This book contains forty vernacular short stories of Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, reflecting the real life in Ming Dynasty, especially the living conditions and mental outlook of the urban artisans and merchants during the infancy period of capitalist elements.
It is a book which promotes ancient Chinese life wisdoms via a collection of stories (40 short stories in total). It is a part of the collection of San Yan Liang Pai by Menglong Feng. Since the stories were not written by the same person, the writing styles and the topics are quite diverse. It is also not surprising to notice that some stories are just so so. I like this book because it is positive, and most of the stories are really good.