Jinpingmei

Jinpingmei, the first realistic social novel to appear in China. It is the work of an unknown author of the Ming dynasty, and its earliest extant version is dated 1617. Two English versions were published in 1939 under the titles The Golden Lotus and Chin P’ing Mei: The Adventurous History of Hsi Men and His Six Wives; a later version, The Plum in the Golden Vase; or, Chin P’ing Mei, translated and annotated by David Tod Roy, was published in five volumes over 20 years (1993–2013).

Jinpingmei describes in naturalistic detail the life of the family of a well-to-do businessman, Ximen Qing, who acquired his wealth largely through dishonest means and who devotes himself to the pursuit of carnal pleasure and heavy drinking. To these ends he acquires six wives and numerous maidservants. Ximen and his fifth wife, Pan Jinlian (Golden Lotus), whom he acquired by poisoning her first husband, nearly succeed in corrupting the entire household. The first wife, however, remains virtuous and in the end bears a son who becomes a Buddhist monk to atone for his father’s sins. The debauchery of Ximen is related in vivid detail, leading many readers to consider the novel to be simple pornography. Others, however, regard the erotic passages as central to the author’s moral purpose of exposing the vanity of pleasure. Despite unofficial censorship because of its eroticism, Jinpingmei became one of China’s most popular novels.