Origins The first germs of novellas appeared during the Han and Wei periods. The word xiaoshuo originally meant “conversation”. Only during the Han period the term is used for a literary genre. It is first mentioned in Liu Xin’s劉歆 bibliography Qilüe 七略. In the imperial bibliography of the official dynastic history Hanshu the genre of xiaoshuo is seen as a sub-category of the masters and philosophers, as “knowledge from the street”. Similar concepts about xiaoshuo are brought forward by Huan Tan 桓譚 in his Xinlun新論. Examples of early novellas are semi- or pseudo-historical texts like the Shanhaijing 山海經or Mu Tianzi zhuan穆天子傳. The history Yizhoushu逸周書 also includes parts that can be seen as historical novellas. The 15 xiaoshuo stories listed in the Hanshu are all lost. Only their titles are preserved, like Yi Yin shuo 伊尹說, Zhouzi shuo 鬻子說, Huangdi shuo 黃帝說, Fengshan fangshuo 封禪方說, or Yu chu Zhou shuo 虞初周說. Only of the Qingshizi 青史子 and the Yi Yin shuo, some fragments are preserved. The authors of these stories were Han period persons. The authorship of the Shenyijing 神異經 is attributed to Dongfang Shuo 東方朔, a Daoist master. Which book was to be categorized as a xiaoshuo, is less clear. The Shanhaijing and Mu Tianzi zhuan, for example, were seen as geographical works in the older bibliographies, likewise the Shenyijing and Hainei shizhou ji. Han Wudi gushi漢武帝故事 and Xijing zaji西京雜記were seen as miscellaneous histories, Han Wudi neizhuan漢武帝內傳, Hanwu dongming ji漢武洞冥記as biographies. The same was valid for the many later collections of biographies of Daoist masters like the Soushenji搜神記, Soushen houji搜神后記, Yiyuan異苑 of Xu qixieji 續齊諧記. Only from the Song period on these books were separated from “scientific” writings and put into the category of stories. The largest collection of Han period stories is Gu xiaoshuo goushen 古小說鉤沉, a collection compiled by the Republican writer Lu Xun. The earliest novella is Han Wudi gushi (also called Hanwu gushi. It is still very near to a historical report but contains some narrative elements not interesting for historians or which can not really believed, like his travels to Bogu valley 柏谷 or his discussion with Yan Si 顏駟, or the statements about the Queen Mother of the West 西王母 or Dongfang Shuo. The imperial bibliography in the Suishu lists 25 books of novellas, the greatest part of which was already lost at that time. Except the Yandanzi燕丹子 and the Shishuo xinyu世說, nothing has survived. Seen from the titles, the books contained a lot of semi-historical accounts, stories about ghosts and supernatural events, but also correct historical events. Contemporaries already criticized books like Pei Qi’s 裴啟 Yulin 語林 as nonsense. Nonetheless such books also served as source for semi-historical accounts like the Shishuo xinyu. The Tang period critic Liu Zhiji said that historiography and stories came from the same hands. Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 was the first to clearly separate novellas from historiographic books. The Yandanzi describes the travel of Jing Ke, a retainer of Prince Dan of Yan, to the court of the king of Qin in order to kill him. The Shishuo xinyu is a collection of stories about and conversation of various persons from the very late Han, Wei and Jin periods. It is famous for its literary lightness and has often been studied as a source for the current of the so-called “pure conversations” popular during that time. There were also some humorous collections, like Handan Chun’s 邯鄲淳 Xiaolin笑林, Yang Jiesong’s 陽玠松 Jieyi 解頤 (also called Tansu 談藪) from the Northern Qi，and Wei Dan’s 魏澹 Xiaoyuan 笑苑from the Sui period. The oldest collection of stories was Yin Yun’s book Xiaoshuo小說. It included a lot of stories arranged chronologically, with remarks to most of them. It is not preserved but had to be reconstructed by collecting fragments quoted in other books. These parts can be used to compare statements in the SHishuo xinyu. A very prevalent genre of stories were anecdotes about supernatural events, like Zu Taizhi’s 祖臺之 Zhiguai 志怪, Cao Pi’s 曹毗 Zhiguai 志怪, Master Zhi’s 殖氏 Zhiguaiji 志怪記Kong Yue’s 孔約 Kongshi zhiguai 孔氏志怪 or Zu Chongzhi’s 祖沖之 Shuyiji述異記. This genre was called zhiguai 志怪 „records of strange events“. Accounts on strange events are even included in the Shishuo xinyu. The most famous collection of such stories is Gan Bao’s Soushenji 搜神記. Modern editions have been enlarged by adding accounts of later date. The relatively high literary quality made it a model for later collections like Tao Qian’s 陶潛 Soushen houji 搜神后記, Liu Jingshu’s 劉敬叔 Yiyuan 異苑, Wang Jia’s 王嘉 Shiyiji 拾遺記, or Wu Jun’s 吳均 Xu qixieji 續齊諧記. A lot of such books is unfortunately lost, and we only know some fragments of further ghost stories like the Lieyizhuan 列異傳, Youminglu 幽明錄 or Qixieji 齊諧記. Wang Jia’s Shiyiji is relatively close to historical accounts and provides information otherwise not found in historiographical works. Zhang Hua’s 張華 Bowuzhi 博物志 can be seen as a first attempt of an encyclopedia. It is seen as the precursor of books like the Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎. With the propagation of Buddhism novellas also became an instrument of religious mission. Books with religious contents were Yan Zhitui’s 顏之推 Yuanhunzhi 冤魂志 (also called Huanyuanzhi 還冤志) and Jilingji 集靈記, Liu Yiqing’s 劉義慶 Xuanyanji 宣驗記, Wang Yan’s 王琰 Mingxiangji 冥祥記 or Hou Bai’s 侯白 Jingyiji 旌異記. Daoists, on their part, also propagated their beliefs in response to the competitor religion of Buddhism. Their stories mostly focus around immortality, like Wang Fu’s 王浮 Shenyiji 神異記 or Ge Hong’s 葛洪Shenxianzhuan 神仙傳. It was especially the type of stories on supernatural events that was very popular and influenced the novellas of the Tang period. A lot of stories invented during the Han period and the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties were perpetuated later and found their way into great novels and theatre plays. The story of Lu Fen 盧汾 in the Soushenji reporting his dream that he entered an ant’s hole influenced the story Nanke taishou zhuan 南柯太守傳; the story of Master Humu 胡母 is the origin of the story of Lan Shang 濫觴 in Liu Yi zhuan 柳毅傳; the story of Miss Shi 石氏 from the Youminglu 幽明錄 is to be found in the Lihunji離魂記; the story of Yang Lin 楊林 ist he origin of the Zhenzhongji枕中記; the story of the rebirth of Xu Xuanfang’s 徐玄方 daughter in the Soushen houji is later resumed in the Du liniang ji杜麗娘記 and the theatre play Mudanting牡丹亭. The Qing period novel writer Pu Songling 蒲松齡 made also use of ideas originating in stories from earlier times. Sources: Cheng Yizhong 程毅中 (1986). "Han-Wei-Liuchao xiaoshuo 漢魏六朝小說", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo wenxue 中國文學, vol. 1, p. 239. Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.