Ribald Classic: The Most Wicked Novel

February, 1970

This Malevolent story begins with a serene and beautiful painting. It was called Going Up River and it was painted by Chang Tse-tuan of the Sun dynasty; in it, he portrayed the splendors of K'ai-feng-Fu, a city that had been destroyed by the Kin Tartars long ago, in 1127. But the very beauty of that picture produced not only avarice, treachery and murder but also one of the most lecherous books ever written.In the beginning, Wang Yu, a minor official, owned the picture and Yen Sung, a powerful o...

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