Lánhuā Mèng Qízhuàn 蘭花夢奇傳
The Marvellous Tale of the Orchid Flower Dream
by 吟梅山人 (撰)
About the work
Lánhuā Mèng Qízhuàn 蘭花夢奇傳 (The Marvellous Tale of the Orchid Flower Dream) is the complete 68-huí version of the late-Qīng vernacular novel by 吟梅山人 Yínméi Shānrén. The first part (hui 1–34) is separately preserved as KR4k0168; the present text gives the full novel in a single file. Set in a late-Qīng Shanghai milieu, the novel combines the cáizǐ jiārén 才子佳人 (talented scholar/beauty) romance tradition with political and social satire, centering on the exceptional woman Sōng Bǎozhū 松寶珠, who rises from cultured daughter of a scholar family to become a senior official and military commander.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The preface (signed by Yānbō Sǎnrén 煙波散人, 1905, Shànghǎi) frames the novel as a work of delightful fantasy and humor whose deeper moral is encoded for “those with discernment” (yǒushí zhě 有識者) — the preface alludes to the traditional observation that refined virtue (fúyú qīngshū zhī qì 扶輿清淑之氣) tends to be conferred on women rather than men in a degenerate age, implying that the extraordinary heroine Sōng Bǎozhū is a satirical mirror for the inadequacies of the men around her.
The full 68-chapter narrative continues from the first part’s romantic and comedic setup into a grander arc: Sōng Bǎozhū eventually takes command of military forces, outwits male rivals (chapters 35–55), and rises to the rank of a senior official (dū xiàn 都憲), leading men in deliberations on military strategy (chapter 48: 諸大臣會議論軍情). By the final chapters she is a mature figure of power and virtue, and her marriage to Zhāng Shānrén 張山人 is celebrated as the culmination of both the romance and the moral allegory. The closing poem (quoted at the end of chapter 68) explains the title: “from now on, wake from the lánhuā mèng, and let virtue flow down a hundred generations.”
The text of KR4k0169 is substantially parallel to but not entirely identical to KR4k0168 in chapters 1–34 (minor variant readings exist between the two recensions, consistent with independent typesetting from possibly different manuscript sources or printings).
The novel is notable as an example of the “heroic woman” (nǚ yīngxióng 女英雄) subgenre of late-Qīng fiction that also includes works such as Jǐng Huā Yuán 鏡花緣 and Nǚ Wā Shí 女媧石. The pen name Yínméi Shānrén is unidentified in standard reference works. CBDB contains no entry.
Translations and research
- Mann, Susan. 1997. Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century. Stanford UP. (Background on Chinese literary representations of women; useful context for the “heroic woman” tradition.)
- Rosenlee, Li-Hsiang Lisa. 2006. Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation. SUNY Press. (Context for the gender dynamics of late-Qīng fiction.)
No English translation or dedicated scholarly study of this specific novel located.
Links
- KR4k0168 Lánhuā Mèng 蘭花夢 (Part One, 34 hui)