Selected Chinese Stories of the Song and Ming Dynasties

Selected Chinese Stories of the Song and Ming Dynasties
-Library of Chinese Classics Chinese-English
Compiled by Feng Menglong and Ling Mengchu (Ming Dynasty), translated into English by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang
Published by Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 2007
Library binding book, dimensions 960 x 640, 1/16, 2 Volumes, 1205 pages
ISBN: 9787119042589
Pinghua was originally referred to the performance art of story telling in which the performer told the story without any singing or musical accompaniment. It became very popular in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Later, the content of those stories were recorded in writing and this is how vernacular fiction came into being. In the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), the term Pinghua was used to refer to vernacular records of stories with historical themes. By the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, it came to refer to vernacular stories irrespective of theme. Pinghua mainly targeted at ordinary people living in urban areas. It mostly mirrors the vicissitudes of their life with a simple vernacular language. Differing from the poems and articles of officials and scholars, short stories of this kind often involve supernatural events, adventures, political themes, Buddhist or Taoist preachments, or love between men and women. They reflect the thoughts and aspirations of the common people and are, in fact, consummate works of art imbued with all the vitality of their time. Pinghua has high literary and artistic values.

Stories to Enlighten Men, Stories to Warn Men, and Stories to Awaken Men, Amazing Tales, and Amazing Tales-Second Series (the five jointly referred to as "Three Story Collections and Two Series of Amazing Tales") are the five most famous collections of vernacular short stories of the Ming Dynasty. Many stories from them have been translated into many languages shortly after the collections were published. The twenty stories in this collection were selected from the above mentioned five collections.
Contents
The Jade Worker
The Honest Clerk
Fifteen Strings of Cash
The Monk's Billet-Doux
The Foxes' Revenge
The Hidden Will
The Two Brothers
The Beggar Chief's Daughter
A Just Man Avenged
The Tattered Felt Hat
The Courtesan's Jewel Box The Oil Vendor and the Courtesan
The Old Gardener
Marriage by Proxy
the Proud Scholar
The Tangerines and the Tortoise Shell
The Story of a Braggart
The Alchemist and His Concubine
A Prefectship Bought and Lost
The Merry Adventures of Lazy Dragon