Qiǎo Yuānjiā 巧冤家
The Clever Wronged Family by 無名氏 (撰, anonymous)
About the work
Qiǎo Yuānjiā 巧冤家 is an anonymous Qīng-dynasty chapter novel (huí 回 format) of 29 chapters. The narrative follows the intertwined fortunes of a Zhèngguó Duke (鎮國公), the merchant Huáng Yuánwài 黃員外, and various officials and commoners caught up in cycles of injustice, loyalty, and eventual vindication. The plot spans feudal politics, legal drama, military campaigns against foreign adversaries, and romantic resolution, culminating in imperial recognition and the settlement of accumulated grievances. It belongs to the broad tradition of social-juridical fiction (gōng’àn 公案 and rénqíng 人情 hybrid) popular in the mid-to-late Qīng period.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
Qiǎo Yuānjiā is transmitted in a single-volume text in the Kanripo corpus, without attribution of author, publisher, or date. The title itself plays on the idiom “冤家” (adversaries / ill-fated pair) combined with “巧” (clever, coincidental), signaling the novel’s interest in ironic fate and legal redress.
The table of contents lists 29 chapters (the ToC heading shows 32 chapters by number but only 29 distinct chapter-title blocks are fully enumerated before the text proper begins, with some page-number irregularities suggesting a printing defect in the source edition). Chapter themes include the return of the Zhèngguó Duke to celebrate a birthday (回鄉祝壽), a series of abuses by corrupt officials, a campaign against foreign insurgents, a talent examination ordered by Emperor Shénzōng 神宗, the exposure of rebellion, and final rewards. The novel makes conventional use of military romance elements alongside gōng’àn scenes of court adjudication.
No preface, postface, or colophon survives in the Kanripo text. The author and original publication date are unknown. Internal references to the Míng emperor Shénzōng 神宗 (Wànlì reign) as the reigning ruler suggest a Míng historical setting for the narrative, though the novel is classified as Qīng in both the Kanripo catalog and the broader bibliographic tradition on stylistic and linguistic grounds. A mid-to-late Qīng date of composition (ca. 1840–1900) is plausible but cannot be confirmed without further bibliographic evidence.
The text has not been identified with any known separately published edition in the major Qīng fiction bibliographies.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.