Jingshi Tongyan is the second of a trilogy of widely celebrated Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 (1368–1644) vernacular story collections

Vernacular literature

Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people".In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin...

, compiled and edited by Feng Menglong

Feng Menglong

Feng Menglong was a Chinese vernacular writer and poet of the late Ming Dynasty. He was born in Changzhou, now Suzhou, in Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China....

. The first compilation, called Gujin Xiaoshuo (古今小説) (Stories Old and New), which is sometimes also referred to as Yushi Mingyan (喻世明言) (Stories to Enlighten the World) was published in Suzhou

Suzhou

Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...

in 1620. The third publication was called Xingshi hengyan (醒世恒言) (Stories to Awaken the World), and was published in 1627. The collections, often referred to as Sanyan (三言, "Three Words") because of the character yan (言) found at the end of each title, each contain 40 stories.

External links

• Stories to Caution the World in Google Books