Stories to Caution the World

by Menglong, Feng; Yang, Shuhui; Yang, Yunqin; Feng, Menglong

• ISBN13: 9780295985527
• ISBN10: 0295985526
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-05
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

Stories to Caution the Worldis the first complete translation ofJingshi 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'sDecameronand the stories ofA 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 impostors -- 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. Feng Menglong (1574-1646), the most knowledgeable connoisseur of popular literature of his time, is best known for his three collections of vernacular stories, now commonly known as theSanyan. Shuhui Yang is professor of Chinese at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. Yunqin Yang is a simultaneous interpreter in the United Nations Secretariat. Together, they translated Feng's GujinxiaoshuoasStories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection(volume 1).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xiii
Translators' Note	xvii
Chronology of Chinese Dynasties	xix
STORIES TO CAUTION THE WORLD
Title Page from the 1624 Edition	3	(2)
Preface to the 1624 Edition	5	(2)
Yu Boya Smashes His Zither in Gratitude to an Appreciative Friend	7	(14)
Zhuang Zhou Drums on a Bowl and Attains the Great Dao	21	(12)
Three Times Wang Anshi Tries to Baffle Academician Su	33	(17)
In the Hall Halfway-up-the-Hill, the Stubborn One Dies of Grief	50	(16)
Lu Yu Returns the Silver and Brings about Family Reunion	66	(13)
Yu Liang Writes Poems and Wins Recognition from the Emperor	79	(19)
Chen Kechang Becomes an Immortal during the Dragon Boat Festival	98	(11)
Artisan Cui's Love Is Cursed in Life and in Death	109	(15)
``Li the Banished Immortal'' Writes in Drunkenness to Impress the Barbarians	124	(18)
Secretary Qian Leaves Poems on the Swallow Tower	142	(11)
A Shirt Reunites Magistrate Su with His Family	153	(33)
A Double Mirror Brings Fan the Loach and His Wife Together Again	186	(12)
Judge Bao Solves a Case through a Ghost That Appeared Thrice	198	(14)
A Mangy Priest Exorcises a Den of Ghosts	212	(14)
Clerk Jin Rewards Xiutong with a Pretty Maidservant	226	(24)
The Young Lady Gives the Young Man a Gift of Money	250	(11)
The Luckless Scholar Rises Suddenly in Life	261	(15)
A Former Protege Repays His Patron unto the Third Generation	276	(14)
With a White Falcon, Young Master Cui Brings an Evil Spirit upon Himself	290	(14)
The Golden Eel Brings Calamity to Officer Ji	304	(15)
Emperor Taizu Escorts Jinniang on a One-Thousand-Li Journey	319	(22)
Young Mr. Song Reunites with His Family by Means of a Tattered Felt Hat	341	(23)
Mr. Le Junior Searches for His Wife at the Risk of His Life	364	(13)
Yutangchun Reunites with Her Husband in Her Distress	377	(46)
Squire Gui Repents at the Last Moment	423	(27)
Scholar Tang Gains a Wife after One Smile	450	(13)
Fake Immortals Throw Guanghua Temple into an Uproar	463	(11)
Madam White Is Kept Forever under the Thunder Peak Tower	474	(32)
Zhang Hao Meets Yingying at Lingering Fragrance Pavilion	506	(13)
Wu Qing Meets Ai'ai by Golden Bright Pond	519	(15)
Zhao Chun'er Restores Prosperity to the Cao Farmstead	534	(13)
Du Shiniang Sinks Her Jewel Box in Anger	547	(19)
Qiao Yanjie's Concubine Ruins the Family	566	(16)
Wang Jiaoluan's One Hundred Years of Sorrow	582	(25)
Prefect Kuang Solves the Case of the Dead Baby	607	(15)
The King of the Honey Locust Grove Assumes Human Shape	622	(13)
Wan Xiuniang Takes Revenge through Toy Pavilions	635	(14)
Jiang Shuzhen Dies in Fulfillment of a Love Bird Prophecy	649	(13)
The Stars of Fortune, Rank, and Longevity Return to Heaven	662	(11)
An Iron Tree at Jingyang Palace Subdues Demons	673	(72)
Notes	745