''Jiandeng Xinhua'' (, lit. ''New Stories Told While Trimming the Wick'' or ''New Stories After Snuffing the Lamp''; 1378) is an early

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

collection of Chinese stories by

Qu You Qu You (, 1341–1427), courtesy name Zongji (宗吉) and self-nicknamed Cunzhai (存齋, "Reading Studio of Existence"), was a Chinese novelist who lived in the Ming dynasty, and whose works inspired a new genre fantasy works with political ...

(). The book consist of 21 stories in 4 volumes. It was succeeded by a second book ''Jiandeng Xinhua wai er zhong''.

Background and precursors

''Jiandeng Xinhua'' came from a long line of Chinese story collections that goes back to end of the Han dynasty. Notable Chinese story collections that dates from at least the 3rd century include: ''

Bowuzhi ''Bowuzhi'' (博物志; "Records of Diverse Matters") by Zhang Hua (c. 290 CE) was a compendium of Chinese stories about natural wonders and marvelous phenomena. It quotes from many early Chinese classics, and diversely includes subject matter fr ...

'', ''

Soushen Ji The ''Soushen Ji'', variously translated as ''In Search of the Sacred'', ''In Search of the Supernatural'', and ''Anecdotes about Spirits and Immortals'', is a Chinese compilation of legends, short stories, and hearsay concerning Chinese gods, ...

'', '' Xijing Zaji'', ''

Lieyi Zhuan The ''Lieyi Zhuan'' (, lit. "Arrayed Marvels"), from the late 2nd or early 3rd century is a collection of Zhiguai, a Chinese literary genre that deals with strange (mostly supernatural) events and stories. It is attributed to Cao Pi Cao Pi ( ...

'', ''

A New Account of the Tales of the World ''A New Account of the Tales of the World'', also known as ''Shishuo Xinyu'' (), was compiled and edited by Liu Yiqing (Liu I-ching; 劉義慶; 403–444) during the Liu Song dynasty (420–479) of the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589 ...

'', ''

You Ming Lu ''You Ming Lu'' (幽明录, yōu míng lù), also known as 幽冥录 and 幽冥记 is a collection of tales of the supernatural from early medieval China traditionally attributed to Liu Yiqing (刘义庆, 403–442). Known as zhiguai ("accounts of ...

'', ''

Shi Yi Ji ''Shi Yi Ji'' () is a Chinese mythological / historical treatise compiled by the Taoist scholar Wang Jia (died 390). The title of the work has been variously translated into English as ''Record of Heretofore Lost Works'', ''Researches into Lost ...

'', '' Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang'', ''

Taiping Guangji The ''Taiping Guangji'' (), sometimes translated as the ''Extensive Records of the Taiping Era'', or ''Extensive Records of the Taiping Xinguo Period'', is a collection of stories compiled in the early Song dynasty. The work was completed in 978 ...

'', ''

Yijian Zhi ''Yijian Zhi'' () is a Chinese ''zhiguai'' story collection by Hong Mai of the Southern Song dynasty. It originally comprised 420 chapters, but today less than a half has survived. The first chapter was completed in 1161, and some surviving cha ...

'', etc. Some of the most famous Chinese and East Asian folk or fairy tales, such as ''

Li Ji slays the Giant Serpent ''Li Ji slays the Giant Serpent'' (李寄斩蛇) is a Chinese tale. It was first published in the 4th century compilation named ''Soushen Ji'', a collection of legends, short stories, and hearsay concerning Chinese gods, Chinese ghosts, and other s ...

'', '' Renshi zhuan'', '' The World Inside a Pillow'', ''

The Governor of Nanke ''The Governor of Nanke'' (, otherwise translated as ''The Governor of the Southern Tributary State'', ''Governor of the Southern Branch Commandery'' and variants) is a Tang dynasty Chinese ''chuanqi'' (a form of short story) by Li Gongzuo, set in ...

'', '' The Tale of Li Wa'', '' You Xian Ku'', and '' Hongxian'' can be found in these collections.

Influence

''Jiandeng Xinhua'', a major succcess at the time, proved to be highly influential later on, as it directly inspired some of the most popular fictional literature in other places. It became the model for the first fiction in

Korean literature Korean literature is the body of literature produced by Koreans, mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in Classical Chinese. For much of Korea's 1,500 years of literary history, it was written in Hanja. It is commonly divided into classica ...

, '' Kumo Shinhwa'', also written in the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

, and it was also the model for the Vietnamese collection ''

Truyền kỳ mạn lục The ''Truyền kỳ mạn lục'' (傳奇漫錄, "Casual Records of Transmitted Strange Tales") is a 16th-century Vietnamese historical text, in part a collection of legends, by Nguyễn Dữ (阮餘) composed in Chữ Hán. The collection w ...

'', and the Japanese ''

Ugetsu Monogatari is a collection of nine supernatural tales first published in 1776. It is the best known work of Japanese author Ueda Akinari. Largely adapted from traditional Japanese and Chinese ghost stories, the collection is among the most important work ...

''. File:CADAL02000552 剪燈餘話.djvu, A copy of Li Changqi (李昌祺)'s ''Jiandeng Yuhua'' (剪燈餘話), 1420, from Peking University collection. Li's ''Jiandeng Yuhua'', which was inspired by Qu's book, was also a succcess File:傳奇漫錄書影.jpg,

Nguyễn Dữ Nguyễn Dữ ( chữ Hán: 阮餘), also called Nguyễn Dữ (阮與), was a 16th-century poet of Vietnam known for the Truyền kỳ mạn lục (傳奇漫錄, ''Collection of Strange Tales'').Patricia M. Pelley ''Postcolonial Vietnam: new hist ...

's ''

'', 16th century File:Tales of Moonlight and Rain cover.jpg,

Ueda Akinari Ueda Akinari or Ueda Shūsei (, July 25, 1734 in Osaka – August 8, 1809 in Kyoto) was a Japanese author, scholar and ''waka'' poet, and a prominent literary figure in 18th-century Japan. He was an early writer in the ''yomihon'' genre and ...

's ''

'', 18th century

References

{{reflist Ming dynasty literature Chinese short story collections