 Although short fiction had been popular as far back as the Tang dynasty ( 618 – 907 ) , and the works of contemporaneous authors such as Xu Guangqi , Xu Xiake , and Song Yingxing were often technical and encyclopedic , the most striking literary development was the vernacular novel . While the gentry elite were educated enough to fully comprehend the language of Classical Chinese , those with rudimentary education – such as women in educated families , merchants , and shop clerks – became a large potential audience for literature and performing arts that employed Vernacular Chinese . Literati scholars edited or developed major Chinese novels into mature form in this period , such as Water Margin and Journey to the West . Jin Ping Mei , published in 1610 , although incorporating earlier material , marks the trend toward independent composition and concern with psychology . In the later years of the dynasty , Feng Menglong and Ling Mengchu innovated with vernacular short fiction . Theater scripts were equally imaginative . The most famous , The Peony Pavilion , was written by Tang Xianzu ( 1550 – 1616 ) , with its first performance at the Pavilion of Prince Teng in 1598 . 
