Falling in Love: Stories from Ming China

by Patrick Hanan (Translator)

Falling in love, with all its accompanying problems, was a subject of obsessive interest among writers and readers in the Ming Dynasty, when society held strictly to arranged marriages. The stories in this engaging collection all deal with this theme in very different ways, sometimes comically, sometimes tragically. They portray young people choosing their own lovers, resorting to ingenious stratagems and risky escapades in defiance of contemporary mores. Chosen to represent the best works from the great age of the vernacular story, they offer an admirable introduction to the world of Chinese fiction in this era.

All of the stories in Falling in Love have been translated especially for this volume, and most appear here in translation for the first time. They are taken from two works, Constant Words to Awaken the World ( Xing shi heng yan ) and a related collection, The Rocks Nod Their Heads ( Shi dian tou ), both published in the early seventeenth century.

Genres: Short Stories, China

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Vanessa Hua · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you thought China was ever stiff and sexually repressed, yes, it was -- but it's also rife with ribald tales of involving maids peeing in the garden, scholars making off with innocent maidens, and Brokeback Mountain style loving. A delight to read.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

The literary Chinese equivalent of escapist fluffy romance movies! Sometimes with a harsh moral message, more often bawdy.