The Dragon King's Daughter: Ten Tang Dynasty Stories

by Gladys Yang (Translator)

The ten stories in this collection can be divided into three main categories: stories of the supernatural, stories with a political theme or adventure stories, and love stories. Supernatural events form the theme of most of the earliest stories. China had always been rich in mythology, and, after the introduction of Buddhism into the country, tales of ghosts and spirits became even more popular, so that during the Six Dynasties we find a great number of such tales. The earliest Tang story, An Ancient Mirror, is made up of a number of supernatural tales about an old bronze mirror. Ren the Fox Fairy, The Dragon King's Daughter and The Spendthrift and The Alchemist all belong to this category. They differ, however, from earlier stories of the same type in having more closely knit plots and more colourful detail, being, in fact, consummate works of art imbued with all the vitality of their age.

Genres: China, Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Short Stories

120 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1954

About the author

Gladys Yang (Chinese: 戴乃迭; pinyin: Dài Nǎidié; 19 January 1919 – 18 November 1999) was a British translator of Chinese literature and the wife of another noted literary translator, Yang Xianyi. Her father was a missionary to China and, from childhood, she became intrigued by Chinese culture.

Born Gladys Margaret Tayler in Beijing, she returned to England as a child and became Oxford University's first graduate in Chinese language in 1940. She met Yang at Oxford. After their marriage, the Beijing-based couple became prominent translators of Chinese literature into English during the latter half of the twentieth century at the Foreign Languages Press.
[Wikipedia]

Reviews

[Jasper O. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on other translations and on her reputation, I have the utmost confidence that Gladys Yang has accurately translated these stories from the Tang era (618 to 907). However, both the fiction/fantasy and the political jokes/comments in these stories are products of their time and have not really aged well for modern audiences. Still, there were some stories with interesting morals or funny parts to them.

So, if you want to read these stories as they were originally written (from a historic or academic viewpoint), this is a good collection for you. If you want to read them for entertainment, you are better off reading a modernized and more curated collection, e.g.:
- Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies
- Chinese Myths and Folk Tales
- Chinese Myths & Tales
- Chinese Fairy Tales and Legends

[SANDRA RIVERO ALBA · Rating 4 out of 5]

En este pequeño libro se narran algunos relatos de la dinastía Tang, acerca de hermosas princesas y deslumbrantes cortesanas, viajes a reinos imaginarios, mutaciones fantásticas y trágicas historias de amor, ya os adelanto que el papel de la mujer es meramente decorativo, en todos los cuentos solo destacan por la belleza, aunque muchas llegan a demostrar grandes dotes de líder, jamás se destacan.
Rodeado de un ambiente mágico y fantasioso mezclado con realidad, esta selección de cuentos nos acerca a una época de gran esplendor artístico, donde el misticismo y la realidad muchas veces se confunden en una China preocupada por la estética y los convencionalismos sociales.
La hija del rey dragón y la Historia de la Bella Li Wa son mis favoritas, en ellas la mujer es algo más que un jarrón decorativo y su personaje cobra trascendencia en la historia y la evolución del personaje masculino, que es quien lleva siempre el peso del cuento.
Las ilustraciones de la época de la Dinastía Ming son el complemento perfecto de este conjunto de relatos de la china feudal.

Muy entretenido, y desde luego otro acierto en las compras de libros de ocasión, aunque para ser consecuente, debería remitirme a las “librerías de viejo”( que me gusta este término).
#literaturaasiatica #literaturachina #relatos

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This thin anthology contains ten stories from varied writers of the Tang Dynasty. The stories include a mix of speculative fiction, political fiction, and love stories -- some being cross-genre pieces that mix elements of more than one of these categories.

I found a wide variation in how engaging the stories were. The best of them were quite good. The Spendthrift and the Alchemist, The White Monkey, and the titular The Dragon King's Daughter were among my favorites. Each of those stories included a supernatural element, but also a thought-provoking premise.

If you enjoy Tang Dynasty literature and would like to try some of this golden literary age's short fiction, this book is a quick and pleasant read.

[Mh430 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read but a really quick one.

Ten short (short!) stories packed into less than 100 pages means these are actually more like sketches but it's still a nice collection of historical personages and supernatural entities showing the diversity of Imperial Chinese literature. But considering how much fiction survives from the Tang Dynasty this could and should have been a much larger anthology.

[Seppe Boonen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made me want to take a class in Chinese literature !

[Lucia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo escuhe en audio libro y me relajo muchísimo ✨️ me cuestan mucho las lecturas orientales pero me pareció linda