Jin Ping Mei, or The Plum in the Golden Vase
By Raymond Zhou | China Daily | Updated: 2011-03-15 07:55
Jin Ping Mei was one of the quartet of classic novels in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) before A Dream of Red Mansions replaced it in the subsequent Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
"It holds fifth position now," says Liu Qian, researcher of Ming and Qing fiction, with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
A spin-off of a story in Outlaws of the Marsh, Jin Ping Mei evolves into an elaborate profile of Ximen Qing, a social climber and lustful merchant, with his six wives and concubines.
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