Lǜ Mǔdān 綠牡丹
The Green Peony by 無名氏 (anonymous)
About the work
Lǜ Mǔdān 綠牡丹 is an anonymous Qīng zhānghúi 章回 novel in sixty-four chapters, set against the backdrop of the Táng empress Wǔ Zétiān’s 武則天 regency and the efforts of the Lúlíng Prince Lǐ Xiǎn 廬陵王李顯 to reclaim the Táng throne. It is a pivotal text in the literary transition from the historical-romance (yǎnyì 演義) and knight-errant (háoke 豪客) traditions toward the xiáyì gōng’àn 俠義公案 (chivalric-court-case) genre that flourished in the mid–late Qīng period. Also known under the alternate titles Hóng Bì Yuán 宏碧緣 (taking one character each from the heroes Luò Hóngxùn 駱宏勳 and Huā Bìlián 花碧蓮), Sì Wàng Tíng Quánzhuàn 四望亭全傳, Xù Fǎn Táng Zhuàn 續反唐傳, and Fǎn Táng Hòuzhuàn 反唐後傳.
Prefaces
No tiyao found in source. The source file opens with a table of contents and the first chapter without a prefatory essay. The 1831 Jièzǐyuán 芥子園 woodblock-print edition bears a first preface signed “Èrrútíng Zhǔrén jǐn shū” 二如亭主人謹書 and a colophon signed “Chángzhōu Àiliàn Jūshì màntí yú Jièzǐyuán” 長洲愛蓮居士漫題於芥子園; the identities of both pseudonymous signatories are unknown.
Abstract
The novel narrates the adventures of a group of heroes and heroines — chiefly Luò Hóngxùn 駱宏勳, Rèn Zhèngqiān 任正千, Huā Zhènfāng 花振芳, Bào Cì’ān 鮑賜安, Huā Bìlián 花碧蓮, and Bào Jīnhuā 鮑金花 — who combat local tyrants and heterodox practitioners while rallying to restore the Lúlíng Prince to the throne. The “green peony” of the title derives from the imperial examination topic that Empress Wǔ reputedly set for a special examination open to women, on which the three female protagonists place first. The title Hóng Bì Yuán emphasizes instead the love story between Luò Hóngxùn and Huā Bìlián.
The work’s authorship and dating are uncertain. The earliest identified woodblock printing is the Jièzǐyuán 芥子園 edition of Dàoguāng 11th year (1831), which provides a terminus ante quem; composition may have preceded this by some decades. The novel stands at a transitional point: it inherits the large battle-field formations (zhèn 陣) and magical combat (dòu fǎ 鬥法) of “Shuō Táng” 說唐-type sequels, while anticipating the episodic chivalric structure of later gōng’àn fiction such as Sān Xiá Wǔ Yì 三俠五義. Its chapter structure, combat scenes, and romance subplots were extensively drawn upon by Jīng opera (jīngjù 京劇), Chuān opera (chuānjù 川劇), and other regional theatrical traditions.
The Kanripo text presents sixty-four huí, matching the known standard print recension. No modern critical edition has been identified.
Translations and research
- Keulemans, Paize. 2014. Sound Rising from the Paper: Nineteenth-Century Martial Arts Fiction and the Acoustic Imagination. Harvard University Press. (Places Lǜ Mǔdān in the broader context of court-case and martial-arts fiction.)
- Chen, Pingyuan. 2016. The Development of Chinese Martial Arts Fiction: A History of Martial Arts Literature. Victor Peterson, tr. Cambridge University Press.
No English translation located. No monograph specifically devoted to 綠牡丹 located.