Chinese Folk-Lore Tales

by J. Macgowan

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Ebooks, Mythology

132 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

John Macgowan, 1835–1922

Belfast-born missionary to China with the London Missionary Society, helped to found the Natural Foot Society. Author of many books about Chinese culture and history, and about the Amoy dialect of Chinese

Source: Wikisource

Reviews

[Maddy]

This translation is...not great. A lot of stories about fate, doing your duty, going to the Western heaven and being nice to Kwanyin. I was hoping for a bit more variety.

[Tony]

Book review

It was very nice in my opinion and I would recommend it to those who are interested in Chinese Folk-Lore. I must say though that
I reviewed it a three because its just not really what I was looking for but obviously its ok that its not my cup of tea everyone has different taste buds in their books and interests. Also I liked how they mentioned the goddess of mercy! Farewell reader.

[Evil Secret Ninja]

Interesting Chinese Folk-lore I certainly had not heard the stories before. There is a lot of sexism in them but that is true of every culture. There were a few surprises though. It is fun to read stories from different cutlures.

[Omphile Mokgele]

Chinese Folklore tales

[Zahraa زهراء]

زنبقة الماء- حكايات شعبية من الصين

خمس قصص شعبية، مسترسلة بعيدة عن التكلف، مكثفة الأحداث
التراث الشعبي الشفهي والمكتوب يجب أن لا يقلل من قيمته، لانه رواته هم الناس البسطاء يتناقلونه على سجيتهم وكل جيل يضفي شيئا على القصة ذاتها.
بطبيعة الحال هي قصص ساذجة سطحية، لكن لا يصح قياسها بمعايير الكتابة الأدبية كالرواية او القصة القصيرة
من خلال هذه الحكايا نتعرف ببساطة على نمط الحياة في الصين القديمة، سنعرف أن الالهة الصينية مختلفة كل الاختلاف عن الهة الديانات الكبرى، الالهة الصينية ظريفة، تحتاج المساعدة وترد الجميل لمن يساعد، وتتدخل لتقلب حياة احد الاشخاص رأسا على عقب من غير سبب:)
سنرى تأثير الافكار الهندية على الصينين، تناسخ الارواح
تقديس الآباء، التضحية، الاخلاص للحب، الاعتكاف في الاديرة لطلب الحكمة، الامبراطور الاب الاكبر

اما زنبقة الماء فهي فتاة تعلقت بخطيبها الذي سبب افلاسه رفض والديها لزواجها، فتذهب متنكرة بزي شحاذة عجوز، وتقطع المسافات لتصل لمنزله ليتم بذلك الزواج، ثم يكتشفان ثروة في منزلهما ويعيشان بسعادة .

كما قيل في المقدمة، التراث الشعبي يثبت وجود "عولمة" قبل ان تولد العولمة الحديثة

وهكذا، تبقى الحكايات سر هذه الأرض الواحدة، نبتها أو لنقل زهرتها الفريدة، التي نبتت من تربتها الخصيبة لتجوب آفاق الدنيا، مبدلة ربما أثوابها وألوانها، ولكن محتفطة دوما بجوهرها الانساني الفسيح والعميق.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRTpE...

[Alz]

When compared to other volumes of Chinese folklore and fairytales, the stories in this collection are unremarkable in terms of story, style, or content. Most of the tales meander pedantically about, and some of them start off about one person or incident and then segue into a different storyline without ever resolving the first one. It could be an issue of translation or honesty in staying true to the source, but both the stories and the writing itself lack charm and fail to engage interest, making for a dry reading experience.

[Jessica Roberts]

Well....

I liked the stories even if things weren't called by their right names. The writer wasn't prejudiced against his subject. I don't know if he was knowledgeable because of MY lack of knowledge in this Area. Still, I object to various spirits being referred to as 'faries'. You can't turn Chinese tales into European tales, but the Author sure tried! Hence the three stars.

[Erin]

Some of the stories were good others were so boring I could barely get through them. The same man seemed to be the main character in nearly all of them, so there wasn't much variety.

[A.R. Jarvis]

That was...unfortunate. And terrible. And I only read a story and a half.

[Chu-Salyer Sharon]

O K book;

[mar]

I love folklore tales, but this one was kinda boring.... sorry