The Book of Swindles by Zhang, Yingyu -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Maps Translators’ Introduction Type 1: Misdirection and Theft

Stealing Silk with a Decoy Horse Handing Over Silver Before Running Off with It A Clever Trick on a Pig Seller Pilfering Green Cloth by Pretending to Steal a Goose

Type 2: The Bag Drop

Dropping a Bag by the Roadside to Set Up a Switcheroo

Type 3: Money Changing

A Daoist in a Boat Exchanges Some Gold

Type 4: Misrepresentation

Forged Letters from the Education Intendant Report Auspicious Dreams Using Broom Handles to Play a Joke on Sedan Bearers

Type 5: False Relations

Inciting a Friend to Commit Adultery and Swindling Away His Land

Type 6: Brokers

A Conniving Broker Takes Paper and Ends Up Paying with His Daughter A Destitute Broker Takes Some Wax to Pay Off Old Debts

Type 7: Enticement to Gambling

A Stern Warning to a Gambler Provokes Others to Entice Him to Relapse

Type 8: Showing Off Wealth

Impersonating the Son of an Official to Steal a Merchant’s Silver Flashy Clothing Incites Larceny

Type 9: Scheming for Wealth

Stealing a Business Partner’s Riches Only to Lose One’s Own Haughtiness Leads to a Lawsuit That Harms Wealth and Health

Type 10: Robbery

Robbing a Pawnshop by Pretending to Leave Goods There

Type 11: Violence

Sticking a Plaster in the Eyes to Steal a Silver Ingot

Type 12: On Boats

Bringing Mirrors Aboard a Boat Invites a Nefarious Plot Porters Run Off with Cargo from a Boat

Type 13: Poetry

Swindling the Salt Commissioner While Disguised as Daoists Chen Quan Scams His Way Into the Arms of a Famous Courtesan

Type 14: Fake Silver

Planting a Fake Ingot to Swindle a Farmer

Type 15: Government Underlings

Swindled on the Way Out of a Court Hearing An Officer Reprimands a Captured Criminal in Order to Halve His Flogging

Type 16: Marriage

Marrying a Street Cleaner and Provoking His Death Taking a Concubine from Another Province Leads to a Disastrous Lawsuit

Type 17: Illicit Passion

A Geomancer Uses His Wife to Steal a Good Seed

Type 18: Women

Coaxing a Sister-in-Law Into Adultery to Scam Oil and Meat Three Women Ride Off on Three Horses A Buddhist Nun Scatters Prayer Beads to Lure a Woman Into Adultery

Type 19: Kidnapping

A Eunuch Cooks Boys to Make a Tonic of Male Essence

Type 20: Corruption in Education

Pretending to Present Silver to an Education Commissioner Affixing Seals in a Functionary’s Chambers Silver with Sham Seals Is Switched for Bricks Robbed by a Gang While Sealing Silver in an Unoccupied Room A Fake Freeloader Takes Over a Con Money Stashed with an Innkeeper Is Burgled

Type 21: Monks and Priests

A Buddhist Monk Identifies a Cow as His Mother Eating Human Fetuses to Fake Fasting

Type 22: Alchemy

Trusting in Alchemy Harms an Entire Family A Foiled Alchemy Scam Leads to a Poisoning

Type 23: Sorcery

Using Dream Sorcery to Rob a Family

Type 24: Pandering

A Father Searching for His Wastrel Son Himself Falls Into Whoring

Appendix 1: Preface to A New Book for Foiling Swindlers: Strange Tales from the Rivers and Lakes (1617), by Xiong Zhenji Appendix 2: Story Finding List Bibliography Series List

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