Library of Chinese Classics: The Handan Dream

The Handan Dream in the one volume hardback book from Library of Chinese Classics. This book is in English and simplified Chinese and is a wonderful addition to any library. This set of The Handan Dream was published by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in 2003 and there are 550 pages.

The Handan Dream
The Handan Dream (also known as the Record of Handan)is one of the literary masterpieces written by Chinese dramatist Tang Xianzu (author of the Peony Pavilion, The Purple Hairpin, A Dream Under the Southern Bough, The Purple Flute) in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Tang Xianzu was a very influential playwright and this is partially why his works are still popular today.

The Handan Dream is about a scholar who went to the capital for the civil exam and was enlightened by an Immortal. Lu Sheng is a down-and-out scholar who meets with Lu Dongbin, an immortal, at a small inn in the city of Handan. Upon hearing Lu Sheng’s complaint about his wretched life, Lu Dongbin lends him a porcelain pillow to sleep on. In his dream, Lu Sheng experience 50 years of life as a high official. The Handan Dream captures the seamy side of officialdom in the feudal society. The library of Chinese Classics has the first English translation of Handan Dream, now people worldwide can appreciate it.

The Handan Dream is part of Library of Chinese Classics and there are over 60 books in the series so far. Library of Chinese Classics is a ‘mirror’ format which means that there is a page of Chinese followed by a page of English. As they are bilingual, the books are extremely suitable for Western readers interested in Chinese culture, people learning Chinese and native Chinese readers who want to read an accessible version of the classics. Since their publication, they have been immensely popular and Library of Chinese Classics has also been translated into Spanish, French, German, Arabic and Japanese.