Qin Xianglian
Qin Xianglian, also translated as Fragrant Lotus,[1] is a fictional Chinese character popular in legends and Chinese opera. She was a Song dynasty woman married to Chen Shimei, who not only betrayed her love and devotion by marrying another woman, but also tried to kill her to cover up his past.
The character first appeared as Lady Qin (秦氏) without a given name (like most women recorded in imperial China's literature) in the 1594 story collection Legal Cases of A Hundred Families Judged by Dragon-Design Bao (包龍圖判百家公案), Story 26, "Lady Qin's Ghost Return to Exile Shimei" (秦氏還魂配世美). In this version, she was killed by Chen's assassins, but her ghost sought justice with "Dragon-Design Bao" or Bao Zheng. The story most familiar to modern people no longer contained superstition, and instead had Chen's assassin Han Qi (韓琪) commit suicide to let Qin escape.
(Top) A mural from
Long Corridor,
Summer Palace, Beijing, China, depicting Qin playing a
pipa during a banquet attended by Chen. (Bottom) The exact same scene from the 1594 copy of the novel
Legal Cases of A Hundred Families Judged by Dragon-Design Bao (包龍圖判百家公案).
Portrayal in film and television
References
- Yuan, Haiwang (2006). "The Magic Lotus Lantern" and Other Tales from the Han Chinese. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 1-59158-294-6.
