Iu-Kiao-Li Explained

Yu Jiao Li, known in the West as Iu-Kiao-Li: or, the Two Fair Cousins, is an early-Qing Chinese caizi jiaren ("scholar and beauty") novel by Zhang Yun (張勻).

Yu Jiao Li is one of the best-known caizi jiaren novels,^[1] together with Ping Shan Leng Yan, and Haoqiu zhuan.^[2] The English version published by Hunt and Clarke of London in 1827 is an adaptation of Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat's French translation.^[3]

The novel is about two cousins, Bai Hongyu and Lu Mengli, how they both fell in love with the handsome scholar Su Youbai.

Characters

Two of the antagonist characters, Zhang Guiru and Su Youde, plagiarize poems written by other people and pretend to be poets. Pseudo-caizi are foils to the real caizi in caizi jiaren stories.^[4]

External links

• Iu-kiao-li: or, the Two Fair Cousins Volume I (English version, derived from the French version)
• Iu-kiao-li: or, the Two Fair Cousins (French version, the basis of the English version)
  • Also: at the Internet Archive, Volume III in French

Notes and References

1. Book: Song, Geng. The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture. 2004. Hong Kong University Press. 962-209-620-4. 20.
2. Book: Starr, Chloë F.. Red-Light Novels of the Late Qing. 2007. Koninklijke Brill NV. Leiden, The Netherlands. 978-90-04-15629-6. 40. 1 January 2014.
3. Book: Iu-kiao-li: or, the Two Fair Cousins. 1827. Hunt and Clarke. London. title page. English. 1 January 2014.
4. Book: Song, Geng. The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture. 2004. Hong Kong University Press. 962-209-620-4. 203.