Author Description

One of the characteristics of folk tales, i.e., stories that are popular among the common people, sometimes termed "legends", is that there is no standard script. The plot and theme of a single story constantly change with respect to differences in time, place, locale, and peoples' customs. Moreover, folk tales were transmitted orally, which is one of the more important reasons why they change so easily.The histories of early China always include many legends and stories. Not until the period of the Six Dynasties period were there literati who specialized in compiling and revising legends or folk tales. This tradition has continued to this day.Of all those who compiled and anthologized stories and legends from ancient sources, the most successful was Wang Ying of the Ming Dynasty. He edited Stories from Various Books, the sources of which are extremely rich and varied. The folk tales in The Overseas Chinese Library are culled from books of this kind and are rewritten in modern Chinese.