Lüxue, a Famous Beauty cover

Lüxue, a Famous Beauty

Rating 3.9
Word count
24K words
Chapters
108
ISBN
9787520502788

Tags

Summary

This book is the Si volume of the Dianshizhai Pictorial, which was launched in Shanghai on May 8, 1884. The Pictorial focused on social news, world customs, and everyday urban life; any "striking news story" or "newly introduced device" was given a "picture with accompanying text." High-rise buildings, trains, steamships, firearms, and foreign guns were all captured in its illustrated pages, broadening readers' horizons.

To meet readers' needs, this edition adds proofread and punctuated text prepared by university specialists. With rich illustrations and text, it holds reference value for the study of late Qing society, politics, history, and art.

Editor's review

"Beauties of Green Snow" is an edited edition of the Si volume of the Dianshizhai Pictorial, retaining the original illustrations and text while adding proofread and punctuated text by university specialists, so image and text can be read against each other. Founded in Shanghai in 1884, the Dianshizhai Pictorial presented social news, world customs, and everyday urban life through pictures with accompanying text; tall buildings, trains, steamships, and foreign guns all entered its frames, making it important material for observing the urban vision and visual communication of the late Qing. The book's value lies not only in the entertainment of strange tales but in the layers of historical evidence formed jointly by image and caption: on the one hand, we see how people of the time understood and retold new knowledge; on the other, it preserves the immediacy of late Qing news publishing, lithographic pictorials, and urban reading. It can be treated as a "visual clipping file" of late Qing society—browse individual illustrated pieces at random, or link them by theme, using the proofread text to understand allusions, place names, and objects. For general readers, it is a window into late Qing urban daily life and Sino-foreign contact; for researchers, note the pictorial's editorial stance and mediated nature, and avoid treating every caption as direct factual record.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • General history readers interested in late Qing social news and urban life
  • Scholars and students researching modern pictorials, lithographic publishing, and visual culture
  • Casual readers who enjoy richly illustrated material for browsing
  • Creators needing late Qing visual material and references on customs and objects

Not a good fit for

  • Readers expecting a systematic general history of the late Qing or a continuous narrative
  • Readers who prefer purely textual in-depth argument and dislike the caption format
  • Readers requiring a contemporary scholarly annotation system and strict source criticism

Reading tips

  1. Browse the images first to build interest, then read the proofread text to verify objects and background
  2. Build your own index by themes such as news, customs, and implements to link related pieces
  3. Note unfamiliar place names and objects, check them together, then reread
  4. Read alongside works on modern Shanghai urban history or pictorial studies

About the publisher

China Culture and History Press China · Founded in 1980

China Culture and History Press has long devoted itself to modern and contemporary literature and culture-and-history reading matter, with publishing directions centered on classic works, social novels, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy, alongside culture-and-history periodicals such as Zongheng. Among the more than 1,500 titles in the collection, representative books include Zhang Henshui's Ti Xiao Yin Yuan, Lu Xun's Complete Classic Works (10 volumes) and Wild Grass, and Lao She's Four Generations Under One Roof series and the boxed set of Lao She's Classic Works (10 volumes), while its author resources are concentrated on figures such as Zhang Henshui, Lu Xun, Lao She and Sima Qian. Its publishing character lies in solid editorial work on culture-and-history source texts and in issuing famous authors' works in sets, balancing the readability of individual texts with the systematic presentation of complete collections for focused reading and collecting. Beyond these directions, public information on the press's contemporary original publishing is limited, so it is not elaborated here.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 华山遇仙
  3. 矜全废疾
  4. 高僧玩世
  5. 璇闺令式
  6. 城隍司灯
  7. 一方无恙
  8. 瑞光塔蛇
  9. 画报更正
  10. 衰翁举石
  11. 鬼妻犹妒
  12. 脱冒丧身
  13. 肖而不肖
  14. 石狮吃面
  15. 荡妇急智
  16. 义犬建亭
  17. 黠贼窃画
  18. 种花得果
  19. 张孺人小影
  20. 珠江寻梦图
  21. 绿雪名姝
  22. 讼师恶谑
  23. 贞孝可风
  24. 雷殛逆子
  25. 青豆房开
  26. 吴门桥鬼
  27. 柳树成精
  28. 戏乃有益
  29. 澉水疗疾
  30. 珙璧浸软
  31. 高真羽士
  32. 爱鹦成癖
  33. 溺缢争替
  34. 女转为男
  35. 悔偷灵药
  36. 幼孩客忤
  37. 老蚌成精
  38. 长舌鬼
  39. 同衾证果
  40. 知白守黑
  41. 粉象厌病
  42. 善贾深藏
  43. 悬崖缒险
  44. 顽徒恶剧
  45. 鬼计徒工
  46. 人头漉酒
  47. 吁嗟阔兮
  48. 计天然箫
  49. 狭邪炯鉴
  50. 负局寻仇
  51. 贪欢现报
  52. 少见多怪
  53. 驾言出游
  54. 花萼相辉
  55. 眸子眊焉
  56. 女刘伶
  57. 绥猺有道
  58. 剪绺肆毒
  59. 圣经灵应
  60. 孤亭玩月
  61. 一子两祧
  62. 盛筵难再
  63. 以表验人
  64. 惩淫速报
  65. 夫也不良
  66. 东灾告急
  67. 设计谋虎
  68. 佛诞进香
  69. 情虚自状
  70. 花油造孽
  71. 私逃遇贼
  72. 感召异类
  73. 善医心疾
  74. 猪婆
  75. 施嫫相攻
  76. 贼还自贼
  77. 负债寻死
  78. 心花怒放
  79. 偷荤吃素
  80. 鬼婢救生
  81. 活死人
  82. 五狗值更
  83. 泸州大火
  84. 兽分善恶
  85. 塞外野人
  86. 儒释两误
  87. 半贼秃
  88. 阴沟出火
  89. 四蛇为祸
  90. 痴鬼争妻
  91. 观西戏述
  92. 直上云霄
  93. 驯象索食
  94. 重利遭骗
  95. 哑子能言
  96. 太太难做
  97. 巡查得力
  98. 强抢女僧
  99. 稳婆讹诈
  100. 涓滴不遗
  101. 飞鸟依人
  102. 女将操演
  103. 镳局失窃
  104. 狐善了事
  105. 老鼠感旧
  106. 玉润香温
  107. 跑车角艺
  108. 徐孝子殉母

FAQ

Is this book the complete Dianshizhai Pictorial?
No. This is an edited edition of the Si volume of the Dianshizhai Pictorial, not a collection of the entire pictorial. It retains that volume's original illustrations and captions and adds proofread text, suitable for understanding the volume's contents and the pictorial's format; to survey the whole publication, other volumes or facsimile materials are still needed.
What role does the proofread text mainly play?
The proofread text helps readers punctuate and decipher the original captions and clarifies some allusions, place names, and objects. It lowers the barrier to reading late Qing captions directly, but readers should still treat the captions as mediated material with an editorial stance, not as unverified factual record.
Can I read it without a foundation in late Qing history?
Yes. Individual pieces are short and the images direct, suitable for casual browsing. When encountering unfamiliar background, grasp the general event first, then look up places and objects; there is no need to read in order or to master a complete framework of late Qing history beforehand.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

吴友如 Author

Wu Youru was a late Qing painter known for his current-affairs and genre pictures as well as book illustrations. Public information about his exact birth and death years and his native place is limited and awaits further verification. Judging only from the 44 works held in the collection, his subjects were quite broad: there are pieces with literati elegance and female figures, such as Immortal Companions in the Same Boat and The Famous Beauty of Green Snow, as well as A New Method of Sailing, which records modern ship technology. Mr. Liyuan and A Heroine Among Women reveal an interest in opera figures and female character, while The Crane Offers Birthday Greetings draws on traditional auspicious imagery. These picture titles are often brief phrases with a strong visual sense, and he drew readily on everyday observations and street life. Overall, his work combines a documentary, news-like quality with the accessibility of popular reading material. Under the art category it reflects several aspects of late Qing visual culture and offers reference value for understanding the social customs and print illustration styles of the period.

周慕桥 Author

Zhou Muqiao is an author about whom little public information is available; all that is currently known is that 44 works are recorded under this name, commonly classified under art. Judging from representative titles such as Mr. Liyuan, Immortal Companions in the Same Boat, New Methods of Sailing, The Famous Beauty of Green Snow, A Heroine Among Women, A Stubborn Nature, Good Things Come with Trouble, and Flying Dragon in the Sky, the subjects often involve opera figures, immortal companions boating, female characters, and stories of worldly affairs. The titles tend to carry the flavor of traditional fiction and opera, combining narrative with artistic portrayal. Since basic details such as dates of birth and death, nationality, and English name are not recorded, biographical particulars are difficult to verify, but the number and classification of the works suggest that the author was a diligent writer of popular art-related material with considerable breadth of subject and readability.

何元俊 Author

He Yuanjun is an author with 44 works recorded in the Chinese book database, commonly classified under art. His nationality, dates of birth and death, and English name are unknown, and publicly available information is limited, so a complete personal biography cannot be reconstructed; he can only be understood through his works. Representative titles such as Mr. Liyuan, The Famous Beauty of Green Snow, Immortal Companions in the Same Boat, New Methods of Sailing, A Heroine Among Women, The Immortal Crane Offers Birthday Greetings, The Tailor's Clever Satire, and A Stubborn Nature cover a range of subjects, including theatrical figures, practical skills, friendship and companionship, satire and moral instruction, and character portrayal. This suggests a broad interest in popular literature and practical knowledge writing. Overall, He Yuanjun's works stay close to everyday experience, with vivid titles and a clear flavor of folk narrative and moral exhortation, making them suitable for general readers and offering textual clues for the study of modern popular publishing and art-related reading materials.

Wu Jianyu Author · Chinese · 1972

Wu Jianyu, born in 1972 in Yongqing, Hebei, holds a doctorate in literature and is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the College of Literature, Hebei Normal University, where he also serves as director of the Department of Chinese Language. He is a council member of the Chinese Society for Exegesis and specializes in Chinese lexicology and lexicography. He has collated the Dianshizhai Pictorial and participated in the compilation of the Ciyuan dictionary. Beyond his academic work, the library holds 19 of his works, including The Scholar of the Pear Garden, The Fair Maid of Green Snow, The Tailor's Witty Satire, Peaceful Tidings of Bamboo, The Golden Signboard, The Wonder of the North Sea, Heroes Return Home, and Returning Gold to Save a Son, commonly classified under art. These works draw largely on traditional opera, folk tales, and everyday social themes, combining scholarly elegance with a lively, picture-like plainness of style. Public information is limited, and the precise connection between his writing and scholarship remains to be explored, yet the works at hand show his sustained engagement with traditional subjects.

More by the same author

Top rated in the same category