Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s1.t3.1

v2.c10.s1.t3.1

Bianwen refers to a popular form of literary works which appeared among the people during the Tang Dynasty and it is believed to be the forerunner of Chinese vernacular novels. Bianwen was a new literary genre created under the influence of Buddhism, actually most of these works can be seen as vernacular novels. Initially, Bianwen came from the *Informal Speeches* of Buddhist temples. In order to preach doctrines to the common people, monks first created *Informal Speeches*, namely preaching Buddhism doctrines in everyday language through the medium of stories. This way the doctrines that were preached became more interesting. Later, Bianwen came to be classified into more and more categories and then was not only limited to telling stories from Buddhism scriptures nor were the speakers only limited to monks. So Chinese historical stories, folk legends and real-life events etc, became the source material for creating Bianwen.