多妻毒 single work   novel  
duo qi du
Issue Details: First known date: 1909... 1909 多妻毒
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'This story follows the life of a young Chinese man who leaves his wife in his home village in southern China to seek his fortunes in the Victorian goldfields. His adventures later take him to Melbourne’s Chinatown in Little Bourke Street, before the final tragic end back in the village in China where it all began.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Adaptations

The Poison of Polygamy Anchuli Felicia King , 2023 single work drama

'Love, betrayal and cross-continental adventure

'Set sail with this epic gold rush drama that sprawls across Qing Dynasty China, to Victoria’s nineteenth century goldfields, and the laneways of Melbourne’s Chinatown. One of Australia’s most exciting, versatile, and provocative playwrights, Anchuli Felicia King returns to STC to uncover this historical story of love, sex, adventure, and two worlds colliding.

'Originally published in 1910, The Poison of Polygamy was Australia’s first ever novel by a Chinese Australian author, Wong Shee Ping. It tells the story of Sleep-sick – an opportunistic young man from Guangdong who has his sights set on amassing a fortune in Australia’s goldfields. He leaves behind his faithful but long-suffering wife Ma (Merlynn Tong) and sets out across the sea to try his luck.

'Along the way, he charms and cheats an eccentric cast of characters until he meets his match: the seductive and cunning Tsiu Hei (Kimie Tsukakoshi). Will Sleep-sick keep his promise to Ma? Or are the temptations of wealth, beautiful women and opium too much to bear?

'Take a look into a slice of Australian history that is rarely seen on stage. Also featuring Ray Chong Nee, The Poison of Polygamy is a frontier story, a morality tale for the ages, and a rollicking, horse-drawn escapade.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company.

Notes

  • English translation of the title: The Poison of Polygamy

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1909-1910
Serialised by: The Chinese Times 1902 newspaper
Notes:
Serialised 1909 - 1910
Alternative title: The Poison of Polygamy
Language: Chinese
Notes:

Writers of the historical introduction in the novel - Mei-fen Kuo and Michael Williams - identify Wong Shee Ping, the editor of Chinese Times in the early 1900s (as yet unconfirmed).

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Sydney University Press , 2019 .
      image of person or book cover 3973870930317181017.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 304 p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published June 2019.

      ISBN: 9781743326022
      Series: y separately published work icon China and the West in the Modern World Will Christie (editor), Sydney : Sydney University Press , 2019- 15839734 2019 series - publisher novel

      'China and the West in the Modern World publishes original, peer-reviewed research on cultural, diplomatic, and trade relations between China and the West from the accession of the Manchu Qing dynasty in 1644 to the present. The series aims to map and interpret historical and cultural interactions during the gradual opening up of China to an enterprising and expansive West as a sequence of Chinese emperors and governments developed policies of accommodation and exclusion in reaction to pressure from Western commerce, culture, and religion. The focus of this series will be on the way different events, ideas and beliefs, and cultural practices (in art, architecture, literature, music, science, trade, politics, diplomacy, gender and family relations, cooking and dress) of the Chinese and Western nations were understood and evaluated – and misunderstood and misevaluated – by each other. The series brings into play different national and disciplinary perspectives to achieve a more thorough and cross-culturally nuanced understanding of the political, economic, and cultural background to the negotiations and realignments currently underway between China and Western nations.'

      Source: Publisher's blurb.

      Number in series: 1

Works about this Work

Genre of The Poison of Polygamy 鲁纪平 , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , June no. 22 2018;

'The Poison of Polygamy (Chinese title Duo qi du, shortened as PoP in the following) is a novel published in serial form in the Chinese newspaper The Chinese Times from 5th June 1909 to 10thDecember 1910. Kuo states that its publication date is between 8 June 1909 and 16 December 1910 (222), but my research indicates the first episode was published on 18 April 1909, and the last on 9 November 1910 (Chinese lunar year). Their corresponding Gregorian calendar dates are 5th June and 10th December. And instead of being published in 52 instalments as mentioned in previous studies (Ommundsen 4), there were actually 53 instalments. There are two episodes with the same number, 25, dated 6 November and 2 December 1909 in the Chinese lunar calendar; the corresponding dates in the Gregorian calendar are 18 December 1910 and 2 January 1911. The author uses an alias, Jiangxia Erlang.' (Introduction)

Poison, Polygamy and Postcolonial Politics : The First Chinese Australian Novel Zhong Huang , Wenche Ommundsen , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Postcolonial Writing , December vol. 52 no. 5 2016; (p. 533-544) Mediating Literary Borders : Asian Australian Writing 2018; (p. 7-18)

'This article examines the first novel written by a Chinese diaspora writer in Australia, The Poison of Polygamy (多妻毒), published in instalments in the Chinese-language newspaper Chinese Times (Melbourne) from 1909 to 1910. Set during the Gold Rush of the 1850s, the novel is nevertheless of its own time, reflecting the pressing concerns of a community in turmoil as the political upheavals of China in the final years of the Qing dynasty competed for attention with the disastrous effects of the White Australia policy. Taking the form of a picaresque and cautionary tale warning against traditional practices such as polygamy, opium smoking and foot-binding, the novel seeks to educate members of the lower classes of the Chinese community while embracing the republican cause against the Manchu rulers. The article argues that the progressive political agenda of the text (democratic, feminist) stands in sharp contrast to the view of the Chinese which prevailed in the white Australian community at the time.' (Publication abstract)

Poison, Polygamy and Postcolonial Politics : The First Chinese Australian Novel Zhong Huang , Wenche Ommundsen , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Postcolonial Writing , December vol. 52 no. 5 2016; (p. 533-544) Mediating Literary Borders : Asian Australian Writing 2018; (p. 7-18)

'This article examines the first novel written by a Chinese diaspora writer in Australia, The Poison of Polygamy (多妻毒), published in instalments in the Chinese-language newspaper Chinese Times (Melbourne) from 1909 to 1910. Set during the Gold Rush of the 1850s, the novel is nevertheless of its own time, reflecting the pressing concerns of a community in turmoil as the political upheavals of China in the final years of the Qing dynasty competed for attention with the disastrous effects of the White Australia policy. Taking the form of a picaresque and cautionary tale warning against traditional practices such as polygamy, opium smoking and foot-binding, the novel seeks to educate members of the lower classes of the Chinese community while embracing the republican cause against the Manchu rulers. The article argues that the progressive political agenda of the text (democratic, feminist) stands in sharp contrast to the view of the Chinese which prevailed in the white Australian community at the time.' (Publication abstract)

Genre of The Poison of Polygamy 鲁纪平 , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , June no. 22 2018;

'The Poison of Polygamy (Chinese title Duo qi du, shortened as PoP in the following) is a novel published in serial form in the Chinese newspaper The Chinese Times from 5th June 1909 to 10thDecember 1910. Kuo states that its publication date is between 8 June 1909 and 16 December 1910 (222), but my research indicates the first episode was published on 18 April 1909, and the last on 9 November 1910 (Chinese lunar year). Their corresponding Gregorian calendar dates are 5th June and 10th December. And instead of being published in 52 instalments as mentioned in previous studies (Ommundsen 4), there were actually 53 instalments. There are two episodes with the same number, 25, dated 6 November and 2 December 1909 in the Chinese lunar calendar; the corresponding dates in the Gregorian calendar are 18 December 1910 and 2 January 1911. The author uses an alias, Jiangxia Erlang.' (Introduction)

Last amended 10 Feb 2021 09:36:45
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