Liu Rushi. Willow leaves mourn the wind

Author: Jiang Liping
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: Delicate willow leaves flutter helplessly in the cold rain and wind, just like the petite Willow Risi in the turbulent currents of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. This once-famous Jiangnan courtesan was well-versed in poetry and literature, excelling in both painting and calligraphy, making countless romantic scholars fortunate to catch a glimpse of her beauty. However, Willow Risi was far from an ordinary courtesan. She admired scholars who bravely sacrificed for their ideals and often compared herself to a Confucian scholar. With an aloof and noble temperament, she deeply worried about the chaos of the times and frequently engaged in poetic exchanges with prominent figures in and out of court. In love, she was bold and passionate—her first love, Song Yuanwen, was full of innocence, her later love, Chen Zilong, was deeply devoted, and her final union with the nearly sixty-year-old Qian Qianyi, a towering figure in the literary world, was shocking and fiery. Just as Willow Risi had painstakingly fought for her own life, the Ming Dynasty fell, the Qing forces invaded the south, and another trial of human will and soul struck her family and every corner of the vast Chinese land.