Dingqing ren

Dingqing ren (Chinese: 定情人; 'A Lover's Promise'),[1] also translated into English as A Love-Promise[2] and The Worthy Lovers,[3] is a Chinese romantic novel of the caizi jiaren genre[4] from the mid-17th century. Its authorship is ascribed to Tianhuazang Zhuren (天花藏主人), a pseudonym for a writer. Ping Shan Leng Yan is another work of the same period that has been sometimes ascribed to the same writer.

Title page of the novel Dingqing ren
A page of the novel

The novel's title "Dingqing ren" has been interpreted to mean "the person who follows through on the pledge of love".[5]

The earliest printed edition of the novel dates to the mid-17th century and is now held in the Dalian Library in Dalian, Liaoning, China.[6] Copies of later editions (e.g. from the Qianlong era) can be found in the Peking University Library and the National Library of China.[6]

Plot

The story narrates the romantic journey of a young scholar named Shuang Xing and his devotion to Miss Jiang Ruizhu. In the story, the "test of chastity" is primarily focused on the male protagonist Shuang, as he endures numerous events in order to be reunited with Miss Jiang.[5]

Citations
  1. Huang, Martin W. (2006). Negotiating Masculinities in Late Imperial China. University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 252. ISBN 9780824828967.
  2. "《定情人》". 《中国大百科全书》第三版网络版 (in Chinese).
  3. Nan Nü: Men, Women, and Gender in Early and Imperial China. Vol. 3 & 4. Brill. 2013 [1999]. p. 255.
  4. Chinese Literature, Essays, Articles, Reviews. Vol. 25. Coda Press. 2003. p. 62.
  5. Huang, Martin W. (2020). Desire and Fictional Narrative in Late Imperial China. Brill. pp. 226–228.
  6. 杨, 琳 (2017). 清初小说与士人文化心态 (in Chinese). 社会科学文献出版社. pp. 205–206.
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