Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan
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The Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan (Chinese: 醒世姻緣傳 "The Story of a Marital Fate to Awaken the World") is a Chinese classical novel of the Qing Dynasty.
Originally named E Yinyuan (惡姻緣, A Cursed Marital Fate), the novel has the Buddhist doctrine of karma and vipaka as its basic motif. The 100-chapter work was written by someone pennamed Xizhou Sheng (西周生), about whom nothing is known, except that he might live in Shandong, as the novel, like Jin Ping Mei, contains many phrases from the Shandong dialect, and indeed Jin Ping Mei is quoted in the novel. Different scholars nominate different candidates as the real author of the novel, without convincing each other. For instance, Hu Shi attributed the work to Pu Songling.
The novel is not as famous as other Chinese classical novels in the West. However, it was much hailed during the Vernacular Chinese Campaign (part of the May Fourth Movement) by the Chinese men of letters, including Hu Shi and Xu Zhimo. Its verbal vigor and graphic descriptions of contemporary social lives are particularly admired.
[edit] References
- Fan, Ning, "Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan" ("The Story of a Marital Fate to Awaken the World"). Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
