Imagine a universe constructed in layers: At the top is Heaven—where the gods live. Beneath is the Earth, where people dwell. And beneath the Earth lies a magical realm of witches, vampires, ghosts, and immortal foxes capable of assuming human form. This is the universe of Chinese folktale. The nine tales in The Chinese Storytellers Book show what happens when the worlds of Earth and the supernatural collide. The cast of characters, both humble and fantastic, includes: A young man willing to spend a night in a haunted mansion to prove that the spirit world does not exist Fox faeries wearying of their immortality and craving the uncertainty of human experiences A bored husband looking for excitement—but finding mortal danger instead Michael David Kwan first heard these tales told by street–corner storytellers during his childhood in China. He retells them through his own unique literary vision—through the lens of his own personality, experience, and imagination.

Chinese Storytellers takes us to the teahouses and hidden corners of Yangzhou to explore the ancient art of Chinese storytelling (shuoshu).

Chinese storytelling has survived through more than a millennium into our own time, while similar oral arts have fallen into oblivion in the West. Under the main heading of 'The Eternal Storyteller', in August 1996 the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies hosted an International Workshop on Oral Literature in Modern China. To this meeting, the first of its kind in Europe, five special guests were invited - master tellers from Yangzhou: Wang Xizotang, Li Xintang, Fei Zhengliang, Dai Buzhang and Hui Zhaolong. The volume derived from this meeting includes an introductory article written by John Miles Foley entitled 'A Comparative View on Oral Traditions'. Thereafter, a wide range of topics relating to Chinese oral literature is covered under the headings: 'Historical Lines', 'A Spectrium of Genres', 'Studies of Yangzhou and Suzhou Story- telling' and 'Performances of Yangzhou Storytelling'. However, the present volume does more than include papers derived from the meeting. It is also lavishly illustrated in word and picture from performances by the guest-storytellers. In so doing, the world of Chinese story telling is not just described and analysed - it is also brought to life.

Michael David Kwan's lyrical memoir of a privileged childhood in Beijing is a moving & enlightening book. His story is a window into the cataclysms that ravaged his native land in the mid-20th century, made all the more compelling by his child's-eye view & dramatist's gift for telling detail. This book has won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize in the nonfiction category, clinching Kwan's position as one of the most beribboned writers in Canada. A mesmerizing read.Ó

This mammoth study is a major contribution to the study of Chinese literature, making available to scholars a genuine storyteller's script from China's Yangzhou oral tradition, dated to the late Qing period (1880-1910). This rare script is published in its complete form (all 367 pages), both in facsimile and transcription, with an English translation also made. Its publication is of high importance not only to preserve knowledge about one of the famous oral traditions of China, but also as a unique documentation of the interplay between orality and literacy in Chinese storytelling. The book is also the first translation into a European language of the popular 'Western Han' narrative, one of a corpus of Chinese semi-historical romances brought to life in recent decades after the discovery in 1974 of the terracotta army commemorating the life and achievements of the first Chinese emperor. Moreover, this storyteller's version is unique and entertaining. The work is an ideal classroom book for students studying Chinese history, literature, oral literature, storytelling, etc.