Jìnshì Shèhuì Wòchuò Shǐ 近世社會齷齪史
A History of the Sordid Society of Recent Times by 吳沃堯 (撰)
About the work
Jìnshì Shèhuì Wòchuò Shǐ 近世社會齷齪史 (“A History of the Sordid Society of Recent Times”) is a late-Qīng social-exposé novel (shèhuì xiǎoshuō 社會小說) in 20 huí by 吳沃堯 (Wú Wòyáo, also known as Wú Jiǎnrén 吳趼人, 1866–1910), one of the most prolific and socially engaged late-Qīng novelists. The work satirizes the moral corruption, fraud, and social hypocrisy of late-Qīng urban society, following a cast of characters through a series of swindling schemes, official corruption, family manipulation, and social climbing in the treaty-port milieu of the Xuāntǒng period.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The novel’s self-preface (zì xù 自敍), dated Xuāntǒng 2 (1910), is signed by the author and provides important information about his literary career. Wú explains that he began writing zhānghui xiǎoshuō 章回小說 in Guǐmǎo (1903) and had, by the time of this preface, produced a substantial body of work including Diànshù Qítán 電術奇談, Hèn Hǎi 恨海, Jiǔ Mìng Qíyuān 九命奇冤, Fā Cái Mìjué 發財秘訣 (KR4k0108), Shànghǎi Yóu Shān Lù 上海遊驂錄, Hú Bǎoyù 胡寶玉, and Xīn Shítou Jì 新石頭記. The preface is explicitly framed as a collection preface for his complete social fiction output (shèhuì xiǎoshuō 社會小說), and Jìnshì Shèhuì Wòchuò Shǐ appears to be one of his final works, composed in the year of his death.
The novel narrates a densely plotted web of social fraud: its characters include a corrupt businessman who fakes a son’s death for financial gain, officials who sell their positions, merchants engaged in stock-market manipulation and mining speculation, and a cast of social parasites who exploit the disorientation of late-Qīng urban life. The setting moves between Jiāngnan, Shāndōng, and Shànghǎi. The title’s word wòchuò 齷齪 (“sordid,” “filthy”) signals the author’s satirical stance.
Wú Wòyáo 吳沃堯 (pen name Wú Jiǎnrén 吳趼人, pseudonym Wǒ Fó Shānrén 我佛山人) was born in Fóshān 佛山, Guǎngdōng, in 1866 and died in 1910. Wilkinson (Chinese History: A New Manual, §31.2.3) records him as “Wu Jianren 吳趼人 (1866–1910 [Wu Woyao 吳沃堯]),” noting his major works Hèn Hǎi 恨海 and Èrshí Nián Mùdǔ zhī Guài Xiànzhuàng 二十年目睹之怪現狀. The person note for this author is at 吳沃堯.
Translations and research
- Hanan, Patrick, tr. 1995. The sea of regret: Two turn-of-the-century Chinese romantic novels. University of Hawai’i Press. (Includes translation of Hèn Hǎi 恨海 by the same author.)
- Liu, Shih Shun, tr. 1975. Vignettes from the late Ch’ing. CUHKP. (Partial translation of Èrshí Nián Mùdǔ zhī Guài Xiànzhuàng 二十年目睹之怪現狀.)
- Wei, Shaochang 魏紹昌, ed. 1980. Wú Jiǎnrén yánjiū zīliào 吳趼人研究資料. Shanghai guji. Principal biographical and bibliographical compilation on the author.
Links
- Wikipedia (zh): 吳趼人
- Wikipedia (en): Wu Jianren