The Death of Woman Wang

In an autobiographical story, P’u writes about how, as a child, his wife was tormented by his sisters-in-law, who resented his wife’s close relationship with his mother (77-78). Another story describes a strong young man named Ts’ui “the violent” who fights against and even kills people who commit injustices. His mother tried to stop Ts’ui’s violent ways but fails. After her death, Ts’ui kills a man who forcibly took the wife of a man named Li. When Li is falsely accused of the crime, Ts’ui steps forward and is condemned to death. However, a child Ts’ui once helped has grown up to be an official and secures Ts’ui a light sentence. Later, when a corrupt aristocrat named Wang starts a gang of bandits, Ts’ui founds a local defense force to fight against them(79-89).

The head of the real Wang family, Wang San, was a former officer in a rebel army who fled to T’an-ch’eng after the army’s defeat and purchased a farm. Wang San and his son, Wang K’ohsi, were “gangsters as well as landlords” (90). The Wangs intimidated a farmer, Chiang, who owned land bordering theirs into letting Wang K’ohsi marry his daughter.