Yīngxióng Lèi 英雄淚
The Hero’s Tears by 冷血生 (撰)
About the work
Yīngxióng Lèi 英雄淚 is a late Qing patriotic novel in 4 volumes (juǎn 卷) and 26 chapters (huí 回) by the pseudonymous author 冷血生 Lěngxuèshēng (“One born of cold blood”). The full title of the stone-print edition is Xiùxiàng Yīngxióng Lèi Guóshì Bēi Héke 繡像英雄淚國事悲合刻 (“The Illustrated Hero’s Tears and National Lament, Combined Edition”). The novel uses the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 as its subject matter, centering on the Korean patriot Ān Zhònggēn 安重根 (Korean: An Jung-geun), who assassinated the Japanese statesman Itō Hirobumi 伊藤博文 (Itō Hirofumi) at Harbin in 1909.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
The source file in Kanripo opens with a modern editorial note (tíyào 提要, not original to the text) that provides key bibliographic information: “A Qing dynasty novel. 4 volumes, 26 chapters. Found in the stone-print illustrated edition Yīngxióng Lèi Guóshì Bēi 繡像英雄淚國事悲合刻. Signed ‘雞林冷血生著’ [Written by Lěngxuèshēng of Jilin (i.e., Korea)]. The real name is unknown. Chén Jǐnghán 陳景韓, who edited Xiǎoshuō Shíbào 小說時報, often used ‘冷血’ as a pen name; whether the two are connected is here recorded for further investigation. The text in the stone-print pocket edition from Shanghai. The narrative repeatedly refers to ‘our great Qing.’ The self-preface states: ‘In the mid-autumn of gēngxū [1910], Korea was annexed by Japan. I then used the causes and consequences of Korea’s destruction as my material, and composed this book with the aim of encouraging the people to strengthen themselves. The book was completed in three months and some days.’ Hence the work was composed approximately between late 1910 and early 1911.”
Abstract
The novel follows three main narrative threads. First, the rise of Japan through Itō Hirobumi’s Meiji reforms is traced in detail (chapters 1–7). Second, Korea’s deteriorating situation under Japanese pressure — the dismissal of the Joseon court’s conservative regent, the assassination of Queen Min, the Sino-Japanese War, and the 1905 protectorate treaty — is narrated through the eyes of Korean patriots. Third, and most importantly, the story of Ān Zhònggēn 安重根 is told: his father’s assassination by the Japanese en route to Pyongyang, his rescue by the patriotic general Yún Zàixiāo 雲在霄, his education under the tutor Hóu Yuánshǒu 侯元首, his journey to America for study, and ultimately the assassination of Itō at Harbin station and his subsequent execution.
The self-preface (signed “冷血生”) is dated “mid-autumn of gēngxū” (庚戌仲秋, 1910), noting that the Japanese annexation of Korea that year moved the author to write the novel as a warning to Chinese readers. The narrative is peppered with calls to national self-strengthening and explicit comparisons between Korea’s fate and China’s dangerous situation. The style mixes vernacular narrative with inserted verse, characteristic of late Qing fiction.
The pen name 雞林冷血生 — “Lěngxuèshēng of Jilin” — is ambiguous: Jīlín 雞林 is an archaic name for Korea (from the ancient Korean state of Silla 新羅, also known as Jīlín 雞林), which would make the author claim Korean identity. More likely, this is a literary device to signal intimate knowledge of Korea. The bibliographic note in the Kanripo source file raises the possibility that the author is Chén Jǐnghán 陳景韓 (1878–1906, sometimes called Chén Lěngxuè 陳冷血), a journalist and fiction editor who used the pen name “冷血”; however, Chén died in 1906, before the 1910 date in the self-preface, making direct authorship impossible unless the preface’s date was added later. The identification remains unresolved. The Kanripo note records it “for further investigation” (lù yǐ dài kǎo 錄以待考).
Translations and research
- Ouyang Jian 歐陽健 et al. Zhōngguó tōngsú xiǎoshuō zǒngmù tíyào 中國通俗小說總目提要. Zhongguo wenlian, 1990. Bibliographic entry.
No substantial Western-language secondary literature specifically on this work located.
Other points of interest
The protagonist Ān Zhònggēn 安重根 (1879–1910) is the historical Korean independence activist who assassinated Itō Hirobumi at Harbin railway station on 26 October 1909 and was executed on 26 March 1910 — the year the novel’s preface is dated. The novel is thus a near-contemporary fictionalization of events that had just occurred, using Korea’s fall as a moral lesson for Chinese readers. The use of the pen name “cold blood” (lěngxuè 冷血) ironically contrasts with the hot-blooded patriotic content: “cold blood” in late Qing usage could mean both “callousness” and a detached, analytical perspective on events.