By Sabian Cuevas

In Feng Menglong's "Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger," the female character named Du Tenth is a well-known prostitute who is mistreated all throughout the story. I've decided to take a closer look at how various characters of the story view Du Tenth. By evaluating how different characters view Du Tenth, we can see that Du Tenth is a mistreated prostitute and none of the characters in the story have fair reasons to suspect that she wouldn't remain faithful throughout her marriage. I'll address how the madam, Liu Yuchun, and Jia Li view Du Tenth before sharing my attitude towards her.

Du Tenth's madam views her as nothing more than a slut and doesn't care for her happiness. When Jia Li and Du Tenth begin to spend "both day and night in each other's company, just like a married couple," the madam becomes infuriated (501). She feels that "her girl" was "being monopolized by Master Li" (501). To view Du Tenth as being monopolized as opposed to being in a relationship shows that the madam is only concerned about the money that Du Tenth brings in, not her happiness. Once Li has run out of money, the madam reveals that "it's to the point where I have to see to the upkeep of this bum of yours, you lousy slut!" (502). Once again, we can see that the madam is not concerned with Du Tenth's happiness by the fact that she's complaining about paying to keep Li around just for Du Tenth's sake. She even refers to Du Tenth as a lousy slut because Du Tenth is nothing more than a source of income for the madam. The madam then proposes the idea that Li could purchase Du Tenth, which leads Li into meeting with Liu Yuchun.

Liu Yuchun is Li's friend who initially viewed Du Tenth as someone Li should avoid before having a change of heart and viewing her as a woman with genuine feelings. Du Tenth wants to marry Li, but when Li tells this to Liu Yuchun, he responds by saying "I wouldn't be so sure about that. That Du Mei is the number-one courtesan in the pleasure district" (504). He continues to explain how the idea of purchasing a girl from a madam is "an old brothel trick for getting rid of unwanted guests" (504). Liu thought about the cost of buying Du Tenth and the "marriage gift" that would be required and figured there was no way this all added up (504). Liu tells Li that even if he were able to gather the three hundred taels in time to buy Du Tenth, "she'd make fun of you and put you down. You'd end up with a good dose of humiliation, and would naturally find it impossible to settle down there again" (504). Liu Yuchun finishes sharing his thoughts with Li by saying "My good friend, I hope you'll consider carefully—don't be taken in! If you want my advice, I'd say your best plan is to make clean break right away" (504). At this point in the story, it's clear that Liu doesn't believe that Du Tenth could realistically love Jia Li nor that the offer was genuine. He believes they plan to make a fool of Li and that he'd be better off giving up any hope that his plans would run as smoothly as he wanted. Liu Yuchun's view of Du Tenth does change however. Du Tenth gives Li one hundred and fifty taels which causes Liu to say "This is truly a woman with sincere intentions. She she has real feeling, she should not be let down" (505). The fact that Du Tenth was willing to provide half of the taels necessary for Li to purchase her was enough proof for Liu to throw aside everything he had believed about Du Tenth. He was able to see her as being something other than a prostitute who wants nothing besides money. He began to see her as someone who really wanted to settle down with the man she loves and live an honest life. Her genuine feelings move Liu enough to the point where he's willing to help Li. "It was not for your sake that I borrowed this money, but rather because I am moved by the sincere feeling of Du Tenth" (505). Unfortunately, throughout the story we can see that Jia Li was unable to believe in Du Tenth as much as Liu Yuchun did.

Jia Li loves Du Tenth but he gave into his doubts and ended up believing that she would revert back to her former ways as a prostitute. Jia Li "was deathly afraid of his old man" (501). It's because of this that Li was hesitant to marry Du Tenth. He couldn't bear the thought of what his father would say if he found out he was marrying a prostitute (501). His father was already upset when he "heard that his son was passing his time whoring in the pleasure district," so Li could only imagine how much more terrifying his father could be should he go through with marrying Du Tenth (501). After they get married, Du Tenth asks Li where he plans for them to go. He tells her his "father is in the height of rage" and that if Li's father learned Li actually married a prostitute, "I may end up with more trouble than help to you" (507). Li eventually speaks with Sun Fu, who plants seeds of doubt in Li by exploiting all of his fears. "If you fear your reverend father may not accept her, where do you plan to settle this lovely whom you are escorting?" (511). He asks how Li can expect his father to "accept your marriage to an unchaste woman" (511). Continuing to explain how his family wouldn't tolerate Li's decision to marry Du Tenth, Sun Fu then asks "If some day your savings should run out, will you not be left with nowhere to turn?" (511). He breaks Li by mentioning the possibility that "It may just be that she has a previous engagement in the South, and is making use of you to bring her there, to run off with someone else" (512). It's at this point that Li gives up on the idea of living with Du Tenth and decides to trade her to Sun Fu. He let some groundless hypothetical situations completely destroy his faith in Du Tenth instead of standing by her side. Li was unable to get over the fact that his wife was a prostitute and it reached a point to where he just assumed she would partake in the actions typical to that of a prostitute. I view Du Tenth in a completely different way than Li did.

Du Tenth is a kind woman with genuine feelings for Li and she has never done anything to deem herself untrustworthy. She's never done anything prior to them deciding to get married that reasonably could have made Li lose faith in her. Li fell in love with her but couldn't let go of the fear of his father's disapproval. It isn't right to be shameful of who your spouse is no matter what the situation is. It makes me wonder why Li ever decided to go through with marrying her. I felt the same way as Liu did once Du Tenth provided half of the cost needed to purchase her from the madam. If she was willing to put in that much of her own money so that she could be with Li, who had nothing, her feelings must have been genuine. There would be no other reason for paying so much money to be with someone who has no money of his own. As the number-one courtesan of the pleasure district, she clearly brings in a lot of money on her own. If she really had plans for her life that didn't involve Li, she would have simply moved out on her own without marrying someone as helpless as Li. Li fails to realize this and instead, gives into every what-if that Sun Fu proposed. Even when Li was stressed out and scared because of what Sun Fu told him, Du Tenth "poured out a full cup of warm wine and tried to console him" (513). She cares enough to try and listen to what is on his mind but he refuses to speak to her. Despite her status as a former prostitute, Du Tenth is such a good person and she would have been a great wife for Li. She's done so much on her own to make sure she could live a good life with Li. She has paid for half of the three hundred taels Li needed to purchase her from the madam, she has tried to console him when he was sad, and she has countless treasures that could have financially supported them for a long time so that Li could make something of himself. When it's time for Du Tenth to be traded to Sun Fu, she dumps out all of her treasures and curses Sun Fu. "Mr. Li and I have endured every kind of hardship. It was no easy thing for us to come this far." (515). She is furious and heartbroken because Sun Fu easily "destroyed the love and affection" between herself and Li (515). She also makes it clear to Li that she "did not intend for those mountain vows and ocean oaths" that they exchanged "to be broken even in our declining years" (515). Du Tenth had every intention of remaining faithful to Li. She has dealt with his problems in the past and she would have continued to do so as long as they stayed together. It's because of this that I'd say she was a very honest woman, despite her past as a prostitute. She deserved so much more in life than she had received from Li.

I believe Du Tenth is genuinely a good person even if her profession causes people to doubt how sincere of a person she was. She is misunderstood and was betrayed by Jia Li in the story because he let every doubt possible overwhelm his mind instead of trusting her. If Li wouldn't have let the words of others change his views of the woman he loved, he could have actually lived a happy life with her instead of betraying her and breaking her heart. Du Tenth had plenty of treasures to keep them financially stable for a lifetime, but Li chose to give in to the doubts and fears clouding his judgment instead of having faith in his partner. She truly loved Li and had not done anything that would suggest that she had intentions of doing anything that would damage their relationship.

Feng Menglong. "Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger." The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, third Edition, vol. D, W. W. Norton, 2012, pp. 513.