Qīnggōng Yuàn 清宮怨
Lament of the Qing Palace by 喬軒 (撰)
About the work
Qīnggōng Yuàn 清宮怨 is a Republican-era romantic-historical novel by 喬軒 (Qiáo Xuān) in 10 chapters plus a brief coda (qūzhōng 曲終, “end of the music”). The preface opens with a cí 詞 lyric by Zhāng Xiān 張先 (Púsà Mán 菩薩蠻) on the theme of sorrow and separation, and the narrative begins with the death of Nǔrhāchì 努爾哈赤 (the “Tiānmìng Khan” Tiānmìng Hán 天命汗) in Shěnyáng 瀋陽 on the 11th day of the 8th month of the 11th year of the Tiānmìng reign (1626 CE). The opening situates the reader in the moment of dynastic crisis following Nǔrhāchì’s death and the struggle for succession among the Aisin Gioro princes. The narrative centers on the figure of the Zhuāng Fēi 莊妃 — later the Empress Dowager Zhuāng 孝莊太后 (1613–1688), mother of the Shùnzhì Emperor and grandmother of the Kāngxī Emperor — and her role in the early Qīng court politics.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
Qīnggōng Yuàn draws on the richly fictionalized tradition surrounding the “Lament of the Qing palace” (Qīnggōng yuàn 清宮怨), centered on the court of the founding decades. The figure of Zhuāng Fēi / Empress Dowager Zhuāng 孝莊文皇后 (Bumbutai, 1613–1688) — the most politically astute woman of the early Qīng — was a favorite subject of popular fiction. The famous rumor (which circulated already in the late Qīng and was greatly elaborated in Republican popular culture) that she had a romantic relationship with the regent Duōěrgǔn 多爾袞 (Dorgon, 1612–1650) provided the central dramatic tension for many such works.
The choice of the Púsà Mán lyric by Zhāng Xiān as the preface epigraph — with its themes of departure, separation, and unspoken sorrow — signals the romantic-elegiac register of the narrative. The closing coda (qūzhōng 曲終) signals a musical-theatrical structuring of the narrative, appropriate to the yuàn 怨 (lament) genre.
喬軒 is otherwise unidentified; the name may be a pen name. No biographical data has been located.
Translations and research
- Hummel, Arthur W., ed. 1943. Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period. Library of Congress. (See entries for Empress Dowager Zhuāng and Dorgon.)
- Oxnam, Robert B. 1970. “Policies and Institutions of the Oboi Regency, 1661–1669.” Journal of Asian Studies 32.2: 265–286.