The comic novel The Adventures of Ma Suzhen was written during a highpoint in the popularity
of xia knight-errant fiction. It is an action-packed tale of a young woman who takes revenge
for her brother Ma Yongzhen a gangster and performing strongman who has been murdered by a
rival gang in China's most cosmopolitan city Shanghai. After publication of the book in 1923
the character of Ma Suzhen appeared on stage and subsequently in a film made by the Mingxing
Film Company. The book version translated here displays a delightful combination of the xia
and popularMandarin Ducks and Butterflies genres with additional elements of Gong'an court
case fiction. The translation is followed by an essay that explores the background to the
legend of Ma Suzhen - a fictional figure whose exhilarating escapades reflect some of the new
possibilities and freedoms available to women following the founding of the Chinese Republic.
