• Source: Stories Old and New

Stories Old and New (Chinese: 古今小說), also known by its later name Stories to Enlighten the World (喻世明言), is a collection of short stories by Feng Menglong during the Ming dynasty. It was published in Suzhou in 1620. It is considered to be pivotal in the development of Chinese vernacular fiction.




Background


Feng Menglong collected and slightly modified works from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, such as changing characters’ names and locations to make stories more contemporary. The writing style of the series of stories is written vernacular, or baihua, people's everyday language at that time. The 40 stories are divided into three sections, one section collects Song and Yuan dynasty tales, one collects Ming dynasty stories, and the last is the stories created by Feng Menglong himself. The success of Stories Old and New published (1620), also known as Yushi Mingyan (Illustrious Words to Instruct the World), led Feng to edit and publish Jingshi Tongyan (Stories to Caution the World) in 1624, and Xingshi Hengyan (Stories to Awaken the World) in 1627. Each collection contained forty stories. The title of each collection ended with the word "yan" (word), so they are often referred to as a group: Sanyan (Trois Recueils d'histoires). The stories in these three books are in a format called Huaben (话本), a novella or short novel.




About the author


Feng Menglong (1574－1646) passed the lowest level of national exams at 57. Although he had not done well on previous exams, he did have the ability to impress people with his writing. When he was 70, the dynasty almost ended, and the Qing army invaded the country. He attempted to awaken people with his writings but failed to do so and died in 1646. There are two theories about how he died. One is that he was killed by the Qing forces, and another is that his worries about the country made him sick.
Feng's works included fiction, drama, and music. He played a major role in enhancing Ming dynasty drama and bringing it into a thriving state. Nevertheless, he was mostly known for his fiction. The motivation and central idea of his work were illustrating real emotion and undermining false ethics. One common characteristic of Feng's works is realism, dealing with daily life so that readers feel close to the story and enjoy reading it.




List of Stories


Translated titles in this table mainly follow those by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang in Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection. University of Washington Press. 2000. ISBN 978-0295978444. Titles used by other translators are listed as bullet points.




Notes

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