Chinese Folk Tales
Dragon kings, river spirits, transformed foxes, judges and celestial travellers fill these Chinese tales and legends. Sources include The Chinese Fairy Book, edited by Richard Wilhelm and translated into English by Frederick H. Martens in 1921.
The source notes distinguish a tale’s events from the editor’s historical or religious interpretations. Some stories are playful; others concern coercion, violence or loss. Use each page’s guidance to choose a suitable telling.
80 stories are in this collection right now.
Browse by region: China.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Tragedy of the Yin Family
A rich man schemes to win a lucky burial ground by marrying his son to a poor girl, but his cruelty brings thunder, ghosts and ruin on his house.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Three Evils
A wise new mandarin tells the district bully about its three evils, a dragon, a tiger and the bully himself, and the young man sets out to end all three.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Three Rhymsters
At a birthday feast two learned sons-in-law mock the farmer’s clumsy poem, until his clever wife steps out and shows how his lines beat theirs.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Talking Silver Foxes
A talking fox on Tower Mountain teases travelers and plays tricks for a hundred years, until a farmer’s ox-whip and an archer’s arrow end its fun.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Spirits of the Yellow River
The Yellow River’s Golden Dragon-King appears as a tiny snake who loves plays, and anyone who mocks his size soon sees how big he can grow.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Sorcerer of the White Lotus Lodge
A sorcerer who catches every trick his pupils play on him is finally arrested, but a giant on the mountain road changes the whole story.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Spirit of the Wu-Lian Mountain
A storm monster snatches a scholar by the hair and carries him through the sky until a golden-armored guardian god forces it to drop him on a temple tower.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Reward of a Benevolent Life
A fairy monk warns kind-hearted Chung of a coming flood, and the animals he rescues prove far more grateful than the drowning man he saves.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Punishment of Greed
A schoolteacher breaks open a glowing coffin hoping for jewels, and the young man lying inside sits up and chases him all the way home.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Queen of Heaven
A devout Fukien girl becomes the Queen of Heaven, guardian of sailors, who calms storms with her sword and pulls a lost ship out of the Black Whirlpool.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Panther
A panther disguised as their mother fools two sisters into opening the door, but the girls escape up a tree and a string of helpers sets a trap.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Night on the Battlefield
A merchant caught in a storm shelters at a roadside inn full of soldiers, and through a crack in the door watches their general take himself apart.