Zaishengyuan (Destiny of Rebirth) is an 80-chapter work of tanci (plucking rhymes) fiction written in the 18th century China by Chen Duansheng (1751-1796). Set in the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) while reflecting the social norms in the high Qing era (1683-1799), this fiction takes a detour from a typical cross-dressing female protagonist’s adventure and fleshes it out with distinguished depictions of convincing characters and nuanced emotional changes. Written by a female author for the gentry women’s community, Destiny of Rebirth demonstrates the creativity of late imperial Chinese women and provides a glimpse into their rarely showcased inner world and real concerns. Besides, tanci fiction is considered a predecessor of today’s Suzhou pingtan (storytelling and ballad singing in Suzhou dialect), and the story of Destiny of Rebirth also inspires popular pingtan performance titles like Meng Lijun, making it significant as a cultural symbol in local Jiangnan culture.
While Destiny of Rebirth is extensively rich in both cultural connotations and the use of language, it has not been thoroughly studied and fully translated like its contemporary works such as Honglou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), which largely limits its circulation and popularity in today’s academy. This project proposes a series of activities centered on the translation and study of Destiny of Rebirth, including setting up an open-to-public website to publish polished translations and various cultural notes, holding reading groups on specific cultural issues discovered in the work, and inviting guest speakers specializing in the study of tanci to give themed lectures.
By launching this translation project and engaging in related cultural activities, we aim to raise the awareness of tanci as a literary genre closely tied to the local Jiangnan culture and promote Destiny of Rebirth as an encyclopedic work that provides a fun and accessible way to approach late imperial Chinese culture.
Our translation team consists of (in no particular order):
Wenting Ji
Tianyu Xu
Shiyu Xiong
Lan Wei
Jason Qiu
Chaoying Li
Emma Yun
Yifei Su
Annie Zhao
Weiran Li
Kexin Xu
Kun Peng
Yuting Zeng
Zu Gan
Yuqing Wang
Special thanks to (in no particular order):
Teresa Görtz
Nick Allaman
Yixuan Cai
Zheyu Su
Kim Young
Hui Yao
Austin Woerner
Heng Yu
Xintong Wu
