平山冷燕

《平山冷燕》为中国古典名著，清初长篇小说，现在能见到的最早版本是顺治十五年（1658年）由天花藏主人作序的《新刻批评平山冷燕》，现存于大连图书馆。此外，尚有聚锦堂刊天花藏七才子书本及退思堂刊天花藏七才子书本、玉兰堂本、静寄山堂本等。清初曾译成满文，后又被法国汉学家儒莲译成法文，介绍到欧洲。

《平山冷燕》共二十回，题为荻岸山人编次。荻岸山人究竟为何许人也，历来没有定论。清朝盛百二《柚堂续笔谈》认为是嘉兴张博山十四五岁时所作，其父笔削续成之。按博山名劭，清康熙时人。阮元《两浙猷轩录》称其“少有成童之目，九龄作《梅花赋》惊其师。”但据鲁迅推断，其“文意陈腐，殊不类童子所为”。“盖早慧，故世人并以此书附着于彼。”（《中国小说史略》）

《平山冷燕》主要描写“先朝”隆盛时，才子才女（平如衡、山黛、冷绛雪、燕白颔）才华出众，深得皇帝赏识，最后双双成亲的故事。

《平山冷燕》是明末清初小说中较有影响的一部作品。鲁迅的《中国小说史略》曾予以详细介绍，认为它的主旨是“显扬女子，颂其异能，又颇薄制艺而尚词华，重俊髦而嗤俗士”。

1982年春风文艺出版社出版了此书，由李致中先生校点。

Ping Shan Leng Yan (Chinese: 平山冷燕; pinyin: Píng Shān Lěng Yān; Wade–Giles: P'ing Shan Leng Yen), also translated into English as Flat Mountain and Cold Swallow and Cold Swallows in the Peaceful Hill, is a classic caizi jiaren novel written in early Qing dynasty China. The earliest extant edition of the novel is a printed edition dating from 1658, now preserved in the Dalian Library. The title of the book is derived from the surnames of the two couples featured in the book. The novel is sometimes attributed to Di An Shanren (Chinese: 荻岸山人), but the authorship is uncertain. It has also been attributed to Tianhua Zang Zhuren (天花藏主人), a pseudonym meaning "Master of the Heavenly Flower Sutra". Yu jiao li and Ping Shan Leng Yan were both written by the same Tianhua Zang Zhuren according to a style analysis by caizi jiaren scholar Qing Ping Wang. Classical Chinese scholar and Yale professor Chloë Starr lists Ping Shan Leng Yan along with Yu jiao li and Haoqiu zhuan as one of the three best-known examples of the caizi jiaren genre.

In the novel, both Miss Shan Dai and her maid Miss Leng Jiangxue are talented writers. Two young scholars decide to woo them with their own poetry, but discover that their poems have been plagiarized by rival suitors. The ladies and their would-be suitors challenge each other to a poetry contest, which the ladies win. In the end, the two new couples wed with the blessing of the Emperor.

Plot

Miss Shan Dai, a beautiful girl, is so talented that she passes the challenging tests set by her tutor and impresses her father, an imperial official. Miss Leng Jiangxue, also a talented young woman, is sent from a poor family to be Shan's maid, on the way sees a striking poem written by an impoverished student, Ping Ruheng. Ping is traveling to Songjiang, where he meets the accomplished and handsome scholar, Yan Baihan. The two young men decide to go to Beijing in disguise to find the renowned Shan Dai, but while they are en route, other suitors plagiarize their poetry to woo the young ladies. The plot climaxes in a poetry contest in which the two young ladies defeat Ping and Yan in a competition to write the best poem, and in the end their marriages are approved by the emperor himself.

Pseudo-caizi are foils to the real caizi in caizi jiaren stories. Here, the characters, Song Xin (C: 宋 信, P: Sòng Xìn, W: Sung Hsin) and Dou Guoyi (T: 竇國一, S: 窦国一, P: Dòu Guóyī, W: To Kuo-i), plagiarize poems written by Ping and Yan and pretend to be poets.