Chinese Literature

Tales from the Sung

70

and Yuan Dynasties

Kaifeng, capital of the Northern Sung Dynasty (960-1127 A.D.), and later, Hangchow, capital of the Southern Sung Dynasty (11271279 A.D.) when the north was overrun by the Nu Chen Tartars, were great political and commercial centres, thronged with officials and merchants from all parts of the country. There was a large domestic and foreign trade in the China of that day, and the capital cities were centres of wealth and culture. It was here that the art of the story-tellers of the Sung Dynasty developed. Citizens of Kaifeng, it is recorded, were to be seen every day, rain or shine, listening to stories told in the market-places.

The tales of the story-tellers, composed in the everyday tongue of the people, were truly popular literature. They were meant for the entertainment of the “common citizenry,” not the nobility and literati who despised the story-tellers and their art. It is not surprising, therefore, that we do not know the names of most of the authors of the stories which have come down to us from Sung and Yuan (1279-13868 A.D.) times.

Most of these stories were, as a matter of fact, based on tales and anecdotes originally composed in earlier times in the classical written language of the literati which was difficult for the man in the street to understand. The story-tellers took the bare themes of these originals, embellished them with what they conceived to be the natural developments of the plots, filled owt the characterisation with details of the lives and feelings of the characters and made all such amplifications as seemed necessary to make them more real, lively and beautiful.

Today these story-tellers’ tales have come into their own. They rank high among the treasures of Chinese classical literature because they give us a realistic picture of the times: they show us the social conditions obtaining in the Sung and Yuan Dynasties, the power and luxury of the ruling classes, the bitter lot of the common people, the inferior position to which women were condemned, the rise of the cities with their handicrafts and commerce. ... Hxposing and eriticising the social evils of their time, they express a deep sympathy and love for the common people.

Many of these story-tellers’ tales were committed to writing. In this form they became the first short stories written and published in China in the language of the common people. Some of these teats, closely approaching the way they were originally told in the streets of China, have luckily come down to us. The following are three examples of these popular tales from the Sung and Yuan Dynasties.

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