Yandanzi

The Yandanzi or Yan Danzi (Chinese: 燕丹子; lit. 'The Prince Dan of Yan') is an ancient Chinese text composed between the Qin and Han dynasties.[1][2] Although some scholars favors a pre-Han dating for the text,[2][3] others date the work to the early Han.[4] Yandanzi has achieved considerable fame by the 2nd century BC.[3] The anonymous text is a narrative tale regarding the attempted assassination of Qin Shi Huang.[3]

Yandanzi, along with earlier texts such as Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven from the Warring States period, are considered prominent examples of a stand-alone work of early Chinese fiction (not including story collections such as Zhuangzi or Yanzi chunqiu).[1][4]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b "Professor Li Xiaolong from Beijing Normal University lectures on Chinese literary classic Yandanzi at University of Macau". Faculty of Arts and Humantiies University of Macau. Through close textual reading, Professor Li analyzed the nuances of character appellations, classical commentaries, and linguistic details to delineate the similarities and divergences between Yandanzi and Shiji, arguing that Yandanzi was most likely composed between the Qin and Han dynasties.
  2. ^ a b Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol. 3 & 4): A Reference Guide, Part Three & Four. Vol. 3. Brill. 2014. p. 1767. The Yan Danzi has been considered a pre-Han work.
  3. ^ a b c Ulrich Theobald. "Yandanzi 燕丹子". Chinaknowledge. Retrieved 3 November 2010. Yandanzi 燕丹子 "Prince Dan of Yan" is a short story about the attempted assassination of the king of Qin 秦 and eventual First Emperor of Qin 秦始皇 (r. 246/221-210 BCE). No author is known, but the story must have been very famous already in the 2nd century BCE and might have been compiled by retainers of Prince Dan from the state of Yan 燕.
  4. ^ a b Diény, J.-P. (1984). [Review of “Yan Danzi chengshu de shidai ji zai woguo xiaoshuo fazhan shi shang de diwei«燕丹子»成書的時代及在我國小說發展史上的地位. Wenxue yichan 1982, 4, by S. HUO & 霍松林]. Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie, 2, 195–196. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24617606