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baihe_mediaYu Huan (于欢) has a good reputation as an author who specialises in the decidedly niche subgenre of serious historical baihe novels, so I've been meaning to read something by her for some time. For a long time I was put off by the sheer length of most of her novels: her most popular titles are in the one million word plus range. Which is why I settled eventually on Calming the Wind and the Waves (定风波, pinyin: ding feng bo), which is a manageable 543K words. The title is a name of a popular tune to which ci poems were set.
The novel is set very specifically in the Tang Dynasty during the Wu Zetian's reign, starting just before she elevated herself to the throne. Our protagonist is Wang Jinyu, who comes from a respected literary (though not politically influential) family, and was raised as a boy by her parents for reasons I found deeply unconvincing (of which more below). As a child, she was playmates with Xiao Wanyin, daughter of a powerful and politically well-connected family. The plot fundamentally revolves around their long-running attempt to get married. There are many obstacles in the way, chief among them Wang Jinyu's relatively lower social status (her mother is her father's concubine, not his principal wife) and the Wang clan's lack of status at court. The situation is further complicated by the multiple proposals each of our leads receives from other quarters. Xiao Wanyin is pursued by sons of high-ranking nobles seeking an advantageous family connection, Wang Jinyu by young women who find her refreshingly and unconventionally courteous and gentle. Things come to a head when Wang Jinyu decides that the only way for her to achieve her aim of marrying Xiao Wanyin is to gain sufficiently high political office before Xiao Wanyin is married off to someone else. This is against the wishes of her parents, who're concerned about the whole 'the entire clan will be put to death if anyone, especially the emperor, ever discovers that you're a woman' thing.
I found this an incredibly frustrating read for a number of reasons.
First, the pace was extremely slow, and when I say slow, I mean the leads don't actually get properly married until the post-ending extras and don't have their first kiss until about Chapter 141 (of 157). Adding to the feeling of the slow pace was the fact that Xiao Wanyin essentially had nothing to do. While Wang Jinyu had a growth arc that saw her eventually becoming a favoured official of Wu Zetian's, all Xiao Wanyin got was the process of repeatedly fending off proposals from eligible noblemen, in particular an ambitious young official named Li Yuanfu, who is romantically obsessed with her. This was despite the text making a point of the fact that, unlike other young ladies, Xiao Wanyin had trained extensively in martial arts rather than the usual feminine pursuits. Towards the end of the novel, she accompanies Wang Jinyu on the latter's diplomatic mission to Persia in disguise as a bodyguard, and I was hopeful that she'd finally be able to put her martial arts abilities to impressive use — only for her to be harassed by a Persian nobleman whom Wang Jinyu had to deal with.
Second, the novel actually marries them both off to other people first. While that's not in itself a problem, what was a problem was the fact that this placed them in relationships that were more complex and promising than the actual supposed main relationship. Wang Jinyu's first wife is Li Jin, the daughter of a senior minister. Li Jin, being deeply in love with Wang Jinyu, follows her in secret when she's sent on a dangerous mission to the western regions of the empire.* She takes a near-fatal wound intended for Wang Jinyu, and through a combination of extreme guilt and arm-twisting/coercion from Li Jin's father, Wang Jinyu agrees to marry her. Post-marriage, Wang Jinyu's gentle and considerate treatment of the very frail Li Jin is depicted in moving detail. When Li Jin dies from the after-effects of her illness, Wang Jinyu grieves so deeply that she insists on putting on the deepest possible mourning (traditionally reserved for mourning one's parents, or for a wife to mourn her husband, but not for a husband to mourn his wife) for Li Jin, and swears never to marry again.
*(Xiao Wanyin also secretly accompanies Wang Jinyu on this mission, and is in fact the one who rescues Wang Jinyu and Li Jin from the former's attackers, but her presence feels curiously inconsequential.)
Xiao Wanyin, meanwhile, ends up marrying the persistent Li Yuanfu as... part of a plot to lower her social status... so that she can marry widower Wang Jinyu (as the unmarried daughter of a prominent family, she's far too high-ranking to be a widower's second wife). The plan, carried out in concert with Wu Zetian's daughter Princess Taiping and her loyal official Shangguan Wan'er (look, a baihe novel set in the Tang Dynasty is just not complete without these two), involves slowly poisoning Li Yuanfu who dies on their wedding day. It is at this point in the story that its most interesting character appears — Li Yuanfu's less-favoured but extremely competent older brother Li Yuanhong. Li Yuanhong, we learn by reading between the lines, is actually Li Yuanfu's older sister, twin of the 'real' Li Yuanhong, who swapped identities with him when he tragically died young. f!Li Yuanhong, we also learn, has long nursed a secret tenderness for Xiao Wanyin, whom she met as a child, and she proceeds to smooth Xiao Wanyin's path as much as possible — refuting all suspicions that Xiao Wanyin might have murdered Li Yuanfu, making sure she gets her share of the Li family's wealth, and providing her with a handy proclamation of divorce 'signed' by Li Yuanfu.
Like several readers in the comments, at this point in the story, I was ready to split the canon couple up and pair them up with Li Jin and Li Yuanhong respectively.
Third, while I'm sure the author's depiction of historical figures and events was accurate, she seemed to have very little interest in making them actual characters, with the result that they kind of drift in and out of the narrative. The one exception is probably Wu Zetian; even Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er feel extremely marginal (and their relationship is simply hinted at).
Fourth, there were several other interesting female characters at the beginning of the story, notably Xiao Wanyin's prickly, sharp-tongued but caring older sister Xiao Ruolan, and Song Lingyi, the worldly, street-smart adopted daughter of a brilliant but unscrupulous official, who is intrigued by Wang Jinyi — but they all fade out of the narrative after a while. The same applies to Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er, as mentioned previously.
Fifth, a minor but extremely gross unnecessary detail I hated: the first time Wang Jinyu and Xiao Wanyin have sex (just a couple of days before their planned wedding), it's partly under the influence of aphrodisiacs that Xiao Wanyin's conniving older brother has snuck into their environment, him being keen for them to 'seal the deal' now that Wang Jinyu has become a senior minister at court.
The novel ends on a note that I found difficult to stomach in a self-proclaimed serious historical novel: it turns out that Wang Jinyu is Wu Zetian's granddaughter — daughter of her son Li Hong, whom she's widely believed to have poisoned. Wang Jinyu's father, who had been in service to Li Hong, took in his pregnant concubine and acknowledged her eventual child as his own. As to why he was 'forced' to raise Wang Jinyu as a boy, this was apparently because it was the only way to get Wang Jinyu's very traditionalist grandfather to allow her into the family, given that Mr Wang Senior already had a principal wife who'd borne him daughters. It was at this point that I nearly threw my phone (which I was reading on) across the room.
This is one of those cross-dressing books where the protagonist's gender is very non-salient. Socially, politically and materially, very little of the story would have changed had Wang Jinyu been a boy instead.
I read the Chinese original of the novel here on JJWXC.
The novel is set very specifically in the Tang Dynasty during the Wu Zetian's reign, starting just before she elevated herself to the throne. Our protagonist is Wang Jinyu, who comes from a respected literary (though not politically influential) family, and was raised as a boy by her parents for reasons I found deeply unconvincing (of which more below). As a child, she was playmates with Xiao Wanyin, daughter of a powerful and politically well-connected family. The plot fundamentally revolves around their long-running attempt to get married. There are many obstacles in the way, chief among them Wang Jinyu's relatively lower social status (her mother is her father's concubine, not his principal wife) and the Wang clan's lack of status at court. The situation is further complicated by the multiple proposals each of our leads receives from other quarters. Xiao Wanyin is pursued by sons of high-ranking nobles seeking an advantageous family connection, Wang Jinyu by young women who find her refreshingly and unconventionally courteous and gentle. Things come to a head when Wang Jinyu decides that the only way for her to achieve her aim of marrying Xiao Wanyin is to gain sufficiently high political office before Xiao Wanyin is married off to someone else. This is against the wishes of her parents, who're concerned about the whole 'the entire clan will be put to death if anyone, especially the emperor, ever discovers that you're a woman' thing.
I found this an incredibly frustrating read for a number of reasons.
First, the pace was extremely slow, and when I say slow, I mean the leads don't actually get properly married until the post-ending extras and don't have their first kiss until about Chapter 141 (of 157). Adding to the feeling of the slow pace was the fact that Xiao Wanyin essentially had nothing to do. While Wang Jinyu had a growth arc that saw her eventually becoming a favoured official of Wu Zetian's, all Xiao Wanyin got was the process of repeatedly fending off proposals from eligible noblemen, in particular an ambitious young official named Li Yuanfu, who is romantically obsessed with her. This was despite the text making a point of the fact that, unlike other young ladies, Xiao Wanyin had trained extensively in martial arts rather than the usual feminine pursuits. Towards the end of the novel, she accompanies Wang Jinyu on the latter's diplomatic mission to Persia in disguise as a bodyguard, and I was hopeful that she'd finally be able to put her martial arts abilities to impressive use — only for her to be harassed by a Persian nobleman whom Wang Jinyu had to deal with.
Second, the novel actually marries them both off to other people first. While that's not in itself a problem, what was a problem was the fact that this placed them in relationships that were more complex and promising than the actual supposed main relationship. Wang Jinyu's first wife is Li Jin, the daughter of a senior minister. Li Jin, being deeply in love with Wang Jinyu, follows her in secret when she's sent on a dangerous mission to the western regions of the empire.* She takes a near-fatal wound intended for Wang Jinyu, and through a combination of extreme guilt and arm-twisting/coercion from Li Jin's father, Wang Jinyu agrees to marry her. Post-marriage, Wang Jinyu's gentle and considerate treatment of the very frail Li Jin is depicted in moving detail. When Li Jin dies from the after-effects of her illness, Wang Jinyu grieves so deeply that she insists on putting on the deepest possible mourning (traditionally reserved for mourning one's parents, or for a wife to mourn her husband, but not for a husband to mourn his wife) for Li Jin, and swears never to marry again.
*(Xiao Wanyin also secretly accompanies Wang Jinyu on this mission, and is in fact the one who rescues Wang Jinyu and Li Jin from the former's attackers, but her presence feels curiously inconsequential.)
Xiao Wanyin, meanwhile, ends up marrying the persistent Li Yuanfu as... part of a plot to lower her social status... so that she can marry widower Wang Jinyu (as the unmarried daughter of a prominent family, she's far too high-ranking to be a widower's second wife). The plan, carried out in concert with Wu Zetian's daughter Princess Taiping and her loyal official Shangguan Wan'er (look, a baihe novel set in the Tang Dynasty is just not complete without these two), involves slowly poisoning Li Yuanfu who dies on their wedding day. It is at this point in the story that its most interesting character appears — Li Yuanfu's less-favoured but extremely competent older brother Li Yuanhong. Li Yuanhong, we learn by reading between the lines, is actually Li Yuanfu's older sister, twin of the 'real' Li Yuanhong, who swapped identities with him when he tragically died young. f!Li Yuanhong, we also learn, has long nursed a secret tenderness for Xiao Wanyin, whom she met as a child, and she proceeds to smooth Xiao Wanyin's path as much as possible — refuting all suspicions that Xiao Wanyin might have murdered Li Yuanfu, making sure she gets her share of the Li family's wealth, and providing her with a handy proclamation of divorce 'signed' by Li Yuanfu.
Like several readers in the comments, at this point in the story, I was ready to split the canon couple up and pair them up with Li Jin and Li Yuanhong respectively.
Third, while I'm sure the author's depiction of historical figures and events was accurate, she seemed to have very little interest in making them actual characters, with the result that they kind of drift in and out of the narrative. The one exception is probably Wu Zetian; even Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er feel extremely marginal (and their relationship is simply hinted at).
Fourth, there were several other interesting female characters at the beginning of the story, notably Xiao Wanyin's prickly, sharp-tongued but caring older sister Xiao Ruolan, and Song Lingyi, the worldly, street-smart adopted daughter of a brilliant but unscrupulous official, who is intrigued by Wang Jinyi — but they all fade out of the narrative after a while. The same applies to Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er, as mentioned previously.
Fifth, a minor but extremely gross unnecessary detail I hated: the first time Wang Jinyu and Xiao Wanyin have sex (just a couple of days before their planned wedding), it's partly under the influence of aphrodisiacs that Xiao Wanyin's conniving older brother has snuck into their environment, him being keen for them to 'seal the deal' now that Wang Jinyu has become a senior minister at court.
The novel ends on a note that I found difficult to stomach in a self-proclaimed serious historical novel: it turns out that Wang Jinyu is Wu Zetian's granddaughter — daughter of her son Li Hong, whom she's widely believed to have poisoned. Wang Jinyu's father, who had been in service to Li Hong, took in his pregnant concubine and acknowledged her eventual child as his own. As to why he was 'forced' to raise Wang Jinyu as a boy, this was apparently because it was the only way to get Wang Jinyu's very traditionalist grandfather to allow her into the family, given that Mr Wang Senior already had a principal wife who'd borne him daughters. It was at this point that I nearly threw my phone (which I was reading on) across the room.
This is one of those cross-dressing books where the protagonist's gender is very non-salient. Socially, politically and materially, very little of the story would have changed had Wang Jinyu been a boy instead.
I read the Chinese original of the novel here on JJWXC.
