Shishuo Xinyu

TipTinker

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

A New Account of the Tales of the World is a classical Chinese anecdotal work compiled by Liu Yiqing of the Liu-Song dynasty during the Southern Dynasties. It primarily records the words, deeds, and anecdotes of famous scholars from the late Eastern Han dynasty to the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is a firsthand document for studying the Wei-Jin spirit and scholar-official culture, as well as a representative work of "character-description fiction" in the history of Chinese literature. The book is divided into thirty-six sections, such as "Virtuous Conduct," "Speech and Conversation," "Government Affairs," "Literature and Learning," "Uprightness," "Tolerance," and "Discernment," presenting the demeanor and spirit of figures through concise entries.

The work recounts stories of notable figures such as the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove, Wang Dao, Xie An, Wang Xizhi, and Gu Kaizhi. Many well-known allusions, including "quenching thirst by thinking of plums," "looking at a leopard through a bamboo tube," "making a comeback from reclusion," and "not as good as willow catkins rising in the wind," originate from this text. Its language is concise and vivid, capturing both the wit of the characters and the ethos of the era. Lu Xun described it as "representing that passive school of famous scholars."

A New Account of the Tales of the World is not only of literary value but also an important source for intellectual and social history, reflecting the rise of Wei-Jin metaphysics, the politics of aristocratic families, and the era's spirit of individual liberation. Liu Xiaobiao's annotated edition enriches its documentary value by adding a substantial amount of historical material. The work has been continuously commented upon and studied by later generations, exerting a profound influence.

As essential reading for grasping the Wei-Jin spirit, A New Account of the Tales of the World preserves the essence of an era in the form of short literary sketches. Reading this book allows one to appreciate the talent and unconstrained freedom of famous scholars in brief phrases and to understand the enduring fascination with individuality, pure conversation, and aesthetic life within Chinese scholar-official culture.

What’s new

UI improvements and bug fixes