Chinese · 1701–1754
Wu Jingzi inherited a large fortune from a scholarly Anhui family and spent it within a few years on friends, hospitality and books. He passed the first level of the civil service examinations, refused to sit for the special examination of 1736 that would have restored his prospects, and moved to Nanjing to live poor among writers, actors and monks. Neighbours reported that in winter he walked the city walls at night with friends to keep warm, calling it warming the feet. Out of that life he wrote The Scholars, a novel with no hero and no plot, made of linked episodes in which examination candidates, fake hermits, philanthropists and confidence men reveal themselves through what they say about themselves. He also wrote poetry and a study of the Book of Songs. He died at fifty-three in Yangzhou after a night of drinking, and a friend paid for the coffin.