Victor Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania - On October 25, 2018, Professor Mair gave the annual Hu Shih Distinguished Lecture. His analysis of this text started thirty-five years ago at the Cornell Library. Explaining how the manuscript itself captures a historical journey, Professor Mair demonstrated how the combination of biànwén 變文 ("transformation text") and biànxiàng 變相 ("transformation tableau") constitutes the forerunner of aspects of fiction and drama in China, and ultimately of cinema.