Ride the Wind (Colored Illustrations and Text, Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: Han Bangqing (Qing Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: In the history of Chinese literature, after the Yuan Dynasty, vernacular popular fiction emerged as a new literary genre. Due to its ability to vividly depict historical events, portray human relationships, and celebrate legendary heroes in a convenient and accurate manner, it quickly gained recognition among literate people across all social strata, leading to rapid development. The Flowers of Shanghai (Haihuahua Liezhuan) is a long narrative vernacular novel written in the late Qing Dynasty. Lu Xun included it in the category of "Qing Dynasty's erotic novels" in A Brief History of Chinese Fiction. The entire work consists of 64 chapters, depicting the scenes of Shanghai brothels and the lives of various characters who frequent them, reflecting the social life of the time, including the bureaucracy and business world. The narrative is written in Mandarin, while the dialogue is in Wu dialect, bringing the characters' expressions and appearances to life. This technique of incorporating Wu dialect into the novel is likely a pioneering effort by the author. However, this approach also presents certain reading challenges for readers outside the Wu-speaking region. To assist, we have appended the text written by Hu Shi, Liu Banruo, and Wang Yuanfang in the 1920s for the Shanghai Yadong Library edition of The Flowers of Shanghai, for reference during reading.