清宣鼎

Qing Xuanding was a late Qing literatus whose biographical details are scarce in publicly available sources, with both his dates and native place still unverified. Judging from the works that survive, he was known for compiling and rendering into vernacular Chinese the note-form tales and classical-language short stories of his time. His representative work, the four-volume Vernacular Edition of Tales from the Autumn Lamp by the Rainy Window, also circulated in separate volumes. The contents draw largely on folk rumors, street observations, and tales of the strange, combining moral admonition with entertainment. The plots are intricate and the language relatively plain, making the stories accessible to ordinary readers. Such works are representative of the late Qing transition of classical tales toward vernacular circulation and offer material for understanding the social customs and narrative tastes of the period. Four of his works are held in this collection and classified as classic works, suitable for both general readers and researchers.