China
Explore Chinese folk tales, legends and literary adventures, including stories preserved through older translated collections. Source notes identify the version followed and distinguish its imagined world from historical or religious commentary.
80 stories are in this region right now.
Chinese Folk Tales
All Ages
The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea
The Eight Immortals ride across the ocean on a crutch, a fan, a paper mule and more, until a greedy dragon prince steals a musical instrument and starts a war.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Mulan, the Maiden Chief
Mulan rides her father's horse to the northern wars, wins glory and refuses a reward, then returns home, where removing her helmet reveals her identity.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Ape Sun Wu Kung
A stone ape learns magic, steals Heaven’s peaches and pills of life and defeats whole armies of gods, until he makes a bet with Buddha he cannot win.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Yang Oerlang
The shape-shifting son of a heavenly princess rescues his mother from under the mountains, then crushes nine of the ten burning suns between two peaks.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Women’s Words Part Flesh and Blood
A spiteful sister-in-law boils her brother-in-law’s seed, but one sprout grows huge, and a giant Roc flies him to an island heaped with gold and silver.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Yang Gui Fe
After the emperor’s beloved Yang Gui Fe is killed in a mutiny, a magician searches the Underworld, the heavens and fairyland to bring him word of her.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why Dog and Cat Are Enemies
A dog and a cat team up to bring back their owners’ lucky golden ring, but only the cat gets the praise, and the dog has chased cats ever since.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Wonderful Man
A puzzling memorial arch reading only “The Wonderful Man” hides the story of a poor widow who lived for twenty years as a laborer to make her son a scholar.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Widow Ho
A whirlwind and a widow's clothing prompt an official's suspicion; a disguised inquiry finds the witness on whom the murder verdict rests.
Chinese Folk Tales
The Vengeance of the Goddess
A priest restores a murdered king with help from a magical guide, then reveals an earlier crime for which the king must answer.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Two Scholars
Two herb-gathering scholars marry peach-cave brides, return to find seventy years gone, and meet two very different fates at home.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Three Ruling Gods
Three brothers meditate on a sea island until they become the gods of heaven, earth and the waters, and a race for the best seat leaves one of them glaring.