San Yan Er Pai

Author: Feng Menglong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: "Yushi Mingyan," "Xingshi Hengyan," and "Jingshi Tongyan" are collectively known as the "Three Words," authored by Feng Menglong during the Ming Dynasty. "Pai'an Qijing" and "Er Pai'an Qijing" are collectively known as the "Two Qijings," authored by Ling Mengchu during the Ming Dynasty. Due to their similar compilation periods and content forms, the "Three Words" and "Two Qijings" were later combined as "Three Words and Two Qijings," becoming a representative collection of ancient Chinese short stories and holding significant importance in the history of ancient Chinese literature. This book selects the essence of these works and accompanies them with exquisite illustrations to make reading more enjoyable. As a peak of ancient vernacular short stories, "Jingshi Tongyan" constructs its unique artistic world. Ancient Chinese vernacular novels were refined and elevated from the foundations of "storytelling" and "huaben" by scholars. The scripts of storytellers were called "huaben," and modern scholars refer to the "Three Words" and "Two Qijings" as "imitated huaben." Compared to early "huaben," "Jingshi Tongyan" underwent significant changes and developments in language, style, and structure. First, in terms of language, it broke the separation between written and spoken language, fully adopting colloquial and clear vernacular, avoiding mixed literary and colloquial styles, and achieving a unified style. "Xingshi Hengyan" primarily collects mature huaben stories, reaching a high artistic level and showing remarkable improvements in writing techniques compared to earlier works of the same type. Huaben stories originated as the basis for storytelling, strong in narrative and winning through plot. "Xingshi Hengyan" inherits this tradition of huaben stories while also introducing new developments. Most of the stories in the work do not unfold linearly but instead follow a roller-coaster pattern, full of twists and turns, captivating readers with their complex and dynamic narratives.