"One of the great novels of world literature…to the Chinese as Proust is to the French or Karamazov to the Russians." --Anthony West, literary critic Dream of the Red Chamber (also known as The Story of the Stone) is renowned for its epic scope, rich psychological characterizations and telling observations on family life and the role of women in Chinese society. One of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature, along with Journey to the West, The Water Margin, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms; Dream of the Red Chamber is widely regarded as the greatest Chinese classical novel, and one of the greatest works of world literature ever written. The "red chamber" refers to a sheltered area in wealthy households where daughters were confined until married--a veritable prison where dreams of true love wither. This sweeping tale tells of the rise and fall of rival branches of the wealthy Jia family, who live in lavish adjacent compounds surrounded by a lush, private garden. The story opens with the birth of Jia Baoyu, heir apparent and darling of the women in the Jia household. A free-thinker and idealist, Baoyu soon rebels against his stern father, who refuses to allow his son to pursue a romantic affair with Lin Daiyu--a headstrong and intelligent woman who shares his love of music and poetry. Baoyu is forced instead to marry Xue Baochai, an equally talented and beautiful woman but someone with whom he has no emotional connection. The fates of the star-crossed lovers and their families slowly unravel as this tragic story unfolds. Dream of the Red Chamber, although written by a man, is said to be one of the first great works of women's literature. The author, Cao Xueqin, is thought to have written the novel as a memorial to the inspiring women he knew in his youth.

For more than 2,000 years, Sun Tzu's The Art of War has provided leaders with essential advice on battlefield tactics, managing troops and terrain, and employing cunning and deception. An elemental part of Chinese culture, it has also become a touchstone for the Western struggle for survival and success, whether in battle, in business or in relationships. Now, in this crisp, accessible new translation, John Minford brings this seminal work to life for today's readers. A lively, learned introduction, chronologies and suggested further reading are among the valuable apparatus included in this authoritative volume. Even those readers familiar with The Art of War will experience it anew, finding it more fascinating - and more chilling - than ever. Little is known about Sun Tzu (544-496 B.C.) and his life during the Warring States period after the decline of the Zhou dysnasty, but his classic, The Art of War, has been one of the central works of Chinese literature for 2500 years. John Minford studied Chinese at Oxford and at the Australian National University and has taught in China, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. He edited (with Geremie Barme) Seeds of Fire: Chinese Voices of Conscience and (with Joseph S. M. Lau) Chinese Classical Literature: An Anthology of Translations. He has translated numerous works from the Chinese, including the last two volumes of the Penguin Classics edition of Cao Xueqin's eighteenth-century novel The Story of the Stone and the martial-arts fiction of the contemporary Hong Kong novelist Louis Cha.

Still a source of inspiration for soldiers on the battlefield and managers in the boardroom 2000 years after it was written, Sun-Tzu's The Art of War is the most influential book of strategy in the world, translated from the Chinese by John Minford in Penguin Classics. 'Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting' For more than two thousand years, Sun-Tzu's The Art of War has provided leaders with profound insights into the use of skill, tactics, psychology and discipline to outwit opponents. Said to have inspired Napoleon, and used by Mao Zedong and General Douglas MacArthur, as well as many famous business gurus, politicians and sports stars, its ancient words of wisdom provide a touchstone for today's managers and executives fighting their boardroom battles. This best-selling book offers ancient wisdom on how to use skill, cunning, tactics and discipline to outwit your opponent. Little is known for definite about Sun Tzu (544-496 B.C.) and his life during the Warring States period after the decline of the Zhou dynasty, but his classic The Art of War has been one of the central works of Chinese literature for 2500 years. If you enjoyed The Art of War, you might like Machiavelli's The Prince, also available in Penguin Classics. 'Absorb this book, and you can throw out all those contemporary books about management leadership' Newsweek 'Reflecting on Sun-Tzu's work is to the business manager what weight lifting is to the champion athlete - an exercise that makes one stronger' John Kohut, Beijing Bureau Chief, South China Post

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.;Offering ancient wisdom on how to use skill, cunning, tactics and discipline to outwit your opponent, this bestselling 2000-year-old military manual is still worshipped by soldiers on the battlefield and managers in the boardroom as the ultimate guide to winning.

For more than two thousand years, Sun-tzu's The Art of War has provided leaders with essential advice on battlefield tactics, managing troops and terrain, and employing cunning and deception. An elemental part of Chinese culture, it has also become a touchstone for the Western struggle for survival and success, whether in battle, in business or in relationships. Now, in this crisp, accessible new translation, John Minford brings this seminal work to life for today's readers. Capturing the literary quality of The Art of War - its lucid, epigrammatic, almost poetic style - as well as its philosophical and strategic content, Minford present the core text in two different formats. First, the unadorned thirteen chapters allow readers to form their own first impressions of the ancient words of wisdom ascribed to Sun-tzu. Then the same text appears with extensive running commentary from the canon of traditional Chinese commentators and others, providing context and subtext to the work. A lively, learned introduction, chronologies, suggested readings, and other valuable apparatus round this authoritative volume. Even those readers familiar with The Art of War will experience it anew, finding it more fascinating - and more chilling - than ever.

The world's most famous military treatise, in an acclaimed translation The perfect books for the true book lover, Penguin's Great Ideas series features twelve more groundbreaking works by some of history's most prodigious thinkers. Each volume is beautifully packaged with a unique type-driven design that highlights the bookmaker's art. Offering great literature in great packages at great prices, this series is ideal for those readers who want to explore and savor the Great Ideas that have shaped our world. Offering ancient wisdom on how to use skill, cunning, tactics and discipline to outwit your opponent, this bestselling 2000-year-old military manual is still worshipped by soldiers on the battlefield and managers in the boardroom as the ultimate guide to winning.

A landmark new translation of the ancient Chinese oracle and book of wisdom, in a stunning Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition The I Ching, or Book of Change, has been consulted through the ages, in both China and the West, for answers to fundamental questions about the world and our place in it. The oldest extant book of divination, it dates back three thousand years to ancient shamanistic practices involving the ritual preparation of the shoulder bones of oxen. From this early form of communication with the other world, it has become the Chinese spiritual book par excellence. An influence on such cultural icons as Bob Dylan, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Philip K. Dick, and Philip Pullman, the I Ching is turned to by millions around the world for insights on spiritual growth, business, medicine, genetics, game theory, strategic thinking, and leadership, and of course for the window it opens on China. This new translation, over a decade in the making, is informed by the latest archaeological discoveries and features a gorgeously rendered codex of divination signs-the I Ching's sixty-four Tarot-like hexagrams. It captures the majesty and mystery of this legendary work and charts an illuminating path to self-knowledge.

The acclaimed translation of Taoism's founding text in a beautiful Penguin Classics Deluxe edition The most translated book in the world after the Bible, the Tao Te Ching, or 'Book of the Way', is the essential text of Taoism, one of the three great religions of China. Through aphorisms and parable, it guides its readers toward the Tao, or the 'Way': living in harmony with the life force of the universe. Traditionally attributed to Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher who was a contemporary of Confucius, it offers a practical model for living based on modesty, self-restraint and balance and is an insightful guide for anyone seeking to open their minds, free their thoughts, and attain greater self-awareness. John Minford's celebrated translation emphasises the calm, meditative quality of the Tao Te Ching, as well as its use as a guide to everyday living. This edition is accompanied by illuminating commentary and interpretation, as well as beautifully illustrated Chinese characters.

The memoir Ordinary Days by the scholar and critic Leo Ou-fan Lee and his wife Esther Lee Yuk Ying brings to this Hong Kong series an intensely personal touch, consciously echoing the great sentimental memoir of the eighteenth century, Shen Fu's Six Chapters of a Floating Life. With disarming candour, Leo and Esther lay bare their hearts to share with us their story of love and suffering, charting in a series of memorable chapters their shared spiritual quest. Set partly against the recent backdrop of some of Hong Kong's most turbulent years, partly in the far-flung diaspora of the Chinese intelligentsia, this is a revealing record of the inner life of a highly cultivated modern Chinese couple.

The Best China, an expression traditionally used to refer to the finest crockery brought out when one is entertaining special guests, has been adapted here to mean the Best Chinese Tradition of free-thinking discursive prose. This anthology of essays from Hong Kong and the diaspora, ranging across the past hundred and seventy years, records the intellectual ferment that has always characterised the city since its founding in 1842, sometimes restless and questioning, sometimes meditative and lyrical, always civilised, and buoyed by an all-pervasive and indomitable spirit of freedom.

The summation of more than two thousand years of one of the world's most august literary traditions, this volume also represents the achievements of four hundred years of Western scholarship on China. The selections include poetry, drama, fiction, songs, biographies, and works of early Chinese philosophy and history rendered in English by the most renowned translators of classical Chinese literature: Arthur Waley, Ezra Pound, David Hawkes, James Legge, Burton Watson, Stephen Owen, Cyril Birch, A. C. Graham, Witter Bynner, Kenneth Rexroth, and others.

Arranged chronologically and by genre, each chapter is introduced by definitive quotes and brief introductions chosen from classic Western sinological treatises. Beginning with discussions of the origins of the Chinese writing system and selections from the earliest "genre" of Chinese literature -- the Oracle Bone inscriptions -- the book then proceeds with selections from:

- early myths and legends;

- the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry, the "Book of Songs;"

- early narrative and philosophy, including the "I Ching, Tao-te Ching, " and the "Analects" of Confucius;

- rhapsodies, historical writings, magical biographies, ballads, poetry, and miscellaneous prose from the Han and Six Dynasties period;

- the court poetry of the Southern Dynasties;

- the finest gems of Tang poetry; and

- lyrics, stories, and tales of the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties eras.

Special highlights include individual chapters covering each of the luminaries of Tang poetry: Wang Wei, Li Bo, Du Fu, and Bo Juyi; early literary criticism; women poets from the first to the tenth century C.E.; and the poetry of Zen and the Tao.

Bibliographies, explanatory notes, copious illustrations, a chronology of major dynasties, and two-way romanization tables coordinating the Wade-Giles and pinyin transliteration systems provide helpful tools to aid students, teachers, and general readers in exploring this rich tradition of world literature.

This is a most unusual book. For several decades Xi Xi has been widely known for her award?winning poetry and fiction. This time, she has chosen to write about the teddy bears she began making in 2005, after treatment for cancer, in order to improve the mobility of her right hand. She made the bears herself from scratch, choosing some of her favourite characters from history and legend such as the Taoist philosopher Master Zhuang, the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, and Beauty and the Beast. She also createexquisite items of clothing for them and wove a series of delightfully witty essays around them, giving her readers fascinating insights into Chinese culture, and into the ways in which Chinese clothing and fashion have evolved through the ages.

Leung Ping?kwan brought as much talent and inspiration to the writing of his short stories as he did to his poems. 'I have drawn on magical realism to explore the absurdity of Hong Kong,' he wrote of the story See Mun and the Dragon (1975) in which we find him using a simple, clipped style. The later story Drowned Souls (2007) was written in a more symbolic, lyrical and complex manner, influenced by the style of the traditional Chinese tales of the supernatural. Although the two stories are separated by over 30 years, dragons play a prominent part in both. The dragon has always been a fascinating creature, a complex embodiment of the timeless soul of China and a symbol of the creative energy and transformative possibilities of the Tao. Both of these enchanting stories are anchored in the author's ideas of freedom and liberation. Through the keen eyes and curious mind of a young girl, Ying?tzu, we are given a glimpse into the adult world of Peking in the 1920s.

The Drunkard is one of the first full?length stream?of?consciousness novels written in Chinese. It has beencalled the Hong Kong novel, and was first published in 1962 as a serial in a Hong Kong evening paper. As the unnamed Narrator, a writer at odds with a philistine world, sinks to his drunken nadir, his plight can be seen to represent that of a whole intelligentsia, a whole culture, degraded by the brutal forces of history: the Second Sino?Japanese War and the rampant capitalism of postwar Hong Kong. The often surrealistic description of the Narrator's inexorable descent through the seedy bars and nightclubs of Hong Kong, of his numerous encounters with dance?girls and his ever more desperate boutsof drinking, is counterpointed by a series of wide?ranging literary essays, analysing the Chinese classical tradition, the popular culture of China and the West, and the modernist movement in Western andChinese literature. The ambiance of Hong Kong in the early 1960s is graphically evoked in this powerful and poignant novel,which takes the reader to the very heart of Hong Kong. Hong Kong director Freddie Wong made a fine film version of the novel in 2004.

Leung Ping?kwan is one of Hong Kong's most acclaimed poets. His poems display a unique blend of the literary and the down?to?earth, the modern and the traditional, the serious and the humorous, the local and the universal. He wrote, 'I want to write a kind of modern poetry that does not have to turn away from the world we live in, that rethinks the relationship between language and objects...' This collection has been carefully curated, and is arranged under ten thematic sections: Lotus Leaves, Hong Kong, Macao, Foodscape, After the Book of Songs, Strange Tales: After Pu Songling, Clothink, Museum Pieces, Places and Friends, Bitter?Melon and Others. These translated poems, and the delight they bring, are a celebration of the continuing legacy of a remarkable Hong Kong poet.

'...revealing great shining fangs more than three inches long.' Some of the most macabre and wonderful of all Chinese stories, including 'The Golden Goblet', 'Scorched Moth the Daoist' and 'The Black Beast' Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Pu Songling (1640-1715). Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio is available in Penguin Classics.

The Strange Tales of Pu Songling (1640-1715) are exquisite and amusing miniatures that are regarded as the pinnacle of classical Chinese fiction. With their elegant prose, witty wordplay and subtle charm, the 104 stories in this selection reveal a world in which nothing is as it seems. Here a Taoist monk conjures up a magical pear tree, a scholar recounts his previous incarnations, a woman out-foxes the fox-spirit that possesses her, a child bride gives birth to a thimble-sized baby, a ghostly city appears out of nowhere and a heartless daughter-in-law is turned into a pig. In his tales of humans coupling with shape-shifting spirits, bizarre phenomena, haunted buildings and enchanted objects, Pu Songling pushes back the boundaries of human experience and enlightens as he entertains.

Arguably the most well-known and highly awarded of Hong Kong authors over the last thirty years, Leung Ping-kwan has published fifteen volumes of poetry. Leung also writes fiction and has published a novel and four collections of stories. He currently teaches literature and film studies at Lingnan University, frequently collaborates with visual and performing artists, and has held several poetry and photography exhibitions that feature his own work.

Leung is the consummate tour guide, able to direct readers from kitchen tables through urban and interior landscapes that are mottled with Cantonese, Mandarin, numerous Englishes, and a cascade of other cultures. This ability to create in a hybrid space without sounding forced or inauthentic has evolved throughout his writing career that began in the late 1960s, through PhD work in comparative literature at the University of California, San Diego, in the 1980s, and then back to Hong Kong for a long career of intertwining writing and teaching at several universities.

The poetry book is complemented by conceptual images by artist Gukzik Lau.

A lost city in the desert, wolf packs, a book, and, of course, a sword... The Book and the Sword was Louis Cha's first novel, published in 1955, and quickly established him as one of the new masters of the wuxia genre. The novel is panoramic in scope and includes the fantastical elements for which Cha is well-known: secret societies, kung fu masters, a lost desert city guarded by wolf packs, and the mysterious Fragrant Princess, an embellishment of an actual historical figure - although whether she actually smelled of flowers, we will never know. Further to that Cha revives the legend about the great eighteenth-century Manchu Emperor Qian Long which claims that he was in fact not a Manchu but a Han Chinese as a result of a baby swap. The Book and the Sword is a rip-roaring tale of Chinese kung fu masters battling it out for the future of the Chinese empire and control of central Asia.