Awakening the World is a collection of 40 stories, which consists of Yuan dialect books in Song and Ming Dynasties. Most of these works are parodies of the Ming Dynasty, based on folk stories at that time. Among them, the works about love and marriage are the most prominent, praising the courage of contemporary men and women against feudal society and their persistent pursuit of love.
Most of the love stories in Awakening the World are related to the love experience of the author Feng Menglong. Feng Menglong and the famous prostitute Hou Huiqing appreciate each other. However, because Feng Menglong's family was poor, there was no way to redeem Hou Huiqing. Finally Hou Huiqing was bought by a businessman. After that, Feng Menglong became seriously ill and devoted himself to the creation of love poems.