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 (; 403 – 26 February 444) during the Liu Song dynasty (420–479) of the Northern and Southern dynasties. It is a historical compilation of anecdotes about Chinese scholars, musicians, and artists during the 2nd-4th centuries.

Content

The book contains around 1,130 historical anecdotes and character sketches of around 600 literati, musicians and painters who lived in the Han and Wei–Jin periods (2nd-4th centuries). Chapter 19, for instance, has 32 stories about outstanding women. It is thus both a biographical source and a record of colloquial language. The original text of the book was divided into eight volumes of juan (卷 "scroll"), though current editions generally span ten volumes.

Reception

While most of the anecdotes and personalities are attested in other sources, traditional Chinese bibliographers did not classify Shishuo Xinyu as history, but as a novel / "minor tales" ( xiao shuo), a term that was later used to refer to fiction. Some attribute this to its use of colloquial language as well as how it did not follow the historical conventions of the Twenty-Four Histories. The mixture of literary and vernacular styles set the scene for the later tradition of informal Chinese literature. The 20th-century Chinese novelist Lu Xun spoke highly of the book's aesthetic merits.

Translations

The text was fully translated into English in 2002, with commentary by Liang dynasty scholar Liu Xiaobiao (; 462 - 521 or 463 - 522), by sinologist Richard B. Mather, in the book titled Shih-shuo Hsin-yü: A New Account of Tales of the World.

Extant versions

Manuscript:

• Hand-written fragments from the Tang dynasty (618–907) ()

Woodblock prints:

• Dong Fen edition, 1138 (8th year of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song); original kept in Japan ()
• Edition by Lu You, 1188 (15th year of the Chunxi era of the Southern Song; )
• Edition from Hunan, 1189 (16th year of Chunxi) ()

Categories

1. Virtuous Conduct
2. Speech and Conversation
3. Affairs of State
4. Letters and Scholarship
5. The Square and the Proper
6. Cultivated Tolerance
7. Insight and Judgment
8. Appreciation and Praise
9. Grading Excellence
10. Admonitions and Warnings
11. Quick Perception
12. Precocious Intelligence
13. Virility and Boldness
14. Appearance and Manner
15. Self-renewal
16. Admiration and Emulation
17. Grieving for the Departed
18. Reclusion and Disengagement
19. Worthy Beauties
20. Technical Understanding
21. Skill and Art
22. Favor and Veneration
23. The Free and Unrestrained
24. Rudeness and Arrogance
25. Taunting and Teasing
26. Contempt and Insults
27. Guile and Chicanery
28. Dismissal from Office
29. Stinginess and Meanness
30. Extravagance and Ostentation
31. Anger and Irascibility
32. Slander and Treachery
33. Blameworthiness and Remorse
34. Crudities and Slips of the Tongue
35. Delusion and Infatuation
36. Hostility and Alienation

References and notes

Further reading

• Nanxiu Qian. Spirit and Self in Medieval China : The Shih-Shuo Hsin-Yü and Its Legacy. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001). .
• Jack W. Chen. Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance : Essays on the Shishuo xinyu (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2021). .
• Mingyuan Hu. The Eremitic and Extravagant: Elegance of Personality I (London: Hermits United, 2024). .
• Mingyuan Hu. The Bold and Untrammelled: Elegance of Personality II (London: Hermits United, 2024). .