, this study inquires into a specific historical context, the Longwan era (1570-1620), when the story of Ma and Wang unfolded. It asks how the romance served as a vehicle in cultural and commercial networking during the Longwan era and in the construction of Ming loyalism in the Ming-Qing transition.
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Known as one of the noteworthy late Ming courtesans, Ma Xianglan (1548-1604) is unique as the only female troupe owner in the flourishing late Ming theatre. She not only presented onstage and tutored her performers but also took them on performance tours. She also authorized at least one play, Sanshengji (Story of Three Lives). However, in contemporary accounts, Ma Xianglan was first and foremost portrayed as a faithful Qinhuai mingji (celebrity courtesan of Nanjing), a talented courtesan painter and poet who lavished money generously on her literati partners.1 Particularly, her over-thirty-year relationship with literatus Wang Zhideng (1535-1612), which prevailed in extant works, earned the pair a place in the canons of late Ming romances between a loyal courtesan and a talented scholar. And so the Ma-Wang romance is what today we mostly know about their stories.
In the numerous studies of Ming theatre, Ma Xianglan is left out.2 A handful of works focus on her career as a painter and poet.3 One study recognizes her contribution to late Ming theatre, not only as a performer, but also as a troupe owner and playwright (Hua 2007: 55-82). However, all the authors have adopted the...