Qian Cai

Qian Cai, courtesy name Jinwen, was a novelist from Renhe in Zhejiang (present-day Hangzhou) during the Qing dynasty. Public records of his birth and death dates and life are limited; he is believed to have lived around the Kangxi era. Together with Jin Feng, he compiled and edited The Complete Biography of Yue Fei in twenty volumes and eighty chapters, a representative work of Qing-dynasty heroic romance fiction. Centered on Yue Fei's resistance against the Jin, it draws on folk legends and historical biographical materials, with vivid plotting and distinctive characters, and circulated widely among readers. The work was banned during the Qianlong era, yet continued to be reprinted and adapted in later times. The eleven works in this collection, including the three-volume Complete Biography of Yue Fei and the annotated Biography of Yue Fei, reflect the enduring appeal of its subject matter.