Stories to Caution the World
eBook - PDF
Available until 23 Dec |Learn more

Stories to Caution the World

A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2

  1. 792 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
Available until 23 Dec |Learn more

Stories to Caution the World

A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2

About this book

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. For other titles in the collection go to http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/books/ming.html

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Yes, you can access Stories to Caution the World by Shuhui Yang, Yunqin Yang, Shuhui Yang,Yunqin Yang in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Asian Literary Collections. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Introduction
  4. Translators’ Note
  5. Chronology of Chinese Dynasties
  6. Title Page from the 1624 Edition
  7. Preface to the 1624 Edition
  8. 1. Yu Boya Smashes His Zither in Gratitude to an Appreciative Friend
  9. 2. Zhuang Zhou Drums on a Bowl and Attains the Great Dao
  10. 3. Three Times Wang Anshi Tries to Baffle Academician Su
  11. 4. In the Hall Halfway-up-the-Hill, the Stubborn One Dies of Grief
  12. 5. LĂŒ Yu Returns the Silver and Brings about Family Reunion
  13. 6. Yu Liang Writes Poems and Wins Recognition from the Emperor
  14. 7. Chen Kechang Becomes an Immortal during the Dragon Boat Festival
  15. 8. Artisan Cui’s Love Is Cursed in Life and in Death
  16. 9. “Li the Banished Immortal” Writes in Drunkenness to Impress the Barbarians
  17. 10. Secretary Qian Leaves Poems on the Swallow Tower
  18. 11. A Shirt Reunites Magistrate Su with His Family
  19. 12. A Double Mirror Brings Fan the Loach and His Wife Together Again
  20. 13. Judge Bao Solves a Case through a GhostThat Appeared Thrice
  21. 14. A Mangy Priest Exorcises a Den of Ghosts
  22. 15. Clerk Jin Rewards Xiutong with a Pretty Maidservant
  23. 16. The Young Lady Gives the Young Man a Gift of Money
  24. 17. The Luckless Scholar Rises Suddenly in Life
  25. 18. A Former Protégé Repays His Patron unto the Third Generation
  26. 19. With a White Falcon, Young Master Cui Brings an Evil Spirit upon Himself
  27. 20. The Golden Eel Brings Calamity to Officer Ji
  28. 21. Emperor Taizu Escorts Jinniang on a One-Thousand-Li Journey
  29. 22. Young Mr. Song Reunites with His Family by Means of a Tattered Felt Hat
  30. 23. Mr. Le Junior Searches for His Wife at the Risk of His Life
  31. 24. Yutangchun Reunites with Her Husband in Her Distress
  32. 25. Squire Gui Repents at the Last Moment
  33. 26. Scholar Tang Gains a Wife after One Smile
  34. 27. Fake Immortals Throw Guanghua Temple into an Uproar
  35. 28. Madam White Is Kept Forever under the Thunder Peak Tower
  36. 29. Zhang Hao Meets Yingying at Lingering Fragrance Pavilion
  37. 30. Wu Qing Meets Ai’ai by Golden Bright Pond
  38. 31. Zhao Chun’er Restores Prosperity to the Cao Farmstead
  39. 32. Du Shiniang Sinks Her Jewel Box in Anger
  40. 33. Qiao Yanjie’s Concubine Ruins the Family
  41. 34. Wang Jiaoluan’s One Hundred Years of Sorrow
  42. 35. Prefect Kuang Solves the Case of the Dead Baby
  43. 36. The King of the Honey Locust Grove Assumes Human Shape
  44. 37. Wan Xiuniang Takes Revenge through Toy Pavilions
  45. 38. Jiang Shuzhen Dies in Fulfillment of a Love Bird Prophecy
  46. 39. The Stars of Fortune, Rank, and Longevity Return to Heaven
  47. 40. An Iron Tree at Jingyang Palace Subdues Demons
  48. Notes