Abstract:

Pin Hua Bao Jian is a pornographic novel，written by Chen Sen in Qing Dynasty，which focused on famous Beijing Opera actor’s life and the homosexual love between Mei Ziyu (a young scholar) and Du Qinyan (a famous actor). As the first novel about homosexuality in ancient Chinese literature history，Pin Hua Bao Jian did not acquire much research attention until the twenty-first century because of the sensitivity of its content. At present，academic researches on the novel are mostly at the macro level，concentrating on the author’s biography，finished time of the book，definition of homosexual relationship，gender studies，and the art of literature creation and drama research. And few attentions have been paid to the description of details from the perspective of literature. The author of the present paper finds out that the key plots of the novel are often associated with dreams，which we believe the writer built as another open space connecting and opposing reality，and as supplements in developing the plot of the meeting and loving between the protagonists Mei Ziyu and Du Qinyan. Due to the difference between dreams and realities，the dramatic conflicts of the novel were presented in a more fierce style in this space，and the author’s mood and intention of creating the novel were also publicized. Therefore，dreams played a very important role in the development of the story，in shaping the image of characters，and in deepening the theme in spite of certain disadvantages.

Key words: Pin Hua Bao Jian, dreams, homosexuality, pornographic novels, well-known actress in the operatic circle