Qīngcháo Sānbǎinián Yànshǐ Yǎnyì 清朝三百年豔史演義
Romance of the Three-Hundred-Year Scandalous History of the Qing Dynasty by 費只園 (撰)
About the work
Qīngcháo Sānbǎinián Yànshǐ Yǎnyì 清朝三百年豔史演義 is a Republican-era historical novel in chapter (huí 回) format by 費只園 (Fèi Zhǐyuán). The catalog records the author as “豔史演義” (a genre label rather than a name), but the source file clearly identifies the author as Fèi Zhǐyuán. The Kanripo text preserves the first part (dì yī bù 第一部). Despite the title suggesting a comprehensive “three-hundred-year” Qīng history, the narrative begins with the very last years of the Míng dynasty: the first chapters focus on the famous late-Míng figures 吳三桂 (Wú Sānguì), the courtesan 陳圓圓 (Chén Yuányuán), and the constellation of famous Qínhuái courtesans and literary men of the Nánjīng 南京 resistance period (1644–1645). Specifically named are the “Eight Beauties of Qínhuái” (Qínhuái bā yàn 秦淮八豔) figures: 顧橫波 (Gù Héngbō), 卞玉京 (Biàn Yùjīng), 馬婉容 (Mǎ Wǎnróng, i.e., 馬湘蘭), 柳如是 (Liǔ Rúshì), 董小宛 (Dǒng Xiǎowǎn, as “小宛”), 寇湄 (Kòu Méi), 李宛君 (Lǐ Wǎnjūn), and others.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The choice to open a “Qīng dynasty” yànshǐ with the fall of the Míng and the famous Qínhuái courtesans reflects the structural logic of the gōngtíng yànshǐ genre: the women of the late-Míng resistance period — particularly the eight famous Qínhuái courtesans who maintained their loyalist commitments while partnering with Míng loyalist literati — provided an ideal matrix of romantic pathos, historical tragedy, and moral drama. The eight Qínhuái beauties (Qínhuái bā yàn 秦淮八豔) were a canonical grouping already by the late Qīng, and their biographies had been romanticized in many earlier texts including KR4b drama collections.
The dominant romantic-political plot of the first chapters concerns 吳三桂 and 陳圓圓: Wú’s defection to the Manchus after Li Zìchéng 李自成 seized Chén Yuányuán; the fall of Nánjīng and the flight of the Southern Míng court; the fates of the various Qínhuái courtesans who attached themselves to loyalist scholars such as Mào Xiāngshu 冒辟疆 (who loved 董小宛) and Qián Qiānyì 錢謙益 (who married 柳如是). This was well-trodden narrative territory by the Republican era, immortalized in Wú Wéiyè’s 吳偉業 Yuányuán Qǔ 圓圓曲, in Kǒng Shàngrèn’s 孔尚任 chuánqí Táohuā Shàn 桃花扇, and in several earlier fictional treatments.
費只園 is otherwise unidentified. The catalog’s error — listing the author as “豔史演義” (a genre designation) — has been corrected from the source file.
Translations and research
- Waltner, Ann. 1981. “Widows and Remarriage in Ming and Early Qing China.” Historical Reflections 8.3: 129–146. (Background on female loyalty themes.)
- McMahon, Keith. 1995. Misers, Shrews, and Polygamists: Sexuality and Male-Female Relations in Eighteenth-Century Chinese Fiction. Duke University Press.