Li Ruzhen, formerly romanized as Li Ju-chen (; c. 1763 - 1830),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Songshi (松石),

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin Chinese), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by artists, poets and writers in the Sinosp ...

Songshi Daoren (松石道人), was a Chinese novelist and phonologist of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. A native of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, he was the author of the novel ''Jing Hua Yuan'' (鏡花緣), or '' Flowers in the Mirror''. He also wrote ''Lishi Yinjian'' (李氏音鑑), a work of Chinese phonology, and complied ''Shou Zi Pu'' (受子譜), a valuable kifu of Go. '' Flowers in the Mirror'' (completed in 1827) is a novel of fantasy and erudition in 100 chapters.Keith McMahon ''Misers, Shrews, and Polygamists: Sexuality and Male-Female ...'', 1995. Page 284 "Chaste and Unchaste Heroines in Jin Yun Qiao and Jinghua Yuan" In the first half of the novel, the protagonist, like Gulliver, travels to strange lands, reminiscent of what are mentioned in '' Shan Hai Jing''. The second half of the novel is a display of Li's erudition, and reads more like an encyclopedia than a novel. The ''Lishi Yinjian'', in the line of the

rime table A rime table or rhyme table ( zh, t=韻圖, s=韵图, p=yùntú, w=yün-t'u) is a Chinese phonological model, tabulating the syllables of the series of rime dictionaries beginning with the ''Qieyun'' (601) by their onsets, rhyme groups, tones an ...

tradition, comprises syllable charts which are both innovative and confusing. Like Li's novel, it is a work of erudition, quoting from more than 400 works. It is valuable for its recording of the phonological system of the then-Beijing dialect. From a young age he had a rebellious nature. He strongly disagreed with the fixed style of composition ( eight-legged essay) that people were required to learn in order to pass the examination needed to obtain a higher rank. Therefore, after obtaining the degree of '' xiucai'' (licentiate, the lowest in the examination hierarchy), he became a low-ranking officer, which was not considered respectable. However, his position did not mean that he was idle; he was a polymath, with expertise in astrology, medicine, mathematics, music, rhetoric, poetry, calligraphy and painting. His knowledge in all these subjects is amply reflected in ''Flowers in the Mirror'', sometimes even to the hindrance of the plot.

References

*He Jiuying 何九盈 (1995). ''Zhongguo gudai yuyanxue shi'' (中囯古代语言学史 "A history of ancient Chinese linguistics"). Guangzhou: Guangdong jiaoyu chubanshe. *Zhu Meishu 朱眉叔 (1992). ''Li Ruzhen yu'' Jing hua yuan (李汝珍與鏡花緣 "Li Ruzhen and ''Flowers in the Mirror''"). Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Ruzhen 1760s births 1830 deaths Qing dynasty novelists Chinese fantasy writers Writers from Beijing 19th-century Chinese novelists