As we all know, names are very important. But why the protagonist of the story The Mural(The Painted Wall) from the Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio does not have a name?
The protagonist is identified only by his status, “Zhu Xiaolian”. Zhu is his surname or family name. Xiaolian is not a name, but his status, it means he is the Provincial Graduate in ancient China. Xiaolian is an alias of Juren. A juren was a scholar who passed the provincial-level imperial examination in ancient China. It was the second-highest degree in the exam hierarchy: Tongsheng > Xiucai > Juren > Jinshi. As provincial elites, juren commanded significant respect locally and often became community leaders.
In the story of The Mural, why the protagonist is nameless, while the supporting character bears a full name, Meng Longtan?
This distinction is not negligence, but deliberate, reflecting Pu Songling’s narrative design. In this article, we will reveal the genius behind the nameless protagonist.
Status as Name: Embodying Collective Identity
“Provincial Graduate” (Xiaolian) was an honorific for imperial examination qualifiers in the Ming-Qing era. By naming protagonists via status/title throughout Liaozhai, Pu Songling elevates them from individuals to symbolic representatives of their social group.
Zhu Xiaolian — a scholar bound by Confucian ideals of rationality and restraint — succumbs to sensual temptation within the painted illusion. His status-name strips away individuality, transforming him into an allegory for all educated elites torn between ethical duty and human desire. Readers witness not “Zhu’s story” but the collective struggle of the scholar class.
Full Name for the Peripheral Observer
Meng Longtan’s full name underscores his role as the grounded witness. He enters the temple with Zhu, views the same mural, yet remains anchored in reality. His tangible presence — emphasized by a full name — creates a deliberate contrast to Zhu’s abstract, illusion-trapped persona.
Zhu’s status-name (symbolizing collective frailty) and Meng’s full name (representing concrete reality) form Pu Songling’s literary framework.
Coincidentally, this naming contrast between the “real” and the “illusory” in the story subtly mirrors its core theme — the blurred border between reality and illusion.
Together, they expose the story’s core theme: how desire and illusion distort human existence.
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