Tales of the Teahouse Retold: Investiture of the Gods

by Katherine Liang Chew

Tales of the Teahouse Retold is based on the author's original translation of Feng Shen Yan Yi, an important volume of Chinese mythology first published during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is the story of the overthrow the Shang Dynasty (circa 1766-1122 BC) and the founding of the Chou Dynasty (1122-249 BC).Combining historical facts, folklore, mythology, and legends, these tales describe a time when gods and men, beasts and monsters, and spirits and specters mingled with each other in peace and war.The saga begins when King Zhou of Shang offends the Snail Goddess, who sends three specters to bewitch the king in retribution. The kingdom falls into chaos and civil war ensues, with gods and other supernatural beings taking sides. In the end, many of the slain heroes are invested as gods.For centuries, the tale was told in successive story-telling sessions as teahouse entertainment. The author has faithfully kept to the original style and ambience in retelling these tales.Tales of the Teahouse Retold will be of interest to fans of oriental mythology, philosophy, and literature. It is suitable for recreational reading as well as supplemental reading for students of Chinese history and culture.

Genres: China, Mythology, Fantasy

476 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

Reviews

[Celia Burn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reading of this will be considered clunky and poorly translated by any reader who is not familiar with wuxia, Chinese classics, historical novels and martial arts epics of the like; but it is appropriate of the time and writing style -- countless characters beseeching another to help them out of a predicament in return for "my brothers, my children and I alongside all under heaven will be forever grateful to you!" Of Chinese cultural significance is the importance of 'saving face'/pride and 'giving face'/respect which countless character's deaths and suicides revolve around throughout the kingdom.

...an important background note that Investiture of the Gods was written during the Ming Dynasty (also known as Feng Shen Yan Yi) sometime between 1368 - 1644 and is the tale of the founding of the Chou Dynasty as a result of overthrowing the Shang Dynasty...

You might have a hard time with numerous character names being introduced in brief interactions integral to the story and then promptly killed off or dropped from further usage in the plot. This is, again, true to tellings in teahouse theaters which took place over many days and new characters brought more excitement and unpredictable (read: super dramatic) surprises to draw people back.

I was hoping for a bit more battles with martial arts and fantasy/supernatural phenomena to be central to the teahouse stories, but there is still quite a notable amount of elements of folklore, mythology, history and war between gods and men, reoccurring specters, magical creatures, superiormen, and the repeatedly used traveling via 'disappearing underground' technique.

Great translation and an amusing read!

[Magpie6493 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this before and had a fantastic time in both instances. Wouldn't nessesarilly be the book I'd recommend for someone's first book from Chinese literature. However, it you've started to read some of them, this should certainly be on your list.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the book. I love these stories. Some I was familiar with from movies, such as Nezha.

Unfortunately I did not realize the book is abridged. Only 46 0f 100 chapters. I did not like how the final 54 chapters were reduced to a single page and a half summary. I also wish the author had not gone with the corny English translations of names throughout the book. For example I wish she used Jjiang Ziya instead of Baby Tooth, or Zhaoge instead of Capital City Morning Song.

But even with those niggles, a great read.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful!