The Case of Lord Yu, Part Two

Wang Ying / 张佩璐 / 雨虹Tibet People's Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

2.4

Word count: 21K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Yu Gong An ②, in six chapters, by an anonymous author, is a chivalric court-case novel telling of the honest official Yu Cheng serving as magistrate of Leting under Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty and continuing to handle cases.

Yu Gong An ② is one of the fifteen kinds of novels in the late Qing manuscript copies by Chu Renxun of Tianjin. This version is based on Fourteen Kinds of Huaben, a manuscript held in the Special Collections Department of Nankai University Library in 12 volumes in a slipcase, acquired at an unknown date.

Editor's review

This book is one of the fifteen kinds of novels in the late Qing manuscript copies by Chu Renxun of Tianjin and belongs to the chivalric court-case novel system; it tells of the honest official Yu Cheng serving as magistrate of Leting under Emperor Kangxi and continuing to handle cases. Court-case novels circulated widely among the people in the late Qing, and manuscripts of this kind were long rarely available; this collated publication provides researchers and enthusiasts with a readable text. The plot is built around case-solving, interspersed with the activities of chivalric figures; the language retains traces of huaben storytelling, the narrative pace is brisk, and the cases are relatively independent, making the book suitable for reading in sections. Compared with court-case series such as those of Lord Bao and Lord Shi, Yu Gong An is less well known; precisely for this reason, the book has supplementary value for understanding the generic genealogy and regional transmission of court-case novels. Readers may treat it as a document of Qing popular fiction or enjoy it as short case-solving stories. Note that the manuscript text may contain errors and that the views in the book are products of an earlier age; maintain a documentary awareness when reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in ancient Chinese court-case novels
Scholars and students studying Qing popular fiction and manuscript transmission
Casual readers who enjoy short case-solving stories
Enthusiasts of Tianjin regional documents and huaben materials

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a rigorously collated edition or in-depth scholarly annotation
Readers who prefer modern vernacular rewrites and are unused to early vernacular
Readers sensitive to the judicial and ethical views of an earlier age

Reading tips

Read the publication notes or preface first to learn about the manuscript's source and the editorial conventions
Read in sections by chapter; each chapter's case is independent, so there is no need to finish it in one sitting
Infer the meaning of early vernacular words from context; there is no need to look up every character
Read alongside Lord Bao and Lord Shi case novels to compare the generic features of court-case fiction

About the publisher

Tibet People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1971

Tibet People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher known for collating Tibetan and Chinese ancient texts and publishing traditional culture. Judging from the books in its catalogue, its publishing focuses on medicine, Eastern philosophy, classics, and ancient poetry. It offers traditional Chinese medical and health-preserving works such as the Compendium of Materia Medica, Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold, and Principles of Correct Diet, as well as canonical and philosophical texts including the Book of Changes, Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, Annotated Edition of the Erya, and Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals, along with historical and geographical works such as The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores. Its authors include figures such as Li Shizhen, Sun Simiao, King Wen of Zhou, Zuo Qiuming, Guo Pu, Dong Zhongshu, Hu Sihui, and Ma Huan. The house emphasizes the collation and republication of ancient texts, balancing scholarship and accessibility, and has developed its own strengths in transmitting Tibetan and Chinese cultural classics. Public information is limited, so other publishing details are omitted here.

版权信息
序
第一回绿鹦鹉拦舆鸣冤二班头踩访假虎
第二回石哑吧拦舆喊冤于知县巧断家私
第三回于公研究二疑案当堂立剖雪覆盆
第四回捉群贼拟定斩罪杀义兄图财害命
第五回菊花青骡替主鸣冤差役奉命拘拿凶首
第六回用智现出真确供法场监斩众凶徒

FAQ

What is the relationship between this book and the main Yu Gong An collection?

This book is titled Yu Gong An ②; according to the sources it is one of the fifteen kinds of novels in the late Qing Chu Renxun manuscript copies, a six-chapter version telling of Yu Cheng serving as magistrate of Leting and continuing to handle cases. It may differ from other transmitted versions of the Yu Gong An series in chapter titles and plot, so readers should rely on the actual content of this book and need not assume a continuous relationship with the main collection.

Can I read this directly without having read the first volume of Yu Gong An?

Yes. The six chapters focus on case-solving plots, the cases are relatively independent, and the chapters do not depend on a strict sequence. Reading it directly will not create obvious obstacles; if you want background on the characters, you can first skim the preface's account of the characters and the sources of the stories.

Will the manuscript text be difficult to read?

The language retains the vernacular style of huaben and is on the whole easier to read than classical-language fiction, but the manuscript may contain variant characters, popular forms and occasional errors. General readers can get through it with the help of context; when citing it in research, it is advisable to check the original or consult related collated results and not to rely solely on this book's text.

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About the author

Wang Ying Author · Chinese · 1942

Wang Ying (born 1942), originally named Wang Shengchao, is a native of Changxing, Zhejiang, and a member of the China Writers Association. He has worked in creative writing and editing in the military, and has served as deputy director of the PLA Literature and Art Publishing House and senior editor at Kunlun Publishing House. His writing covers a wide range, including novels, martial arts fiction, reportage, and philosophical series, with more than sixty works totaling over ten million characters. The library holds 17 of his works, spanning foreign literature, social culture, inspirational growth, social sciences, history, and computer science. Representative titles include A Certain Kokura Diary, Research on Modern and Contemporary Shandong Urban Culture, Ten Years of a Dream, The Daughters of the Dessert Shop, and Checking In to the Ming Dynasty. As public information is limited, further verification of his biography and creative periods is needed, but his existing works show sustained commitment to both literary creation and cultural studies.

张佩璐 Author

Zhang Peilu is one of the adapters of The Chinese Historical Popular Romance Stories: The Case of Lord Yu. Together with Wang Ying and Yuhong, she adapted the 145-chapter Qing dynasty court-case novel The Case of Lord Yu into a 35-chapter popular edition telling the story of Yu Chenglong's trials, published by Jilin Publishing Group in 2008. Four related works are held in the library, commonly classified under Eastern philosophy and classical literature. Judging from the extant works, her work focuses on popularizing classical court-case fiction, condensing a long Qing novel with numerous chapters into a clearly structured 35-chapter reader so that traditional trial stories are more accessible to contemporary readers. Public information about her nationality, dates of birth and death, education, and personal experience is limited, so no further biographical details can be verified; only her role as an adapter and her general direction of work can be confirmed from the signed works.

雨虹 Author

Yu Hong is an author about whom limited public information is available. Four works can currently be confirmed, with the representative titles being The Cases of Lord Yu (Yu Gong An) ① and ②. Judging from their common classification, the works are placed under Eastern philosophy and classical literature, and their subject matter clearly draws on the traditional narrative resources of the court-case story. The Cases of Lord Yu belongs to a long-circulated court-case tradition, and Yu Hong's compilation or adaptation continues this line, focusing on laying out the circumstances of cases, portraying officials resolving them, and examining human right and wrong; the language is likely to lean toward classical vernacular, making the stories accessible to general readers. Because reliable records of the author's life, identity, and creative background are lacking, no conjecture is made here about personal experience or achievements. What can be stated is that Yu Hong's writing and publishing activity centers mainly on classical court-case literature, offering readers readable texts for understanding this traditional genre, while the influence of these works remains confined to the works themselves pending further public information.