Ernü yingxiong zhuan 兒女英雄傳

Ernü yingxiong zhuan 兒女英雄傳 "The tale of heroic sons and daughters", also called Ernü yingxioang zhuan pinghua 兒女英雄傳評話 is a full-length vernacular novel. It was originally titled Jinyuyuan 金玉緣 "A bond of gold and jade", Xianü qiyuan 俠女奇緣, Rixia xinshu 日下新書 and Zhengfa yanzang wushisan can 正法眼藏五十三參. An illustrated edition is called Huitu pingdian Ernü yingxiong zhuan 繪圖評點兒女英雄傳. The work is attributed to an author signing himself "Leisurely Man of Yanbei" (Yanbei Xianren 燕北閑人). The extant version consists of 40 juan 卷, of an original size of 53 chapters. Some sequels invented additional stories to fill the gap.

In chapter 32, the book contains commentary on figures from the novel Pinhua baojian 品花寶鑒. The work Shuyuan zuitan 菽園贅談, when discussing the Pinhua baojian, remarks that the Ernü yingxiong zhuan appeared afterward. Therefore, this novel was most likely completed after the publication of Pinhua baojian in 1849. At the beginning of the book are a preface allegedly written by the master of the Studio Guanjianwozhai 觀鑒我齋 in 1734 and an introductory note by a person dubbed Donghai Wuliaoweng 東海吾了翁 in 1794. Both names are clearly pseudonyms of the author.

The person Yanbei Xianren was in fact Wenkang 文康 (b. 1794), whose exact birth and death dates are unknown. His clan name was Foimo (Ch. Feimo 費莫), and his courtesy name was Tiexian 鐵仙. He was a Manchu of the Bordered Red Banner (xianghong qi 鑲紅旗) and a grandson of Leboo (Ch. Lebao 勒保, 1740-1819). Wenkang himself obtained office through purchase as a secretary (langzhong 郎中) in the Court of Colonial Affairs (lifanyuan 理藩院), was later appointed as a prefect, and was repeatedly promoted to the rank of surveillance commissioner (guanchashi 觀察使). After resigning to observe mourning, he returned home. In his later years, his sons proved unworthy and his family fortunes declined, so he wrote this book as a means of consolation. Throughout his life, Wenkang personally experienced the decline of the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911), both politically and within his family, yet he refused to accept it. Through this novel, he attempted to inspire the younger generation of the Eight Banners (baqi 八旗) to revive themselves and thereby prolong the rule of the Qing dynasty.

For this reason, he criticised Cao Xueqin 曹雪芹 (1715-1763), the author of the famous novel Hongloumeng 紅樓夢 "Dream of the Red Chamber", for failing to portray a single wholly good person in the fictional Jia 賈 family, nor even to utter a single word of praise for it. In contrast, Wenkang deliberately took the opposite approach: by depicting a family in which all five Confucian relationships (wulun 五倫) are perfectly fulfilled and flourishing, he embellished the declining feudal age into the semblance of a "prosperous era" (shengshi 盛世).

Wenkang also criticises the rebel heroes of the Shuihuzhuan 水滸傳 "The Water Margin" as merely "fond of bravery and prone to violence". The standard he proposes for male and female heroes is that heroism and filial devotion are inseparable: only loyal ministers and filial sons truly qualify as heroes. Their loyalty to the ruler and filial piety towards their fathers constitute the deepest emotional core of sons and daughters. As he puts it, "only with the utmost heroic feeling can one fulfil the heart of sons and daughters; and only with genuine feeling of sons and daughters can one accomplish heroic deeds."

Wenkang aims to compose a case of heroes among sons and daughters, to create a work that expresses human emotions and moral principles, and to embellish a flourishing age of peace. Grounded in such feudal ethical values, the author develops this "biography of male and female heroes", which ultimately reflects his idealised hopes and illusions about the social system of his age. The author claims that his novel recounts a legal case in Beijing during the first half of the nineteenth century. The male and female protagonists, in the author’s ideal, are exemplary "heroes among sons and daughters", embodying loyal ministers and filial sons.

The male protagonist, An Ji 安驥 (courtesy name Longmei 龍媒), is a descendant of an old hereditary family within the Chinese Banner forces. When his father, An Xuehai 安學海, was framed by a superior, he travelled a thousand li (half-miles) to rescue him. On the way, he was attacked while lodging overnight at Nengren Temple 能仁寺, but was fortunately saved by the chivalrous maiden Shisanmei 十三妹 "Thirteenth Sister". Through her arrangement, he was also married to Zhang Jinfeng 張金鳳, a village girl who had been rescued at the same time.

Shisanmei is in fact He Yufeng 何玉鳳. Her father, He Qi 何杞, a deputy general, was killed by the general Ji Xiantang 紀獻唐. Yufeng fled and lived in hiding, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge. She would occasionally rob ill-gotten wealth from the unjust, and during this time she encountered An Ji. Later, after learning that her enemy had already been executed, she, too, married An Ji. From that point on, He Yufeng undergoes a marked transformation from her earlier chivalric persona as Thirteenth Sister. She becomes not only skilled in managing the household and accumulating wealth, but also deeply concerned with official success and reputation. She repeatedly urges her husband to devote himself to achieving fame and seeking advancement, so that he may become a loyal minister.

With what the narrative portrays as supernatural assistance, An Ji goes on to pass the provincial and metropolitan examinations in succession, after which his official career flourishes. She handles a number of difficult legal cases, earns widespread praise for her governance, and rises to the highest ranks of officialdom. Meanwhile, the two girls each bear him a son. The elderly An family lives to an advanced age, and their family enjoys honor and prosperity through their sons and grandsons (chapter 40).

In the earlier part of the novel, Thirteenth Sister is portrayed as bold, chivalrous, and righteous, with the air of an outlaw heroine. However, in attempting to shape the image of Thirteenth Sister so that it both conforms to feudal ethical norms and embodies deep romantic sentiment, the author ultimately produces a character that is inconsistent.

The work as a whole adopts the storytelling style (pinghua 評話), which makes it lively, and it makes effective use of Beijing vernacular, giving it a vivid and fluent quality. However, the author's pursuit of trivial and overly detailed descriptions results in a structure that is lengthy and loose. The book is also filled with pedantic feudal moralising, mixed with a considerable amount of vulgar and tedious material.

The earliest extant printed edition of the Ernü yingxiong zhuan dates to 1878, a movable-type edition produced by Juzhen Hall 聚珍堂 in Beijing. In 1906, the Shanghai Shuju 上海書局 published a lithographic print. Thereafter, numerous reprints appeared, for instance, the 1935 edition of the Wenyi Chubanshe 文藝出版社. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, multiple editions have also been published.

The stories of the novel have also been adapted into performances in many forms of traditional Chinese opera and folk performing arts.

Xu ernü yingxiong zhuan 續兒女英雄傳

A sequel titled Xu ernü yingxiong zhuan 續兒女英雄傳 (also called [Xiuxiang] Huitu xu ernü yingxiong zhuan [繡像]繪圖續兒女英雄傳 or Xu ernü yingxiong quanzhuan 續兒女英雄全傳) comprises 32 chapters in 6 juan, in an edition printed by Hongwen Book Company 宏文書局 in Beijing in 1898. An anonymous preface states that there had previously been a sequel that was "rather vulgar". At the request of a bookseller, the author composed a new book. Another lithographic edition, published by Shuoshi Book Company 鑠石書局 in Shanghai in 1907, attributes the work to Zhao Ziheng 趙子衡. The sequel mainly narrates how An Ji conducts the provincial examinations in Shandong, selects talented individuals, suppresses violence and brings peace to the people, suppresses those who "gather crowds to resist officials", and depicts Thirteenth Sister achieving merit by eliminating bandits.

Xin ernü yingxiong zhuan 新兒女英雄傳

The book Xin ernü yingxiong zhuan 新兒女英雄傳 is a full-length chaptered novel co-authored by Kong Jue 孔厥 (1914-1966) and Yuan Jing 袁靜 (1914-1999). Written in 1948, it began serialisation in May 1949 in the journal Renmin ribao 人民日報 "People's Daily" and was later published as a standalone volume by the Haiyan Chubanshe 海燕出版社 in Shanghai, with a preface by Guo Moruo 郭沫若 (1892-1978).

The work portrays the heroic collective that emerged among the people of the Baiyangdian 白洋淀 area in central Hebei during the eight years of resistance against Japan under the leadership of the Communist Party. Among the characters are Hei Laocai 黑老蔡, a Party cadre skilled both in leading people in combat against the enemy and in uniting and educating the masses; Niu Dashui 牛大水, who transforms from a hardworking, simple, timid farmer into a steadfast and fearless militia leader ready to face death; and Yang Xiaomei 楊小梅, who grows from an impoverished working woman oppressed by feudal constraints into a strong Communist Party member, among others.

The novel inherits the fine traditions of classical Chinese fiction, employing a chaptered narrative structure. Its plot is intricate and full of twists and turns, imbued with a strong sense of the legendary that makes it highly engaging. At the same time, it breaks through certain limitations of the traditional chaptered form: its portrayal of characters and events is plain and natural, revealing the extraordinary within the ordinary and a striking vigor within its simplicity. The atmosphere of everyday life is particularly vivid, and the characteristics of the era are clearly defined.

The story was also adapted in theatre plays.