The River All Red cover

The River All Red

Rating 3.6
Word count
237K words
Chapters
41

Tags

Summary

The indifferent-to-fame painter Yu Shuicun moves to Nanjing, living a life devoted to mountains and rivers. By chance he meets the singer Tao Zhi, and the two fall passionately in love, later parting due to a misunderstanding. In pique, Tao Zhi accepts a certain boss's proposal and becomes his wife. At their wedding banquet, the boss's wife storms the hall, and only Yu Shuicun's intervention and confession of his own involvement saves the day. Unable to forget him, Tao Zhi follows the gravely ill Yu Shuicun onto a boat, when a ferry catches fire; Tao Zhi swaps clothes with Yu Shuicun so that he is carried off by a boat rescuing women and children, while she herself burns to death in the flames. Saved but mired in grief, Yu Shuicun happens upon a play, Man Jiang Hong, which tells of a woman who swaps clothes with her lover to save him, and finally, overcome by sorrow, he dies in despair.

Editor's review

Man Jiang Hong is an important social romance novel that Zhang Henshui wrote in the 1930s, showing his shift from his early Mandarin Duck and Butterfly style toward a deepened realism. Despite sharing its name with the widely known ci tune, the book is not a historical romance but a winding, sorrowful love story set in Republican-era Nanjing between the painter Yu Shuicun and the singer Li Taozhi, interwoven with the survival difficulties and spiritual pursuits of a group of artists in turbulent times.

What most deserves attention is Zhang Henshui's finely observed depiction of the urban cultural ecology—the painted boats and music along the Qinhuai River, the artists' aloofness and hardship, and the hypocrisy and vanity of the world of fame and profit together form a picture of Republican-era urban life. Within the lingering love narrative, the author embeds profound reflection on the conflicts between art and commerce, ideal and reality. The character Yu Shuicun may be seen as Zhang Henshui's literary projection of the intellectual's predicament; his struggle to preserve artistic purity still resonates today.

From the perspective of literary history, Man Jiang Hong reflects the characteristics of Zhang Henshui's mature period: it retains the readability of romance fiction while injecting the weight of social realism. The Northern Literature and Art Publishing House edition preserves the language of the original, allowing readers to feel the distinctive flavor of Republican-era vernacular fiction. Note that the pacing is slower than that of modern novels and the psychological description is delicate, making it better suited to immersive reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers interested in Republican-era social customs and literati life
  • Novel lovers who enjoy delicate emotional writing and character portrayal
  • Scholars and students studying the transition period of modern Chinese literature
  • Readers who want to know Zhang Henshui's representative works beyond The Golden Family

Not a good fit for

  • Readers of popular fiction seeking fast pacing and strong plot
  • Readers expecting historical war fiction (who may be misled by the title)

Reading tips

  1. Read alongside visual material on Republican-era architecture in Nanjing to strengthen the sense of scene
  2. Pay attention to the subtext in dialogue and expressions peculiar to the era
  3. Watch for the threads discussing artistic creation and commercial value

About the publisher

Northern Literature and Art Publishing House focuses on contemporary and modern literary and artistic works, literary theory, and translations of foreign literature, while also covering categories such as history, popular science, Eastern philosophy, and world classics. Its collection includes 737 titles, with representative publications ranging from traditional Chinese classics such as Records of the Grand Historian, The Exploitation of the Works of Nature, and The Analects to foreign literary works including the complete classic plays of Shakespeare, Balzac's Old Goriot and Eugénie Grandet (in celebrated translations by Fu Lei), and The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Its author resources span classical figures such as Sima Qian, Song Yingxing, and Confucius, foreign writers such as Shakespeare and Balzac, and translators such as Zhu Shenghao and Fu Lei. The press combines the transmission of classics with an orientation toward general reading, developing a distinctive profile in both the editing of traditional texts and the translation of foreign literature. Public information is limited, so the above emphasizes the publishing profile reflected in the books held in the collection.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 第一回 赏月渡长江吟联少女 闻弦过野寺笑接狂生
  3. 第二回 聚谑求凰各为种玉计 详猜遗帕独作访珠游
  4. 第三回 一雨作丝牵情天不老 三杯添晚醉萍水无猜
  5. 第四回 旭日同看相知人欲去 荒斋独守前度客还来
  6. 第五回 安步当车香尘留艳迹 逢场作戏灯影罩疑团
  7. 第六回 惊异遇歌场忽明真相 谈笑归客舍莫抑悲怀
  8. 第七回 半夜款香巢突闻快语 清晨过老圃幸遇知音
  9. 第八回 高卧发狂吟心仪坡老 清歌杂微笑座有周郎
  10. 第九回 窥艳笑远来形诸梦寐 惊心闻乍别访遍舟车
  11. 第十回 杯酒两忘嫌各倾肺腑 百金一点曲共骇听闻
  12. 第十一回 俗客易招驰驱凭片纸 骄花难犯褒贬托微波
  13. 第十二回 婉转陈词通函劝撒手 佯狂发笑记事话伤心
  14. 第十三回 隔户听歌声回车有意 登场卖爱物注目堪怜
  15. 第十四回 归去囊空问款疑寒士 邀来夜永拈阄夺美人
  16. 第十五回 无日不来轻车驰小径 有闻必录快镜窃芳颜
  17. 第十六回 衣饰岂无惭婉商求友 丝萝非有托快拒藏娇
  18. 第十七回 贫境不堪噤声别酒肆 迷途未远破晓过农家
  19. 第十八回 未免有情携琴弹树下 可以无憾沽酒醉灯前
  20. 第十九回 努力见交情暗中买画 建功藉艺术高格酬金
  21. 第二十回 路上一相逢突成大错 筵前同笑谑渐见深情
  22. 第二十一回 藏币走仓皇奔车逐迹 明灯照战栗惊乌投怀
  23. 第二十二回 灯下话余惊共消长夜 案中藏秘计对质公庭
  24. 第二十三回 不作夫妻何须假兄妹 果为艺术自有好评章
  25. 第二十四回 作事有终解铃还钻石 怀才不遇困腹啜瓜羹
  26. 第二十五回 贫贱择交难冷潮热讽 激昂变态易浅笑深颦
  27. 第二十六回 伟大规模谒陵论豪杰 逍遥伴侣订约访湖山
  28. 第二十七回 突逢学子来翩翩可喜 善为美人役脉脉钟情
  29. 第二十八回 游棹夕阳中湖光绘影 并肩白堤上夜色宜人
  30. 第二十九回 无可奈何留书权作别 似曾有意置酒即催眠
  31. 第三十回 床下负荆时见机而作 湖边聚首处有约不来
  32. 第三十一回 卖画受饥驱忽成上客 解囊壮醉色更遇高人
  33. 第三十二回 旧好不忘午荫酣茗话 坠欢可拾陋室涩游踪
  34. 第三十三回 吹笛引新俦开怀道故 闻琴过旧地却步羞前
  35. 第三十四回 交绝转圜时登山痛哭 情参还璧后拍手惊呼
  36. 第三十五回 填海有心人追芳迹往 负荆无术函约怨声回
  37. 第三十六回 情敌恰相逢强颜握手 恩人何忍害储药回心
  38. 第三十七回 交友可无猜宠召面谢 作妾原不添盛惠心仪
  39. 第三十八回 救急筵前新郎甘假冒 约逃海外旧雨何能忘
  40. 第三十九回 雨道奔忙可怜一路哭 火船赴难忽忆满江红
  41. 第四十回 酒醒梦回江中船不见 曲终人渺天上月依然

FAQ

Is this book related to Yue Fei's Man Jiang Hong?
There is no direct connection. The title is taken from the ci tune and symbolizes the fervent and tragic emotional tone of the story; the novel is a Republican-era love story.
What are the characteristics of Zhang Henshui's writing in this novel?
It continues his strengths in delicate psychological description and portrayal of worldly affairs while strengthening his observation of social reality; the language combines classical flavor with the fluency of vernacular.
What is special about this edition?
The Northern Literature and Art Publishing House edition is based on the original printed text and better preserves the features of Republican-era language, with a publisher's note to help modern readers understand the background.

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About the author

Zhang Henshui Author · China · 1895–1967

Zhang Henshui (1895–1967), originally named Xinyuan, was a native of Anhui and a writer of serialized chapter fiction, recognized as a representative author of the Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies school. Over his lifetime he wrote more than a hundred novels, and this library holds as many as 436 of his works. His writing uses the traditional chapter form as its framework, with intricate plots and large casts of characters; he excels at portraying social manners and human feelings amid social change and romantic entanglements, in language that is accessible and fluent, earning him a broad readership. His representative works include Ti Xiao Yin Yuan (A Smile of Woe), Jin Fen Shi Jia (The Golden Family), Chun Ming Wai Shi, and Ba Shi Yi Meng (Eighty-One Dreams), among which the first two have circulated especially widely in many editions. His subjects center on social novels and modern romance, with some allegorical and satirical works, giving him an important place in the history of modern popular literature.

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