Flowers in the Wicked Sea (Illustrated Edition)

Author: (Qing) Zeng Pu / Zhang Minggao Annotation
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: To understand The Sea of Peril, a brief introduction to the author's life is provided. Zeng Pu (1872—1935), styled Mengpu, styled Zhuozhai, and penning under the name "Eastern Asian Patient," was born into a scholarly family in Changshu, Suzhou Prefecture, a region renowned for its cultural richness. The Sea of Peril is one of the late Qing Dynasty's novels (socially critical fiction), an unfinished yet outstanding novel that was widely popular and full of suspense. Its publication caused a sensation in the literary circles of the early 20th century, being reprinted over ten times in a short period and achieving "sales of around 100,000 copies, setting a unique record." This book is based on the 1941 reprinted edition, with the last five chapters verified against the original text published in the Zhenshanmei (Truth, Beauty, and Goodness) magazine. All thirty-three illustrations are selected from the first edition, and annotations are provided at the end of each chapter for the convenience of readers. The Sea of Peril is an unfinished yet outstanding novel that was widely popular and full of suspense. It was even continued by others during the late Qing Dynasty. For instance, Lu Shige extended the twenty chapters of the Xinshu Lin (Forest of New Books) edition to sixty-two chapters in the late years of the Xuantong era, but due to legal disputes and the burning of the printed copies, it was not recognized by Zeng Pu himself. Zhang Hong, styled Yangu, in his Continuation of The Sea of Peril, added thirty more chapters to the thirty-chapter continuation, compiling it into the sixteenth to thirtieth volumes, totaling sixty chapters, covering the events up to the Anglo-French Alliance's invasion of Beijing in the eighth month of the Guangxu year. He was Zeng Pu's hometown compatriot, a classmate at the Tongwen School, and served together as an Inner Court Secretary. Their life experiences were similar, and Zeng Pu had discussed the continuation with him, placing hope in it.