ABSTRACT
A pretty and clever girl, Dong Bai started reading and writing at an early age, instructed by her mother. After a few years of education, she became quite accomplished in the fields of poetry, painting, calligraphy, singing, cooking, and needlework. At thir teen, she was already a well-known singer-prostitute, admired in spite of her profession. By nature, Dong Bai was a quiet girl, and she disliked busy and noisy cities like Nanjing, where she and her mother lived. So she moved to Suzhou with her mother and stayed there for six years. She chose a secluded house near a river and closed her door to visitors. During those six years, she once traveled to Huang mountain with Qian Qianyi (a leader of the Donglin party, now composed of disgruntled ex-officials of the Ming who opposed the new Qing rulers) to take in the magnificent natural scenery.
