The space and time of the late Qing Dynasty, in which a large amount of novels, from old folk tales to fast-spreading stories today, and theories had appeared, did not show a mere linear aspect at all. This study focuses on the space and time of the late Qing Dynasty, the spoken and written materials that formed Xiaoshuo (novel), and the media, such as libraries, books, andnewspapers, which allowed people to read, learn, and listen to Xiaoshuo.
In the late Qing Dynasty, stories met a modern communication medium, the newspaper, under the name of Xiaoshuo. A storyteller’s experience was based on totality. Before this age called, the modern age, stories made the audience feel united and touched with sympathy, and the audience was not usually fragmented from the storyteller. In the late Qing Dynasty, however, stories that continued the same story could not simply exist anymore. This was because,unlike the stories so far, which shared all the five senses with the storyteller,the newspaper needed only one sense – vision. Stories in the newspaper therefore had to be just concise, original, and easy to understand for reading,being laid somewhere between storytelling and novel.
Xiaoshuo in the late Qing Dynasty recorded the lifestyles of the citizens of the day in various ways, and Xiaoshuo that was written, not spoken, changed the audience who used to feel sympathy with others into passionate readers.
On top of that, printing technology also played a role in Xiaoshuo’s holding its place as a medium of information, distributing a lot of novels in cheap prices.
However, it is interesting that storytelling, such as Pinghua, Tanci, and Guci,were freely told and sung in a fixed form, Shuobu, and widespread along with Xiaoshuo in the late Qing Dynasty. When the stereotype that Xiaoshuo is just written product of culture is removed, Xiaoshuo in the late Qing Dynasty will show its various aspects.