Jin Shengtan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jin Shengtan (金聖歎, pinyin: Jīn Shèngtàn) (1608-7 August 1661) was a Chinese editor, writer and critic, who has been called the champion of the bai hua (vernacular) Chinese literature. He was considered an eccentric and fixed what he called the Six Works of Genius (六才子書): the Zhuangzi (莊子), the Li Sao (離騷), the Shiji (史記) of Sima Qian, Du Fu's poems (杜詩), Record of the West Room (西廂記) and Water Margin (水滸傳), where highly classical works, like Li Sao and Du Fu's, are mixed with novels in vernacular Chinese that were, at this time, considered by his peers as "entertainment."

From 1940s to 1970s in Mainland China, Jin was regarded as a person who did not appreciate the peasant revolutions in the books he edited.

Birth family name: Zhang (張 Zhāng)

Birth given name: Cai (采 Cǎi)

Changed family name: Jin (金 Jīn)

Changed given name: Kui (喟 Kuì)

Zi (字): Shengtan (聖歎 Shèngtàn)

Jin edited, commented on, and added introductions and interlinear notes to the popular novels: Shui hu zhuan (《水滸傳》 Water Margin), San guo yanyi (《三國演義》 Romance of the Three Kingdoms), and Xi xiang ji (《西廂記》 Record of the West Room).

Falsely accused, Jin Shengtan was guillotined at the age of 54 with 18 of his friends. This incident is called "Weeping for the Temples" (哭廟案). His last words were:

"Beheading is an excruciating thing; drinking, an exhilarating thing. To drink before being beheaded is very excruciatingly exhilarating (painfully happy)."

「割頭，痛事也；飲酒，快事也。割頭而先飲酒，痛快痛快。」

Note: to be "painfully happy" in Chinese does not have any pain-related connotation. It merely means "happy without restraint".

It is said that before his death, he asked a letter to be sent home. The official was, however, suspicious of Jin defaming him or the royalty, so he opened it after the Jin was guillotined, discovering two sentences:

"Eating pickled vegetables and soybeans together tastes quite a bit like walnuts. If this recipe is spread around, I will have died without any regret."

「鹽菜與黃豆同吃，大有胡桃滋味。此法一傳，我無遺憾矣。」