Change of Heart

AnonymousQunyan Publishing House · ChinaSep 2020

3.2

Word count: 68K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

A Qing dynasty novel in eight chapters, unfinished. Attributed to Jianren, i.e. Wu Woyao. Chapters nine and ten survive only as listed titles. The preface lists the titles of all chapters. Chapter nine: Moved by a righteous knight-errant, sworn brotherhood is pledged; Abusing tyrannical power, a domestic upheaval arises between husband and wife. Chapter ten: At the execution ground, Qin Baifeng dies for love; Raising the orphan, He Cailuan keeps her chastity. Serialized in Shanghai Yulun Shishi Bao in 1910 (Xuantong 2); the author died after writing half of chapter eight. Later included in A Ying, ed., Late Qing Literary Anthology: Fiction, vol. 2 (Zhonghua Book Company, 1960).

Editor's review

Qingbian is a chapter novel by the late Qing writer Wu Woyao (Jianren). It comprises eight chapters and is unfinished; chapters nine and ten survive only as titles, and the preface lists the titles of all chapters, showing that the author had planned the work in full. The novel tells of the love between Qin Baifeng and He Cailuan; sudden upheaval, righteous friendship, and marital crisis intertwine, leading ultimately to death for love and widowhood in chastity, with the ethical tension and tragic flavor common to late Qing fiction. Its value lies in being primary material for the study of Wu Woyao's writing and of newspaper-serialized fiction in the late Qing; the surviving chapter titles also let readers glimpse the direction of the unfinished portion. It is short and suited as supplementary reading for a topic on late Qing fiction, or for reading alongside the relevant volume of Late Qing Literary Anthology. Readers should keep in mind its unfinished state and not approach it expecting a complete full-length novel.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholarly readers studying late Qing fiction and Wu Woyao's work
Classical fiction enthusiasts interested in short chapter novels and unfinished manuscripts
Researchers collecting historical materials on late Qing newspaper-serialized fiction
Readers in literature and history seeking to understand late Qing narratives of love, marriage, and ethics

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers who want a complete plot and a satisfying ending
Beginners unfamiliar with the late Qing chapter novel's mixture of classical and vernacular Chinese
Readers expecting a long, complexly structured work

Reading tips

Read the chapter titles listed in the preface first to grasp the intended structure before entering the text
Note the narrative break where chapter eight stops midway and consider the author's intended direction
Read alongside related pieces in the fiction volume of Late Qing Literary Anthology to understand textual provenance
After reading, map the characters and ethical conflicts as notes for a topic on late Qing fiction

About the publisher

Qunyan Publishing House China · Founded in 1989

Founded in 1989, Qunyan Publishing House has long been committed to publishing academic and educational books for mid- and high-level readers, and has built up a certain presence in Eastern philosophy, classical literature, and classic works. Representative titles available in the database include Records of the Grand Historian, Dream of the Red Chamber, Selections of Refined Literature, Complete Song Ci, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Record of Daily Knowledge, Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang, and The Collected Works of Wang Yangming, covering common categories such as ancient poetry, medicine, and examinations. Its author resources include Sima Qian, Cao Xueqin, Xiao Tong, Li Shan, Pu Songling, and Gu Yanwu. The press also offers distinctive series such as the Biographical Series of the China Democratic League and the Historical Documents Series of the China Democratic League, and publishes research on historical documents, biographies, memoirs, and textbooks and academic works by League members. Public information is limited, and its overall publishing scale and complete catalogue require further verification.

版权信息
序
楔子
第一回走江湖寇四爷卖武羡科名秦二官读书
第二回寇阿男京华呈色相秦绍祖杯酒议婚姻
第三回思故乡浩然有归志恣顽皮蓦地破私情
第四回寇四爷迁怒拟寻仇秦二官渡江图避祸
第五回订姻缘留住东床客恋情欲挟走西子湖
第六回筹旅费佳人施妙术怒私奔老父捉娇娃
第七回甘舐犊千金嫁阿男赋关雎百辆迎淑女
第八回何彩鸾含冤依老衲秦白凤逐利作行商

FAQ

Why does this book have only eight chapters?

According to the sources, the book was serialized in Shanghai's Yulun Shishi Bao in 1910; the author, Wu Woyao, died after writing half of chapter eight, so the work was never completed, and chapters nine and ten survive only as titles. What readers have is therefore an unfinished manuscript.

Who is the signatory "Jianren"?

Jianren is the late Qing novelist Wu Woyao. The work is attributed to Jianren, and the preface lists all chapter titles. Readers may use this to place it within Wu Woyao's body of work, but should not infer the unwritten content from it.

What is the story roughly about?

According to the chapter titles and the synopsis, the novel tells of the love between Qin Baifeng and He Cailuan, involving righteous friendship and marital upheaval, and ending with scenes such as dying for love at the execution ground and raising an orphan in chastity. Because the book is unfinished, the full course can only be inferred from the chapter titles.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.