MACMILLAN The Adventures of Ma Suzhen: 'An Heroic Woman Takes Revenge in Shanghai' (East Asian Popular Culture)

The comic novel,  The Adventures of Ma Suzhen, was written during a highpoint in the popularity of  xia “knight-errant” fiction. It is an action-packed tale of a young woman who takes revenge for her brother, Ma Yongzhen, a gangster and performing strongman, who has been murdered by a rival gang in China’s most cosmopolitan city, Shanghai. After publication of the book in 1923, the character of Ma Suzhen appeared on stage, and subsequently in a film made by the Mingxing Film Company. The book version translated here, displays a delightful combination of the  xia and popular“Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies” genres, with additional elements of  Gong’an “court case” fiction. The translation is followed by an essay that explores the background to the legend of Ma Suzhen – a fictional figure, whose exhilarating escapades reflect some of the new possibilities and freedoms available to women following the founding of the Chinese Republic. Review “Each of the twenty chapters comes with a descriptive couplet … . along with the illustrations, Bevan's supporting apparatus … provide a good deal of information and context, making for a more interesting whole.” (M.A.Orthofer, complete-review.com, March 9, 2022) From the Back Cover If you love  wuxia (“knight-errant” tales), this book is an absolute must-read. Charming and delightfully humorous, it follows the adventures and bloodstained justice of the effervescent heroine, Ma Suzhen. Bevan’s superb writing style and helpful introduction make this a wonderful initiation into Chinese Republican popular fiction and the world of wuxia.  Dr Amy Matthewson, author of Cartooning China: ‘Punch’, Power, and Politics in the Victorian Era. Part newspaper shocker, part fact, part invention and many miles from The Dream of the Red Chamber, this is the sort of story people loved to read in early-twentieth-century China – an exciting and amusing example of truly popular Chinese fiction.  Dr Frances Wood, retired curator of the Chinese Collections in the British Library and author of many books, including Great Books of China(2017). The comic novel, The Adventures of Ma Suzhen, was written during a highpoint in the popularity of xia “knight-errant” fiction. It is an action-packed tale of a young woman who takes revenge for her brother, Ma Yongzhen, a gangster and performing strongman, who has been murdered by a rival gang in China’s most cosmopolitan city, Shanghai. After publication of the book in 1923, the character of Ma Suzhen appeared on stage, and subsequently in a film made by the Mingxing Film Company. The book version translated here, displays a delightful combination of the xia and popular“Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies” genres, with additional elements of Gong’an “court case” fiction. The translation is followed by an essay that explores the background to the legend of Ma Suzhen – a fictional figure, whose exhilarating escapades reflect some of the new possibilities and freedoms available to women following the founding of the Chinese Republic. Dr Paul Bevan is Departmental Lecturer in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture at the University of Oxford. His current research addresses a variety of themes concerning popular fiction and the visual arts as they appeared in periodicals and magazines published in Shanghai during the first decades of the twentieth century. About the Author Paul Bevan is Departmental Lecturer in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture at the University of Oxford. From 2018 to 2020 he worked as Christensen Fellow in Chinese Painting at the Ashmolean Museum. Paul has taught modern Chinese literature, history, and visual culture at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). His primary research interests concern the impact of Western art and literature on China during the Republican Period (1912-1949), particularly with regard to periodicals an