Waking to Modernity: The Classical Tale in Late-Qing China

This essay is a study of the genre of the classical tale in late Qing China, and more specifically the classical tales written by Wang Tao (1828-1897). The author focuses on Wang's collection of short stories Post-Tales of the Strange from the Studio of Leisure (Hou Liaozhai zhiyi), a.k.a. Random Records of a Recluse in Wusong (Songyin manlu). Specific analysis is devoted to three tales of transnational romance between Chinese and European lovers. Such stories by Wang represent a unique Chinese response to the advent of the West on the eve of China's entry into the modern world. They offer imaginary resolutions to real geopolitical problems in international relations between China and the West by way of what amounts to the last flowering of an old literary genre.