Eight Pieces of Brocade

For the first time in English, the complete Eight Pieces of Brocade (八段錦) - a Ming-dynasty collection of eight interlocking tales exploring the wages of desire, the snares of passion, and the strange workings of karmic justice.

Written by the pseudonymous "Master Who Awakens the World" (Xingshijushi), these stories move from the pleasure quarters of Lin'an to haunted riverbanks, from prosperous merchant households to the courts of ghostly judgment. Each "piece of brocade" weaves together vivid characters - lovestruck young men, scheming courtesans, wronged wives, and supernatural avengers - into narratives that entertain even as they instruct.

Part cautionary tale, part detective fiction, part ghost story, Eight Pieces of Brocade offers a window into the moral imagination of late imperial China, where Buddhist and Daoist ideas of retribution shaped how ordinary people understood love, loss, and the consequences of their choices.

This translation preserves the colloquial energy and narrative pace of the original while making these remarkable stories fully accessible to contemporary readers.

Rediscover the great epics, mysteries and chronicles of dynastic China: gods and generals, swindlers and scholars, courtesans, ghosts and emperors, in complete English translations.