3. Ventriloquism through the Companion Story 79 4. Ventriloquism through Women Characters 99 Feng Menglong's Attitude Toward Women. Femininity and Yin. Sources of Literati Trans-gender Expression. Gendered Expressions of Anxiety in the Sanyan. Female Superiority in the Sanyan. Feng Menglong's "Beauty and Flower" Strategy. Women as Zhiyin. Conclusion 153 Appendix: Sanyan Stories in This Work 157 Works Cited 161 Glossary-Index wenxue, 1987). Facsimile reprints of Ming editions of Gujin xiaoshuo, Jingshi tongyan, and Xingshi hengyan, edited by Li Tianyi (Taipei: Shijie shuji, 1958-59) are used only for citing the extra-textual commentary, which does not appear in the more recent editions. Source materials that I compare with the stories edited and published by Feng Menglong come, in the main, from Tan Zhengbi's Sanyan Liangpai ziliao (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1980). All citations from the above works are my own translations unless otherwise noted. vm 1 It is generally agreed that when Gujin xiaoshuo was reprinted in 1626 or 1627 it was retitled Yushi mingyan; see Patrick Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981), p. 230 n. 4. For the dissenting view that Gujin xiaoshuo was originally meant to be the general title for all three collections, see Lu Shulun, Feng Menglong yanjiu (Shanghai: Fudan daxue, 1987), pp. 89-94. 2 The collection to which an individual story belongs will be indicated by GJ (for Gujin xiaoshuo/Yushi mingyan), 7Y (tor fingshi tongyan), or HY (for Xingshi hengyan), followed by a number indicating the story's ordinal position in the collection. On the first mention of a story I will give a full translation of its title and use a shortened title thereafter.