chuanqi

…themes, he adapted the traditional chuanqi, or “marvel tale,” to serious moral and social purposes. Works such as his semiautobiographical Yingyingzhuan (“Story of Yingying”) thus set a new standard for the genre of the tale in Chinese literature.

…to write fiction, the so-called chuanqi, or “tales of marvels.” Many of these Tang stories later provided themes for the Chinese drama.