Library of Chinese Classics: The Travel of Lao Ts'an

Library of Chinese Classics: The Travels of Lao Ts'an
Author: Liu E (1857-1909)
Translated into English by Harold Shadick
Library binding book, vol. I, II, dimensions 960 x 640, 1/16
Publisher: Yi Lin Chu Ban She, 2005
ISBN: 7806577947 9787806577943

Written by Liu E, an intellectual born at the end of the Qing Dynasty. By describing what Lao Can sees and hears in his travels, the author fiercely attacks the injustices he witnessed and exposed the hypocrisy of so-called "honest and upright officials." Intriguing novel, and one of the last books to be written in the "old style" of Chinese narrative.
The novel reveals the disastrous and demoralized state of China at the beginning of twentieth century and his terrible governmental corruption, deplorable state of the roads, river floods, attacks of tigers and wolfs in the country, selling of women as slaves, pirates, and many other catastrophes, and how the doctor must act sometimes as a detective in a case of murder by poisoned cakes, and it's curious, as it's named Sherlock Holmes as an example to follow, a proof that even in the China of these times this hero was yet translated and known.
'The Travels of Lao Can' or 'Lao Can Youji' was written by Liu E (1857-1909) between 1904-07 during the late Qing era. The work of Liu E consist of a text proper in twenty chapters, a sequel in nine extant chapters, and a fragment of fifteen handwritten pages (out of an original sixteen). Full or partial translations of it exist in Russian, Czech, and Japanese; and at least parts of it have been rendered into English at least four separate times. It is fortunate for that the most complete of these latter efforts, Professor Harold Shadick's The Travels of Lao Ts'an is the most complete, also the best. The library of Chinese classics Chinese-English edition, has included that Shadick's extensively annotated translation benefit both the casual student and the serious researcher.

Liu E (Liu O) 1857-1909
Best known for his novel Lao Can Youji (The Travels of Lao Can, 1906), a popular and important work of the late Qing era. Liu was a poet, musician, medical practitioner and entrepreneur, as well as a novelist. He was also the earliest serious collector of oracle-bone inscriptions. He was a native of Jiangsu province and the son of a minor official, but himself decided against a career in the civil service and became involved in various enterprises, many with foreign interests. He was exiled to Xinjiang in 1908, on trumped up charges, and died the following year.