Èrdù Méi Quánzhuàn 二度梅全傳
The Complete Tale of the Plum Blossoms Twice in Bloom by 天花主人 (編)
About the work
Èrdù Méi Quánzhuàn 二度梅全傳 (The Complete Tale of the Plum Blossoms Twice in Bloom) is a Qīng vernacular novel in 40 huí 回 (chapters), attributed to the compiler-pen name Tiānhuā Zhǔrén 天花主人 (“Master of the Heavenly Flowers”). The novel is a loyalty-and-filial-piety (zhōngxiào 忠孝) romance set in the Táng dynasty and centers on the Méi 梅 family: the loyal official Méi Kuí 梅魁 is framed and destroyed by the treacherous minister Lú Qǐ 盧杞, and his son Méi Shùshēng 梅樹生 must survive, prove his worth, and vindicate his father. The title refers to the motif of the plum tree that flowers a second time — an image of revival, loyalty, and romantic reunion after adversity.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
The source file begins directly with a table of contents and then the narrative. No preface or postface is present. The attribution on the title page reads “〔清〕天花主人 編” (compiled by Tiānhuā Zhǔrén of the Qīng).
Abstract
Èrdù Méi Quánzhuàn belongs to the sub-genre of Qīng loyalty-and-romance (zhōngqíng 忠情) novels that combine a political plot — the persecution of a loyal official and his family by a corrupt minister — with a romantic plot of the hero winning a worthy bride and achieving official success. The work is set nominally in the Táng dynasty, with the villain Lú Qǐ 盧杞 (a historically attested treacherous minister of the Dézōng reign, 779–805) and the loyalist figure of the Méi family as its central moral poles.
The compiler pen name Tiānhuā Zhǔrén 天花主人 was used by several Qīng authors and is also associated with the publisher-compiler 天花才子 (a slightly different pen name). Whether the compiler of this novel is the same person as the “Tiānhuā Cáizǐ” 天花才子 associated with certain other texts is uncertain. The dating of composition is difficult to establish precisely; stylistically and structurally the novel fits the mid-to-late Qīng popular fiction milieu, c. 1750–1850.
The novel enjoyed considerable popularity and served as the basis for a celebrated Yuè opera (Yuèjù 粵劇) and later a Cantonese film series. The title phrase èrdù méi 二度梅 became a common cultural allusion for situations of renewal after adversity.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature in Western languages located.
Other points of interest
The novel was adapted into a famous Cantonese opera (Yuèjù 粤劇) under the same title, which remains in active repertoire. The story was also performed as Peking opera (Jīngjù 京劇). The èrdù méi motif — plum blossoming a second time — appears in Chinese idiom to describe any recovery or second flowering after a period of hardship.