Hépǔ Zhū 合浦珠
The Pearl of Hépu by 攜李煙水散人 (著)
About the work
Hépǔ Zhū 合浦珠 is a Qīng-dynasty romance novel in three juan and sixteen chapters, attributed to the pen name Xīlǐ Yānshuǐ Sǎnrén 攜李煙水散人 (“the wandering recluse of misty waters from Xīlǐ”). The title alludes to the proverbial phrase hépǔ zhū huán 合浦珠還 (“the pearls of Hépu return”), a metaphor for the return of precious things to their rightful place. The novel is a cáizǐ jiārén 才子佳人 romance with strong loyalist (yíyí 遺義) undertones, set against the backdrop of the fall of the Míng dynasty.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. (Not a WYG text.)
Abstract
Hépǔ Zhū 合浦珠 is attributed to the pseudonymous author Xīlǐ Yānshuǐ Sǎnrén 攜李煙水散人. The pen name’s toponym “Xīlǐ 攜李” refers to an ancient name for Jiāxīng 嘉興 in Zhèjiāng, suggesting the author may have been from that region. Biographical details are unknown; no CBDB record can be matched to this pen name.
The preface (Hépǔ Zhū Xù 合浦珠序) is written by the same author, who recounts his early passion for romance literature, periods of wandering poverty, and the composition of the novel at a friend’s request (“a friend asked me to write the biography of Hépǔ Zhū”). The preface advocates for a definition of “true feeling” (zhēnqíng 真情) modeled on the great precedents of Chinese literary romance — the Mǔdān Tíng 牡丹亭, the palindrome brocade of Sū Huì 蘇蕙 — as opposed to mere licentiousness.
The novel’s concluding section refers explicitly to the events of jiǎshēn 甲申 (1644) — the fall of the Míng: the character Qián Shēng 錢生 receives a letter from a character Shēntú Zhàng 申屠丈 predicting future chaos; the narrator then notes that “in the jiǎshēn year, third month, the [Chóngzhēn] Emperor hanged himself at Coal Hill” (大行皇帝縊死煤山), and that the protagonist thereafter “concealed himself in the countryside” and survived the dynastic transition. This terminus post quem confirms that the novel was composed or completed after 1644. The loyalist tone — the protagonist Qián Shēng names his studio “Xī Bái Táng” 希白堂 after the Tang poet Bó Jūyì’s 白居易 reclusive ideal — is characteristic of Míng loyalist fiction from the Shùnzhì and Kāngxī eras.
The story’s main plot is a cáizǐ jiārén romance: a talented scholar and a beautiful young woman overcome multiple obstacles involving jealous rivals, corrupt officials, and supernatural interventions before achieving union. The “pearl” metaphor (things returning to their proper owner) structures the novel’s resolution.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.