“小说何为而作也?曰以劝善也,以惩恶也。夫书之足以劝惩者,莫过于经史,而义理艰深,难令家喻而户晓,反不若稗官野乘。福善祸淫之理悉备,忠佞贞邪之报昭然。能使人触目惊心,如听晨钟,如闻因果。其于世道人心不为无补也。”~a在《金石缘序》中,静恬主人把小说创作的目的归结为劝世的需要,将小说的教化功能有意拔高。 "What is the novel for the sake of the? Said to persuade good also to punish evil also .Human book enough to persuade the punishment, than the history, and justice difficult, it is difficult to make known to every household, Take good fortune bad masturbation of reason prepared, loyalty and decency report clearly. Can shocking people, such as listening to the morning bell, such as smell of causality. In the preface, Jing Tian masters attributed the purpose of novel creation to the need of persuading the world to intentionally raise the educational function of the novel.