The book of swindles : selections from a late Ming collection / Zhang Yingyu ; translated by Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zhang, Yingyu, active 16th century-17th century, author.

Contributor:

Rea, Christopher G., trnslator.

Rusk, Bruce, 1972- translator.

Series:

Translations from the Asian classics.

Translations from the Asian Classics

Standardized Title:

Du pian xin shu. Selections. English

Language:

Chinese

English

Subjects (All):

Swindlers and swindling--China--Anecdotes.

Swindlers and swindling.

Fraud--China--Anecdotes.

Fraud.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : maps

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2017]

Summary:

This is an age of deception. Con men ply the roadways. Bogus alchemists pretend to turn one piece of silver into three. Devious nuns entice young women into adultery. Sorcerers use charmed talismans for mind control and murder. A pair of dubious monks extorts money from a powerful official and then spends it on whoring. A rich student tries to bribe the chief examiner, only to hand his money to an imposter. A eunuch kidnaps boys and consumes their "essence" in an attempt to regrow his penis. These are just a few of the entertaining and surprising tales to be found in this seventeenth-century work, said to be the earliest Chinese collection of swindle stories.The Book of Swindles, compiled by an obscure writer from southern China, presents a fascinating tableau of criminal ingenuity. The flourishing economy of the late Ming period created overnight fortunes for merchants-and gave rise to a host of smooth operators, charlatans, forgers, and imposters seeking to siphon off some of the new wealth. The Book of Swindles, which was ostensibly written as a manual for self-protection in this shifting and unstable world, also offers an expert guide to the art of deception. Each story comes with commentary by the author, Zhang Yingyu, who expounds a moral lesson while also speaking as a connoisseur of the swindle. This volume, which contains annotated translations of just over half of the eighty-odd stories in Zhang's original collection, provides a wealth of detail on social life during the late Ming and offers words of warning for a world in peril.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Maps

Translators' Introduction

Type 1: Misdirection and Theft

Type 2: The Bag Drop

Type 3: Money Changing

Type 4: Misrepresentation

Type 5: False Relations

Type 6: Brokers

Type 7: Enticement to Gambling

Type 8: Showing Off Wealth

Type 9: Scheming for Wealth

Type 10: Robbery

Type 11: Violence

Type 12: On Boats

Type 13: Poetry

Type 14: Fake Silver

Type 15: Government Underlings

Type 16: Marriage

Type 17: Illicit Passion

Type 18: Women

Type 19: Kidnapping

Type 20: Corruption in Education

Type 21: Monks and Priests

Type 22: Alchemy

Type 23: Sorcery

Type 24: Pandering

Appendix 1. Preface to A New Book for Foiling Swindlers: Strange Tales from the Rivers and Lakes

Appendix 2. Story Finding List

Bibliography

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 16. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9780231545648

0231545649

OCLC:

1054881670