Illustrated Biography of Yue Fei

Author: Qian Cai
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-03-01
Features: Chinese classical novels, which have undergone significant development over thousands of years, from the classical Chinese "Small Fragments of Words" in the pre-Qin period to the vernacular chaptered long novels in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the history of literature, from ancient myths to Wei-Jin Qingtan, fables, humorous tales, supernatural legends, storytelling, and narrative fiction, all have flourished with unique styles, leading the trends. With unparalleled popular appeal and readability compared to other literary genres, they have gained widespread recognition and dissemination among the masses, greatly enriching the treasure trove of classical literature and becoming a popular medium for cultural and historical knowledge. As a result, various classical novels have remained ever-relevant.
Illustrations and engravings are a traditional art form in Chinese classical novels, serving to highlight the plot, interpret the artistic conception, and provide both entertainment and self-reflection. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, this practice has become fashionable. The Ming and Qing periods were a time of prosperity for both woodblock printing art and vernacular and legendary novels. Various styles and schools of illustrated novels were widely published, with a flourishing display of literary heritage left for later generations to draw upon. In today's era where reading images has become a fashionable aesthetic trend, to cater to the aesthetic tastes of readers and fully utilize this rich traditional cultural resource, we have specially launched the "Illustrated Classical Novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties Series" to revitalize this ancient Chinese classical novel illustration art and add brilliance to publishing. We hope this series will bring vitality to the publishing of cultural ancient books today.
The full title of The Complete Story of Yue Fei is The Splendid Story of Yue Fei's Loyalty and the Complete Biography of Yue Wang. It consists of twenty volumes and eighty chapters, attributed to "Qian Cai, the literary compiler of Renhe, and Jin Feng, the enricher of Yongfu, greatly prosperous." The life stories of Qian Cai and Jin Feng are unclear. According to the ending of Jin Feng's preface, the book was published in the early Qing Dynasty, likely a scholar from the lower strata of society. The earliest edition of this book is the Jin Family's Yuqing Hall printing. The title page of this edition is inscribed with Jin Feng's preface and the note at the end: "Written in the first spring of Jiazi at Yuqing Hall." Based on the Qing Dynasty's "General Catalog of Forbidden Books," the book was banned during the Qianlong era. The "Jiazi" mentioned in Jin's preface should be either the ninth year of Qianlong (1744) or even earlier, the twenty-third year of Kangxi (1684). Subsequent editions such as the Jinchun Hall and Fuwen Hall versions were all reprints of the Yuqing Hall edition.