A wealthy girl runs away with her cousin, a poor stonecarver.   A scholar finds true love inside a book. Two lovers defy death to be together. And a young man finds love with two ghosts. Believe it or not, it’s possible for you to read and understand the four wonderful love stories in this book even if you start off not knowing a single word of Chinese!  We won’t lie to you and say it…

Two friends find a golden nugget on the ground.  A young girl meets a fox spirit.  A dog saves a life, a tiger takes a life.  A girl runs away from her fishing boat.  And a boy saves the spirit of his grandfather. Believe it or not, it’s possible for you to read and understand the stories in this book even if you start off not knowing a single word of Chinese!  We won’t lie…

An orphan girl gets help from a goose.  A poor family receives a magical gift.  A boy is stranded alone on a ship in a storm.  And two magicians perform a deadly trick. Believe it or not, it’s possible for you to read and understand the four wonderful stories in this book even if you start off not knowing a single word of Chinese!  We won’t lie to you and say it will be easy,…

Sang is a young scholar living alone in a small village in 18th century China. One night a strange and beautiful woman arrives at his house, and he soon falls deeply in love with her.  But later, a second even more beautiful woman arrives, and things become extremely complicated.  This is a story about fox spirits and ghosts, love and lust, and the unpredictable nature of the human and the not-quite-human heart. This book is…

The story of Cinderella is possibly the most widespread and popular of all folk tales.  The earliest known version is from Greece around two thousand years ago, and over the next thousand years, it traveled to France, Italy and Germany, and eventually to the Walt Disney studio in America. But as the Cinderella story traveled from Greece to Western Europe, it was also carried eastward to Asia along the Silk Road and other ancient trade…

Folk tales are immensely popular in China.  Passed down orally over the centuries from grandparents and parents to children, they serve as an unwritten handbook for living.  Nearly all Chinese folk tales are about simple people who find themselves in difficult situations.  These people are often helped (and occasionally hindered) by talking animals, as well as by powerful gods, wizards and other supernatural beings who actively interfere in events here on earth (天下, tiānxià, “under…