"初刻拍案驚奇" by Mengchu Ling is a collection of vernacular short stories composed in 1627 during the late Ming dynasty. This two-volume work contains seventy-eight tales drawn from folk legends, romances, and unofficial history. The stories capture extraordinary events hidden within ordinary life, featuring merchants, hawkers, prostitutes, thieves, and other common people rather than emperors and heroes. Written in vernacular Chinese, the collection explores themes of love, marriage, and commerce while reflecting the social changes of seventeenth-century China through vivid characters and surprising plot twists.
Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slapping_the_Table_in_Amazement