The Steadfast Lover

AnonymousJul 2024

Rating 3.1

Word count: 89K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Traditional Chinese culture has a long and profound intellectual history, marked by a high degree of originality, inventiveness, and literary quality. Its early thought forms are highly distinctive: religious theology, classical texts of Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist thought along with the Hundred Schools, feng shui and metaphysical studies, the Twenty-Four Histories, and local customs and geography—all are vast and profound in content. This series, "Essence of Classic Chinese Culture: Original Texts," preserves the original appearance of the books and focuses on conserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers can cultivate their temperament and quietly absorb the classics of Chinese learning.

Editor's review

Ding Qingren (The Steadfast Lover) is included in the series "Essence of Classic Chinese Culture: Original Texts," which aims to preserve the original appearance of the books and transmit traditional Chinese thought and culture. This particular work belongs to the category of ancient fiction; the title's "steadfast lover" points to themes of traditional marital ethics and emotional choice, allowing readers to observe how people in earlier times handled the tension between emotion and propriety, and between personal inclination and family arrangement. As an edition of the original text, its value lies not in providing modern interpretation or scholarly annotation, but in giving readers direct access to the text as it stands, so they can experience the language and pacing of ancient narrative. It is suited to slow reading in a relatively quiet setting; with some general knowledge of Ming-Qing social ethics, it becomes easier to appreciate the characters' situations. Readers expecting a systematic course on Chinese learning or paragraph-by-paragraph annotation will not find that here; the book is better approached as a direct encounter with a traditional narrative text, in which one senses the cultural meaning behind the two words "qing" (emotion) and "ding" (steadfastness).

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in ancient fiction and traditional marital ethics
Readers who wish to engage directly with the original text without relying on modern translation or annotation
Book lovers collecting primary readers of traditional Chinese culture
Readers who enjoy slow reading of stories and savoring how people of earlier times expressed emotion

Not a good fit for

Beginners who need word-by-word annotation and vernacular translation to read smoothly
Readers expecting a systematic course on Chinese learning or a scholarly monograph

Reading tips

First read through the story to grasp the relationships among characters, then return to the dialogue and psychological description in key episodes.
While reading, note how the conflict between emotion and propriety is handled, and jot down your own questions.
You may read alongside general works on Ming-Qing social ethics for context, but need not insist on exhaustive verification.

版权信息
第一回本天伦谈性命之情遵母命游婚姻之学
第二回负笈探奇不惮山山还水水逢人话旧忽惊妹妹拜哥哥
第三回江少师认义儿引贼入室珠小姐索和诗掩耳偷铃
第四回江小姐俏心多不吞不吐试真情双公子痴态发如醉如狂招讪笑
第五回蠢丫头喜挑嘴言出祸作俏侍儿悄呼郎口到病除
第六回俏侍儿调私方医急病贤小姐走捷径守常经
第七回私心才定忽惊慈命促归期好事方成又被狡谋生大衅
第八回痴公子痴的凶认大姐做小姐精光棍精得妙以下人充上人
第九回巧帮闲惯弄假藏底脚贫女穴中瞎公子错认真饱老拳丈人峰下
第十回欲则不刚假狐媚明制登徒狭难回避借虎势暗倾西子
第十一回姚太监当权惟使势凶且益凶江小姐至死不忘亲托而又托
第十二回有义状元力辞婚挤海外不望生还无暇烈女甘尽节赴波中已经死去
第十三回烈小姐有大福指迷避地感神明才天使善行权受贡封王消狡猾
第十四回望生还惊死别状元已作哀猿他苦趣我欢场宰相有些不像
第十五回览遗书料难拒命请分榻以代明烛续旧盟只道快心愿解襦而试坐怀
第十六回节孝难忘半就半推愁忤逆死生说破大惊大喜快团圆

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no grounding in classical Chinese?

The book preserves the original text and does not provide sentence-by-sentence vernacular translation. If you have little experience reading classical Chinese, it is advisable to start with an annotated edition and then return to the original to experience its language; readers with some stamina may also try it directly, and need not wrestle with every word when encountering obstacles.

What are the features of the series "Essence of Classic Chinese Culture: Original Texts"?

According to the available information, the series focuses on preserving the original appearance of the books for the purpose of conserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. It covers religious theology, classical texts of Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist thought along with the Hundred Schools, the Twenty-Four Histories, and local customs and geography, and does not aim for modern rewriting or excessive interpretation.

What background knowledge should one have before reading this book?

A basic familiarity with ancient marital ethics and family relations is enough—for example, that marriages were often arranged by families and that emotion and propriety were frequently in conflict. There is no need to read specialized works first; entering the story with such general knowledge actually makes it easier to appreciate the characters' situations and choices.

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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.