“价廉物美” (“Jià Lián Wù Měi”)：Being Good and Inexpensive
Definition: “Jia Lian Wu Mei” is used to describe something inexpensive but of fine quality
Historical figure: Wu Jianren of the Qing Dynasty
Origin: In “Sudden changes shift human hearts abruptly; fragmented ways of the world leave one helpless,” the tenth chapter of Strange Events Eye-Witnessed Over Ten Years, there is an account: “An old acquaintance from Suzhou wrote to me, wanting to print a book. Having long admired your press for its excellent quality and reasonable prices, I’d like to seek your advice.”
When the phrase “Jia Lian Wu Mei” (“being inexpensive and of good quality”) is mentioned, few would associate it with book printing. Yet, in the novel Strange Events Eye-Witnessed Over Ten Years by Wu Jianren of Qing Dynasty, this very expression was uttered by a character who commissioned a book print job for a friend from Suzhou. In fact, beyond the number of people in Suzhou who read, write, buy, sell, and collect books, the city also has a long history of engraving and printing. Printed works produced here have always been of excellent quality.
Chapter Ten of Wu Jianren’s Strange Events Eye-Witnessed Over Ten Years contains the following description: “Fonts in sizes two, three, four, and five are all available, totaling about ten thousand pounds. Roughly, half have been on the racks and used, while the other half remains unused in crates. There is also a Japanese printing machine, along with type cases, composing racks, composing sticks, and leading, etc. All necessary accessories are ready for use. The price is three thousand six hundred dollars.” There is a dialogue between characters as well:
“A friend from Suzhou wrote to me about printing a book. I have long appreciated your printing house for offering excellent quality at reasonable prices, so I come and want to seek your advice.”
“What kind of book is to be printed?”
“It’s a collection titled Collected Writings on Governance of the Imperial Court.”
“That is a substantial work. What size do you plan to use? Which font size? And how many copies in total?”
“About one thousand copies, I suppose. To be honest, I haven’t fully decided about the details yet. I need to inquire about the cost first, so I can proceed with the most economical option.”
“We still need to clarify the font size, the page dimensions, how many lines per page, and how many characters per line before we can calculate the cost.”
It is clear that this exchange from the novel, although fictional, contains details drawn from real-life practices.
Suzhou is one of the birthplaces of book engraving and printing in China. Almanacs were already printed and sold in Suzhou as early as the Tang dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, the industry grew rapidly. At that time, the local printing industry was dominated by official imprints, which were well-structured and thematically diverse. Official institutions involved included not only the Pingjiang prefectural government but also county-level authorities such as Kunshan County and Changshu County. The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the golden age of Suzhou’s printing industry whose growth was solidly based on the prosperous local economy. The printing flourished across official, private, and monastic sectors. Moreover, Suzhou proved to be one of the regions where movable-type printing was most widely adopted. Books printed in Suzhou often came with exquisite woodcut illustrations.
The great scholar who first coined the four-character idiom “Jia Lian Wu Mei” was truly an extraordinary figure. By the late 19th century, the Qing government had grown increasingly corrupt. Those writers who were patriotic and had a strong sense of moral integrity wrote novels to expose and condemn the social evils of the time. In his A Brief History of Chinese Fiction, Lu Xun categorized this type of novel as “fiction of exposure” (“qianze xiaoshuo”). Wu Jianren’s Bizarre Happenings Eye-witnessed over Two Decades, Li Baojia’s (also known as Li Boyuan) Officialdom Unmasked, Liu E’s The Travels of Lao Can, and Zeng Pu’s A Flower in a Sea of Sin (Nie Hai Hua) are collectively known as the “Four Great Novels of Exposure” of the late Qing Dynasty.
Wu Jianren (1866–1910), originally named Bao Zhen and courtesy-named Xiaoyun, was a native of Foshan, Guangdong Province. He was born in Beijing but spent his childhood and teenage years in Foshan. Adopting the pen name “A Man of Foshan” (Wo Foshan Ren), he wrote a large number of novels, fables, and essays, and was thus acclaimed as “a master of the fiction of exposure.” His novels hold a prominent position in the history of modern Chinese literature. Hu Shi spoke highly of him with the remarks: “In my humble view, among China’s first-rate works of fiction, the ancients produced only four, namely Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West, The Scholars, and The Dream of the Red Chamber. Among modern writers, only Li Boyuan and Wu Jianren belong to the same class; all the others are second-rate or even below.”
Wu Jianren was by nature witty and unrestrained. When discussing worldly affairs, he was passionate yet he could often hardly make his ends meet. Wu was the subject of many anecdotes and amusing stories. Once, a tabloid engaged in a written dispute with him and mistakenly interpreted the characters “山人” (Shan Ren) in his pen name “我佛山人” (Wo Foshan Ren, meaning “I am a native of Foshan.”) as “mountain woodsman” or “one who lives in the mountains.” They even connected the preceding two characters “我佛” (“Wo” and “Fo” from “Foshan”) to form the phrase “the Buddha” and published it in an article. When Wu Jianren read it, he laughed heartily. The next day, he swiftly wrote a response: “I am a native from Foshan, hence the name ‘Wo Foshan Ren.’ How could you commit the mistake of splitting the name in half, cutting the two characters ‘Foshan’ apart? Such an offense against the Buddha is truly unacceptable.” Wu Jianren suffered from asthma all his life. The disease worsened after he turned forty, and plunged his family into even deeper poverty. Once, when writing to a friend to borrow some money, he inserted a clean but heavily worn sock full of holes into the envelope. On the letter, he wrote only eight characters: “When the sock is in such a state, how can its master bear all these?” Upon receiving the letter, his friend understood his dire situation and immediately offered financial assistance. On an October night when he was 44 years old, Wu Jianren suffered a severe asthma attack and passed away quite unexpectedly. At the time of his death, he had only forty cents on him. Arrangements for his funeral and burial were handled all by his friends.
However, considering the phrase “Jia Lian Wu Mei” (“inexpensive but of fine quality”), Lu Xun once remarked in his letter to Zhao Jiabi: “Even for a book of the same size as Yin Yu Ji (The Gathering of Jades), about two hundred pages, the production cost would still be close to four yuan. Therefore, in reality, achieving ‘low price yet of fine quality’ is hardly possible.”
