Hèn Hǎi 恨海
The Sea of Regret by 吳沃堯 (著, pen names Wú Jiǎnrén 吳趼人 and Wǒ Fó Shānrén 我佛山人)
About the work
Hèn Hǎi 恨海 (The Sea of Regret) is a short Qīng-dynasty novel in ten chapters by Wú Wòyáo 吳沃堯 (1866–1910), published in Shanghai in 1906 (Guāngxù 32). Despite the catalog’s attribution “李修行撰” (attributed to one “Lǐ Xiūxíng”), the built-in tiyao in the Kanripo text itself explicitly identifies the author as “南海吳趼人即吳沃堯” (“Wú Jiǎnrén of Nánhǎi, that is, Wú Wòyáo”); 李修行 (“one who practices through suffering”) appears to be a pseudonym or additional pen name used by the same author, or possibly a copyist’s attribution error. The real author is Wú Wòyáo (CBDB id 78399). Wilkinson describes the novel as part of the late-Qīng qínggǎn xiǎoshuō 情感小說 (sentimental/romantic fiction) genre, and Patrick Hanan translated it into English.
Tiyao
The Kanripo text contains a built-in tiyao (提要) in the front matter, here translated:
“A Qīng-dynasty novel. Ten chapters. Signed by Wú Jiǎnrén of Nánhǎi, that is, Wú Wòyáo. Published as a stand-alone volume in September of Guāngxù 32 (1906) by the Guǎngzhì Book Bureau in Shanghai, labeled ‘romantic fiction’ (xiěqíng xiǎoshuō 寫情小說). Later included in Ā Yīng’s anthology Gēngzǐ Shìbiàn Wénxué Jí (1959, Zhōnghuá Book Company).
Hèn Hǎi is one of Wú Wòyáo’s proudest achievements, written in only ten days. He wrote himself: ‘After publication I occasionally picked it up to read, and at the most harrowing passages I would find my own tears falling — I could not even understand how I had managed to write it’ (Shuō Xiǎoshuō 《說小說》).
The novel takes the Boxer Uprising (Gēngzǐ shìbiàn 庚子事變) of 1900 as its backdrop, narrating the marital tragedies of two pairs of young men and women. [The tiyao then summarizes the plot in detail: Chén Jílín 陳戟臨, a ministry official, has two sons: the elder Bóhé 伯和, betrothed to Zhāng Hètíng’s daughter Dìhuá 棣華; the younger Zhòngǎi 仲藹, betrothed to Wáng Lètiān’s daughter Juānjuān 娟娟. All three families lived together in the capital. When the Boxer Uprising broke out… (the tiyao continues to summarize the parallel stories of moral collapse and fidelity).] The final meeting of Zhòngǎi and Juānjuān — she has become a prostitute — ends in mutual recognition and renunciation: Zhòngǎi distributes his wealth and retreats into the mountains.”
Abstract
Hèn Hǎi 恨海 was written by Wú Wòyáo 吳沃堯 (1866–1910; CBDB id 78399), better known by his pen name Wú Jiǎnrén 吳趼人. The catalog attribution “李修行撰” requires explanation: the Kanripo text’s own tiyao explicitly identifies the author as “南海吳趼人即吳沃堯” (Wú Jiǎnrén of Nánhǎi = Wú Wòyáo). “李修行” (“the one who cultivates through suffering”) is either a secondary pseudonym used by Wú for this particular edition, or an attribution error in the catalog metadata; the actual authorship is not in doubt.
The novel was published by the Guǎngzhì Book Bureau 廣智書局 in Shanghai in September 1906, labeled a “romantic fiction” (xiěqíng xiǎoshuō 寫情小說). It uses the Boxer Uprising of 1900 (Gēngzǐ shìbiàn 庚子事變) as its historical setting — two parallel romantic plots that end in tragedy. One couple is destroyed by the male protagonist’s moral collapse (he falls into opium addiction and debauchery after becoming separated from his betrothed); the other by circumstances beyond their control. The novel’s title — “the sea of regret” — is glossed by the closing poem: “the magpie cannot fill the sea of regret; Nǚwā has not yet repaired the heaven of passion. Good marriages turn into wretched marriages — what is the use of a red thread of fate?” (精衛不填恨海，女媧未補情天。好姻緣是惡姻緣，說甚牽來一線).
Wú Wòyáo was a native of Nánhǎi 南海, Guǎngdōng, born 1866 (Tóngzhì 5) and died 1910 (Xuāntǒng 2). CBDB records these dates consistent with Wilkinson. He was the author of several other major late-Qīng fiction works. Wilkinson (§27.5) records: “Wu Jianren 吳趼人 (1866–1910 [Wu Woyao 吳沃堯]). 1906. Henhai 恨海 (The sea of regret).”
Translations and research
- Hanan, Patrick, tr. The Sea of Regret: Two Turn-of-the-Century Chinese Romantic Novels. University of Hawai’i Press, 1995. (Includes Hèn Hǎi together with Fú Lín’s 符霖 Qínhǎi Shí 禽海石.)
- A Ying [Ā Yīng 阿英], ed. Gēngzǐ Shìbiàn Wénxué Jí 庚子事變文學集. Beijing: Zhōnghuá Book Company, 1959. (Anthology including Hèn Hǎi.)
- Hanan, Patrick. Chinese Fiction of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. (Study of Wu Jianren’s fiction in context.)
Other points of interest
Hèn Hǎi was reportedly written in only ten days, and Wú Wòyáo noted that re-reading it moved him to tears — an unusual instance of authorial self-commentary on creative process preserved in the built-in tiyao.