Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2

by 冯梦龙 Feng Menglong, Shuhui Yang (Translator), Yunqin Yang (Translator)

Stories to Caution the World is the first complete translation of Jingshi tongyan, the second of Feng Menglong's three collections of stories which were pivotal in the development of Chinese vernacular fiction. These tales, whose importance in the Chinese literary canon and in world literature is without question, have been compared to Boccaccio's Decameron and the stories of A Thousand and One Nights.

Peopled with scholars, emperors, ministers, generals, and a gallery of ordinary men and women in their everyday surroundings - merchants and artisans, prostitutes and courtesans, matchmakers and fortune-tellers, monks and nuns, servants and maids, thieves and imposters - the stories in this collection provide a vivid panorama of the bustling world of imperial China before the end of the Ming dynasty.

Feng Menglong collected popular stories from a variety of sources (some dating back centuries) and circulated them via the flourishing seventeenth-century publishing industry. He not only saved them from oblivion but elevated the status of vernacular literature and provided material for authors of the great late-Ming and Qing novels to draw upon. As in their translation of the first collection of Feng's trilogy, Stories Old and New, Shuhui and Yunqin Yang include all forty stories as well as Feng's interlinear and marginal comments and all of the verse woven throughout the stories.

Genres: China, Classics, Short Stories

771 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1624

About the author

Feng Menglong (1574–1646) was a Chinese vernacular writer and poet of the late Ming Dynasty.

Most of his literary work was in editing and compiling histories, almanacs and novels. Two of his noteworthy novels are Qing Shi and the shenmo work Pingyao Zhuan. In 1620 he published the Illustrious Words to Instruct the World (喻世明言 Yushi Mingyan), or Stories Old and New.

Feng was a proponent of the school of Li Zhi, which supported the importance of human feelings and behavior in literature. He is frequently associated with Ling Mengchu, author of Slapping the Table in Amazement.

Feng Menglong was in love with a famous prostitute when he was young. Unfortunately, Feng Menglong was not able to afford to redeem his lover out. At the end, his lover was redeemed by a merchant, and they had to leave each other. Feng Menglong suffered from pain and desperation due to the separation, and he expressed his sorrow through poems. This experience influenced the way he portrayed female characters in his stories. In fact, Feng Menglong was one of the few authors who portrayed female as being strong and intelligent; and this is different from other authors, where they tended to ignore the importance of female’s position. The female characters in Feng Menglong’s stories were portrayed as brave and bright when dealing with different situations. For instance, in his story Wan Xiuniang Takes Revenge Through Toy Pavilions from Jing Shi Tong Yan, Wan Xiuniang showed her braveness during her tough times, and she was able to escape using her intelligence. Other female characters, such as Miss Du Shi Niang and Qu Xiuxiu, are example to show Feng Menglong’s respect to female.

Feng Menglong expressed his attitudes towards the society through his works, and the reason was tightly related to his experience during his career. Feng Menglong became a local officer in Shouning in his sixties. He pursued justice and wished to build up his reputation by acting as an honest and upright official. Unfortunately, he was born in a time of corruption; bribery and extortion were common bureaucratic behaviors, and they opposed the principle of Feng Menglong. Realizing that atmosphere of corruption could not be easily changed, Feng Menglong conveyed his discontent and patriotism through words. Each character of his stories has strong and direct characteristics: there is a clear morality line drawn between “good” and “bad”. Moreover, the meaning behind the stories explores the social issues during Ming Dynasty. For instance, the story The White Maiden Locked for Eternity in Leifeng Pagoda and The Young Lady Gives the Young Man a Gift of Money from Jing Shi Tong Yan express the idea of how women pursue their freedom and happiness under a feudal society.

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt one of the very best short story collections ever! This volume has everything I love about Chinese literature. There are supernatural tales as well as ordinary tales. Stories about ordinary people, Chinese emperors and famous neo-Confucian scholars. There is a very interesting version of White Snake which is quite different to the other versions of the stories I've read.

This volume is a complete translation of ALL the stories from the 2nd volume of the san yan. They are presented in the original order with the paired stories making really good contrasts. Nearly all translations into English of Chinese collections are very small selections so to have the whole thing is just amazing. Having the original order makes it very easy to go between the English version and the Chinese version (which is easy to find online as a free ebook) Which also makes this an excellent aid for students who are studying the language.

I can't recommend this book highly enough and can't wait for the third volume to be released in paperback.

[Hoong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, my search for the origin of the folklore retold in the BL genre 'Legend of the White Snake' led me to this volume. This is a fascinating anthropological study of Chinese values and mores for the Chinese diaspora who grew up learning American values and mores. As an obvious didactic work, stated in its title, the audience is extremely unlikely to be those who enjoy escapism genres like BL, science fiction, and fantasy. But then, these audiences never or rarely consume Chinese operas, where these stories are adapted to. However, modern media forms of entertainment, such as BL has adapted this original didactic content to fit its audience's wants, blending the didactic elements into its escapist genre tropes.

[Lulu]

1624