Employing an interdisciplinary approach, this is the first monograph to frame three once widely-read tanci fiction (a type of lyrical narrative) from nineteenth-century China, Meng ying yuan (1843), Yu xuan cao (1894), and Jing zhong zhuan (1895), as interrelated texts composed by three generation of members from one extended gentry family in South China. Based on the framework of family bonds, this book uses the three tanci works, authored by a mother, her daughter, and a nephew, to examine the history of how the changing aesthetics of tanci developed over China’s turbulent nineteenth century. It also demonstrates how the three writers used the genre of tanci to blur the boundaries of orthodox Confucian norms, in order to depict the evolving nature of gendered power relations at the dawn of China’s modernity.

". . . .Zhang’s book has brought new dimensions to the study of tanci, connecting what has generally been held as a particular corner of traditional Chinese culture, to the larger world of nineteenth century China. It is a worthwhile reading not only for tanci experts, but also for students of Chinese literature and history in the nineteenth century in general. More importantly, it calls for further exploration of the fertile soil of the literary culture centered on tanci." - Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China