One of the four intriguing cases of the Qing Dynasty,
　　The Scholar and the Serving Maid" is known to almost
　　every household in China. It has been presented for over a
　　hundred years in many forms on stage, and recently, on TV.
　　The scholar Yang Naiwu and the serving maid known as
　　Little Cabbage had been tried by over a hundred officials
　　from the county level up to the imperial court until the
　　Empress Dowager Cixi redressed their grievances. But
　　feudal ethics still kept the two lovers apart for life.
　　While writing the book, the author read through all the
　　files on the case from the Qing-dynasty Board of Punish-
　　ments. He also read the reports in the Shanghai Daily and
　　an article written by Yang Naiwu's daughter. He also enlist-
　　ed the help of the great great grandson of Yang Naiwu.
　　Based on all this material he reproduced the images of the
　　lovers against a background of the dark Qing-dynasty
　　official scene.