Editorial Strategies and Book Features of the Late Ming Qu Anthology Cizhen Yadiao.

Cizhen yadiao is a massive qu anthology compiled and engraved by the Hudongtang bookstore in Nanjing during the early Wanli era. This work consists of nine volumes that could be printed and sold respectively; later, they were put together and reproduced into one catalogue with continuous page numbers as a new book entitled Cizhen yadiao. The anthologizing concept of the book is centered on the core of "qu"--the combination of sanqu and dramatic songs, southern songs and northern songs, folk songs and literati lyrics, thereby representing a distinctive characteristic of "songbook and qu library" for use in popular singing. The editorial principle of Cizhen yadiao lies in the classification of occasions, putting similar songs together according to various life scenes in order to make a glossary to satisfy readers' multiple demands. The book's features and selection strategies might be connected with the cultural consumption of the prostitutes' song-singing entertainment in Nanjing during the late Ming. From the perspective of book history and the history of drama, Cizhen yadiao can provide us with a new way of thinking about research on anthologizing and the development of the qu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]