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Tales of Ming Courtesans
by Alice Poon
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In seventeenth-century Nanjing, Liu Rushi, Chen Yuanyuan and Li Xiangjun rise from exploitation and precarious childhoods to become celebrated members of the Qinhuai pleasure quarter. Accomplished in poetry, painting, music and kunqu opera, they move through the households and salons of scholars, officials and military men while trying to protect their friendships, artistic identities and freedom of choice. Liu’s daughter Jingjing gradually reconstructs their intertwined lives from her mother’s memoir.
Their private struggles unfold during the collapse of the Ming dynasty and the Manchu conquest. Liu’s marriage to Qian Qianyi tests ideals of loyalty after the change of dynasty; Yuanyuan becomes linked to Wu Sangui and the decision that opens Shanhai Pass; and Xiangjun’s devotion to Hou Fangyu draws her into Nanjing’s factional politics. The novel restores three historical women to the centre of the period, showing how cultural achievement, sexual vulnerability and political upheaval shaped their reputations.
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