The Literary Variation between History and Legend: a Textual Research of Boqi’s Story and Its Historical Evolution   

Shang Yongliang

Abstract: As a seminal paragon of being filial yet being abandoned, Boqi and his story appeared compelling characteristics of duration: in the pre-Qin times, there left suspicion due to the lack of relevant documents; in the Western Han Dynasty, various statements rose which differed from each other; from the Eastern Han to the Jin Dynasties, there both showed notable tendency toward history and the study of Confucian classics, and flowed the undercurrent of legend mixed with imagination and fiction. After interaction, interpromotion, interrestraint, and transformation of those trends, the fixed texts of “Treading on Frost” and other relevant narrations were finally constructed. All in all, the kinds of records, discussions, and creations around Boqi’s story since the Han Dynasty were composing a literary variation which wandered between history and legend, and followed the orderly or disorderly principle, rather than recollecting an ancient sage, or restoring the history. In other words, on the one hand, each big change of Boqi’s story during the Han to Jin Dynasties was subject to the tension between history and legend to keep it not too distant from history or the “history of ideas”, and on the other hand, the narrative pursued the spiritual freedom and order of mind, making it more and more close to the literary reality through continuous improvement of its plot.