author
Pingzhong Kong
1044–1111
A Northern Song writer, poet, and scholar-official remembered for lively prose and a strong place in the Confucian literary tradition. His work moves between history, anecdote, and poetry, giving modern readers a vivid glimpse of classical Chinese culture.
1 Audiobook
續世說
by Pingzhong Kong
About the author
Born in 1044, Pingzhong Kong was a writer and poet of the Northern Song dynasty, and traditional biographical sources identify him as a descendant of Confucius. He was known by the courtesy name Yifu, and his life combined literary work with service in government after passing the imperial examinations.
Kong is associated with historical and anecdotal writing as well as poetry. He is often linked with Xu Shishuo (Continued Shishuo), a collection modeled on earlier anecdotal literature, and sources also describe him as an important literary figure from Jiangxi during the Song period.
Although readily available modern information about him is limited and sometimes inconsistent in detail, the broad picture is clear: he was a respected man of letters whose writing helped preserve stories, moral examples, and literary culture from China’s classical past.