The current situation of the twenty-year-old mystery - nijuunenmokuto no kaigenjo (English)

Japanese: 二十年目睹之怪現状 - にじゅうねんもくとのかいげんじょう（英語表記）Er-shi-nian mu-du zhi guai-xian-zhuang

A colloquial, episodic novel from the late Qing Dynasty, written by Wu Woyao. 108 chapters. It was serialized in New Novel in 1902, and published in book form from 1909 to 1912. A man who calls himself "Narrow Death" tells the first person about the "bizarre conditions" he witnessed in various societies during his 20 years of travels around the country. The lives of corrupt government officials, merchants, and literati of the late Qing Dynasty are depicted one after another in a series of short anecdotes, and the protagonist's name comes from the fact that he narrowly escaped from these ravaging characters. Although it is somewhat stereotypical and stiff in many respects, it is considered one of the representative works of the "reproach novels" that were popular in the late Qing Dynasty.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

中国，清末の口語章回小説。呉沃堯 (ごよくぎょう) の作。 108回。光緒 28 (1902) 年『新小説』に連載され，のち同 33年から宣統1 (09) 年にかけて単行本となった。「九死一生」と名のる男が，20年にわたって全国を旅行した間に見聞したさまざまな社会の「奇怪な現状」を一人称で語ったもの。腐敗した清末の官吏，商人，文人たちの生態が，短い挿話の積重ねのうちに次から次へと描き出され，その虎狼のような連中から危うく逃れたというのが主人公の名のいわれである。やや類型的で生硬な点が多いが，清末に流行した「譴責 (けんせき) 小説」の代表的作品の一つとされる。

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