Selected Chinese Fables

Author: You Yuan (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Fable is a story with an advisory or satirical purpose. This definition points out two basic characteristics of fable: one is its function of advising or satirizing, and the other is its narrative structure. Chinese fables have enriched the national language and literature of Guangzhou with their concise and refined language forms. For example, many idioms in Chinese language originate from fables, such as: "carving with a single stroke," "Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi," "the person's anxiety about the sky," "marking the boat to seek the sword," "Yugong moving the mountain," "waiting for a rabbit at a tree stump," "the bird hit by an arrow," "going south while facing north," and "contradicting oneself" and so on. Chinese fables have also had a significant impact on world fables, especially on countries in East Asia. The fable traditions of Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other nations have all been inspired by ancient Chinese fables. This book compiles a total of 136 ancient and modern Chinese fable stories, with each story followed by an added moral by the editor for reference only.