Stories to Caution the World

Published in 1624, Jingshi Tongyan (警世通言) forms the second volume of Feng Menglong’s monumental Sanyan trilogy.

These forty tales explore loyalty and betrayal, love and cunning, courtroom drama and supernatural justice. Drawing from Tang classical stories, Song prompt-books, Yuan narratives, and popular oral traditions, Feng refashioned earlier materials into vigorous vernacular prose that shaped the development of Chinese fiction for centuries.

Here are merchants deceived by fox spirits, judges who solve mysteries through dreams, courtesans whose devotion shames scholars, and friendships so profound they transcend death itself - beginning with the celebrated story of Yu Boya, who shattered his qin rather than play without his true listener.

Long suppressed and nearly forgotten, the collection survived through rare preserved editions.

This volume presents all forty tales in a complete modern English translation, offering contemporary readers direct access to one of the foundational works of East Asian narrative literature.

Rediscover the great epics, mysteries and chronicles of dynastic China: gods and generals, swindlers and scholars, courtesans, ghosts and emperors, in complete English translations.