Trivia / Jin Ping Mei

• The authorship of Jin Ping Mei has been a hotly debated topic in Chinese literary circles ever since its original publication, and has been dubbed the "Goldbach's conjecture" of ancient Chinese literature authorship. What is known about the author from the novel is that (s)he:
  • is well-versed in the regional situation of Shandong, or maybe even a native of the area.
  • is well-versed in the culture of people living in the city (due to the novel's rich description of city-folk).
  • As the novel's description of people from the upper-class is not very detailed, and some poems from the author within the novel do not follow the usual structure, some scholars have deduced that the author could be a scholar from the lower class. However, this could be Stylistic Suck on the author's part as well as a Red Herring, due to the very high stakes involved. After all, it is way easier to pretend that you don't know something which you know, compared to the other way round.