Feng Menglong

Who was Feng Menglong?

Feng Menglong was a Chinese vernacular writer and poet of the late Ming Dynasty. He was born in Changzhou, now Suzhou, in Jiangsu Province.

Most of his literary work was in editing and compiling histories, almanacs and novels. Two of his noteworthy novels are Qing Shi and the shenmo work Pingyao Zhuan. In 1620 he published the Illustrious Words to Instruct the World, or Stories Old and New,.

Feng was a proponent of the school of Li Zhi, which supported the importance of human feelings and behavior in literature. He is frequently associated with Ling Mengchu, author of Slapping the Table in Amazement.