"The Golden Lotus" redirects here. For other uses, see Golden Lotus.
Jin Ping Mei The Plum in the Golden Vase
Wanli era edition
Author
Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng ("The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling", pseudonym)
Original title
金瓶梅
Country
China (Ming dynasty)
Language
Written vernacular Chinese
Genre
Historical fiction, erotic fiction
Set in
China, 1111–1127
Publication date
c. 1610
Media type
Print
Dewey Decimal
895.1346
LC Class
PL2698.H73 C4713
Original text
金瓶梅 at Chinese Wikisource
Jin Ping Mei
Chinese
金瓶梅
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Jīn Píng Méi
Wade–Giles
Chin1 Pʻing2 Mei2
IPA
[tɕín pʰǐŋ měɪ]
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping
gam1 ping4 mui4
The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling
Traditional Chinese
蘭陵笑笑生
Simplified Chinese
兰陵笑笑生
Literal meaning
Lanling laughing student
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Lánlíng Xiàoxiào Shēng
IPA
[lǎn.lǐŋ ɕjàʊ.ɕjàʊ ʂə́ŋ]
Jin Ping Mei (Chinese: 金瓶梅)—translated into English as The Plum in the Golden Vase or The Golden Lotus—is a Chinese novel of manners composed in vernacular Chinese during the latter half of the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Consisting of 100 chapters, it was published under the pseudonym Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (蘭陵笑笑生), "The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling,"[1] but the only clue to the actual identity is that the author hailed from Lanling County in present-day Shandong.[2] The novel circulated in manuscript as early as 1596, and may have undergone revision up to its first printed edition in 1610. The most widely read recension, edited and published with commentaries by Zhang Zhupo in 1695, deleted or rewrote passages to help understand the author's intentions.[3]
The explicit depiction of sexuality garnered the novel a notoriety akin to Lady Chatterley's Lover and Lolita in the West, but critics such as the translator David Tod Roy see a firm moral structure which exacts retribution for the sexual libertinism of the central characters.[4]
Jin Ping Mei takes its name from the three central female characters—Pan Jinlian (潘金蓮, whose given name means "Golden Lotus"); Li Ping'er (李瓶兒, literally "Little Vase"), a concubine of Ximen Qing; and Pang Chunmei (龐春梅, "Spring plum blossoms"), a young maid who rose to power within the family.[2] Chinese critics see each of the three Chinese characters in the title as symbolizing an aspect of human nature, such as mei (梅), plum blossoms, being metaphoric for sexuality.
David Tod Roy calls the novel "a landmark in the development of the narrative art form—not only from a specifically Chinese perspective but in a world-historical context...noted for its surprisingly modern technique" and "with the possible exception of The Tale of Genji (c. 1010) and Don Quixote (1605, 1615), there is no earlier work of prose fiction of equal sophistication in world literature."[5]Jin Ping Mei is considered one of the six classics of Chinese novels.
^Michael Dillon, China: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary, Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-7007-0439-6, pp.163–164
^ abLu (1923) p.408
^Roy (2006), p. xx–xxi.
^Charles Horner (October 1994). "The Plum in the Golden Vase, translated by David Tod Roy". Commentary Magazine.
JinPingMei (Chinese: 金瓶梅)—translated into English as The Plum in the Golden Vase or The Golden Lotus—is a Chinese novel of manners composed in vernacular...
Golden Lotus, and Other Legends of Japan, an 1883 book by Edward Greey JinPingMei, a 17th-century Chinese novel Pan Jinlian, the female protagonist of...
of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West as well as JinPingMei (not considered one of the four classic novels but discussed by him as...
Roy is most well-known for his translation of JinPingMei (The Plum in the Golden Vase, or, Chin P’ing Mei), published in five volumes by Princeton University...
Buddhist recluse in the Liuhe Pagoda until the age of 80. The beginning of JinPingMei is roughly the same as Water Margin. After his sister-in-law murders...
in Yanggu County, Shandong. He is the male protagonist in the novel JinPingMei and a minor character in the novel Water Margin. In both novels, he is...
Chin-lien) is a fictional character in the 17th-century Chinese novel JinPingMei (The Plum in the Golden Vase), and a minor character in Water Margin...
opinion that JinPingMei was the Diyi Qishu (First Masterpiece). Zhang died at the age of twenty-nine. Zhang is grouped with Mao Zonggang and Jin Shengtan...
is derived from Franz Kuhn's German translation of the Chinese novel JinPingMei. The band was founded in 1969 in Mannheim by Joachim Schäfer, Werner...
erotic novels, Xiuta yeshi was first published at around the same time as JinPingMei (The Golden Lotus). It has been constantly banned or censored since then...
mature form in this period, such as Water Margin and Journey to the West. JinPingMei, published in 1610, although incorporating earlier material, marks the...
used. Human sexuality portal 1610 JinPingMei 1639 De Usu Flagrorum 1693 The Carnal Prayer Mat 1695 JinPingMei - edited by Zhang Zhupo 1750 Fashionable...
concluded in October 2015. The books The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife and JinPingMei were featured in the film. The film was shot in both Japan and Korea...
tourists, is more scenic, but has less cultural heritage. In the novel JinPingMei, the Moon Lady makes a pilgrimage to T'ai Shan, ..."they came to the...
"Little Conqueror" for his resemblance to Xiang Yu in appearance. In JinPingMei, (Ci Hua edition) Xiang Yu is mentioned as an example of a tragic character...
and retaining inconsistencies in their Brief Note on the Translation. JinPingMei is an erotic novel written under the pen-name Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng...
Golden Lotus (1939), a four-volume translation of the Chinese novel, JinPingMei. After an early career in religious and educational work, Egerton served...
Yu, author of The Carnal Prayer Mat Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, author of JinPingMei Lü Tiancheng, author of The Embroidered Couch David Tod Roy, translator...
the accounts imply condescension or contempt for China. Quoted in the JinPingMei (c. 1610): "displaying her exquisite feet, three inches long and no wider...
five or six of over 100 recipes recorded in the sixteenth-century novel JinPingMei are stir fry recipes and wok dishes accounted for only 16 percent of...
"[need quotation to verify] Zheng Zhenduo mentioned in Talking about JinPingMei Ci Hua (谈金瓶梅词话)" that "obscene lyrics and music" and chungonghua are...
(June 2005). "The Gift of a Python Robe: The Circulation of Objects in "JinPingMei"". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 65 (1): 133–158. doi:10.2307/25066765...
University of Michigan. p. 48. Rushton, Peter Halliday (1994). The JinPingMei and the Non-linear Dimensions of the Traditional Chinese Novel. Mellen...
Global Information