Huayuehen 花月痕 is a late Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) romance written by Wei Zi'an 魏子安 (1818-1873), original name Xiuren 秀仁, courtesy name Bochun 伯肫 or Zidun 子敦, style Mianhe Zhuren 眠鶴主人, Mianhe Daoren 眠鶴道人, Duoduo Daoren 咄咄道人 or Buhuai Daoren 不悔道人, from Houguan 侯官 (today part of Fuzhou 福州), Fujian. Wei was the author of 33 novels, but perhaps as many as 45 - most of which are lost. Preserved are Huayuehen, and his writings Gainan Shanguan shihua 陔南山館詩話 (poetry critique), Duoduolu 咄咄錄 and Tongxian canlei 銅仙殘淚.

The book of 52 chapters length is dedicated to the love of the scholars Han Hesheng 韓荷生 and Wei Jizhu 韋疾珠 to the courtesans Du Caiqiu 杜采秋 and Liu Qiuhen 劉秋痕. While Han Hesheng was awarded the title of marquis (hou 侯) after his many successes on the battlefield, and his wife Du Caiqiu granted the title of First Lady (yipin furen 一品夫人), Wei Jizhu remained poor and destitute and finally fell seriously ill and died, and Liu Qiuhen hanged herself.

In his preface, Wei Zi'an explained that in the beginning, he was not aware that some persons of the romance were reflections of veritable persons. His friend Xie Zhangting 謝章鋌 held that Wei Zizhu was identical with the author. To a certain extent, the romance was influenced by the famous novel Hongloumeng 紅樓夢, as can be seen, for instance, in the expression kanwairen 檻外人 "person from beyond the threshold", as a counterpart to Jia Baoyu's 賈寶玉 word of "man from within the threshold" (kanneiren 檻內人), Miaoyu 妙玉 as a "pure person" and Baoyu as an "impure person", and more counterparts.

The romance belongs to a genre called "mandarin ducks and butterflies" (yuanyang hudie pai 鴛鴦蝴蝶派) and influenced love stories like Jiuweigui 九尾龜, which also plays in the red-light district and narrates the relation between rich customers and courtesans. However, Huayuehen is a romantic story that was also highly praised by the scholars Zheng Yimei 鄭逸梅 (1895-1992) and Guo Moruo 郭沫若 (1892-1978).

The latter part of the Huayuehen has been criticised for its inclusion of supernatural stories, which Jiang Ruizao 蔣瑞藻 (1891-1929) deemed unnecessary like the proverbial "snake's foot" (she zu 蛇足). Lu Xun 魯迅 (1881-1936) likewise lamented the mixture of a superior love story with ghost stories.

近代小說。亦題《花月痕全書》、《花月因緣》、《花月痕全傳》52回。眠鶴主人編次，棲霞居士評閱。眠鶴主人即魏秀仁(1819～1874)，字子安，一字子敦，福建侯官人。道光丙午(1846)舉人，屢應進士不第。曾游山西、陜西、四川，作官府幕僚，后主講渭南、成都等地書院。同治元年(1862)，返居福建故里，從事教學和著述。他一生撰述宏富，有《石經考》、《咄咄錄》、《蹇蹇錄》、《陔南山館文錄》、《陔南山館詩集》30余種，多未刊行。《花月痕》是作者旅居山西，在太原知府保眠琴家處館時所作，首有咸豐戊午(1858)自序，蓋于同治初年修改定稿。作者目睹鴉片戰爭與太平天國革命，“見時事多可危，手無尺寸，言不見異，而骯臟抑郁之氣無所抒發，因遁為稗官小說，托于兒女之私，名其書曰《花月痕》”(《賭棋山莊文集》卷五《魏子安墓志銘》)。 書中主人公韋癡珠、韓荷生均為才子。韋風流文采，狎妓劉秋痕；然時運不濟，致困頓羈旅，落魄而亡，秋痕亦殉情而死。韓偉才碩學，得達官貴人賞識，聘作幕府，參贊軍務，因鎮壓農民起義和消弭外患之功，累遷官至封侯。其所狎妓杜采秋，后從歸，亦封一品夫人。作者認為，“人生富貴功名，一字是少不得的”(第三十七回)。書中借寫韋、韓的不同結局和窮達升沉，抒發自己的懷才不遇之感和對功名利祿的渴望和追求。 《花月痕》是中國第一部以妓女為主要人物的長篇小說。內容題材雖屬“狹邪”，但表現手法，卻頗似明末清初才子佳人類小說。書中將嫖客與妓女寫成才子、佳人，他們飲酒賦詩，情意纏綿，實為無病呻吟，充滿庸俗頹唐情調。“詩詞簡啟，充塞書中，文飾既繁，情致轉晦”(魯迅《中國小說史略》)。 《花月痕》有清光緒十四年(1888)閩雙笏廬原刻本。此后翻刻本甚多。1982年，人民文學出版社出版了新整理本。 侯忠義"花月痕"《中國大百科全書 中國文學Ⅰ》 第273頁