The Motif of the God of the Hearth and the Division of the Joint Family in Chinese Chap-Books
The Motif of the God of the Hearth and the Division of the Joint Family in Chinese Chap-Books

Author(s): Věnceslava Hrdličková
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Sociology of the arts, business, education, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
Keywords: Oral tradition; Chinese storytelling; chap-books; god of the hearth; family;
Summary/Abstract: The art of storytelling in China was one of the primary sources of entertainment for the broad masses. It is significant that this practice extended beyond oral storytelling and entered the sphere of written literature. The most popular ballads and stories were transcribed, printed, and gradually adapted to resemble tales meant primarily for reading. Despite this shift, the oral conventions persisted strongly, even though these written works were no longer directly tied to the oral tradition. The stories collected in the printed chap-books covered many themes, including traditional tales, episodes from celebrated novels, or real-life stories. The paper examines the circumstances under which the stories were published and describes how the printed copies were used. In order to illustrate certain features of the storytellers’ books, the central part of the paper compares several variants of the famous tale about the god of the hearth, a popular deity in Chinese households, that elaborates the motif of the division of the joint family.

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