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Favourite Folktales of China
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202 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 1983
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About the author
John Minford
35 books30 followersJohn Minford is a sinologist and literary translator. He is primarily known for his translations of Chinese classics such as The Story of the Stone and The Art of War. John's recent work includes a translation of the famous Chinese divination text, the I Ching, published in October 2014, and a new version of the Tao Te Ching, to be published in December 2018.
John Minford was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1968 with a First Class Honours degree in Chinese Studies. Over the subsequent 15 years he worked closely with David Hawkes on the Penguin Classics version of the 18th-century novel The Story of the Stone 紅樓夢, translating the last forty chapters. He went to Canberra in 1977 and studied for his PhD under the late Liu Ts’unyan 柳存仁. He went on to translate for Penguin a selection from Pu Songling’s Strange Tales 聊齋志異 and Sunzi’s The Art of War 孫子兵法. From 2006 to 2016, he was Professor of Chinese at the School of Culture, History and Language in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, where since his retirement he is now an Emeritus Professor. John now lives in his home in New Zealand's Wairarapa region, with his three dogs, Maisie, Rusty and Nelson. His time is divided between translating more Strange Tales in his library, Three Dog Hall 三犬堂, pottering around in the garden, playing the piano, walking by Lake Wairarapa, and occasional trips into Wellington. He spends part of each year at Fontmarty, his old home in Southern France.
John Minford was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1968 with a First Class Honours degree in Chinese Studies. Over the subsequent 15 years he worked closely with David Hawkes on the Penguin Classics version of the 18th-century novel The Story of the Stone 紅樓夢, translating the last forty chapters. He went to Canberra in 1977 and studied for his PhD under the late Liu Ts’unyan 柳存仁. He went on to translate for Penguin a selection from Pu Songling’s Strange Tales 聊齋志異 and Sunzi’s The Art of War 孫子兵法. From 2006 to 2016, he was Professor of Chinese at the School of Culture, History and Language in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, where since his retirement he is now an Emeritus Professor. John now lives in his home in New Zealand's Wairarapa region, with his three dogs, Maisie, Rusty and Nelson. His time is divided between translating more Strange Tales in his library, Three Dog Hall 三犬堂, pottering around in the garden, playing the piano, walking by Lake Wairarapa, and occasional trips into Wellington. He spends part of each year at Fontmarty, his old home in Southern France.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 8, 2020
Lovely stories and illustrations. In a few places I would have preferred names to have been transliterated rather than translated. Overall I'm very pleased to have found this collection of tales.
April 24, 2022
Very interesting collection of stories, esp those from the ethnic minorities. Some of the translations were probably influenced by the British scholar but on the whole very interesting to read.
November 13, 2010
This was a special gift from my Grandfather when he came back from China and I was just 5 or 6 but I loved it and it helped fuel a real interest in reading and in folktales, fairytales and myth! I still have it though without the dust jacket, and with its trusty golden bookmark attached:)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews