Nǚwā Shí 女媧石
The Stone of Nüwa
by 海天獨嘯子 (撰)
About the work
Nǚwā Shí 女媧石 is a late-Qīng feminist and political novel (shèhuì xiǎoshuō 社會小說 / zhèngzhì xiǎoshuō 政治小說) in 16 huí 回 (chapters), published in two volumes (jiǎ juàn 甲卷, yǐ juàn 乙卷), composed under the pen name Hǎitiān Dú Xiào Zǐ 海天獨嘯子 (“Solitary Howler at the Sky over the Sea”). The preface, written by “Wòhǔ Làngshì” 臥虎浪士, describes the novel’s composition during an examination recess (xuéqī shìyàn zhī xiá 學期試驗之暇), situating the author as a student. The novel celebrates women’s liberation, revolutionary activism, and national self-strengthening through the stories of a group of heroic women, framing these themes through the mythological symbol of Nǚwā 女媧’s stone (the leftover rock from her repair of the sky — here reinterpreted as a symbol of female heroic potential).
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The preface by Wòhǔ Làngshì 臥虎浪士 records a conversation with Hǎitiān Dú Xiào Zǐ 海天獨嘯子, who explained his intention: to survey the full range of women’s talents — the spirited, the martial, the clever, the humorous, the literary, the educational — and condense them into a single imagined “women’s country” (yì nǚzǐ guó 意泡中之一女子國). The novel’s fán lì 凡例 (editorial principles) states explicitly that it was written in reaction to the era’s reform enthusiasm, identifying the novel as social medicine (shèhuì zhī yàoshí 社會之藥石), and notes that the author was from a border region (biān chuí 邊陲) and wrote in Mandarin despite his native dialect.
The central protagonist is Qín Fūrén 秦夫人, a resourceful and scientifically minded woman inventor who develops an “electric horse” (diàn mǎ 電馬) in chapter 9. Her companions include the swordswoman Yáosè 瑤瑟, the revolutionary activist Fèngkuí 鳳葵, and the martial artist Qióngyùxian 瓊仙. The chapter titles trace an escalating program of women’s revolutionary activism: female consciousness-raising (ch. 1), political assassination plots (ch. 3), joining a revolutionary party (ch. 7), inventing new technologies (ch. 9), overseas study (ch. 12), and finally a dream-vision of the future women’s nation (ch. 16: “Having a foolish dream, lamenting the women who have come into enlightenment; moved by laughter, finding quiet enlightenment to the fundamental source”).
The author declares at the end of volume one (jiǎ juàn) that the novel’s true “hero” (zhǔrén wēng 主人翁) has not yet appeared, suggesting that the ideal revolutionary woman remains beyond even the remarkable Qín Fūrén. The note jiǎ juàn yǐ wán 甲卷已完 (First volume complete) appears after chapter 8; the second volume (chapters 9–16) follows.
The pen name Hǎitiān Dú Xiào Zǐ has not been identified with a known historical author. The novel’s internal evidence — examination-recess composition, border-region origin, Mandarin-language narration with dialect interference — suggests a young student from a non-Jiāngnán region, possibly Húnán or another central-southern province, writing during the New Policies reform period (Xīnzhèng 新政, post-1901). The reference to “current reform” (gǎigé zhī chū 改革之初) and concern with women’s education, national salvation, and revolutionary politics are consistent with a composition date c. 1904–1907.
The title alludes to the myth of Nǚwā 女媧 repairing the sky with five-colored stones (《淮南子》version), with the “leftover stone” symbolizing unrealized female potential — precisely the mytho-literary frame used in Hónglóu Mèng 紅樓夢 for the jade stone (Bǎoyù 寶玉). This intertextual echo is explicit in the preface, which compares the novel’s agenda to subverting the tradition of Hónglóu Mèng (which the author criticizes for its passive, world-weary romanticism) in favor of martial-heroic womanhood.
Translations and research
- Hu Ying. 2000. Tales of Translation: Composing the New Woman in China, 1899–1918. Stanford UP. (Contextualizes the late-Qīng women’s emancipation novel genre.)
- Goodman, Bryna. 2004. “The New Woman Commits Suicide: The Press, Cultural Memory, and the New Republic.” Journal of Asian Studies 64.1. (Background on the women’s liberation fiction of the period.)
No translation of this specific novel located.
Other points of interest
The novel’s explicit comparison of itself with Hónglóu Mèng 紅樓夢 and Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn 水滸傳 in the preface — arguing that the former encourages passive romantic fatalism while the latter lacks a feminist vision — is an unusually programmatic statement of late-Qīng feminist literary theory.
Links
- No Wikipedia or Wikidata article identified for this specific text.
- Wikipedia — Nüwa (mythological figure at the center of the title)