This book is a collection of tales which have been "translated" from ancient classical Chinese. My version of the book actually says "retold by" rather than "translated by" Lin Yutang as he freely admits in his interesting introduction and footnotes that he has taken "translator's license" with many of the tales in order to render them both more readable, poetic and understandable for a modern English-reading audience.

Indeed the tales are very well written and full of action, mystery, intrigue and eccentric and fantastic characters. This book offers a fascinating glimpse into both how much and how little human civilisation has changed over the past few thousand years. It's amazing to think that some of these stories - which include the first known written version of the Cinderella tale in the world, which has a Chinese origin in a tale from the 9th century - were written down literally thousands of years ago, when the English language for example came into existence just over one thousand years ago.


It's proundly touching to consider that our ancestors thousands of years ago held the same hopes and aspirations as we do today - to find love, for happy marriages, to lead full family lives and succeed in satisfying careers, which they hoped to achieve by a mixture of hard work and good fortune.

The tales also offer a tantalising glimpse into ancient Chinese everyday life, customs and beliefs. Many stories mention various Chinese aboriginal tribes and their customs which are an aspect of Chinese history that I had never really considered before. There are also tales with aspects of the supernatural, hinting at the origins of various superstitions, myths and even phrases that still exist in Chinese culture today.

Above is a review by "Alison"