They are written in a mix of standard written Chinese (but more similar to classical Chinese than standard written Chinese is today) and Cantonese-specific words and phrases.  The songs consist of seven-syllable quatrains (although “padding” syllables are often added) which exhibit patterns of rhyming in the final syllables of the quatrains, along with other structural conventions.  

UW holds 13 boxes labeled as “Mu yu shu”, containing approximately 300 items.  However, through a consultation with Professor Yung, an expert in Chinese ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh, we learned that the first two of these boxes actually contained not mu yu shu, but Cantonese opera.  From Prof. Yung, we learned techniques for differentiating these two genres based on certain structural and notational differences.

The thirteenth “Mu yu shu” box contained a mix of authentic mu yu shu along with various other materials, such as books of narrative prose, Buddhist texts, and more modern books about Chinese opera.  In the course of cataloging the materials from the other boxes, we also discovered 14 other titles which, while intermixed with the authentic mu yu shu, seem not to be straightforward examples of this genre.  We pulled aside these titles for further review and authentication by Prof. Yung or another ethnomusicologist at a later date.

Emily Jantz, Chinese Cataloging Specialist and Student Team Leader for the project, with able assistance from project student workers, cataloged UW’s mu yu shu and Cantonese opera collection.

Original cataloging records were created for UW’s 40 titles of Cantonese opera, and 263 titles of mu yu shu.  (In addition to this original cataloging, some of the volumes of mu yu shu and Cantonese opera items were discovered to be partial or complete duplicate copies—either completely identical or a reprint from the same publisher and woodblock.  An additional approximately 50 titles were identified as likely having an existing cataloging record in OCLC already.)

There were many challenges to cataloging this unique material type, including the challenge of creating good records from the very minimal information on the pieces, challenges of disambiguating between very similar items, the fact that in many cases several unrelated short titles had been later rebound into a single physical volume, and so on.

Additional mu yu shu examples, featuring excellent cover designs:

The finding aid for this collection, which was created as part of the CLIR Project is available on Archives West, at:  http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv08758.  Archives West (previously known as Northwest Digital Archives) offers descriptions of archival and manuscript materials held by institutions in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Utah.

(The collection-level cataloging record can be found on OCLC WorldCat, here: http://www.worldcat.org/title/wu-xianzi-xian-sheng-yi-gao-ji-suo-cang-wen-jian/oclc/949731287)

Sample item from the archive:

Example screenshots of the finding aid:

Example screenshot of the University Archives Records Transfer List spreadsheet used to  create the finding aid:

Additional impact

The Wu Xianzi papers is the first archival collection in non-Roman script available at Archives West.  Before it was added to the Archives West, only resources in English and Spanish were available.  Therefore, our work was ground-breaking for this archival portal.  

Prior to inputting Chinese data into the spreadsheet template (used to upload data to Archives West), Charlene Chou, the Project Technical Manager, tested its capability for inputting, indexing and displaying Chinese script.  After successful pilot testing, a student input the information about the contents of the 16 boxes into the spreadsheet template.  

It was discovered that the Archives West interface capability for searching Chinese phrases was extremely limited.  Therefore, the Technical Manager accepted advice to submit a list of controlled vocabulary, including personal names, corporate bodies, newspapers and subject terms, to improve the searching function.  In this way, the discovery of Chinese terms in Archives West will be be greatly improved.

雲林生古木竹石 (Yunlinsheng gu mu zhu shi )

《雲林生古木竹石》
張大千作
戊子[1948]

“Old trees, bamboo, and stones”
Painted by Zhang Daqian
Produced in 1948

Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century.  He was not only a well-known traditionalist painter, but also renowned as a modern impressionist and expressionist painter, as well as an extremely gifted forger.

開卷有益 (Kai juan you yi)

《開卷有益》
傅申書
戊午[1978]

“It’s beneficial to open a book”
Painted by Fu Shen
Produced in 1978

Fu Shen (1937-) is an eminent Chinese art historian, world-renowned connoisseur of painting and calligraphy, and a practicing calligrapher and painter.