The Ten-Tailed Turtle (5)

Lu Shi'eJun 2024

3.8

Word count: 48K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Written by the late-Qing literatus Lu Shie, The Ten-Tailed Turtle is a Qing-dynasty vernacular novel in the zhanghui (chapter-linked) style of social manners, depicting turn-of-the-century Shanghai. Completed in 1911 (Xuantong 3), it survives chiefly in the 1911 Xinxin Xiaoshuo She edition and the 1994 Chunfeng Wenyi Press typeset edition in the “Rare Novels of Ancient China” series.

The book portrays the gilded bustle of old Shanghai’s foreign concessions: provincial landlords, compradors, nouveau riches, returned students, shop owners, military and civil officials, brokers, hangers-on, swindlers, young ladies, concubines—all drawn into a murky vortex that lays bare the social phenomena of the early transition from closure to openness, a portrayal that still carries contemporary relevance.

Editor's review

As one volume in the later portion of The Ten-Tailed Turtle, this book continues the novel’s narrative of social manners in late-Qing Shanghai, placing landlords, compradors, nouveau riches, returned students, officials, brokers, hangers-on, swindlers, and women of the inner quarters within the same social vortex. Lu Shie’s method resembles a cross-sectional gallery of social types: the plot is driven by human entanglements, and the satire lies concealed in everyday dealings and calculations of interest, allowing readers to see the distortions of Shanghai in its early treaty-port period as it moved from closure toward openness. Positioned in the latter part of the whole work, this volume has a stronger sense of converging threads; it suits readers already engaged with the book who wish to continue to the end, and also serves as supplementary reading for the study of modern Shanghai social mentality and popular literature. Note that the book’s value lies not in offering complete historical conclusions but in preserving, in literary form, the atmosphere of an era and samples of character; while reading, one may do well to focus on the contradictions in characters’ words and deeds, for that is where the author’s satire presses hardest.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have read earlier parts of The Ten-Tailed Turtle and wish to finish the remaining plot
Readers interested in late-Qing and early-Republic Shanghai concession society and novels of social manners
Readers engaged in modern popular literature, urban history, and related source collection
Readers comfortable with group-portrait narration and old vernacular style who enjoy close reading of social detail

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a structurally complete standalone novel to start from scratch
Readers who prefer strong plot momentum and lack patience for group portraits of social manners
Readers who want only late-Qing historical conclusions and do not intend to read a literary text

Reading tips

If starting with this volume, first sort out the identities and relationships of the main characters before entering specific chapters, to reduce the sense of broken threads.
Pay attention to the author’s satirical handling of compradors, brokers, hangers-on, and similar roles; annotate alongside the work’s social background.
Read in batches by chapter, reviewing changes in characters’ fates every few chapters to appreciate the arrangements of the book’s closing stage.
Compare with popular works on modern Shanghai urban history and the treaty-port opening background to deepen understanding of textual detail.

版权信息
第二十九回周介山巧结单品纯费太太误入迷龙阵
第三十回遇寿头稳捉瓮中鳖行险著飞来天外兵
第三十一回宠龙阳魂消锦帐闹刺客胆破深宵
第三十二回四马路豪商遇刺麦家圈大令验尸
第三十三回大主笔空谈纸上兵小老爷想吃天鹅肉
第三十四回捉私烟小敲竹杠揪假髻大破悭囊
第三十五回黄乡绅连遭横逆梅侠士一怒挥拳

FAQ

How does this volume relate to other installments of The Ten-Tailed Turtle?

This volume is one installment of the long novel The Ten-Tailed Turtle, belonging to the later portion of the whole narrative and sharing characters and plot threads with the preceding and following volumes. Read alone, it conveys the depiction of social manners, but to fully understand the characters’ fates and the book’s structure, it is best read continuously with the other installments.

Is this book mainly history or a fictional story?

It is a Qing-dynasty vernacular novel of social manners in zhanghui style, set in late-Qing Shanghai and reflecting social phenomena through a fictional group portrait. It is not a strict historical work, but it preserves the social climate, character types, and street-level detail of early treaty-port Shanghai, giving it value for both literary and social-historical reference.

What preparation is needed to read this volume?

It is advisable first to understand the overall cast and background of The Ten-Tailed Turtle and to keep pen and paper to note the identities of characters as they appear, avoiding confusion among the group-portrait threads. Read at a slower pace, proceed chapter by chapter, and pay attention to satirical technique and old vernacular expression; this makes it easier to enter the text.

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About the author

Lu Shi'e Author · China · 1878–1944

Lu Shi'e (1878–1944), whose given name was Shouxian and courtesy name Yunxiang, was a novelist and a well-known physician in Shanghai during the late Qing and early Republican periods, hailing from Qingpu, Jiangsu (now part of Shanghai). He wrote more than a hundred novels on a wide range of subjects, including social fiction, martial arts tales, and historical reading, with representative works such as New China, New Shanghai, and The Ten-Tailed Turtle, the last noted for its social satire portraying the manners and life of the era. He also compiled several medical books, including A Compass for Medicine, contributing to the popularization of medicine and the organization of clinical experience. The library holds forty-five of his works, among them the Southern School Swordsmen series, showing that his writing spanned both popular entertainment and medical works, making him a prolific man of letters and physician in modern Shanghai.