The Book of Swindles

The Book of Swindles (Piàn jīng 騙經), also known by its longer title, A New Book for Foiling Swindlers, Based on Worldly Experience (Jiānghú lìlǎn dùpiàn xīnshū 江湖歷覽杜騙新書), is said to be the first published and printed Chinese short story collection about fraud.^[1] Written and compiled by Zhang Yingyu (張應俞), a man who lived in the early to mid 16th-century, it was published in Fujian province in or around 1617, and most of its stories are set during the latter part of the Ming dynasty.

To each story the author adds a commentary that offers a moral lesson. In some cases, Yingyu even notes the cleverness of the con while pointing out the foolishness of its victim.^[2]

Modern editions have been entitled both The Book Against Swindles (Fan Pian Jing 反骗经) and The Book of Swindles (Pian jing 骗经). A selected English translation, The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection, translated by Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk, was published by Columbia University Press in 2017.^[3]

The first edition of 1617 has the full title A New Book for Foiling Swindlers, Based on Worldly Experience (Jianghu lilan dupian xinshu), suggesting that it is a guide to avoiding swindles and to how to negotiate in the risky world of the traveling merchant.^{[citation needed]}

The Book of Swindles is divided into twenty-four categories of swindle:

Zhang Yingyu, style name Kui Zhong (夔衷), is an obscure figure. The Book of Swindles is the only known work to appear under his name, and no other records of him are known. A note on the title page of one Ming dynasty copy claims that he was from Zhejiang province, while a 1617 preface says that he was from Fujian.^[2]

The Book of Swindles incorporates elements from a variety of other Chinese genres, especially court case (gong'an) fiction, in which a capable magistrate solves a crime.^[5] Stories involving sorcerers, Buddhist monks, and Daoist priests, who engage in alchemy or dream spirit possession, include motifs from supernatural tales. Other stories, featuring suspense, surprise and revelation, resemble jokes in structure. A minority include apocryphal anecdotes about historical figures.^[6]

Other works of fiction from the same time period, such as stories by Feng Menglong (1574–1645), Ling Mengchu (1580–1644), and Li Yu (1610–80), as well as novels such as The Water Margin (Shui hu zhuan) and Plum in the Golden Vase (Jin ping mei), feature accounts of similar scenarios of deception and trickery.^[2] Collections of swindle stories can also be found in contemporary China.^{[citation needed]}

• Publisher website: The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection at Columbia University Press
• Book excerpt: "Flashy Clothing Incites Larceny", Association for Asian Studies Asia Now# blog
• Book excerpt: "Pilfering Green Cloth by Pretending to Steal a Goose", Asian Review of Books
• Interview: "Trickster Tales and True Crime", Columbia University Press blog
• ChinaFile video interview with Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk
• "Cons from the Late Ming Dynasty", China Econ Talk podcast