Record from Inside the Pillow

开元The Commercial Press · ChinaJun 2024

4.3

Word count: 9K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

The tale of Tang dynasty chuanqi "The World Inside a Pillow" runs roughly as follows: in the seventh year of the Kaiyuan era (719 AD), Lu Sheng, frustrated and unsuccessful, rides a young colt in plain short clothes to the capital for the imperial examination, but fails to win office and returns dejected. One day, on his journey through Handan, he meets at an inn the Daoist priest Lü Weng, a master of immortal arts (in The Handan Dream by the Ming playwright Tang Xianzu, Lü Weng is changed to Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals). Lu Sheng laments his poverty, and the priest Lü Weng brings out a porcelain pillow for him to rest on. Lu Sheng leans on the pillow and, as soon as he enters dreamland, marries a beautiful and gentle wife from the Cui clan of Qinghe, passes the jinshi examination, rises to become governor of Shanzhou and prefect of the capital region, and finally is promoted to Minister of Revenue concurrently Censor-in-Chief and Grand Secretary of the Zhongshu, and is enfeoffed as Duke of Yan. His five children also hold high office and generous stipends, and marry into great families. Lu Sheng has children and grandchildren around him and enjoys every glory and luxury. At eighty, he falls ill, and despite long treatment does not recover, and finally dies. As he breathes his last, Lu Sheng starts awake, turns and sits up, looks around, and everything is as before; Lü Weng is still sitting beside him, and the yellow millet (millet rice) the innkeeper is steaming is not yet cooked! This is also the origin of the "yellow millet dream" (a pipe dream).

Editor's review

"The World Inside a Pillow" is a short but deeply suggestive piece of Tang dynasty chuanqi: through a single dream in a Handan inn it traces Lu Sheng's whole course from hardship to the height of prosperity and then to waking, so that the glory is exhausted while the yellow millet is still uncooked, creating a sharp contrast of time and space. This facsimile is based on the original Republican-era Commercial Press edition, preserving the layout and character forms of an early typeset edition; it has value as a textual reference for studying the modern transmission and reception of Tang chuanqi, and lets readers directly feel the texture of old printed books. The story itself does not dwell on elaborate plotting but uses the contrast between dream and reality to reflect on fame and wealth; its language is concise and its images vivid, making it a first-hand text for understanding the source of the "yellow millet dream" allusion. It can be read as an amusing Tang tale or savored against the backgrounds of Daoist culture, the Tang examination system, and marriage and family status. It is short enough to finish in one quiet sitting, then to revisit the echoes between Lu Sheng's rise and fall in the dream and the "everything as before" after waking, and to feel its subtle irony.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers who want to know the source of the "yellow millet dream" allusion
Literature lovers interested in Tang chuanqi and classical fiction
Bibliophiles and textual scholars concerned with the physical form of Republican-era publications
Language teachers who need a short classical Chinese text for classroom use

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a long, complete plot and complex character arcs
Readers not yet comfortable with classical Chinese who do not wish to use annotations
Readers who only want a modern vernacular retelling and care nothing about the edition's physical form

Reading tips

Read the story through once, sorting out the four stages: Lu Sheng enters the dream, reaches the height of glory, falls ill and dies, and wakes.
On a second reading, note the descriptions of official promotions and marriage into great families, and consider the author's ironic target.
You may compare the later evolution of the "yellow millet dream" in drama and fiction and do some further reading.
If classical Chinese is difficult, first use a reliable annotated translation to clarify the meaning, then return to the original printed text.

About the publisher

The Commercial Press China · Founded in 1897

"Republic-era Commercial Press Original Editions" refers to original books printed by The Commercial Press during the Republican period, not a separate publishing house. Judging from the 300 titles held in the collection, its publishing focus centers on classical poetry and lyrics, literary appreciation, classic works, military texts, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy. Representative titles include Wang Guowei's Renjian Cihua, Zhong Rong's Shipin, the lyric collections of Xin Qiji and Liu Yong, Sun Wu's The Art of War, and Lü Buwei's Xianshi Lan. Its author resources are mainly classical writers, together with modern scholars such as Li Jingbang and Guo Huaruo, whose collations and annotations are also represented, giving the list a character centered on original texts while attending to annotation and appreciation. Public information on the precise Republican-era catalog and printings is limited; this overview is based only on the titles held in the collection.

版权信息
枕中記

FAQ

What is the relationship between "The World Inside a Pillow" and the "yellow millet dream"?

The "yellow millet dream" allusion comes from "The World Inside a Pillow." In the story Lu Sheng falls asleep on a porcelain pillow in a Handan inn and lives through every glory; when he wakes, the yellow millet the innkeeper is steaming is still uncooked. Later ages therefore use "yellow millet dream" to mean illusory wealth and the brevity of life.

What is special about this facsimile of the original Republican-era Commercial Press edition?

It preserves the layout, character forms, and printed appearance of the Republican-era Commercial Press typeset edition, unlike modern reset editions. General readers can feel the texture of an old book, while textual and publishing historians gain a reference point for an early stage of transmission.

Is Lü Weng in the story Lü Dongbin?

The Daoist priest in the original text of "The World Inside a Pillow" is named Lü Weng and is not Lü Dongbin of the Eight Immortals. It was only when Tang Xianzu wrote The Handan Dream in the Ming dynasty that Lü Weng was changed to Lü Dongbin; this is a later dramatic adaptation, and the distinction should be kept in mind when reading the original.

It is so short—is it worth reading on its own?

Yes. Though brief, it is a far-reaching work of Tang chuanqi, concentrating the source of an allusion, narrative structure, and ironic meaning. Read it once, then look back at the contrast between dream and waking, and you can feel the power of a short classical tale to achieve much with little.

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About the author

开元 Author

Kaiyuan, whose life remains obscure, is known only from limited public sources; his nationality, dates of birth and death, and English name cannot be confirmed. Two works by him are currently included in the collection, both titled Record of a Pillow, and are classified under classical literature and Eastern philosophy. Judging from the titles and categories of these works, Kaiyuan's subject matter carries a strong flavor of traditional narrative and philosophical reflection, readily evoking the classical mode of dream records and parables, in which stories convey observations on the illusory and the real, and on the rise and fall of human fortunes. His style may be described as plain and restrained narration bearing ideas, with speculative meaning embedded in the framework of the tale, so that the works combine literary readability with a lingering philosophical resonance. Owing to the scarcity of materials, the exact character of Kaiyuan and his writings awaits further documentary evidence and should not be hastily judged.