The Book of Swindles

The Book of Swindles (Piàn jīng 騙經), also known by its longer title, A New Book for Foiling Swindlers, Based on Worldly Experience (Jiānghú lìlǎn dùpiàn xīnshū 江湖歷覽杜騙新書), is said to be the first published and printed Chinese short story collection about fraud.[1] Written and compiled by Zhang Yingyu (張應俞), a man who lived in the early to mid 16th-century, it was published in Fujian province in or around 1617, and most of its stories are set during the latter part of the Ming dynasty.

To each story the author adds a commentary that offers a moral lesson. In some cases, Yingyu even notes the cleverness of the con while pointing out the foolishness of its victim.[2]

Modern editions have been entitled both The Book Against Swindles (Fan Pian Jing 反骗经) and The Book of Swindles (Pian jing 骗经). A selected English translation, The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection, translated by Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk, was published by Columbia University Press in 2017.[3]

  1. ^ Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk, "Translators' Introduction," in Zhang Yingyu, The Book of Swindles (Columbia, 2017), p. xiii.
  2. ^ Rea, Christopher; Rusk, Bruce (2017). Yingyu, Zhang (ed.). The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. xiii–xxxviii. ISBN 978-0231178624. JSTOR 10.7312/zhan16862.4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ "The Book of Swindles – Selections from a Late Ming Collection | Columbia University Press". Columbia University Press. Retrieved 15 March 2018.