Mirror Fluctuation - Classical Novel (Pocket Edition)

Author: Li Ruzhen (Qing Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-07-01
Features: Flowers in the Mirror reflects an era that is not the author's own Qing Dynasty but is instead set in the period of the Tang Dynasty Empress Wu Zetian. Although the author employs romanticism to depict a fantastical overseas world filled with strange and miraculous stories, this extraordinary fictional world actually reflects the real social reality of the time. The narrative thread of the entire book is simple and clear. In terms of structure, the book can be divided into two parts. The first fifty chapters follow the protagonist Tang Ao, who fails the imperial examination and feels disheartened and melancholic. He then travels overseas with his sister-in-law Lin Zhiyang, guided by the ship's crewman Duo Jiugong, observing the strange and extraordinary customs of over forty countries. He eventually seeks immortality on Little Penglai and does not return. The chief of the flower spirits, the Hundred Flowers Immortal, is reborn as Tang Ao's daughter, named Xiaoshan. Xiaoshan, deeply longing for her father, sets sail to search for him and unexpectedly discovers a "Heavenly Book" on Little Penglai. The latter fifty chapters begin with Empress Wu Zetian initiating a women's imperial examination, where the disgraced deities all pass the exam. They then reunite with the human world, and Xiaoshan returns to the immortal mountain. The ending depicts Emperor Zhongzong of Tang restoring the monarchy, and Empress Wu Zetian issues an edict to hold another women's imperial examination the following year.