The Story of Han Xiangzi

Interspersed with poems and songs, this novel takes its readers over vast distances across China, to the heavens, and into the underworld. It uses colourful characters, twists of plot, and witty dialogue to convey its religious message - that worldly life is ephemeral and that true contentment can be found only through Daoist cultivation. In this seventeenth-century Chinese novel, Han Xiangzi, best known as one of the Eight Immortals, seeks and achieves immortality and then devotes himself to converting his materialistic, politically ambitious Confucian uncle--Han Yu (a real historical figure)--to Daoism. Written in lively vernacular prose interspersed with poems and songs, the novel takes its readers over vast distances across China, to the heavens, and into the underworld. This is the first translation into any Western language. In this seventeenth-century Chinese novel, Han Xiangzi, best known as one of the Eight Immortals, seeks and achieves immortality and then devotes himself to converting his materialistic, politically ambitious Confucian uncle—Han Yu, a real historical figure—to Daoism. Written in lively vernacular prose interspersed with poems and songs, the novel takes its readers across China, to the heavens, and into the underworld. Readers listen to debates among Confucians, Daoists, and Buddhists and witness trials of faith and the performance of magical feats. In the mode of the famous religious novel Journey to the West, The Story of Han Xiangzi uses colorful characters, twists of plot, witty dialogue, and action suitable for a superhero comic book to convey its religious message—that worldly life is ephemeral and that true contentment can be found only through Daoist cultivation. This is the first translation into any Western language of Han Xiangzi…