The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai

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Desire, virtue, courtesans, and the vibrant life of Shanghai's pleasure quarters form the backdrop of Han Bangqing's extraordinary novel set in late imperial China. This richly textured narrative offers a panoramic view of late-nineteenth-century Shanghai, featuring a diverse cast that includes beautiful sing-song girls, lower-class prostitutes, men of authority, and ambitious newcomers from the countryside. Renowned as one of the greatest works of Chinese fiction, this novel is now available in English for the first time. Han's portrayal of courtesans and their patrons is neither sentimental nor sensationalistic; instead, it delves into the moral and psychological ramifications of desire. Drawing from his own experiences in Shanghai's brothels, Han depicts a world filled with lonely individuals seeking solace amidst the city's decadence. He explores the romantic strategies of sing-song girls and the tragic fates of those who fall in love with their clients, while also revealing the emotional conflicts faced by male patrons caught between desire and propriety. First published in 1892 and adapted into a film in 1998, this pioneering work is noted for its psychological realism and modernist elements within the courtesan genre. Its significance has been further enhanced by the recent discovery of Eileen Chang's translation among her papers at the University of Southern California.