Home | Books By Year | Books from 1906
Jiuming Qiyuan
Buy Jiuming Qiyuan now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the book. And once you've experienced the book, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Jiuming Qiyuan' (C: , P: 'Jimng Qyun', W: 'Chiu-ming ch'i-yan', "The Strange Case of Nine Murders") is a murder mystery novelHegel, p. 190. by Wu Jianren (Wu Woyao). The book, as of 1982, is not available in English.Doar, p. 201.
Plot
The novel opens within an action scene, where a group of men trying to burn their victim are engaged in a conversation. Bruce Doar, who wrote a book review of 'The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century', wrote that "Such an opening was unprecedented in Chinese fiction."
Analysis
Gilbert Fong, the author of "Time in 'Nine Murders': Western Influence and Domestic Tradition", published in 'The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century', documented shifts in time. Fong argued that the manipulation received inspiration from foreign models, Cantonese ballads, and traditional Chinese crime stories ('gongan'). Fong also stated that the "time inversion" technique appears more often than the previous literature about 'Jiuming Qiyuan' indicates.Yee, p. 574. Robert E. Hegel, author of a book review of 'The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century', wrote that Fong corrected an opinion about 'Jiuming Qiyuan' that had been written by Hu Shih. Doar wrote that Fong's writing was "an especially solid piece of scholarship."
Reception
Bruce Doar, who wrote a book review of 'The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century', stated that 'Jiuming Qiyuan' was "regarded as one of the finest novels of the late Qing period."Doar, p. 201. Doar argued that "due to the opening, it was "one of the most innovative" novels.
References
* Doar, Bruce. "The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century" (book review). 'The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs', ISSN 0156-7365, 01/1982, Issue 7, pp. 199 - 201 ([https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2158835?uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102753099227 Available on] JSTOR)
* Hegel, Robert E. "The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century" (book review). 'Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews' (CLEAR), ISSN 0161-9705, 07/1983, Volume 5, Issue 1/2, pp. 188 - 191.
* Yee, Cordell D. K. "The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century" (book review). 'Journal of Asian Studies', ISSN 0021-9118, 05/1982, Volume 41, Issue 3, p. 574
Notes
Further reading
* Fong, Gilbert. "Time in 'Nine Murders': Western Influence and Domestic Tradition" in: Doleelov-Velingerov, Milena (editor). 'The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press; January 1, 1980), , 9780802054739.
Category:20th-century Chinese novels
Category:1906 novels
Category:Novels set in Guangdong
Category:Novels by Wu Jianren
Buy Jiuming Qiyuan now from Amazon
<-- Return to books from 1906