The thieving cook, the hypocritical monk, the medical charlatan, the tyrannical official, the miserly host and his gluttonous guest: these, along with flashes of pure wit that have a universal appeal regardless of place and time, are just some of the characters to be found and savoured in this selection of classical Chinese humour. Culled from a diversity of Ming and Qing dynasty sources, these stories combine the zany, the facetious and the sublimely eccentric to shed light on the seamy side of life, to deflate pomposity and revel in sheer absurdity. Even the more typical offerings, with their tendency towards the bawdy and the grotesque, should delight the general reader as well as the folklorist and student of China with their living evocation of a robust society often overlooked in literary studies of the period.

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214pp

(For this item please quote stock ID 8948)

Related Subject Areas:

Classic Literature      Humour      Jokes      Literature      Wit