金瓶梅 unexpurgated edition?

[fenlan]

Hello, this is my first post. I recently had an idea that I could get a full, unexpurgated copy (足本) of 金瓶梅 (The Golden Lotus) and while I am studying in China find a private tutor who would help me read it character by character, helping with vocabulary and grammar etc. How can I be sure of buying a full, unexpurgated edition? I saw some copies on www.yesasia.com and I think one on www.joyo.com, but which edition is complete? Does anyone know?

[in_lab]

I recently read a review of a 金瓶梅 dictionary. It said that 金瓶梅 uses a lot of dialect, compared to Hong Lou Meng and other classic novels. So, it sounds really challenging. If you find a Chinese teacher who could teach you, then he/she could also help you find a good edition. Are you already familiar with it in English?

[Outofin]

Very surprising. If you still need someone to help you read it, I feel you're not ready for it yet. But you can certainly give a try.

BTW, the title doesn't mean The Golden Lotus. It's simply a combination of the first names of 3 ladies in the book.

[zhwj]

If you're looking for it on the mainland, you're probably not going to find it very easily. There are a couple of very nice scholarly editions that combine the text and annotations from the three major versions, but even these are missing around 10,000 characters (though they helpfully provide citations to the pages of woodblock editions where you can find the missing portions).

Bootleg bookshops sometimes sell "complete" versions, but what you're really getting is not clear, either. I've seen at least one version that filled in the cuts with random erotic stories found online.

[Learner]

http://www.ibiblio.org/ulysses/gec/jpm/

The version at this site is unexpurgated (according to the site's owner), but not yet complete. 74 chapters have been posted, and the remaining are supposed to follow eventually.

Perhaps some of the more erudite members of this forum can tell us whether this version is truly unexpurgated.

Learner

[skylee]

It is difficult to take someone who calls him/herself "大華帝國國師不甚了了真人" very seriously ...

[zhwj]

That's at The Internet Chinese Text Archive, which dates back to 1991, so the owner certainly has justification to use such a presumptuous name.

There'a a huge collection of erotica there, and a fair amount of politics; hence the block for mainland users.