The Story of the Young Heroes and Heroines

Author: Wen Kang [Qing] / He Xiaoya (ed.)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2004-04-01
Features: In the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, a new genre of popular fiction emerged in China—children and heroes novels. Its representative work is The Story of the Heroic Son and the Beautiful Daughter. Wen Kang, a member of the Eight Banners aristocracy, wrote this story during his later years of hardship and boredom. He was not satisfied with the heroic displays of prowess and the poetic exchanges between lovers. Instead, he gathered the virtues of heroes, heroines, and great sages into his beloved character, the thirteen-year-old girl, Sister Thirteen. Meanwhile, he portrayed the young nobleman An Ji as a scholar who excelled in imperial examinations, ultimately achieving high rank and enjoying great wealth and luxury.
The special strength of The Story of the Heroic Son and the Beautiful Daughter lies in the vivid, elegant, playful, and witty vernacular language. Wen Kang wrote in Beijing dialect, incorporating a wealth of colloquial expressions. The lively, expressive, and humorous style often makes readers forget the superficiality of his creative ideas, immersing them in the pleasure brought by the brilliant language. The dialogue in the novel is particularly outstanding. Wen Kang must have carefully studied the tones, postures, and psychological states of various characters in real life, so the conversations he wrote are lifelike and vivid. Describing them as "captivating" is truly fitting.
The book depicts a bureaucratic case that occurred from the late Kangxi era to the early Yongzheng era in the Qing Dynasty. On one hand, it exposes the darkness of the court and the hardships of the times. On the other hand, it creates several vivid and lifelike characters. An Xuehai’s experiences on the riverworks cannot but remind readers of the past days of corrupt officials and suffering people. Moreover, the author’s portrayal of characters showcases his unique creative talent. For example: the gentle and refined An Gong, who is as delicate as a daughter; the spirited and valiant Sister Thirteen; the gentle and graceful Zhang Jinfeng; and the rough yet bold Deng Jiugong.
The novel has forty chapters and over 500,000 words, making it long and cumbersome. After editing and rewriting, only the essence of the book remains, making it worth the careful reading of young friends.