Hanvueng: The Goose King and the Ancestral King: An Epic from Guangxi in Southern China

by David Holm (Translator), Meng Yuanyao (Editor)

This work is an annotated edition of a ritual manuscript, written in the traditional Zhuang character script. The Hanvueng epic is a narrative in verse about murderous enmity between two royal step-brothers, recited when there is fraternal feuding, death by violence, outbreaks of smallpox, or other such disasters. The theme of enmity is an important one that resonates deeply in the Tai societies on the periphery of the Chinese empire. The narrative touches on many other aspects of life in the valley-kingdoms in the highlands of marriage and inheritance, match-making, slavery and social stratification, agriculture, hunting, fishing, raiding, livestock raising dye-making, wild animals and plants, and the use of ritual to put things to rights.

658 pages, Hardcover

Published April 28, 2015

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The introduction was very disappointingly brief and mostly of a linguistic nature, quite unlike the very detailed anthropological discussions of The Brigands' Song.

The tale of Hanvueng itself, though, might just be my favorite of all the folk epics I've read from China, and the translation by Holm and Meng is a great pleasure to read.

If we could have had an introduction of the caliber of The Brigands' Song, this would be one of the most perfect books I've read.

Again, the last 500ish pages deal with the Zhuang language of the original in a manner which would not benefit a reader not familiar with (of seeking to become familiar with) that tongue. The first hundred pages, though, are highly recommended.