The Legend of Lady Xia Ji: Two Late Ming Dynasty Portrayals of an Ancient Chinese Femme Fatale

Abstract

In ancient texts Lady Xia Ji is described as a dangerous woman, whose seductive beauty brought about the near collapse of the state of Chen in 599 BCE. Having been virtually forgotten for many centuries, in the late Ming dynasty Lady Xia Ji was the subject of an erotic novel: the Zhulin yeshi (The Romantic History of Zhulin). Here she is portrayed as using esoteric techniques of sexual vampirism to maintain her beauty and achieve transcendency. Subsequently, she also figured in the Xin lieguo zhi (New Account of the States [of the Eastern Zhou]) by Feng Menglong (1574-1645). Although these two Ming dynasty novels are known to be closely related, the connection has not previously been explored. These interrelationships provide important clues as to the dating of these two texts.