The Plum in the Golden Ping (Illustrations and Text of the Newly Carved Embroidered Portrait Criticizing This Book)

A critical edition of the newly embroidered portraits of "The Plum in the Golden Vase", with full text and illustrations. This is a long vernacular fictitious novel about world affairs in China during the Ming Dynasty. It is generally considered to be the first chapter-style novel independently created by a literati in China. It was written around the time of the Longqing to Wanli years of the Ming Dynasty, and the author signed it Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng. "Jin Ping Mei" was listed as the first of the "Four Wonderful Books" of the Ming Dynasty. The title of the book is a combination of one character from the names of the three heroines Pan Jinlian, Li Ping'er and Pang Chunmei. The theme of the novel evolved from the scene in "Water Margin" in which Wu Song kills his sister-in-law. Through the description of Ximen Qing, a representative of the philistine forces who is a bureaucrat, a bully, and a wealthy businessman, and his family's sinful life, it reproduces the aspects of social life at that time. The story depicts a ghostly world consisting of the imperial master who wields power and dictatorship, down to the local bureaucrats and bullies, and even the ruffians, hooligans, and gangsters in the city. It reveals the darkness and corruption of the society in the mid-Ming Dynasty, and has profound cognitive value.