The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection

by Yingyu Zhang, Christopher G. Rea (Translator), Bruce Rusk (Translator)

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.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Classics, Short Stories

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1617

Reviews

[Jeff Greason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 'period piece' in some ways -- a collection of swindles interspersed with moral advice on how to not fall in to such traps from Ming-era China. A fascinating window in to the culture of the period. But in other ways, a work not limited to its time; a reminder that people are people and while the details change, the scam is ever present. Also interesting as a window on a low-trust society; something that would be wise for residents from high-trust societies to read before engaging in dealings across the cultural divide.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing like some good old fashioned mischief like « A Eunuch Cooks Boys to Make a Tonic of Male Essence ». I especially liked the one where a guy Trojan horsed a pawn shop. The translation was nice and the footnotes were helpful as well.

[Daniel Polansky]

A collection of scams befalling the unlucky and unwise in 16th century China. I now feel myself well equipped to navigate the riverboats and hostelries of the late Ming Empire.

[Chris Carlisle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Swindles is a collection of late Ming Dynasty cautionary tales that span a multitude of literary genres. There are stories in here that border on the line between fact and fiction, and there are others that are sheer absurdity. I really like the end notes by the original author/editor Zhang Yingyu. The ending summaries generally include anecdotes and lessons from the story, and sometimes include historical information from classic Chinese tales and philosophy. The footnotes also add so much more to the book, and they further the reader's knowledge in a number of areas. The only complaint I would have about this book is the lack of illustrations, but the cover art and stories remedy this a little for me.

The book includes 24 swindle story types:
1. Misdirection and Theft
2. The bag drop
3. Money Changing
4. Misrepresentation
5. False Relations
6. Brokers
7. Enticement to Gambling
8. Showing off Wealth
9. Scheming for Wealth
10. Robbery
11. Violence
12. On Boats
13. Poetry
14. Fake Silver
15. Governnent Underlings
16. Marriage
17. Illicit Passion
18. Women
19. Kidnapping
20. Corruption in Education
21. Monks and Priests
22. Alchemy
23. Sorcery
24. Pandering

There are over forty tales in this book, each spanning a couple of pages and always with an afterward by the original author. The book is over 200 pages of fun reading and also gives some insight into the lifestyle and customs of late Ming Dynasty China. Give it a read if you are even slighty interested in Chinese culture.

[Qmmayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was hoping for. I expected a collection of cons, ie scams that were employed by swindlers to steal money during China's Ming Dynasty. Instead, this is more a collection of particular stories about specific people who were relieved on money in various ways. And in fact, it more often resembles a collection of gossip, as in "I heard about this woman who once had sex with a monkey . . ." (That example is, unfortunately, taken from the book.)

Some of the stories involve blunt force (basic robbery), others occur entirely by happenstance, and a few rely on ludicrous amounts of planning (years of false friendship). Only a handful detail what I could consider to be a classic "swindle": advanced planning, a clever deception based on the greed/gullibility of the victim, and the potential for it to be repeated.

The book is perhaps more useful as a contemporary window into of some of the preoccupations of the period, as least as embodied by the author. There is clear distrust of authority and religion and an expectation that merchants will be preyed upon by crooks, especially while traveling. (There's also a pervasive undercurrent of misogyny that is unremarked upon by the editors.) But ultimately I felt like it fell short there as well. There is a worthwhile introduction but very few footnotes in the text itself and they are mainly devoted to translation issues. Without more commentary, I found it wanting as a genuine sociological view of the times.

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any such collection, variety is crucial, and it's clear why the translators slimmed things down to a mere half of the original tales—even as it stands, at a certain point the patterns of the swindles start to wear a rut through the text, and there are only so many novel ways silver can be swapped for other materials in someone's traveling chest. Fortunate, then, that the more outlandish cons here pay the way for the whole lot. These baroque schemes escalate in absurdity as tales pile on, to a point that's ultimately perhaps too much of a deviation from the norm—is it really in the spirit of a swindle to involve demon spirits and supernatural aphrodisiacs? But it would be churlish of me to quibble too much with the intrusion of magic into mundane thieves' tales—after all, in what other book could one read the story of "Eating Human Fetuses to Fake Fasting"?

[Jean Colson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific collection of cons, Chinese-style. It's definitely a society where you want to keep a close eye out on your belongings... especially from strangers. The stories are relatively simple but delightful. It's a fascinating window into the life of regular people in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), a highly civilized society with corruption but also justice. Sometimes magistrates actually step in and save the day! Each story includes commentary afterwards by the author, sometimes to help explain what happened and sometimes to add his moral takeaway.

[Daniel]

podcast.

More Swindles from the Late Ming: Sex, Scams, and Sorcery

[dao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some insight about Chinese ancient society.

Yes i would recommend this book to my Australian friends. I wonder if anyone is writting a similar book about the modern time swindles, things like: fake news...

[Yun Rou · Rating 5 out of 5]

How could someone who immerses himself in the creation of stories from Chinese history not find this book fun, fascinating, and a plot-stimulant, too. If you like Asian TV shows and movies, particularly the ones with historical settings, you'll love this little treasure trove.

[Critical · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of historical vignettes, but there is a bunch of disturbing stuff in here. You'll want to look into content warnings before you read this. Long story short, it was pretty rough being a commoner in the Late Ming.

[Naomi]

A few of the swindles were pretty clever though most of them boiled down to "get the mark drunk and take their money" or "switch the silver ingots for bricks when the mark isn't looking". Anyway it was an interesting look at the time and place and its attitudes, and occasionally a fun read.

[Gile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder whether this book inspired J .L. Borges for his novel "A Universal History of Infamy"?

[Lulu]

1617

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful. Con artists gonna con, and people are gonna tell stories about the bests and the stupidest, as much in the Ming dynasty as today.

[Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

New top 5 book of all time