TRANSLATIONS OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE LITERATURE

Available from the University of Washington Press

Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 1, compiled by Feng Menglong, translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang

“As a truly complete collection of vernacular stories, [this volume] clearly sets a new standard for the English-speaking world.”—Review of Bibliography in Sinology

Stories to Caution the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 2, compiled by Feng Menglong, translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang

“The tales all together provide a wonderful vista of the social life and the cultural imagination of China in the early seventeenth century.”—Wilt Idema, Harvard University

Stories to Awaken the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 3, compiled by Feng Menglong, translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang

“This volume completes the full translation of Feng Menglong’s … collection of vernacular huaben short stories. This three-volume set is invaluable. Highly recommended.”—Choice

Sanyan Stories: Favorites from a Ming Dynasty Collection, compiled by Feng Menglong, translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang

Presented here are nine tales from the Sanyan collection (listed above) of 120 tales compiled and edited by Feng Menglong (1574–1646), selected for their popularity with American readers and their usefulness as texts in classes on Chinese and comparative literature.

Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor: A Seventeenth-Century Chinese Story Collection, by Aina the Layman with Ziran the Eccentric Wanderer, edited by Robert E. Hegel

“A landmark collection of short stories from the early Qing, Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor brings sophisticated innovations to the vernacular storytelling tradition.” —Grace S. Fong, author of Herself an Author: Gender, Agency, and Writing in Late Imperial China

The Story of Han Xiangzi: The Alchemical Adventures of a Daoist Immortal, by Yang Erzeng, translated by Philip Clart

“The Story of Han Xiangzi is simultaneously religious inspiration and literary play. It will surely attract a broad range of readers: religious seekers, those who are curious about exotic beliefs, and students of world literature. It should be in every substantial Asian studies collection.”—Robert E. Hegel, author of The Novel in Seventeenth-Century China

South of the Clouds: Tales from Yunnan, edited by Lucien Miller, translated by Guo Xu, Lucien Miller, and Xu Kun

“A wonderfully entertaining book. The exotic loveliness of the Yunnan landscape comes through very clearly in the details of clear waters sunlit hillsides, bamboos and banyans and eucalyptus. Universal folklore motifs abound, but are given new twists of imagination and wit. There are moments of great beauty, others of earthy comedy, others of considerable pathos.”—Cyril Birch, editor of Anthology of Chinese Literature

The Drunken Man’s Talk: Tales from Medieval China, compiled by Luo Ye, translated by Alister D. Inglis

“These stories and anecdotes provide valuable information about marriage and sexuality in Song/Yuan society. The translator has done a remarkable job in rendering the text into readable English.”—James M. Hargett, translator of Treatises of the Supervisor and Guardian of the Cinnamon Sea

Escape from Blood Pond Hell: The Tales of Mulian and Woman Huang, translated by Beata Grant and Wilt L. Idema

“The literary merits of both precious scrolls are recognizable in the high scholarly translations.… One can recommend Grant and Idema’s book to students of Chinese religion, literature, anthropology, and social history, as well as of those of the whole East Asian region.”—Rostislav Berezkin, Asian Ethnology

Heroines of Jiangyong: Chinese Narrative Ballads in Women’s Script, translated by Wilt L. Idema

“Contributes to the study of Chinese literature, history, and society by filling the void of research on rural women in imperial China—a field grossly underexplored due to the lack of historical documentation.”—Fei-wen Liu, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei

Meng Jiangnü Brings Down the Great Wall: Ten Versions of a Chinese Legend, translated by Wilt L. Idema

“Wielding the specifically feminine magic of tears, [Meng Jiangnü] is able to walk many paths between love and death. Idema’s beautiful, small anthology is a splendid tribute to this figure. It is at the same time a highly commendable introduction to the richness and complexity of Chinese oral traditions.”—Journal of Chinese Religions

Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets: An Anthology, translated by Wilt L. Idema

“Demonstrating erudition in premodern Chinese literature and a critical perspective that allows him to move beyond the boundaries of one culture, Wilt Idema provides precious materials for historians of Manchu society and culture.”— Xiaorong Li, author of Women’s Poetry of Late Imperial China: Transforming the Inner Chambers

CLASSICS OF CHINESE THOUGHT SERIES

Exemplary Figures / Fayan, by Yang Xiong, translated by Michael Nylan

“Fayan is one of the most important early Chinese texts. Carefully wrought and rich with historical insights and philosophical ruminations, it provides an invaluable window to the extraordinary mind of its creator, Yang Xiong, and the cross currents of his cultural moment. Nylan’s masterful translation is a great stylistic and philological achievement.”—Wai-yee Li, Harvard University

Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan: Commentary on the “Spring and Autumn Annals,” translated by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg

“Zuozhuan has anchored the entire corpus of Chinese historical writing for the last two millennia. Its canonical status as the work of Confucius has given it enormous authority not just in determining how Chinese historians should record past events, but in shaping how the Chinese imagine that history itself unfolds. Now that we have this meticulously researched and carefully considered translation, this foundational text can finally take its place among the core classics of early historical writing worldwide.”—Timothy Brook, University of British Columbia