Chu Renhu
1635–after 1704
Biography
Chu Renhu (褚人穫, also printed as 褚人獲) was a Chinese writer of the Qing dynasty from Changzhou county, near Suzhou in what is now Jiangsu province. He was born in 1635 and was still alive in 1704; the year of his death is not known. He never passed the official examinations and never held office, so he lived as a scholar, reading widely and writing among the learned men of the Suzhou region.
His interests lay in history, anecdote and older lore. Among his writings are the Jianhu Ji (堅瓠集), a gathering of notes and stories, a book of reading notes on history, and a study of the top graduates of the imperial examinations. The writer You Tong (尤侗) wrote a preface for the Jianhu Ji and praised his learning and his wide reading.
His most important literary work is the novel 隋唐演義 (Sui Tang Yanyi), a historical novel about the Sui and Tang dynasties. He drew on earlier Ming accounts such as 隋唐志傳 and 隋煬帝艷史, along with folk tales, and he combined the heroic adventure of a warrior romance with the form of a historical narrative. The site holds this novel, so readers can meet the Sui and Tang courts as a Qing writer retold them.
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Books
隋唐演義
by Chu Renhu
From the excesses of Emperor Yang of Sui to the founding of the Tang and the reigns of Empress Wu and Emperor Xuanzong, a century of palace intrigue and rebellion. Heroes of the greenwood such as Qin Shubao share the stage with emperors and consorts. This book uses the racial…
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.