Èrkè Pāi’àn Jīngqí 二刻拍案驚奇
Slapping the Table in Amazement, Second Collection by 淩濛初
About the work
A forty-juàn collection of vernacular short stories (huàběn 話本), first published in 1632, by 淩濛初 Líng Mèngchū (1580–1644; CBDB id 691000). It is the sequel to KR4k0043 Chūkè Pāi’àn Jīngqí 初刻拍案驚奇 (1628), and together the two form the Erpai 二拍, part of the canonical Sānyán Erpāi 三言二拍 corpus. The source file confirms the attribution and 40-juàn structure.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The Èrkè Pāi’àn Jīngqí was composed and published four years after the Chūkè, in Chóngzhēn 5 (1632). The collection includes 40 stories and a preface (xùyán 序言) and short “Xiǎoyǐn” 小引 introduction. One story from the 40 (juàn 23) is actually a zájù play (Yuānyā báibān 鴛鴦拔班, The Mandarin Ducks Draw Lots), not a prose story — the only zájù in the Erpai corpus.
Like the Chūkè, the stories draw on Tang chuánqí tales, Song anecdotes, historical incidents, and fresh invention. Thematically the Èrkè has somewhat more supernatural material. Many stories focus on romantic entanglement (lìqíng 麗情), judicial cases (gōng’àn 公案), and commercial deception, all characteristic concerns of late-Míng vernacular fiction.
Wilkinson (§31 area): the Erpai is noted as containing 78 vernacular short stories, published in 1628 and 1632.
The standard critical edition is by Zhōu Léijié 周楞伽 (Shanghai guji, 1983). A complete English translation was published by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang (University of Washington Press, 2014–2017).
Translations and research
- Yang, Shuhui, and Yunqin Yang, tr. 2014–2017. Amazing tales: Second series (3 vols.). UWP. Complete English translation.
- Hanan, Patrick. 1973. The pai-an ching-chi and its sources. HJAS 33: 224–256.
- Hanan, Patrick. 1981. The Chinese vernacular story. HUP. Essential survey.
Links
- Wikidata: Q3070095