Admonitions in Jest: Tales of the Strange

Shen Qifeng's Admonitions in Jest opens in a ruined garden full of foxes and never lets the reader settle. In a hundred or so short tales, ghosts lecture the living, foxes outwit scholars, misers are tricked, and the follies of officials and examination candidates are punished with wit rather than thunder. Written in the tradition of Liaozhai but with a lighter, satirical touch, each piece ends with a pointed moral that is often a joke in disguise. This is a complete new English translation, with names in modern pinyin and the text rendered as plain, readable English prose. These are short, vivid pieces, ideal for reading one or two at a sitting, and they open a window on what Chinese readers feared, desired and laughed at.