From the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, there have always been touching legends along the Qinhuai River, among which the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai are the most popular. A generation of beauties, either sad or crazy, talented and fierce women, with a long history, left for future generations to comment on.

Dong Xiaowan, one of the eight beauties of Qinhuai, is a native of Jinling. Her talent and beauty are the highest among Qinhuai singers.

"The heavenly posture is exquisite and the appearance is beautiful."

She especially loves Li Bai and compares herself to Li Bai.

She wrote many poems and paintings, and the Wuxi Municipal Museum still has a "Colorful Butterfly Picture" she painted when she was fifteen.

Her love affair with Mao Bijiang, due to Mao Bijiang's 10,000-word article "Yingmei'an Reminiscences" written in memory of her, made them the most commendable erotic story of the union of a talented man and a beautiful woman in the Qinhuai brothel.

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The story of Dong Xiaowan's union with the talented man and the beautiful woman from the border area is somewhat similar to some stories in Pu Songling's "Liao Zhai".

Mao Bijiang was an outstanding romantic talent, but he was very poor.

After he fell in love with Dong Xiaowan, Qian Qianyi paid three thousand gold for Dong Xiaowan's ransom, so that they could become good friends for a hundred years.

After the fall of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Mao Pijiang did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty like Qian Qianyi, Wumeicun, Gong Dingshan and others. Instead, he left Nanjing and fled.

After Mao and Dong fled to Yancheng, Mao Bijiang unfortunately fell seriously ill.

Dong Xiaowan served around him and took good care of him, so that Mao Bijiang survived the disaster.

But Dong Xiaowan became seriously ill due to overwork.

Not long after she fled to Rugao, Jiangsu, a generation of famous prostitutes perished in troubled times at the age of only 27.

Bian Yujing "lamented that all the six armies were naked, and rushed to the crown to become a beauty" was a poem written by Wu Meicun for Wu Sangui.

Wumeicun was a great poet of the Ming and Qing dynasties, as famous as Qian Qianyi at that time.

There is a famous scenic spot in Nanjing - Jiming Temple, where Wumei Village once lived.

The love between Wumeicun and Bian Yujing, a famous Qinhuai prostitute, is a euphemistic and sad story, which almost affected the entire subsequent life of Wumeicun.

Especially in his later years, Wumeicun wrote many poems to regret this love.

Gu Mei "water is like a wave of eyes." Gu Mei, who called herself Mrs. Hengbo, enjoyed all the glory and wealth during her lifetime, and was buried with a grand ceremony after her death.

As the wife of Shangshu, she was awarded the "First Grade Canon" by the Qing Empire.

After his death, all the princes, nobles, literati and bachelors in the capital came to pay their respects.

In many places, especially in the Jiangnan area, literati and bachelors set up halls to hold memorial ceremonies.

But the most romantic and legendary experience in her life was her love story with Yu Huai, the author of "Banqiao Miscellaneous Notes".

The period between Ming and Qing Dynasties was the period when Qinhuai singing girls were most famous.

Qinhuai singing girls are somewhat different from those in other places.

The Qinhuai singers and prostitutes were both talented and beautiful, and were the product of the culture of the scholar-bureaucrats in the south of the Yangtze River.

Many years after Gu Mei's death, Yuan Mei, a great scholar and poet of the Qing Dynasty, still praised her endlessly.

As for Sui Garden in Nanjing where Yuan Mei lived, according to research, the Grand View Garden in Dream of Red Mansions was written based on Sui Garden.

Helplessly, it was burned down by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Yuan Mei's collection of more than 300,000 books.

Liu Rushi remembers that Ru Shi was first born in Guijiayuan in Shengze in the Unofficial History. Her surname was Yang and her given name was Ai, while Liu's surname was "Yu".

The first person recorded to have a close relationship with her was Zhang Ximing (Fu), the leader of the Fushe Party.

This is a very important clue, indicating that she had a relationship with the political circles of the late Ming Dynasty when she began to enter society.

Another famous story follows: She dressed like a Confucian scholar, went to Songjiang to visit Chen Wozi, handed her a business card and called herself "female brother". She wanted to marry Chen Zilong.

This period of karma did not work out.

The "unofficial history" said that Chen Zilong was "serious and unfriendly", but it seems that this is not the real reason.

Li Xiangjun Li Xiangjun was a famous courtesan in Qinhuai in the late Ming Dynasty. She was the most romantic tragic figure in the fall of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

From Li Xiangjun, we can see a microcosm of the tragedy of Nanming.

Li Xiangjun learned various arts from artists since she was a child, and was proficient in music, poetry, and the silk and bamboo pipa. She was especially good at southern music, and her sweet singing voice was deeply admired by travelers from all over the world.

Hou Fangyu was originally from Henan. He came to Jinling to find a job because he was admired for the culture of Jiangnan.

Hou Fangyu is suave and talented, and is a celebrity in the "Fushe".

He met Mao Pijiang, Chen Zhenhui, and Fang Yizhi on the banks of the Qinhuai River, and they were known as the Four Young Masters.

They gathered in the Qinhuai Pavilion all day long, talking about poetry and lyrics, and having fun with prostitutes.

Wu Jingzi once described his debauched life in the Qinhuai Song Pavilion, "Recently, I have been so angry and extravagant that I spent a lot of money to buy drunkenness. The old actor and the little barbarian lie up in bed, uninhibited and foolish." It can also be imagined from this,

The Fourth Young Master was laughing wildly in the Qinhuai Song Tower.

Ma Xianglan and apricot blossoms ring in the corner of the house, and spring doves ring in the corner, and the fragrance of agarwood lingers lazily downstairs.

Cut the pomegranate into a new look, and don't let others see the double hook of jade.

This poem was written by a poet named Lu at that time who was ridiculing Ma Xianglan for making a new skirt to cover her feet so that no one could see her.

Among the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai, Ma Xianglan was not only praised for her poetry, drama, and painting, but she was also famous among Qinhuai singing girls for her big feet.

Although Ma Xianglan is a singer, she never entertains vulgar guests.

She herself has high attainments in calligraphy, painting and drama. In the modern "Cihai", there is an entry about Ma Xianglan.

She once had a relationship with Wang Dengya, a talented man from Jiangnan, and has always been in love with him.

On Wang Dengya's 70th birthday, she specially raised funds to buy a big boat and took hundreds of prostitutes from Qinhuai to Suzhou to celebrate Wang Dengya's birthday.

Wherever the boat went, it became a spectacle for a while, and people along the coast competed to see the beauty of the Qinhuai singing girls.