"Yin Ping Mei" is also known as "The Romance of Lotus Seed Vase", "The Romance of Lotus Seed Vase", "The Fifth Wonderful Book of Yin Ping Mei" and "The First Wonderful Book of Lotus Seed Vase". There are four volumes with twenty-three chapters, including the Tongzhi "Fujingtang Collection" version, the Yinghaixuan version, the Guangxu Shanghai Bookstore lithographic version, etc. [1]
It is written that during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Liu Fang and Chen Sheng became sworn friends. They were repeatedly framed by traitors, but finally turned their evil fortunes into good fortune. Later, they passed the Jinshi and Tanhua examinations respectively. They were ordered to exterminate thieves and treacherous traitors were punished. An important point in the book is that the immortal Chen Yingdeng gave Chen Sheng a lotus seed vase, which contained forty-nine lotus seeds. One of them would prevent hunger during a solar eclipse. Chen Sheng once used lotus seeds to revive Liu Fang and used the lotus seed vase to drive back his pursuers, hence the name "The Romance of the Lotus Seed Vase". Combining the themes of heroic sons and daughters into one book shows a fashion in novel creation in the late Qing Dynasty. [1]
