Li Baojia
1867–1906
Biography
Li Baojia (1867–1906), courtesy name Li Boyuan and art name Nanting tingzhang, was a writer, journalist and satirist from Wujin in the prefecture of Changzhou, Jiangsu. He worked mostly in Shanghai, where the late Qing newspaper trade was growing fast. He wrote fiction, ballads, essays and poems, and he was also known as a calligrapher and seal carver.
He is best remembered as one of the founders of the Shanghai tabloid press of the late Qing. He started and edited several papers, among them Zhinan bao, Youxi bao and Shijie fanhua bao, which mixed satire, gossip and commentary in short, lively pieces. His long novel Guanchang xianxing ji, which exposes the corruption and foolishness of officials, is his most famous work. His Wenming xiaoshi, which looks ironically at the reform fashions of its own time, is the other book by him that readers still meet.
The Wenming xiaoshi on this site is the book through which most readers now come to him. Its irony is aimed at the distance between the language of reform and the conduct of those who spoke it, a theme that runs through his newspapers and novels alike. Read it as a view of late Qing society from a satirist who wrote for the public press of his day.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
文明小史
by 李寶嘉
Li Baojia's satire of the enlightenment fashion that swept China in the last years of the Qing, as young men from the provinces seek foreign learning with no idea what it is. Blundering reformers, officials and students make up the cast. This book uses the racial and other slurs…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.