Tales of Qiantang: Su Xiaoxiao

In Southern Qi, in Qiantang, she was the brightest wound by Xiling Bridge. Her fragrant carriage rolled through the misty rain, carrying peerless talent and an unyielding spirit as she moved among the powerful and the literati. Her heartfelt love for the nobleman Ruan Yu was ultimately cut short by worldly conventions. Later, her act of generosity in supporting the impoverished scholar Bao Ren sowed the seeds of a friendship that would endure beyond her death. At nineteen, her beautiful soul passed away, and all she asked was to be buried amid these lakes and hills. Though she lived as a courtesan, her spirit was freer than any prince or marquis, inspiring writers of later generations, from Bai Juyi to Li He, to admire her for a thousand years. This is no chronicle of a famous courtesan’s rise and fall, but an unforgettable Jiangnan song of beauty, freedom, and compassion.