18 A Deserved Haunting: Li Yi’s Moral Failings in “The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu”

Despite being a poet of some note, Li Yi is mostly remembered as the protagonist of a ghost story. Likely written by a political opponent, “The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu” acknowledges Li Yi’s poetic talent while still portraying him as an unfaithful, paranoid man.^[1] Due to that talent, Li Yi is often automatically thought of as a scholar. Both the historical and fictional Li Yi “received the Presented Scholar degree. . . [and an] official appointment.”^[2] Many Chinese scholars spent their entire lives trying to pass the exams and gain government appointments, meaning that Li Yi had to possess rare skills. Combined with his literary and poetic talent, the title of scholar seems appropriate. However, scholars were expected to exemplify a level of moral conduct that Li Yi, according to “The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu,” did not possess. In “The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu,” Jiang Fang uses the scholar-beauty romance format to imply that by rejecting Huo Xiaoyu unfairly, Li Yi is morally undeserving of the role of scholar, despite his poetic talent.

When Li Yi goes to negotiate his marriage to Huo Xiaoyu, the matchmaker remarks that he will “match her in nature and style,” a theme that is repeated by several other characters.^[3] These constant comparisons between the two highlight Li Yi’s flaws as the couple breaks apart, implying that he is not a true scholar, as although the couple appears matched in literary talent, only Xiaoyu displays moral virtue. If the story followed the classic scholar-beauty format, Li Yi, the consummate scholar, would stay by Xiaoyu, and their love would succeed over everything. The comparisons between Li Yi and Huo Xiaoyu firmly entrench the idea of the two as an ideal scholar-beauty couple. When the narrative fails to deliver the expected happy ending, however, it becomes evident that Li Yi’s talent alone is not enough to make him worthy of being called a scholar. When the failed romance becomes widely known, “men of sentiment were all moved by Xiaoyu’s affection, while gallant men were all enraged by the scholar’s frivolous conduct.”^[4] While Xiaoyu remains the perfect, faithful beauty, Li Yi is painted as increasingly cowardly and fair-weather, failings which overshadow his literary talent. The narrative highlights Li Yi’s moral failings by contrasting him to Xiaoyu, who possesses the conviction and faith that he lacks. The relationship failed because although Huo Xiaoyu was a beauty, Li Yi was not moral enough to be a true scholar, despite his literary talent.

In many scholar-beauty narratives, the main obstacle is that the male lead has not yet passed the examinations, and therefore has no rank. But in these stories, “the story invariably ends with the happy reunion of the couple, which is in most cases made possible by the [scholar’s] success in the imperial examination.”^[5] Essentially, once the scholar gains social status through examination success and an official rank, he is able to take control of his own fate and take what he wants. After Li Yi passed the examinations, he should have had the power to decide his own fate. Instead, he is pressured into abandoning Xiaoyu. When his mother arranges a marriage to another woman, “the scholar [Li Yi], though hesitant, dared not refuse.”^[6] The swiftness with which he succumbs to his mothers demands indicate a lack of ability to determine his own fate, even with the power that a degree and appointment should grant him. Although the scholar-protagonist is less brash than most Western romantic heroes, they still possess a determination to achieve the romantic ending of their choosing. Li Yi is shown to completely lack that determination as he silently accepts the unwanted marriage. Additionally, given his ease in winning Xiaoyu’s affection, this social pressure to marry another woman is arguably the first obstacle he has faced in this romance, and by immediately caving, he shows his true colors as a complete pushover coasting on natural talent, only masquerading as a scholar who succeeds through both talent and willpower.

After abandoning Huo Xiaoyu, Li Yi begins to resemble a different archetype in the scholar-beauty romance, forsaking his position as the scholar-hero entirely. A common antagonist in the scholar-beauty romance is the false scholar, who also pursues the beauty without being a true scholar. Normally, the false scholars “try to bluff their way into a favorable marriage by asking a talented friend to compose poems and essays for them.”^[7] Although Li Yi genuinely possesses literary talent, he is still dishonest, since the messages in his poems are proved to be lies. To reassure Xiaoyu and win her affections, he composes a poem where “every line was so sincere that anyone who might read it would be moved.”^[8] Despite Li Yi’s poetic ability to convey sincerity, his words are completely betrayed by his actions. The sincerity in this poem is an ill fit for Li Yi’s actual character, as he leaves her for a better social prospect almost instantly. Although he himself wrote the poem, he does not possess the sincerity imbued within its words. The literary feats that he uses to win Xiaoyu’s affections are as dishonest as if he had asked someone else to write them. By so thoroughly reneging on his promises, he takes the narrative role of the false scholar, who uses unearned and undeserved talent for personal gain, and is undeserving of the title of scholar.

Despite being the love interest in “The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu,” the story highlights how Li Yi is unworthy of the title of scholar. Although his talent goes unchallenged, his moral character is deemed deficient, both by the story and by historical sources. Li Yi may have had his contemporary renown as a poet, but he is remembered primarily for his unflattering role in “The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu” and for his extreme paranoia, which caused him to lose face and opportunities even when he was alive. As the compiler of the Old History of the Tang remarks, “literary scholars through the ages have not lacked talent. . . [but] a man of unimpeachable moral conduct is rare indeed.”

Bibliography

Chan, Marie. “The Life of Li Yi (748?-827).” Monumenta Serica Vol. 38, No. 1 (1988): 173–189., https://www.jstor.org/stable/40726865.

Fang, Jiang. “The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu.” trans. Zhenjun Zhang, Anthology of Tang and Song Tales: The Tang Song Chuanqi Ji of Lu Xun. World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore, 2020, pp. 133-155.

Song, Geng. The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture. Hong Kong University Press, 2004.