Shùnzhì Chūjiā 順治出家
The Shunzhi Emperor Enters the Monkhood by 陳蓮痕 (撰)
About the work
Shùnzhì Chūjiā 順治出家 is a Republican-era romantic-historical novel by 陳蓮痕 (Chén Liánhén), treating the famous legend of the Shùnzhì Emperor’s 順治帝 (Fúlín 福臨, r. 1644–1661) departure from the throne and entry into Buddhist monkhood. The work belongs to the cluster of Qīng court scandal-romances by the same author that also includes KR4k0307 Qiánlóng Xiū Qī and KR4k0323 Tóngzhì Piāoyuàn. The narrative opens with an authorial framing commentary “On passionate love — explaining the circumstances in detail” (Lùn chīqíng xìshuō yuányóu 論癡情細說緣由) and then introduces the romantic heroine whose life will intersect with the Emperor’s. The chapter titles trace the romance from first meeting, through court intrigue, to the Emperor’s eventual spiritual crisis and renunciation.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The legend that the Shùnzhì Emperor did not die of smallpox (the official account) but instead secretly withdrew from court and became a Buddhist monk was one of the most popular historical legends of the Qīng period, circulating from at least the late Qīng in both scholarly and popular form. The legend was associated with the story of the Shùnzhì Emperor’s passionate love for Consort Dǒng 董鄂妃 (1639–1660), a woman of the Dǒngéluó 棟鄂 clan who became his favorite consort and died at age 22, after which the Emperor fell into depression and died (officially from smallpox) the following year at age 23. Popular legend elaborated this: Consort Dǒng was identified (without historical basis) as the famous late-Míng courtesan Dǒng Xiǎowǎn 董小宛, who had been the concubine of the loyalist scholar Mào Xiāngshu 冒辟疆; the Emperor, overcome with grief at her death, took vows at the Hǎi Huì temple under the Chan master Xíngchēn 行癡 and remained a monk, with the official death being a cover story.
陳蓮痕 exploits this romantic legend to full dramatic effect, constructing an extended narrative of the Emperor’s love affair with a fallen beauty from the entertainment world (fēngtún xiá 風塵俠妓), the jealousy and machinations of the court women, and the spiritual crisis that leads to renunciation. The format of numbered sections (一, 二, 三…) rather than conventional twin-couplet chapter headings (huí 回) gives the text a somewhat more literary register than some other works in the genre.
Translations and research
- Hummel, Arthur W., ed. 1943. Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period. Library of Congress. (Entry on the Shùnzhì Emperor and Consort Dǒng.)
- Struve, Lynn A. 1984. The Southern Ming, 1644–1662. Yale University Press. (Historical context for the Shùnzhì reign period.)