Tun-huang Popular Narratives

Tun-huang Popular Narratives presents authoritative translations of four vernacular Chinese stories, taken from fragmentary texts usually referred to as pien-wen or \'transformation texts\'. Dating from the late T\'ang (618–907) and Five Dynasties (907–959) periods, the texts were discovered early last century in a cave at Tun-huang, in Chinese Central Asia. However, written down in an early colloquial language by semi-literate individuals and posing formidable philological problems, the texts have not been studied critically before. Nevertheless they represent the only surviving primary evidence of a widespread and flourishing world of popular entertainment during these centuries. The tales deal with both religious (mostly Buddhist) and secular themes, and make exciting and vivid reading.

List of illustrations; Preface; Introduction; 1. Śāriputra; 2. Maudgalyāyana; 3. Wu Tzu-hsü; 4. Chang I-ch’ao; Usages and symbols; Notes on the texts; References; Index.