Editing Jin Shengtan (section)

===Commentary on the ''Romance of the Western Chamber''===

In 1656, Jin completed his second major commentary, written on the ''[[Romance of the Western Chamber]]'', a 13th-century [[Yuan dynasty]] play. This commentary follows a structure very similar to Jin's earlier commentary on the ''Water Margin''.  It begins with two prefaces outlining Jin's reasons for writing the commentary followed by a third with notes on how the play should be read.  The play itself follows, with introductory marks preceding each chapter and critical comments frequently inserted in the text itself.  Jin undertakes fewer major structural alterations in this commentary than he does in critiquing the ''Water Margin''. Each of parts I, III, IV, and V of the play is originally preceded by an "Induction". Jin merges these into the acts themselves.  Part II of the play originally consists of five acts, which Jin condenses into four by merging the first and second acts.<ref>Wang (1972), pp. 86–90.</ref>

As with the ''Water Margin'', Jin frequently makes editorial changes to the play itself.  These changes fall into two broad categories.  Many changes are made in order to make the play's two young lovers, Zhang Sheng and [[Cui Yingying]], act and speak in accordance with their high class backgrounds.  Jin particularly expresses his admiration for Yingying's beauty and character, and modifies any scenes which he feels painted her in too vulgar a light.  Other changes are made for the simple reason of achieving superior literary effect.  In the arias of the play, these changes include removing supernumerary words and changing words to more vivid descriptors.  The strict metrical requirements of the aria format makes it difficult for Jin to make large-scale changes to these sections.  However, some changes do violate the rhyme scheme as it existed during the Tang dynasty or the rules of prosody.  In the spoken sections of the play, Jin is much more liberal in making editorial changes.  Many of these are intended to accentuate the emotions of the characters.  The end result is that Jin's version of the play is an excellent literary work, but was viewed by contemporaries as unfit for the stage.<ref>Wang (1972), p. 87-90.</ref>

In his commentary, Jin frequently criticizes previous "unknowledgeable" readers, saying that they have missed many hidden meanings in the text.  He sees it as his duty as a knowledgeable reader to reveal these meanings which the author has placed for him to find.  In doing so, Jin also has the goal of portraying the play as worthy of study due to its deep technical, artistic, psychological, and social dimensions.<ref name="Church">{{cite journal | author=Church, Sally K.| title=Beyond the Words: Jin Shengtan's Perception of Hidden Meanings in Xixiang ji| journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies| year=1999| volume=59| issue=1| pages=5–77| doi=10.2307/2652683 | publisher=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 59, No. 1 | jstor=2652683}}</ref>  In content, much of Jin's critical comments focus on the skill of the author in conveying emotions.  Jin praises ''Romance of the West Chamber'' as "[one of the most] marvelous [pieces of] writing between heaven and earth".  Other comments focus on Yingying. As mentioned above, Jin feels that she is the central character of the play, and a woman of great beauty and character.  Jin feels that the play shows a great degree of unity and tightness in its structure.  This opinion can be seen explicitly in his comments, as well as in the fact that he does not make structural alterations to the play to nearly the degree as in his version of ''Water Margin''.  Jin does, however, comment on Part V of the play.  This part has been thought by some commentators to be a continuation added by an author other than Wang Shifu.  Jin agrees with this view, criticizing the last part as being inferior in quality to the previous sections and continuing the story past its vital point.<ref>Wang (1972), p. 90-103.</ref>