Affectionate Martyrs for Beauty and Clowns Showing False Feelings: On “Seven Sages” and “Eight Wise Men” in New Words for the World

There are many mistakes in the previous studies of Wei and Jin romances in New Words for the World. This paper has made an analysis of the characters of the book in an attempt to deepen people’s understanding of spiritual connotation of Wei and Jin. Among the “seven sages” and “eight wise men” in the book, there are affectionate martyrs as well as clowns showing false feelings.