Zēng Pǔ 曾樸 (1872–1935), courtesy name Mèngpǔ 孟樸, pen name Dōng Yà Bìng Fū 東亞病夫 (“Sick Man of East Asia”), was a Qīng and Republican-era novelist, publisher, and translator from Chángshū 常熟 (Jiāngsū). He is best known as the principal author of Nièhǎi Huā 孽海花 (KR4k0188), one of the four great late-Qīng novels. His dates (1872–1935) are confirmed by the Qīngdài rénwù shēngzú niánbiǎo 清代人物生卒年表 and preserved in CBDB (id 90320).
Zēng came from a prominent literati family — his father Zēng Jìfēn 曾紀芬 was a son-in-law of Zēng Guófān 曾國藩 — and received a classical education. He participated in late-Qīng reform circles and was closely acquainted with many of the historical figures fictionalized in Nièhǎi Huā. He founded the Zhēnměi Shàn 真美善 (Truth, Beauty, Goodness) publishing house in Shanghai in the 1920s, which published his final edition of the novel and introduced French literature to Chinese readers through his series of translations (including works by Zola and others). He also translated Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables partially into Chinese.
Nièhǎi Huā was begun in collaboration with the poet Jīn Sōngjén 金松岑, who wrote the first six chapters (c. 1903–04); Zēng took sole authorship from chapter 7. The novel was serialized from 1904 in the journal Xiǎoshuō Lín 小說林 and was not completed to 35 chapters until 1927–28.