Three Words Selected--A Series of Mini-Reviews of Chinese Classical Novels: A Series of Mini-Reviews of Chinese Classical Novels

Author: Yang Lierong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: San Yan refers to the combined title of three collections of vernacular short stories—"Yushi Mingyan," "Jingshi Tongyan," and "Xingshi Hengyan," each consisting of forty volumes, totaling one hundred and twenty works. Compiled by Feng Menglong during the late Ming Dynasty. Feng Menglong (1574–1646) was a popular literature and drama writer of the Ming Dynasty. His courtesy name was Youlong. He was also known as Ziyou, and his other aliases included Longziyou, Muhanzhai Master, Guci Sanren, and Ci Nu. He was from Changzhou (now Suzhou, Jiangsu), belonging to a scholar-official family. His older brother, Feng Mengui, was skilled in painting. His younger brother, Feng Mengxiong, was a student of the Imperial Academy and had once studied the Spring and Autumn Annals with Feng Menglong, leaving behind poems that have been passed down. The three brothers were collectively known as the "Three Fengs of Wu." His extraordinary talent coupled with a frustrating official career led Feng Menglong to become cynical and unrestrained. As a result, he led a life of leisure and indulgence in the world of pleasure, playing in the midst of the red-light district. This decline caused him to distance himself from the orthodox Confucian and Mencian doctrines and draw closer to the lives of the lower classes of citizens, leading him to wholeheartedly embrace the Taizhou School of Thought. This is how the San Yan came to be.