“The Story Of Yingying” is a commemorated Chuanqi written during the Tang Dynasty as a narrative about the hapless affair between the young scholar Zhang Sheng and his cousin Cui Yingying, who is also the Tang court’s chief minister’s daughter. Zhang Sheng immediately falls in love with Cui Yingying when h meets her, even though he is snubs him off when he enters her room, and is also disapprovingly scolds him for his actions (Owen 149). Despite eventually falling in love, Zhang has to depart to Chang’an in pursuit of his civil service examination. Ultimately, the couple had to end their relationship, both getting married to someone else.
This debatable plot makes it hard to decide whether Zhang or Yingying is the justified hero. It is arguable that Zhang was selfish and wrong to choose pursue an administrative career, leaving his lover behind. However, it is also arguable that Zhang was right in abandoning Yingying because the relationship was not right for him and would have ruined his character (Owen 149), considering her actions and behaviors, especially how she is able to change herself to suit Zhang’s desires. Therefore, Zhang Sheng can be considered as the story’s true justified hero, who did nothing wrong by deserting Yingying.
Throughout the relationship, it seems that Yingying was manipulating Zhang and marring his moral character, who was nothing but a righteous scholar before he t her, never partaking in “anything improper” (Song). Unfortunately, Zhang becomes a sexually devious as a result of her beauty and his innocence is destroyed. He loses his virtuous serenity completely, becoming intimate with her despite not being married to her, and he even admits that he can barely control his sexual desire (Song).
While Zhang becomes defenseless, Yingying becomes even more duplicitous, frequently withdrawing from particular actions, making him even more curious and inflaming his passion. Yingying barely writes letters to Zhang, and stops playing on her harp whenever he arrives, refusing to continue playing despite his persistent requests. Surprisingly, all of this makes Zhang fall even more in love with her.
Yingying also does not seem like a virtuous woman since she is nonchalant when it comes to her chastity. Instead, she reprimands Zhang when he attempts to get intimate with her as a result of a sexually ingratiated letter she wrote to him. Yingying also appears to be a hypocrite since she sleeps with Zhang a couple of days later. It must be noted that even though women used to be submissive to men during the Tang Dynasty, it seems the opposite in Zhang’s and Yingying’s case. Moreover, a woman’s virginity at that time was considered as a symbol of morality and virtue (Hansen), yet this important tradition is broken by Yingying.
Whenever Yingying does write to Zhang, it is always in order to seduce him and eventually sleep with him, unlike Zhang, who often writes love poems in an effort to win her love. Surprisingly, even Yingying’s mother, Madame Cui, and her maid, Hong-niang, both play an imperious role in her affair with Zhang. Hong-niang also delivers the letters that the two apparent lovers send to each other, and even encourages Zhang into the sexual encounter that takes place between him and Yingying. Even when Madame Cui learns about the debauched nature of her daughter’s relationship with Zhang, she permits the relationship to continue so that her daughter may eventually get married.
Yingying also seems to be obsessed with marrying Zhang and becoming his wife. When Zhang leaves for Chang’an, she writes a letter to him that displays that she is apparently trying to force herself into his family. Even Madame Cui and Hong-niang hope that Yingying gets married soon. However, it does not seem to matter who she gets married too, since in just another year Yingying becomes involved with another man rather than waiting for Zhang. Even when Yingying was interested in marrying Zhang, she only seemed concerned about getting her mother’s consent for her affair; it did not matter to her whether Zhang’s parents would agree to the two of them getting married (Creel).
Even when Zhang is leaving for Chang’an, Yingyin tries one last time to bring him under her control once again by refusing to see him. Luckily for Zhang, he now sees the true nature of Yingying and departs to Chang’an, getting married to someone else, while Yingying loses the control she once had over him. Ultimately, Yingying does not succeed at destroying Zhang because he realizes that this is what would happen if he had allowed their relationship to continue.
It is a misconception among readers that they Zhang Sheng is the wrongdoer in “The Story Of Yingying” because he leaves his lover behind and marries someone else, even after having taken her chastity and her love. However, it should be noted that it was Yingying who encouraged and tempted Zhang and willingly gave away her chastity, and above all, her intentions were not at all virtuous. So ultimately, Zhang had no choice but to leave her in order to preserve his morality and save his life from getting destroyed.
Work Cited
Creel, H.G. Confucius and the Chinese Way. Peter Smith Pub, 2000. Print.
Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire: A History of China Through 1600. 6th ed. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. Print.
Owen, Stephen. "Conflicting Interpretations." Trans. ArrayThe End of the Chinese 'Middle Ages': Essays in Mid-Tang Literary Culture. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press, 1996. 149. Print.
Song, Geng. The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004. Print.
