二拍 (1628)

“二拍”即《初刻拍案惊奇》、《二刻拍案惊奇》的合称，刊于明代崇祯年间，作者是凌蒙初。是继三言之后最有影响的古代白话小说集， 和三言合称“三言二拍”。

《初刻拍案惊奇》与《二刻拍案惊奇》各四十卷，共计八十卷；内有一卷重复、一卷为杂剧，故实为七十八卷。内容多取材于古往今来的奇闻轶事，内容涉及商人活动（如“转运汉遇巧洞庭红”、“叠居奇程客得助”等篇）、婚姻爱情（如“李将军错认舅”、“满少卿饥附饱”等篇）。

抱瓮老人（真名不详）鉴于三言二拍卷帙浩繁，不易购得，且良莠不齐，故选出其中佳作四十篇编成《今古奇观》，大获读者的欢迎。

Slapping the Table in Amazement (Chinese: 初刻拍案驚奇) is a collection of vernacular short stories, written by Ling Mengchu (1580–1644). It was composed in the middle of the 17th century during the end of the Ming dynasty. It involves 78 stories in all and is divided into two parts: the first and the second (Er Pai for short) Chinese: 二拍. There are forty stories in each part. Slapping the Table in Amazement contains many different stories, such as folk legends, romances and unofficial history.

Thanks to the prosperity of the commodity economy and social progress. Er Pai expresses mercantilism, and open values of love and marriage. At the same time, there are many outdated ideas in this book, such as feudalism and superstition, comeuppance and ideas of fatalism, along with some explicit love scenes. Moreover, the author attacked the peasant uprisings toward the end of Ming dynasty in some articles. The novel is remarkable not only for its stunning storylines but also for its precise and detailed observation of the life and social structures typical of 17th-century Chinese aristocracy.

Er Pai together with the three masterpieces of Feng Menglong (1574–1646; a Chinese vernacular writer and poet of the late Ming dynasty) is called San Yan Er Pai. They are representative works of the stories of the Ming dynasty. San Yan is distinguished by its strong artistic charm, while Er Pai vividly describes public life and expresses civil consciousness.

Early copies

The original copy of this volume has been lost, however, the earliest and most complete print copy (尚友堂刊本, missing the 23rd episode) is safely treasured at a temple in Japan (日本栃木県日光市輪王寺慈眼堂). Amazing Tales-Second series, urged by Ling's publican and published after completion in 1932, contains 39 stand-alone short stories (1 from Chunqiu Time, 14 from the Song dynasty, 3 from the Yuan dynasty, 19 from the Ming dynasty, and the final 2 remained unknown) and 1 performance script (Zaju, a type of performance originated in Tang dynasty). Due to the loss of the 23rd episode in the first volume, modern publicans replaced it with the same numeric numbered episode from the second volume, when combined, the two volumes together contain a total of 78 short stories plus 1 performance script. Note that the English publicans only translated a few so-found the greatest-hit episodes in each volume, and their commercial release is not a complete collection of the Er Pai.

Artistic features

Slapping the Table in Amazement vividly represented life at that time, created in 1627. The sales volume reached an all-time high.

In art, he by the succinct writing style, has portrayed vivid characters, and narrated twists and turns of details. He thought: people nowadays just know that ghosts and monsters, which can't be seen or heard, were astounding. But they ignore that, in our daily life there are many spooky things, which can be detected but can't be explained with common sense. Capturing extraordinary things in ordinary life, by absorbing readers, is the key to his success.

“script for story-telling (话本)" originated from “story-telling (说话)" in the Tang dynasty, which means telling stories, and it prevailed in the Song dynasty. Script for story-telling played as the outline of the story for the storyteller to tell the whole story to the audience. The readers and listeners were all common people, so it was the literature catered to ordinary people. “Er Pai”, as a vernacular novel, was closer to public life and ideas at that time

He expressed his profound ideas about society in a vivid way. What is more, opposition to the shackles of personality and praise of the pursuit of the young for love are the themes.

Based on the foundation of traditional aesthetics, "Er Pai" also keeps on trying to explore the new way of art. It has shown a unique, individual artistic face, that makes itself a treasure of ancient colloquial short stories.

The novel is composed in written vernacular Chinese rather than classical Chinese.