Posted 2018/3/4
Feng Menglong's Three Words(Words to Instruct, Words to Warn and Words to Awaken), written based on scripts of Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties and "imitation scripts" of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and Ling Mengchu's Amazing Tales I & II are "imitation scripts" representing the finest short stories of the Ming Dynasty.
Each of Feng Menglong's (1574-1646) Three Words contained 40 short stories with subject matters falling into three categories:
(1) Women's pursuit of true love and happiness: including The Courtesan's Jewel Box, The Oil Vendor and the Courtesan, and Yutangchun Find Her Love in Adversity. These stories praise true love, denounce fickleness and call for mutual respect between men and women.
(2) The internal struggles of the ruling class: including Shen Xiaoxia Redresses His Father's Injustice, which describes the conflict between Shen Lian and the Yan Song family; and Old Scholar Meets Flower Goddess in the Evening, which tells a story about a bullied peasant punishing his tormentors with the help of a flower goddess.
(3) Extolling true friendship while condemning perfidious behavior. Representative works include Shi Runze Makes True Friends in Difficulty and Gui, the Supernumerary Official Makes a Confession at the End of His Rope. Compared with storytelling scripts, the subject matter in "Three Words" was more concentrated, the plot more intricate and the description of character's psychological workings more detailed and exquisite. But the conflicts in Feng's stories were not very sharp and the language not dramatic.
Ling Mengchu's (1580-1644) two volumes of Amazing Tales contained 78 stories. Most of these tales were based on previously published works. The development of trade and the seeds of capitalism, which emerged during the middle and late period of the Ming Dynasty, were reflected in his stories. For example, Lucky Man Makes A Fortune Out Of "Dongtinghong" Oranges and Cheng's Salvation by the Goddess of the Sea described the moneymaking adventures of some Chinese merchants overseas. The love story Beautiful Women Play Swing at Xuanhuiyuan and legal case story Pilgrim Reads Vajracchedika-Sutra were also very well written. However, some tales were filled wit pornographic and superstitious description, and even falsified a peasant uprising, which greatly impaired his works' value.
