DonSina ReadTalk

General Introduction to The Golden Lotusby Robert HegelFor centuries now, the novel in your hands has been denigrated as a "dirty book" (yinshu), one that describes, and might encourage the reader's own, illicit behavior. Consequently it has frequently been proscribed, and many editions are expurgated. Yet even before it was completed, perhaps around 1590, leading Chinese writers of the time shared the manuscript among themselves, avidly poring over it, marveling at its rich and nuanced representations of daily life and individual social interactions. They also commented on its intricate ...

CHAPTER XII. CONTEMPT FOR FOREIGNERS. IT is difficult for the European traveller who visits the city of Canton for the first time, to realise the fact that this Chinese emporium has enjoyed regular intercourse with Europeans for a period of more than three hundred and sixty years. During much the greater part of that time there was very little in the conduct of any Western nation in its dealings with the Chinese of which we have any reason to be proud. The normal attitude of the Chinese towards the people of other lands who chose to come to China for any purpose whatever, has been the a...

CHAPTER XI.THE ABSENCE OF NERVOUS.IT is a very significant aspect of modern civilisation which is expressed in the different uses of the word "nervous." Its original meaning is "possessing nerve; sinewy; strong; vigorous." One of its derivative meanings, and the one which we by far most frequently meet, is, "Having the nerves weak or diseased; subject to, or suffering from, undue excitement of the nerves; easily excited; weakly." The varied and complex phraseology by which the peculiar phases of nervous diseases are expressed has become by this time familiar in our ears as household wo...

The Golden LotusContents1. The Brotherhood of Rascals 2. Pan Jinlian3. The Old Procuress4. Ximen Qing Attains His End5. The Murder of Wu Da6. The Funeral7. Ximen Qing Meets Meng Yulou8. The Magic Diagrams9. Wu Song Seeks to Avenge his Brother10. The Exiling of Wu Song11. Li Guijie, the Singing Girl12. Pan Jinlian Narrowly Escapes Disaster 13. Li Ping'er14. The Cuckold 15. The Feast of Lanterns 16. Li Ping'er Is Betrothed 17. The Amorous Doctor 18. Ximen Qing Bribes Officers of the Court 19. Ximen Qing's Vengeance 20. The Reconciliation 21. Wu Yueniang Relents 22. Song Huilian 23. Ximen Qing's...

CHAPTER X.INTELLECTUAL TURBIDITYIN speaking of "intellectual turbidity" as a Chinese characteristic, we do not wish to be understood as affirming it to be a peculiarity of the Chinese, or that all Chinese possess it. Taken as a whole, the Chinese people seem abundantly able to hold their own with any race now extant, and they certainly exhibit no weakness of the intellectual powers, nor any tendency to such a weakness. At the same time it must be borne in mind that education in China is restricted to a very narrow circle, and that those who are but imperfectly educated, or who are not e...

CHAPTER IX.FLEXIBLE INFLEXIBILITY.THE first knowledge which we acquire of the Chinese is derived from our servants. Unconsciously to themselves, and not always to our satisfaction, they are our earliest teachers in the native character, and the lessons thus learned we often find it hard to forget. But in proportion as our experience of the Chinese becomes broad, we discover that the conclusions to which we had been insensibly impelled by our dealings with a very narrow circle of servants are strikingly confirmed by our wider knowledge, for there is a sense in which every Chinese may be...