{{Short description|Chinese author (1867–1906)}} {{Chinese |order=ts |t=李寶嘉 |s=李宝嘉 |p=Lǐ Bǎojiā |w=Li Pao-chia |altname=Li Boyuan |c2=李伯元 |p2=Lǐ Bóyuán |w2=Li Po-yüan |altname3=Nanting tingzhang |t3=南亭停長 |s3=南亭停长 |p3=Nántíng tíngzhǎng |w3=Nan-t'ing T'ing-chang }} '''Li Baojia''' ({{zh|first=t|t=李寶嘉}}), courtesy name (zi) '''Li Boyuan''' ({{zh|c=李伯元}}; 1867-1906<ref name=PLp547>PL, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KZ0lJDL_1nsC&pg=PA547 547].</ref>), art name nickname (hao) '''Nanting tingzhang''' ({{zh|first=t|t=南亭停長|labels=no}}) was a Qing Dynasty-era Chinese author. He was a writer, essayist, ballad author, poet, calligrapher, and seal carver. He edited a fiction periodical and several tabloids.<ref name=PLp547/>
==History== Li Baojia was born in Shandong. His ancestral hometown was Wujin in what is now Changzhou, Jiangsu.<ref name=PLp547/> Li Baojia lived in Shandong for his early childhood and young adulthood, spanning the years 1867 to 1892. After 1892 he moved to Wujin into the residence of his parents. For a five-year period he studied for the ''xiucai'' imperial examination and passed it. He then studied for the ''juren'' exam but did not pass. He moved from Wujin to Shanghai at age 30 and worked as a writer and journalist.<ref name=PLp548>PL, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KZ0lJDL_1nsC&pg=PA548 548].</ref>
Initially Li served as the principal writer and editor of several area tabloids and magazines. They included the ''Shanghai Shijie Fanhua Bao'', the ''Zhinan Bao'' ({{zh|first=t|t=指南報|s=指南报|p=Zhǐnán Bào|w=Chih-nan Pao|l=The Guide or News About the Pleasure Quarters<ref name=wang>{{cite book|last=Wang|first=David Der-wei|authorlink=David Der-wei Wang|title=Fin-de-siècle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849–1911|year=1997|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=0-8047-2845-3|page=3}}</ref>}}), and ''Youxi Bao'' ({{zh|first=t|t=遊戲報|s=游戏报|p=Yóuxì Bào|w=Yu-hsi Pao|l=Amusement News or News About Recreation<ref name=wang/>|labels=no}}). By 1903 he became the editor of and a contributor to the ''Xiuxiang Xiaoshuo'' ({{zh|first=t|t=繡像小說|s=绣像小说|p=Xiùxiàng Xiǎoshuō|w=Hsiu-hsiang Hsiao-shuo|l=Illustrated Fiction<!--PL--> or Fiction Illustrated<!--Doleželová-Velingerová-->|labels=no}}), a reputable fortnightly publication that was published by the Commercial Press of Shanghai, then the city's largest publisher.<ref name=PLp548/>
Li was among those who designed literary drinking games to cater to the urban leisure aesthetics of the late Qing period.<ref name="Guo">{{Cite book |last=Guo |first=Li |title=Games & Play in Chinese & Sinophone Cultures |date=2024 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=9780295752402 |editor-last=Guo |editor-first=Li |location=Seattle, WA |pages=117 |chapter=The Courtesans' Drinking Games in The Dream in the Green Bower |editor-last2=Eyman |editor-first2=Douglas |editor-last3=Sun |editor-first3=Hongmei}}</ref>
He died in Shanghai at age 39.<ref name=PLp547/>
==Writing style== ''The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Part 1'' wrote that in Li Baojia's time, his writings were popular and "suited the social and political climate" of the late Qing Dynasty.<ref name=PLp548/> Li Baojia wrote novels for an audience who did not receive a classical education, and he used everyday vernacular speech in his works.<ref name=DolVelp724>Doleželová-Velingerová, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=n2DfEmr2g0YC&pg=PA724 724].</ref> ''The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Part 1'' stated that some people characterized his writings as "satirical, vituperative, and exaggerated".<ref name=PLp548/>
Li Baojia's works are meant to reflect Chinese society. His characters were written to represent social groups so he did not use complex characterization. He patterned each of his novels from an identical plot organized in thematic cycles. He used this plot as a base to systematically describe social strata. Milena Doleželová-Velingerová, author of "Chapter 38: Fiction from the End of the Empire to the Beginning of the Republic (1897-1916)", wrote that "These new inventions in the structural configuration of the novel made Li Pao-chia<!--Quote! Use Wade Giles here--> an unsurpassed master of the late Ch'ing novel while presenting a broad picture of Chinese society."<ref name=DolVelp724/>
''The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Part 1'' stated that Li Baojia's works were "artistically uneven".<ref name=PLp548/>
==Purpose of his writing== ''The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Part 1'' argued that Li Baojia's novels "portrayed China in a serious state of disrepair and in need of drastic change" and that his works "served an important political and social function in a critical transitional period."<ref name=PLp548/> The book further argued that many later readers of Li Baojia's works interpreted them as advocating for radical changes but that Li Baojia himself was a moderate reformer who was against radical change.<ref name=PLp548/>
==Works== {{expand section|date=October 2013}} Novels: * ''Officialdom Unmasked'' - Li Baojia wrote the book from 1901 to 1906 while simultaneously writing other books.<ref name=Holochp76>Holoch, p. 76.</ref> Jaroslav Průšek wrote that Li Baojia wrote ''Officialdom Unmasked'' because Li Baojia wanted to entice people into opposing a corrupt bureaucracy.<ref>Yang, Xiaobin, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MyeeEmtaRv4C&pg=PA248 248] (Notes to pages 8-15).</ref> Since the year of Li Baojia's death, the current version of ''Guanchang Xianxing Ji'' is a 60 chapter version. Donald Holoch, author of "A Novel of Setting: ''The Bureaucrats''", wrote that a man named Ouyang Juyuan ({{zh|first=t|t=歐陽巨源|s=欧阳巨源|p=Ōuyáng Jùyuán|w=Ou-yang Chü-yüan|labels=no}}), a friend of Li Baojia, "allegedly" added the final 12 chapters after Li Baojia died, and therefore the 60 chapter version is "commonly held to be the work of two men."<ref name=Holochp76/> * ''Wenming Xiaoshi''<ref name=PLp547/> ** English translation: {{cite book |last1=Li |first1=Boyuan |translator1-last=Lancashire |translator1-first=Douglas |title=Modern Times: A Brief History of Enlightenment |date=1996 |publisher=Chinese University Press |location=Hong Kong |isbn=962-7255-16-5}} * ''Huo Diyu'' ({{zh|first=t|t=活地獄|s=活地狱|p=Huó Dìyù|w=Huo Ti-yü|l=Living Hell|labels=no}})<!--Incorrectly spelled "Hou ti-yü" in encyclopedia--><ref name=PLp547/> - It documents judicial and penal system's malpractices. This work was unfinished.<ref name=PLp548/>
Ballads: * ''Gengzi Guobian Tanci'' - Written immediately after the Boxer Rebellion, it was Li Baojia's first major literary work, serialized in the ''Shanghai Shijie Fanhua Bao''.<ref name=PLp548/>
Miscellaneous writings * ''Nanting Sihua'' ({{zh|first=t|t=南亭四話|s=南亭四话|p=Nántíng sìhuà|w=Nan-t'ing Ssu-hua|l=Four Miscellanies from the Southern Pavilion|labels=no}}) - A collection of four miscellaneous writings by Li Baojia<ref name=PLp547/>
''The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Part 1'' stated that "There are also a number of works of doubtful authorship attributed to him."<ref name=PLp547/><!--Content continues to p 548--> * ''Haitian Hongxue Ji'' ({{zh|first=t|t=海天鴻雪記|s=海天鸿雪记|p=Hǎitiān Hóngxuě Jì|w=Hai-tian hung-hsüeh chi|l=Boundless Snow|labels=no}})<ref name=PLp548/> * ''Fanhua Meng'' ({{zh|first=t|t=繁華夢|s=繁华梦|p=Fánhuá Mèng|w=Fan-hua Meng|l=Glittering Dreams|labels=no}})<ref name=PLp548/> * ''Zhongguo Xianzai Ji'' ({{zh|first=t|t=中國現在記|s=中国现在记|p=Zhōngguó Xiànzài Jì|w=Chung-kuo hsien-tsai chi|l=Present-day China|labels=no}})<ref name=PLp548/>
==References== * Doleželová-Velingerová, Milena. "Chapter 38: Fiction from the End of the Empire to the Beginning of the Republic (1897-1916)" in: Mair, Victor H. (editor). ''The Columbia History of Chinese Literature''. Columbia University Press, August 13, 2013. p. 697-731. {{ISBN|0231528515}}, 9780231528511. * Holoch, Donald. "A Novel of Setting: ''The Bureaucrats''" in: Doleželová-Velingerová, Milena (editor). ''The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press; January 1, 1980), {{ISBN|0802054730}}, 9780802054739. * PL, "Li Pao-chia." In: Nienhauser, William H. (editor). ''The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Part 1''. Indiana University Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0253329833}}, 9780253329837. * Yang, Xiaobin. ''The Chinese Postmodern: Trauma and Irony in Chinese Avant-garde Fiction''. University of Michigan Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0472112414}}, 9780472112418.
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== {{Portal|China|Biography}} * Yang Lam, Mei-Lan. ''Li Baojia's A Short History of Modern Times''. University of Toronto, 1981. See [https://books.google.com/books?id=8rT8ewEACAAJ&q=%22Li+Baojia%22 profile] at Google Books.
==External links== *{{in lang|zh}} "[http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/xiaobao/persons.php?p=sperson&persid=41 李寶嘉 Li Baojia]." University of Heidelberg. ([https://archive.today/20131028055535/http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/xiaobao/persons.php?p=sperson&persid=41 Archive]) * {{Gutenberg author | id=26271| name=Boyuan Li}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Baojia}} Category:Qing dynasty novelists Category:1906 deaths Category:1867 births Category:Writers from Shandong Category:19th-century Chinese novelists Category:Chinese male novelists Category:Qing dynasty essayists Category:Poets from Shandong Category:Qing dynasty calligraphers Category:Artists from Shandong Category:Chinese seal artists