“‘I won’t lie to you,’ he said in a low voice. ‘I’m a petty thief… I’ve got a plan, and I just need your help to pull it off.’” — Zhang Yingyu
Our departments’ very own Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk have translated The Book of Swindles, a chronicle of scams and deception from Ming China. These stories of fortunes made and lost, of cunning crooks and unsolved crimes make us ask: was swindling so widespread in 1600s China? What caused the profound social changes and moral anxiety at the time?
Rea and Rusk have been actively promoting their new book. See below for related interviews, reviews and stories:
Video interview with ChinaFile
Written interview with Columbia University Press
