Selection of Chinese Fables Translated into English (Bilingual Edition): 100 Classic Tales with Their Lessons

Have you ever been in a conversation with a Chinese person who said “the old man lost his horse” and you nodded along—but had no idea what they actually meant? That's the culture gap. This book closes it.

A Selection of Chinese Fables Translated into English is compiled by Liu Meng, Associate Professor at the School of International Studies, Yangzhou University, and Huo Hong. Liu holds a PhD in Translation Studies from Shanghai International Studies University and was a visiting scholar at the University of Hawaii through a China Scholarship Council fellowship. Published by Ocean University of China Press in 2024.-30

The book gathers around 100 classic fables drawn from foundational Chinese texts including Zhuangzi, Mencius, Liezi, and the Annals of Lü Buwei. Every story appears in Chinese-English parallel text, with a one-line moral at the end. The translators drew on the style of Aesop's Fables, so the English reads naturally rather than like a stiff translation.

What this book does for you:

• International readers: No Chinese required. Understand classic Chinese stories and finally grasp what people mean when they quote a chengyu

• English learners: Parallel text plus clear morals—both a reading resource and a cultural one

• Chinese language teachers: Ready-made classroom material. Short stories, clear morals, bilingual text

• Anyone curious about China: 100 stories that build a working framework for understanding how Chinese people think