Aesop's Fables

Author: Feng Menglong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Feng Menglong was not an ordinary artist but a unique artist with a deep understanding of life. He did not merely collect and entrust book merchants to print these one hundred and twenty stories but conducted a careful selection process, discarding the mediocre. By comparing the Qingping Shantang Huaben compiled by Hong Fen before Feng's time with the San Yan, it becomes evident that most of the works excluded from Feng's collection were mediocre. Therefore, we can conclude that although the San Yan is not a complete collection of huaben novels from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, it almost comprehensively includes the widely popular and well-known works of that era.
Yushi Mingyan, originally titled Gujin Xushuo, is a collection of short vernacular stories published during the Ming Dynasty. Together with Jingshi Tongyan and Xingshi Hengyan, it is collectively known as the San Yan, a comprehensive compilation of huaben novels from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, long celebrated as a treasure trove of Chinese classical short stories. Yushi Mingyan contains 40 works, divided into three parts: first, huaben stories from the Song and Yuan dynasties; second, huaben and pseudo-huaben stories from the Ming Dynasty (including Feng Menglong's own works); and third, stories that were edited and revised by Feng Menglong. According to expert research, Yang Sixun's Encounter with an Old Friend in Yanshan, Wang Xinyi Saving His Family at the Cost of His Life, The Monastic Letter forger's Clever Deception of the Lady, and Song Si Gong's Chaos at the Forbidden Soul Chamber may be Song Dynasty huaben stories. Jiang Xingge's Reunion with the Pearl Shirt, Yang Bao's Extraordinary Adventure in the State of Yue, Zheng Huichen's Revenge at the Mulberry Grove, Jin Yuniu's Beating of the Unfeeling Lover, and Shen Xiaoxia's Meeting with the Letter of Resignation may be Ming Dynasty (including Feng Menglong's) works. The era of the other stories is difficult to determine.