Qīngcháo Mìshǐ 清朝秘史
Secret History of the Qing Dynasty by 陸士諤 (撰)
About the work
Qīngcháo Mìshǐ 清朝秘史 is a multi-volume historical novel by 陸士諤 (Lù Shì’è), one of the most prolific and commercially successful popular fiction writers of the Republican era. The Kanripo text is large (approximately 285 chapters), covering the entire span of the Qīng dynasty from its origins with Nǔrhāchì 努爾哈赤 through the Qīng conquest of China. The first chapter is titled “Qīng Tàizǔ zhì tūn Huáxià — Jítè Fēi chūliè chūnjiāo” 清太祖志吞華夏‧吉特妃出獵春郊 (“The Qīng founder aspired to swallow all China — Consort Jítè hunts in the spring suburbs”). The novel follows the classic gōngtíng mìshǐ 宮廷秘史 format, interspersing political and military narrative with romantic-intrigue episodes involving imperial women. Major historical figures in the chapter sequence include Yuán Chónghuàn 袁崇煥, Hóng Chénghóu 洪承疇, Wú Sānguì 吳三桂, and the regent Duōěrgǔn 多爾袞, along with the “Consort Jítè” (Jítè Fēi 吉特妃, i.e., Empress Dowager Zhuāng 孝莊文皇后, also called Hailanzu).
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
陸士諤 (Lù Shì’è, 1878–1944) was a prolific Shanghai popular fiction and social novel writer. A doctor of traditional Chinese medicine by training, he became one of Shanghai’s most productive fiction writers, publishing dozens of novels across multiple genres including social criticism (shèhuì xiǎoshuō 社會小說), martial arts fiction (xiáyì xiǎoshuō 俠義小說), science fiction (kēhuàn xiǎoshuō 科幻小說), and historical fiction. His 1910 science fiction story Xīn Zhōngguó 新中國 is a famous early example of Chinese utopian science fiction, correctly predicting that Shanghai would host a World Exposition.
Qīngcháo Mìshǐ belongs to the historical-romantic vein of Lù’s extensive output. The novel covers the full arc of the Qīng founding: the Manchu military campaigns against Ming China, the treachery and execution of Yuán Chónghuàn (presented as a loyal Ming general betrayed by palace politics), the defection of Hóng Chénghóu after capture, Wú Sānguì’s fateful decision to open the Shānhǎi Pass (yīnù chōngguàn 一怒沖冠, “one rage upsets all for a beauty” — the famous cliché for Wú’s decision to summon the Manchus for love of Chén Yuányuán), and the establishment of the Qīng in Beijing under regent Duōěrgǔn. The romantic subplot involving “Consort Jítè” — identified in later chapters with the Empress Dowager Zhuāng — is a standard feature of the genre.
Translations and research
- Des Forges, Roger V. 2003. Cultural Centrality and Political Change in Chinese History: Northeast Henan in the Fall of the Ming. Stanford University Press. (Background on Míng-Qīng transition period.)
- Wakeman, Frederic Jr. 1985. The Great Enterprise. 2 vols. University of California Press.
Links
- Lù Shì’è: Wikipedia (Chinese)
- Yuán Chónghuàn: Wikipedia