Four Great Satirical Novels of Late Qing Dynasty: A Record of the Strange Phenomena Witnessed in Twenty Years

Author: Wu Yanren (Qing Dynasty), edited by Jin Xing and Shu Qun for punctuation
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-04-01
Features: One of the Four Great Satirical Novels of the Late Qing Dynasty. The entire book follows the main character "Nine Deaths and One Life" as its primary thread, from his journey to mourn his father to his eventual business failure. Through the experiences and observations of "Nine Deaths and One Life" over twenty years, it extensively exposes the dark realities of the late Qing Dynasty in a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society. Strange Currents is a representative work of Wu Yanren. It was first serialized in the New Fiction magazine from 1903 to 1905, and from 1906 onwards, it was published as separate volumes by Shanghai Guangzhi Bookstore (each volume contained 12 chapters, with the complete set finally published in 1910, totaling 108 chapters). The book follows the main character "Nine Deaths and One Life" as its primary thread, from his journey to mourn his father to his eventual business failure. Strange Currents exposes the dark realities of the late Qing Dynasty in a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society through the experiences and observations of "Nine Deaths and One Life" over twenty years. The book introduces itself by saying: "In the twenty years I spent in the world, looking back, I have only encountered three things: first are insects, snakes, rats, and ants; second are jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards; and third are demons and ghosts. Strange Currents covers a wide range of topics, including the officialdom, the business world, and the foreign-influenced areas, and because of its broad scope, it has had a significant impact. Lu Xun's Outline of the History of Chinese Fiction provides a very accurate evaluation of it: 'The author has had extensive life experiences, so the types of people he describes are also numerous—officials, teachers, scholars, and merchants are all recorded. However, the descriptions sometimes exaggerate and occasionally border on excessive vilification, and when the words deviate from the truth, their emotional impact diminishes. Ultimately, it remains just a series of sensational topics, only sufficient as idle chatter for leisurely readers.'" Lu Xun placed great importance on the truth of life and the truth of art. Wu Yanren and Li Boyuan, among others, indeed fell into the major pitfalls of realistic literature by exaggerating and distorting the facts. This may also be one of the important reasons why the late Qing literary scene failed to produce great writers and great works.