Jīngǔ Qíguān 今古奇觀
Wonders Old and New edited by 抱甕老人 (編)
About the work
The Jīngǔ Qíguān 今古奇觀 (“Wonders Old and New”) is an anthology of 40 vernacular short stories selected from the five Sānyán erpāi 三言二拍 collections — the three Sānyán of Féng Mènglóng 馮夢龍 and the two Pāi’ànjīngqí 拍案驚奇 of Líng Méngchū 凌濛初 — by the editor who identifies himself only as “Bàowèng lǎorén” 抱甕老人 (“The Old Man Who Hugs the Jug”). The anthology is organized in 40 juǎn, one story each. It became by far the most widely circulated single-volume anthology of Chinese vernacular fiction, used as a schoolbook and read across East Asia. Wilkinson (§53.3.2) characterizes it as the standard selection of “the best stories from Sānyán erpāi” and notes the earliest extant edition dates from 1740, though publication clearly falls in the final years of the Míng at Sūzhōu.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The preface preserved in the Kanripo text is a short critical essay situating the anthology within the history of Chinese fiction (from classical tales to Sòng-period oral performance literature) and praising the Sānyán erpāi as the outstanding achievement of the vernacular story genre. The preface author — Bàowèng lǎorén — identifies the selection criterion as choosing the forty finest (bá qí yóu 拔其尤) of the approximately 200 stories across the five collections, noting that many others are padded or irregular. The preface refers to the Sānyán as “三言” and the Pāi’ànjīngqí as “拍案驚奇兩刻” and mentions the editor Féng Mènglóng 馮夢龍 by his studio name Mòhànzhāi 墨憨齋.
The identity of Bàowèng lǎorén 抱甕老人 (“Old Man Who Hugs the Jug” — an allusion to the Zhuāngzǐ parable of the garden-man who refuses labor-saving devices) remains unresolved. Some scholars have proposed that the name is a literary persona of Féng Mènglóng himself; others treat it as a genuinely separate editor. The preface also mentions a third party who proposed an even larger selection of 100 stories but was preempted by Bàowèng lǎorén’s 40-story compilation. This suggests the anthology was a commercial project timed to the peak of the huàběn market, probably late Chóngzhēn (1628–1644).
Wilkinson notes that the earliest surviving printed edition dates to 1740 (early Qīng), though the compilation was completed in the final Míng years and circulated before the dynasty’s fall. The Kanripo text is presented in multiple parts (here Part 1, dì yī bù 第一部). The forty selected stories span a wide range of plots: romantic intrigues, judicial tales, supernatural encounters, tales of merchants and artisans — in short, the full spectrum of huàběn subject matter. The Jīngǔ Qíguān became one of the most-read books in Qīng and modern China, frequently reprinted and excerpted in school curricula.
Translations and research
- Yang, Shuhui, and Yunqin Yang, trans. Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection (selection from Gǔjīn Xiǎoshuō / Yùshì Míngyán). Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000. (Translates the source collection.)
- Hanan, Patrick. The Chinese Vernacular Story. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981. (The standard scholarly study; treats both Sānyán erpāi and Jīngǔ Qíguān.)
- Hanan, Patrick. The Chinese Short Story: Studies in Dating, Authorship, and Composition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973.
- Bishop, John Lyman. The Colloquial Short Story in China: A Study of the San-yen Collections. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956.
- Lévy, André. Inventaire analytique et critique du conte chinois en langue vulgaire. Paris: Collège de France, 1978–1981.
- Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. §53.3.2.
Other points of interest
The anthology’s title alludes to the full span of the stories’ settings — “jīn” 今 (the present, or recent times) and “gǔ” 古 (antiquity) — while “qíguān” 奇觀 (wondrous spectacle) announces the editorial principle of selecting only the most remarkable tales. The work played a decisive role in transmitting the Sānyán erpāi tradition to later readers who could not access the bulkier five-collection set.
Links
- Wikipedia: Jingu Qiguan
- Wikidata: Q5962408