Liánchéng Bì 連城璧
A Jade of Incomparable Value
by 李漁 (撰)
About the work
Liánchéng Bì 連城璧, literally “the jade disc worth a row of cities” (an allusion to the legendary Hé Shì bì 和氏璧), is a collection of twelve vernacular short stories (huàběn 話本 fiction) by Lǐ Yú 李漁 (1611–1680), arranged in twelve juǎn 卷. Each story is a self-contained narrative in the tradition of late-Míng huaben fiction, exploring themes of love, marriage, fidelity, jealousy, commerce, and unexpected reversals of fortune. The title implies that the moral exemplars in the stories are as precious as the legendary jade. A companion volume, Liánchéng Bì Wàibiān 連城璧外編 KR4k0175, adds six further stories.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Prefaces
The Kanripo text opens directly with the table of contents and then the first story, without a separate preface. The collection uses the huàběn format: each juǎn begins with a poem or lyric (cí), followed by an introductory moral framing, and then the main story.
Abstract
Lǐ Yú 李漁 (1611–1680; CBDB 65737), hào Lìwēng 笠翁, was one of the most prolific literary figures of the late-Míng/early-Qīng transition. Born in Lán Xī 蘭溪 (Zhèjiāng), he operated his own publishing house (the Jiè Zǐ Yuán 芥子園) in Nanjing, and is widely recognized as a major voice in fiction, drama, and cultural commentary. Wilkinson discusses Lǐ Yú under §31.2 (Li Yu 李漁 “1610–80”) and §36.21, noting his eclectic literary production and cultural authority on late imperial taste.
Liánchéng Bì belongs to the tradition of the late-Míng huàběn short story pioneered by Féng Mènglóng 馮夢龍 (Sānyán 三言) and Líng Mēngchū 凌濛初 (Erpai 二拍). Lǐ Yú’s stories, however, are entirely his own compositions rather than reworkings of earlier material, and they reflect his personal preoccupations: jealousy and its remedies (liáodù 療妒), the relative claims of fidelity and pragmatism in marriage, and moral paradoxes that undercut conventional Confucian pieties. The twelve stories in the Kanripo text are:
- Juǎn 1: 譚楚玉戲裏傳情 / 劉藐姑曲終死節 (actress’s love and fidelity unto death)
- Juǎn 2: 老星家戲改八字 / 窮皂隸陡發萬金 (fate manipulation and sudden fortune)
- Juǎn 3: 乞兒行好事 / 皇帝做媒人 (beggar’s virtue rewarded by imperial matchmaking)
- Juǎn 4: 清官不受扒灰謗 / 義士難伸竊婦冤(upright official and thwarted justice)
- Juǎn 5: 美女同遭花燭冤 / 村郎偏享溫柔福 (wedding night injustice and rustic good fortune)
- Juǎn 6: 遭風遇盜致奇贏 / 讓本還財成巨富 (merchant adventure, generosity rewarded)
- Juǎn 7: 妒妻守有夫之寡 / 懦夫還不死之魂 (jealous wife and faint-hearted husband)
- Juǎn 8: 妻妾敗綱常 / 梅香完節操 (wife, concubine, and maidservant’s loyalty)
- Juǎn 9: 寡婦設計贅新郎 / 衆美齊心奪才子(widow’s stratagem and collective feminine plot)
- Juǎn 10: 吃新醋正室蒙冤 / 續舊歡家堂和事 (jealousy, false accusation, and reconciliation)
- Juǎn 11: 重義奔喪奴僕好 / 貪財殞命子孫愚 (loyal servants vs. greedy heirs)
- Juǎn 12: 貞女守貞來異謗 / 朋儕相謔致奇冤 (chaste woman slandered; friends’ jest causes disaster)
The collection is generally dated to the late 1650s, consistent with Lǐ Yú’s period of active fiction-writing in Nanjing before his move to Hangzhou. Lǐ Yú’s fiction was long excluded from respectable literary discussion because of its frank treatment of sexuality and marital conflict, but it has received increasing scholarly attention since the 1980s.
Translations and research
- Patrick Hanan. The Invention of Li Yu. Harvard University Press, 1988. The standard English monograph on Lǐ Yú’s fiction; essential reference.
- Patrick Hanan, tr. “A Tower for the Summer Heat” (Xia Yi story) and other translations in various anthologies.
- Lars Berglund. Studies on Li Yu’s fiction in Asia Major and T’oung Pao.
- Wai-yee Li. Enchantment and Disenchantment: Love and Illusion in Chinese Literature. Princeton University Press, 1993. Covers Lǐ Yú’s fiction in the context of late imperial love literature.