Hé Jǐn Huíwén Zhuàn 合錦回文傳
The Brocade Palindrome: A Biography by 李漁 (著, pen name Lìwēng Xiānsheng 笠翁先生)
About the work
Hé Jǐn Huíwén Zhuàn 合錦回文傳 is a Qīng-dynasty novel in sixteen juan by Lǐ Yú 李漁 (1611–1680), written under his well-known sobriquet Lìwēng Xiānsheng 笠翁先生 (“Master of the Rain-Hat”). The title refers to the legendary “Palindrome Brocade” (Xuánjī Tú 璿璣圖) woven by Sū Huì 蘇蕙 (also written 蘇若蘭) in the Former Qin dynasty (4th century CE) for her estranged husband Dòu Tāo 竇滔 — a famous artifact of feminine ingenuity and conjugal devotion that could be read in multiple directions (huíwén 回文, “palindrome”). The novel uses this literary-historical legend as its structural and thematic center, weaving a romance narrative around the motif of the divided and reunited brocade.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. (Not a WYG text.)
Abstract
Hé Jǐn Huíwén Zhuàn 合錦回文傳 is one of several vernacular novels attributed to Lǐ Yú 李漁 (1611–1680; CBDB id 65737; pen name Lìwēng 笠翁). The catalog’s attribution to “笠翁先生” is one of Lǐ Yú’s standard sobriquets, and the attribution is generally accepted by scholars.
The novel’s opening preface (Xuánjī Tú Xù 璿璣圖敘) retells the historical legend of Sū Huì 蘇蕙 (style name Ruòlán 若蘭), third daughter of Sū Dàozhì 蘇道質 of Chéngliú, who married the military administrator Dòu Tāo 竇滔 in the Former Qin dynasty (苻堅時期, late 4th century CE). When Dòu Tāo was transferred to Xiāngyáng and took his concubine Zhào Yángtái 趙陽臺 with him, leaving Sū Huì behind, she wove a palindromic brocade poem (the Xuánjī Tú 璿璣圖) of 841 characters readable in multiple directions — a tour de force of literary ingenuity that eventually moved her husband to return to her. The novel spins a fictional narrative from this legend across sixteen juan, following the fortunes of two families — the Liáng and the Sāng — through romance, separation, mistaken identity, and eventual reunion, with the palindrome brocade serving as a token of identity and fidelity throughout.
Lǐ Yú produced numerous works of fiction, drama, and miscellany during the Qīng Shùnzhì and Kāngxī eras. Hé Jǐn Huíwén Zhuàn belongs to his output as a professional man of letters operating his own Jiè Zǐ Yuán 芥子園 press in Nanjing and Hangzhou. A precise composition date within his active years (c. 1657–1680) has not been established for this novel. Wilkinson notes that Li Yu (cited as “1610–80” or “1611–80”) was a central literary figure of the late seventeenth century, known for Ròu Pútúan 肉蒲團 (1657), his dramatic works, and the Xián Qíng Ǒujì 閒情偶寄.
Translations and research
- Hanan, Patrick. The Chinese Vernacular Story. Harvard University Press, 1981. (Covers Li Yu’s fiction output.)
- Epstein, Maram. Competing Discourses: Orthodoxy, Authenticity, and Engendered Meanings in Late Imperial Chinese Fiction. Harvard University Asia Center, 2001. (Discusses the cáizǐ jiārén genre and Li Yu’s place in it.)
- Widmer, Ellen, and Kang-i Sun Chang, eds. Writing Women in Late Imperial China. Stanford University Press, 1997. (Background on the Sū Huì palindrome and its literary reception.)
Other points of interest
The palindrome poem of Sū Huì 蘇蕙 (Xuánjī Tú 璿璣圖) was one of the most celebrated feminine literary artifacts in the Chinese tradition, discussed by scholars and poets from the Táng onward. Lǐ Yú’s choice of this legend as the organizing conceit of a novel reflects his characteristic interest in literary games, ingenious form, and the rehabilitation of women’s talent.