Amazing!

Author: Ling Mengchu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-08-01
Features: Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Second Collection were both written by Ling Mengchu during the late Ming Dynasty. They are renowned alongside Feng Menglong's Stories of the World to Warn and Enlighten, Stories to Warn and Enlighten the World, and Stories to Awaken the World, all of which are representative works of the Ming Dynasty's "storytelling" and "imitated storytelling" genres. They hold significant positions in the history of Chinese fiction and are collectively known as the "Three Words and Two Strange Stories." Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio comprises forty volumes, each an independent story, totaling forty tales. It is a collection of vernacular novels written by the author in imitation of the "storytelling" genre, as well as a collection of popular fiction with realistic significance. The works cover a wide range of themes and are rich in content, vividly depicting the darkness of the feudal bureaucracy, the flaws of the imperial examination system, the absurdity of alchemy and gold-digging, the avarice and lust of monks, the extravagance and indulgence of the times, the consequences of polygamy, the contrast between poverty and wealth, the cunning of merchants, and the benevolence of honest merchants, among other things. These colorful stories profoundly reflect the decline of feudal society. Most of the stories in the collection are complete, with intricate plots and vivid character portrayals, realistically mimicking human emotions and social realities, leaving behind many memorable and enjoyable works for later generations. However, due to the limitations of the author's worldview in that era, the author could not transcend his own vulgarity in the creation of the works, nor could he surpass the vulgarity of his readers at the time. This tendency seeped into his writing, resulting in some of the works in this collection having a low level of, containing the dregs of feudal ideology. This requires today's readers to approach these works with a critical eye. The original publication of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio was the Shangyou Tang edition from the first year of the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty (1628), consisting of forty volumes. It has been lost domestically, with only the collection preserved in the Ciyan Tang of the Tennoji Imperial Shrine in Japan. The present publisher has organized and printed this edition, remaining largely faithful to the original, with the exception of a few rare vertical-bound copies, which are particularly valuable.