Rekindled Love & Purple Jade Hairpin

Gao Yang (Kao Yang), whose real name is Xu Anping, is one of the most prolific and respected writers in Taiwan today. A firm believer in the inseparable relationship between history and literature, he has published more than fifty books that fully manifest his profound knowledge of Chinese history and his excellent mastery of the Chinese language. His works fall into three areas: fictions based on historical personalities; historical novels in late Qing settings; and studies on the Dream of the Red Chamber; thus making him at once an author, a historian, and a Redologist. An eminently successful author with a world-wide following, he is surely one of the very few outstanding Chinese writers whose works truly deserve to be introduced to the English-reading public.

The two stories translated here are taken from his book entitled Purple Jade Hairpin. "Rekindled Love" is the story of Zheng Banqiao, one of the "Eight Eccentrics" of the Qing dynasty, and his childhood lover Wang Yijie. "Purple Jade Hairpin" is an intriguing love story between the famous Tang poet Li Yi and a well-known courtesan Huo Xiaoyu. It is hoped that the translation can adequately recapture the excitement of these romantic anecdotes in the original.