Liú Rìshī. Liú Yè Bēi Fēng: Liú Yè Bēi Fēng

Author: Jiang Liping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-07-01
Features: The frail willow leaves flutter helplessly in the cold rain and wind, just like the delicate Willow Risi in the turbulent tides of the late Ming and early Qing. This renowned courtesan of Jiangnan was well-versed in poetry and literature, excelling equally in calligraphy and painting, and was the joy of countless romantic scholars to behold. However, Willow Risi was far more than an ordinary courtesan. She admired the scholar-officials who bravely sacrificed for justice 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 famous figures in and out of court. In love, she was bold and passionate—her first love, Song Yuanwen, was pure and innocent, her later love, Chen Zilong, was tender and lingering, and her final union with the nearly sixty-year-old Qian Qianyi, a towering figure in literature, was astonishing 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 integrity and soul befell her family and every corner of the vast Chinese land.