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This is an age of deception. Con men ply the roadways. Bogus alchemists pretend to turn one piece of silver into three. Devious nuns entice young women into adultery. Sorcerers use charmed talismans for mind control and murder. A pair of dubious monks extorts money from a powerful official and then spends it on whoring. A rich student tries to bribe the chief examiner, only to hand his money to an imposter. A eunuch kidnaps boys and consumes their "essence" in an attempt to regrow his penis. These are just a few of the entertaining and surprising tales to be found in this seventeenth-century work, said to be the earliest Chinese collection of swindle stories.
The Book of Swindles, compiled by an obscure writer from southern China, presents a fascinating tableau of criminal ingenuity. The flourishing economy of the late Ming period created overnight fortunes for merchants-and gave rise to a host of smooth operators, charlatans, forgers, and imposters seeking to siphon off some of the new wealth.
The Book of Swindles, which was ostensibly written as a manual for self-protection in this shifting and unstable world, also offers an expert guide to the art of deception. Each story comes with commentary by the author, Zhang Yingyu, who expounds a moral lesson while also speaking as a connoisseur of the swindle. This volume, which contains annotated translations of just over half of the eighty-odd stories in Zhang's original collection, provides a wealth of detail on social life during the late Ming and offers words of warning for a world in peril.
List of contents
Maps
Translators' Introduction
Type 1: Misdirection and TheftStealing Silk with a Decoy Horse
Handing Over Silver Before Running Off with It
A Clever Trick on a Pig Seller
Pilfering Green Cloth by Pretending to Steal a Goose
Type 2: The Bag DropDropping a Bag by the Roadside to Set Up a Switcheroo
Type 3: Money ChangingA Daoist in a Boat Exchanges Some Gold
Type 4: MisrepresentationForged Letters from the Education Intendant Report Auspicious Dreams
Using Broom Handles to Play a Joke on Sedan Bearers
Type 5: False RelationsInciting a Friend to Commit Adultery and Swindling Away His Land
Type 6: BrokersA Conniving Broker Takes Paper and Ends Up Paying with His Daughter
A Destitute Broker Takes Some Wax to Pay Off Old Debts
Type 7: Enticement to GamblingA Stern Warning to a Gambler Provokes Others to Entice Him to Relapse
Type 8: Showing Off WealthImpersonating the Son of an Official to Steal a Merchant's Silver
Flashy Clothing Incites Larceny
Type 9: Scheming for WealthStealing a Business Partner's Riches Only to Lose One's Own
Haughtiness Leads to a Lawsuit That Harms Wealth and Health
Type 10: RobberyRobbing a Pawnshop by Pretending to Leave Goods There
Type 11: ViolenceSticking a Plaster in the Eyes to Steal a Silver Ingot
Type 12: On BoatsBringing Mirrors Aboard a Boat Invites a Nefarious Plot
Porters Run Off with Cargo from a Boat
Type 13: PoetrySwindling the Salt Commissioner While Disguised as Daoists
Chen Quan Scams His Way Into the Arms of a Famous Courtesan
Type 14: Fake SilverPlanting a Fake Ingot to Swindle a Farmer
Type 15: Government UnderlingsSwindled on the Way Out of a Court Hearing
An Officer Reprimands a Captured Criminal in Order to Halve His Flogging
Type 16: MarriageMarrying a Street Cleaner and Provoking His Death
Taking a Concubine from Another Province Leads to a Disastrous Lawsuit
Type 17: Illicit PassionA Geomancer Uses His Wife to Steal a Good Seed
Type 18: WomenCoaxing a Sister-in-Law Into Adultery to Scam Oil and Meat
Three Women Ride Off on Three Horses
A Buddhist Nun Scatters Prayer Beads to Lure a Woman Into Adultery
Type 19: KidnappingA Eunuch Cooks Boys to Make a Tonic of Male Essence
Type 20: Corruption in EducationPretending to Present Silver to an Education Commissioner
Affixing Seals in a Functionary's Chambers
Silver with Sham Seals Is Switched for Bricks
Robbed by a Gang While Sealing Silver in an Unoccupied Room
A Fake Freeloader Takes Over a Con
Money Stashed with an Innkeeper Is Burgled
Type 21: Monks and PriestsA Buddhist Monk Identifies a Cow as His Mother
Eating Human Fetuses to Fake Fasting
Type 22: AlchemyTrusting in Alchemy Harms an Entire Family
A Foiled Alchemy Scam Leads to a Poisoning
Type 23: SorceryUsing Dream Sorcery to Rob a Family
Type 24: PanderingA Father Searching for His Wastrel Son Himself Falls Into Whoring
Appendix 1: Preface to A New Book for Foiling Swindlers: Strange Tales from the Rivers and Lakes (1617), by Xiong Zhenji
Appendix 2: Story Finding List
Bibliography
About the author
Zhang Yingyu. Translated by Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk.
